Wednesday, January 26, 2011

Being Resourceful.

I had plans last night for dinner with friends. (Actually, it's a "book club", but seeing as how I hardly ever get around to reading the books anymore, I consider it more of a "dinner date".) As I sat in my parked car outside of the restaurant, I did a quick blood test. The results weren't surprising, as I had been stuck at that number for several hours: 152.

Well, that's annoying.
In the past three hours, I had done four correction boluses - and they seemed to bounce right off of that 152 like it was a trampoline. I hadn't eaten since lunch, either, so I knew there weren't any tricky carbs at play. My infusion site looked fine (and still looked fine when I removed it at home, later that night). I had no answers.

It is times like this where a rage bolus starts to sound really, really attractive - much like ice cream after a bad day, or Robert Downey Jr. in Iron Man. (Am I the only one that thinks he's stupid-hot in that movie? Aaron thinks it's a weird crush to have. Maybe I just like the fact that his glowy chest thing looks a lot like a backlit insulin pump through his shirt. End digression.) I knew that bolusing from the pump wouldn't work, so I retrieved the back-up Humalog pen I always carry in my purse. I dialed up two units.

Then I thought, "Wait - where the hell am I going to inject this?" Like so many other parts of the country, mid-January is darn cold in Nebraska, and I was bundled up in several layers. Layers that weren't at all conducive to a tummy injection site.

My solution, as it has been many times before, is to use whatever body part is most easily accessible, which meant that last night I shunked that pen needle into the side of my calf.

These are not my legs.
My legs were the least-layered body part at the time, and due to upper body layers, going in from the top wasn't an option. Lift pant leg; insert needle. The funniest thing? I didn't even feel it!

I've also been known to use the top of my forearms. Hey - it's prime, untouched real estate, and I'm using however much of it I think I can get away with.

10 comments:

  1. Dude, this scared me. I'm shuddering now. I may have nightmares tonight. But at least you got your insulin... Um, yea. Yea.

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  2. Dr. Bernstein states that he has even injected through his shirt.

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  3. Was the insulin absorbed properly? This is probably a better option than going through cloths as I have done many times!

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  4. Mike - You're welcome.

    Sunny - I've done that a few times, though I always imagine I'm somehow inviting shirt-dwelling germs in when I do that.

    Andy - Yep! I was trending down within 5 minutes, happily enough.

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  5. You rock. I've never used the calf, but now that you've shared your experience, I'll consider it. I've heard of pumpers putting their sites there, too. I have given a shot through nylons, and even once through leggings. I can't remember the details of WHY I thought I needed to do it, but sure enough, it still worked.

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  6. Wow, I've yet to try that injection site, but now I'm thinking about giving it a go. Thanks for the inspiration!

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  7. I <3 RDJ. Probably more than you know...

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  8. In over 31 years with diabetes, I have never ever injecting in my calf. It's kinda scary to me too!!

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  9. Though I'm not exactly sure what 'stupid-hot' means, I think RDJ is hot in both Iron Man movies. You are not alone. :)

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