Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Cause and Effect.

Sometimes it takes me a bit to see the dotted lines connecting my blood sugar to the one specific thing that has caused it this time. With so many variables, there's a mental checklist I go through when I see a graph like this (after I indulge myself with a couple seconds of feeling deflated):


  1. When was the last time I ate?
  2. Did I forget to bolus?
  3. Did I eat more than I planned for when I took that bolus? (Related: am I horrible at carb guessing?)
  4. Did my infusion site clog/kink/come loose?
  5. Was the insulin skunky/old/ineffective?
  6. Has the site been in too long? Wait, when did I put this site in?
  7. Is it Tuesday? (read: diabetes is on its own schedule and doesn't always need a good reason to mess with me)
I decided to give my day-old infusion site a looksie, and as it turns out, it had been collecting something.

Ewww.
Not one to enable a hoarder, I ripped the site off and slapped a new one on. I did a quick check to make sure that CGM graph was right, and it was in the ballpark: 317, according to the Verio. I puffed my cheeks in frustration, trying to do that very specific kind of not-really-math where you go, "Okay, I bolused X half an hour ago, but Y probably leaked out when I pulled the site, so I guess I'll do a correction bolus of Z and hope that's somewhere near close enough".

One more gross picture of that infusion site? Okay, here you go.


Note: if you're wondering what sort of infusion set this is, it's made by Spring Diabetes. They were kind enough to send me some free samples, which I'm trying out for a couple of weeks before I form a solid opinion on them. Don't let the blood and guts deter you - any infusion site has the ability to hit a blood vessel, yaknow? User error!

5 comments:

  1. Bummer! We had to do an extra dexcom sensor change this afternoon because I hit a 'bleeder'...and that was after doing one last night at 10:30 that had to be removed for an MRI this morning! Poor Bean!!

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  2. i'm curious to hear what you think about the infusion sets. i tried a couple last year, and then they sent me some again a couple weeks ago. i am still up in the air. i find insertion difficult. that may be because i do not normally use an inserter, i just jab myself!! anyway, i am glad i haven't had that ^^ happen to me yet.

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  3. I usually remove my infusion sets as a last resort, which isn't smart, but I'm kind of cheap ... and lazy! And it's usually the tortilla chips anyway ... what pump do you use with the Spring set?

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  4. my daughter getting cgm next week.... i know nothing. following you via Kerri Sparling...........looks hard. yikes.

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  5. JenWo - I use an Animas Ping. It seems that the Spring sets will work with any pump that uses a luer lock.

    Anonymous - congratulations on the impending CGM ownership! I hope my post hasn't scared you off - the technology really is helpful to have. :)

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