Ouch . . . .

After almost three decades of finger-sticks (not counting that big block of time during and after college when I didn’t bother) it’s rare that I feel anything more than a slight discomfort when the lancet plunges into my finger.  Most times I don’t feel anything at all  (thank you, callouses!).

But suddenly . . . . ouch!!  Each and every prick started hurting!!  #soundsdirtybutisn’t  The first time I thought “Well, yeah, sometimes they do just hurt”.  The second time I thought maybe I had hit a nerve.  The third time I thought I should make sure I wasn’t pricking the same exact spot over and over.  The next few times I just ignored it.  I knew I didn’t need to change my lancet, because I change it every morning.  (Weird, I know, whatever.)  Finally I had enough of the pain and looked at my lancing device.



What??  A depth setting of 4.5????  How ever did it get switched to 4.5??



Ahhhhh, that’s more like it.  Back to comfortable finger-sticks.  Well, relatively speaking - because it’s still puncturing my finger and making it bleed.  Thank goodness for those aforementioned callouses!

Friday Night Mishaps

Friday it was time for both a site and sensor change.  I did both right before lunch and decided not to start my CGM right away since it would be asking for a calibration too soon after I had eaten.

This is where things started to go wrong.  The afternoon came and went.  I realized I was very thirsty, but didn’t think much of it because my CGM hadn’t alarmed me of a high.  Why?  Because my CGM wasn’t ON, but I had forgotten that.  So I tested and was not happy with what I saw.  320!!!!  I had indulged in some mini-doughnuts earlier in the afternoon, so I figured a carb miscalculation was to blame for my sucky number and bolused a big correction.  One hour later I saw this . . .


So not cool!!!!!  I decided something must be wrong with the new site, so I pulled it.  My cannula was kind of bent at a weird angle, so I took a correction by injection and then popped in a new site.  I also bumped up my basal to help get things moving in the right direction.

And it worked . . . it worked much too well.  Here is what I saw an hour later . . .


Oh crap!!!!!  And I had a ton of insulin on board.  As far as I can figure, I must have gotten quite a bit of the first correction bolus, even though my cannula looked pretty bent.  It was stupid for me to pile on a big correction by injection and bump up my basal - but I just wanted to come down so I could enjoy Friday Night Pizza and Martinis with Pete.  Instead I got a big scare and ate a bunch of empty calories to keep my blood sugar from bottoming out.

Diabetes is tough.  Sometimes we do things that don’t work out.  Sometimes we make poor decisions because we just want to enjoy our night.  I really screwed up this time - but hopefully I’ll remember this and do much better next time.

Diabetes Bloopers

Diabetes bloopers - Wednesday 5/11: Whether you or your loved one are newly diagnosed or have been dealing with diabetes for a while, you probably realize that things can (and will) go wrong.  But sometimes the things that go wrong aren’t stressful - instead sometimes they are downright funny!  Go ahead and share your Diabetes Blooper - your “I can’t believe I did that" moment - your big “D-oh” - and let’s all have a good laugh together!!

When you come right down to it, I’m basically a living walking blooper - diabetes or otherwise.  I trip, I walk into walls, I spill things on myself (and others!!), thoughts get lost in translation on the way from my brain to my vocal chords and come out sounding stupid or embarrassing.  So yeah, I’ve got a few diabetes bloopers too . . .

• like the time I programmed my breakfast bolus, then decided I needed to check my tubing for air bubbles.  I disconnected the pump and examined the tubing . . . . while an unknown amount of my breakfast bolus dribbled to the floor.
• or the time I was doing a pump site change and instead of pulling the protective cap off of the needle, I pulled the needle right out of the site.  Yeah, kind of hard to insert the cannula without the needle!
• another time I inserted the site correctly, but pushed the button to fill the cannula before removing the needle.  Don’t suppose much insulin gets into the cannula with the needle still taking up all of the space in there.
• how about the time that, in an effort to use new “real estate” for my CGM sensor, I inserted it so far on my back that I couldn’t reach around to remove the needle.  Thank goodness my husband was home and got the needle out for me - otherwise I suppose I would have had to walk around all day with it sticking out of my back.  OUCH
• of course, I’ve dropped my pump more times than I can count.  Like really dropped it, with a loud THUNK as it hits the floor and then bounces around.  Luckily it has survived each Death Drop.
• and I was a Blooper Pro long before I was a pumper.  While on MDIs, I once (or more than once . . . ) took 13 units of Novolog (my short-acting insulin) instead of 13 units of Lantus (my long acting insulin).  That’s the only blooper I still don’t laugh about, because that’s a very scary mistake.

If I needed to, I’m sure I could come up with a few more bloopers - but I think I’ve embarrassed myself enough for one day.  Please tell me I’m not the only one who has made these silly mistakes!!




Don’t forget to add your post to the Diabetes bloopers-Wednesday 5/11 Link List.  Please enter YOUR BLOG’S NAME in the field marked Your Name and the link to YOUR SPECIFIC POST in the field marked Your URL.

Sicko . . .

Every Sunday we go to my parent’s house for dinner.  When we arrived last Sunday my dad was recovering from what he thought was food poisoning.  My mom thought it was a virus.  Mom was right, because she got hit with it on Monday.  And lucky me, I got it on Tuesday.

It came on fast.  I was fine all day, until it was time to pick Pete up at the train station.  I dragged myself out to get him, then came home and climbed right into bed while he went out for some supplies that would hopefully settle my stomach.  I was sick one more time before he got back.

Once home, Pete brought me a diet ginger ale and 22 carbs worth of saltines.  I played it smart and ate two crackers without bolusing to see what would happen.  I felt completely fine and hungry, so I bolused for the 22 carbs and finished my crackers.  And that is where things started to go wrong.



Twenty minutes later my stomach made it quite clear that the saltines were not welcome.  My blood sugar was starting to dip, so I tried regular ginger ale.  That was rejected.  I tried a popsicle.  Also rejected.  My blood sugar continued to fall so I forced down ginger ale sips and popsicle nibbles but they just wouldn’t stay.  We pulled out the glucagon in case it was needed, and (oh crap) it was expired.  And my blood sugar?  It was now 36.  And that’s when I started to panic.

I have never ever been in a situation when my blood sugar has been low when I’m sick.  So although I’m embarrassed to admit it, I’m going to be totally honest with you.  I’ve always kind of ignored the advice about having a sick-day plan - knowing all I'd ever needed to do was set a higher temp basal.  I’m here to tell you that not having a sick day plan is a very stupid thing to do - no matter how long you’ve been living with diabetes.  Being sick is stressful enough.  Being sick and scared and in an emergency situation is the worst!!

Luckily for me, things played out okay.  I was hoping to avoid a trip to the ER, and thankfully I did.  Common sense told me to suspend my pump.  Instinct told me to turn to Twitter and get some advice from the D-OC.  I was assured that suspending should work and reminded to keep a close eye on how long I suspended so I didn’t end up with ketones.  (Thanks @cerichards21 and @AbbyBayer)  I was advised that if necessary, I could always try the glucagon anyway - especially since it was only 2 months past the expiration date.  (Thanks @StaceyDivone, @jennaspetmonkey, @scottkjohnson and @sstrumello)  And I got tons of well wishes, support, encouragement to go to the ER if I needed to, and suggestions of foods that might be acceptable to my cranky stomach - which went a long way towards calming me down and soothing my fears.  (Thank you all!!!!!)  I also turned to Lorraine's blog to reread how she handled a similar situation with Caleb.  In the end, the glucagon wasn’t needed.  After two hours I was up to 115 and I took my pump out of suspend.  It took a full 20 hours before I could eat again, but during that time I was solidly in the 140 - 180 range.

It’s not often that after 31 years with diabetes I run into a situation I haven’t dealt with before.  But this story is proof that it can happen.  Ignoring advice about having a sick day plan just because I never needed one before was careless.  You can bet I am refilling my glucagon, making a cheat sheet about mini-dosing, adding concentrated juice and chocolate syrup to my stash of regular ginger ale, and making notes to talk to my endo about a sick day plan.  Next time, you can bet I’ll be prepared!!

Idiotic Sunday Evening . . .

Last night, I was a total idiot.  Over and over again.  It was like I threw everything I knew about diabetes management right out the window.  I have no excuses.  I was just plain stupid.

It started late afternoon when I did my site change.  An hour later, my CGM high alarm went off and a finger-stick showed me at 225.  I decided the spike was due to the chips I ate with my tuna sandwich at lunch.  The pump said I didn’t need a correction, so all was well.

An hour later, I was at 237.  I took a correction and figured things would start heading down.  After another hour, I was at 235 and by this time we were at my parent’s house for dinner.  I started to wonder if perhaps my new site was bad.  But (Idiotic Move #1) I bolused a bunch more insulin and ate dinner anyway.

After dinner, my CGM showed me soaring towards 300.  Of course, there was no way I was going to be easting dessert.  And then my mom said “I have a special treat tonight.  I made a pound cake and I have strawberries and whipped cream.  We can pretend it’s summer and eat strawberry shortcakes.”  I blame Idiotic Move #2 on the fact that the snow is driving me slightly insane.

This is a snow pile in a parking lot near my house. I'm so not kidding. You'd be insane too.

That’s right.  You guessed it.  I SWAGGED a bunch more insulin and ate strawberry shortcake.  Even though my CGM said I was nearing 300.  And no, I hadn’t tested since before dinner because I didn’t really want to see that I was actually well over 300.

By now it was clear to me that the new site was crap and I needed to change it out immediately.  So what did I do?  Did Pete and I go straight home?  Nnnoooooooo, we took a quick trip to the grocery store instead.  (Idiotic Move #3, for those keeping track.)  Clearly my pressing need for an onion and two peppers was much more important than insulin, right?

So, we grabbed our bag of groceries and headed home.  The minute we walked in the door, I ran upstairs and did a site change.  Which seems like the smart thing to do, right?  Nope.  Because (Idiotic Move #4) I didn’t test my blood sugar before doing the site change.  In fact, I hadn’t tested my blood sugar since before dinner.  And wouldn’t you know it, the exact minute I filled the cannula on the new site, my CGM alarmed.  I looked down to see “Fall Rate” flashing at me, and the CGM reading 230 with two rapid down arrows.  The old site has been working fine.  A finger-stick showed my blood sugar was actually 147 - which would seem like a good thing.  Until you take into account all of the insulin I had been (idiotically) swagging all evening.  I had almost 6 units on board.  And the juice I drank did not keep me from hitting a blood sugar of 38 by 9:30 pm.

Why did I do such a crappy job last night?  Why didn’t I test more?  Why did I eat dinner and dessert instead of waiting to get a handle on my blood sugar first?  I don’t know.  I’m embarrassed to say I have no good reason for any of it.  I had a very Idiotic Night with diabetes.

How to waste almost an hour on hold . . ..

I mentioned in passing that I recently upgraded my Minimed pump to the new Revel model.  I began using it on Monday night.  Saturday morning I got up and had some breakfast with my husband.  He left for a haircut and I went into my yarn room / home office to play on the laptop a bit.  And then it started.

Beep BEEP Beep

Pump alarm.  I pulled out the pump to see what the error message was, but no error message was found.  No alerts, no open circle (which is the alert icon).  I shrugged it off and continued trying to catch up on blog reading.  Fifteen minutes later . . .

Beep BEEP Beep

Still no error.  All pump settings looked fine.  Even though there was no Non-Delivery message, I disconnected my tubing and did a prime to make sure insulin was flowing.  It was - but better safe than sorry, right?  I decided I should call Minimed in case something was wrong with my new pump.

As always, they were experiencing high call volume.  Why does every other pump user decide to call Minimed at the exact time I need to talk to them??  Fast forward through 45 minutes of mind-numbing on-hold music and Beep BEEP Beep errors every 15 minutes.

MM: Hello this is "B", how can I provide you with great customer service today?
Me:  Hi, I just upgraded to the Revel.  For the past few hours my pump has been beeping every 15 minutes, but there are no errors or alerts.  It's the same beep you get every hour when a temp basal is set.  But I have no temp basal set, and it's beeping every 15 minutes.

He took all of my customer and pump info.  He asked if I had an open alert icon on my pump.  (I didn't.)  Then he asked if I still had my old pump.  My heart sank as I told him that I did.  I predicted he was going to tell me to send the new pump back and use the old pump until a replacement Revel arrived.

MM: Okay, can you get your old pump please.
Me: Sure, it's in a box right behind me.
MM: Does it still have a battery in it?
Me: Yes, I haven't taken the old battery out.
MM: Are there any error messages?
Me: Yes, there is a Low Reservoir warning. There is no reservoir in it, of course, but the pump doesn't know that and it thinks it's out of insulin.
MM: Have you cleared the error?
Me: Yup, I cleared it when you told me to go get the old pump. About a minute or so ago.
MM: Okay, what we often find is that an old pump is beeping with an error, and customers think it is the new pump beeping. Actually nothing is wrong with your Revel, you were just hearing the alarm from your old pump.
Me: Oh my goodness, I am an idiot.  Now that you mention it, the beeping started after I came into the room where my old pump is.  I'm such a dope!!!  Ummm, thank you for your help.

Okay, pass me the dunce hat!!!

Hurts so good . . .

Yesterday I was putting away some laundry when the hardwood floor bit me . . . right through my sock.  (I know, I know, always wear shoes.  But to be honest, I never wear anything but socks around my house.)  I sat right down and pulled the offending wood out of my foot.  But it still hurt.  So last night, I had Pete take a look.  And yes, a small splinter was still in there.

We grabbed my surgical instruments of choice, a new lancet and a pair of tweezers.   We pulled over the floor lamp and Pete began the extraction procedure.  And it hurt.  HURT!!!!  Hurt so bad that I cried out in pain and little K.C. came running over to see why I cried.  (I told you she was a sweet little cat.)  This little splinter was in deep, and Pete and I ended up doing a tag-team kind of thing until I finally got it out.

Okay, not exactly the bloody stump of a foot it feels like.

I hate splinters, especially in my feet.  It goes back to a childhood trauma involving a huge chunk of horse chestnut shell and the bottom of my foot.  Just the thought of it makes my stomach clench in terror.

But there is a silver lining.  There is always a silver lining.  Although this little splinter of wood and its extraction hurt, it sets my mind at ease.  I'm glad it hurt.  Because it means those little nerves in my feet are still working just fine.  It means for now, when someone tells me about their grandmother with diabetes who had to have her feet amputated, I can tell them that my feet are just fine.  My little cut hurts so good.

**** As an end note, I need to add that I do not recommend ignoring doctors' orders and walking around without shoes on.  Do as I say, not as I do.  I also want to assure you that Pete and I are checking this wound twice a day to be sure it's healing as it should. ****

I thought it was odd . . .

When the CGM alarmed me for a high a few hours ago, I thought it was odd.  I don't usually have a problem with highs mid-morning.  And I had been slacking and hadn't even eaten breakfast yet, so it wasn't like that would have driven me up.  But my blood sugars have been off for the past week.  So I just figured it was another frustratingly random high.  I tested and punched in my correction along with a breakfast bolus.

When I thought I felt a bit of dampness, I thought it was odd.  But I'm a pretty clumsy person.  I was sure I must have sloshed some of my breakfast onto my pajama leg.

When I noticed my CGM still showed me well above 200 with two rapid rising arrows, I thought it was odd.  Surely some of the insulin I bolused would be kicking in by now.  I know I ate breakfast without waiting until I was under 150.  But I shouldn't still be rising so rapidly.

When it occurred to me that the funny scent that kept wafting past my nose smelled a lot like insulin, I DIDN'T think it was odd.  It finally clicked.  I figured out what I'm sure you had pegged by the second paragraph of this post.  I pulled out my pump.  I kept pulling and the tubing kept coming - swinging gracefully though the air because it wasn't attached to my site.  DUNCE!!!!

I had disconnected at 7:06 this morning to prime out a large bubble in my tubing.  Apparently, when I connected back up, I didn't click into the site all the way.  The end of my tubing had been pumping insulin into the air rather than into me.  I know I'm very lucky that my blood sugar is only 284, but it's a small consolation.  Hopefully I can get it back on the down-swing before I hit the 300s.  But it's frustrating that my own stupidity is causing hours of crappy blood sugar readings.

I'll be wearing my dunce hat for the remainder of the day.

Yup, I'm a Moron too!

All over D-Blogville, people have been fessing up to Moronic Diabetes Behavior. Well, it's time for me to come clean.  I, too, am a Diabetes Moron.  (And at times, just a moron in general!)

Soon after getting my pump, I discovered how much I like the Blood Glucose Check Reminder alarm.  When I bolus for a meal, I set the alarm to beep me when it's time for my 2-hour post meal check.  Of course, when it goes off, I'm not always ready to check RIGHT THEN.  Sometimes I need to finish the sentence I'm typing.  Sometimes I need to finish knitting the row I'm working on.  You get the idea.  So I've gotten into the bad habit of taking out my pump, clearing the alarm, and letting it sit in my lap until I'm ready for my finger-stick.

Here comes the Moronic Part.  Quite often, my meter is not an arms length away from where I am sitting.  So I get up to retrieve it.  WITHOUT REMEMBERING THAT MY PUMP IS RESTING ON MY LAP!  That's right, it dangles from the tubing and does a little bouncy thing I like to call Bungee Pumping.

One of these days, I'm going to bungee a site right out of my body.  And then, I'll be the Queen of the Morons!