Pump Education

All people with type 1 diabetes need insulin to survive (some people with type 2 diabetes need insulin as well). This is a fact. The only way to get insulin into the body is to inject it. This is done with a small syringe, an insulin pen (still a needle) or a pump. DJ has a pump. There are several different kinds of pumps; DJ has an Animas Ping, hers is blue.

For us, the three selling points of the Ping were 1) With DJ's active lifestyle it seemed like a really good fit. She can take it off and put it on very easily which is really helpful when she's playing sports. 2) It's completely water proof so although DJ doesn't need to wear it when she's swimming, she could. 3) The meter, the thing you test your blood with on the left, acts as a remote to the pump which is on the right. So if DJ is sleeping or sick I can test her blood and give her insulin when she needs it without waking her up. It also allows for more privacy when giving insulin in public, a very big deal to DJ.

The insulin pump is nice for several reasons. 1) DJ only has to change the sight (essentially give herself an injection) every three days instead of shots every time she eats. 2) DJ gets a constant stream of insulin 24/7 which should lead to better control of her numbers. This constant stream of insulin is called a basal. 3) When she eats she tests her blood sugar and the pump looks at her current number and DJ tells it how many grams of carbs she's going to eat. The pump does a little math and tells her how much extra insulin she should take to keep her numbers in a healthy range. This extra dose of insulin is called a bolus.

Once a week we are supposed to (I really need to work on this) download the information from DJ's meter and pump. The softwear that goes along with the pump produces reports that show us how much insulin through basal and bolus DJ is getting every day. The basal and the bolus should be very close to equal. For example if DJ is getting 40 units of insulin through her basal (steady stream) she should be getting about 40 units through the bolus' (extra doses with meals). If DJ is getting a lot more insulin through bolus her numbers will be high on average, if she gets a lot of extra insulin through basal her numbers will be low on average.

There is also a report that shows all of DJ's test results (numbers) over the last week (or longer if we need to look). When we look at this report we need to look at patterns of highs, lows or healthy numbers and along with the other report we make adjustments to the basal rate in the hopes that DJ's numbers will improve.

Then life goes on and we do it all again next week.

It's all relatively simple once you learn it. Honestly, most of it you learn just because your child has diabetes, before you are even introduced to the pump. The pump makes it easier because it does a lot of the hard work for you. It would be perfect if life were the same day after day after day.

Because life is not the same day after day it's not always so easy. (Don't worry. I'm almost done. If you've hung on this long I shall reward you by ending the lesson soon). Doses of insulin (basal and bolus) have to be adjusted with variables such as illness, stress, activity and time of day. I won't even go into the details on all of this. I just want to make it clear that although the pump is pretty amazing, it's not a working pancreas. I'm confident DJ will have one of those someday too, though.

***Disclaimer: I hear it kinda sucks to have to walk around with a little piece of medical equipment attached to you 24/7, especially if you accidentally drop it while it's attached! Ouch!