Pump Life

Last night we made changes to Cole’s basal rate on his pump.  This is the amount of insulin his pump gives him continuously throughout the day and night.  For example we bumped Cole’s basal rate at 10pm to .275, 12am is now .175 and 5am is now .2.  Cole normally runs high from dinner until lunch so we are trying to up his insulin slowly until we are able to get him in a better range.  Of course bumping up insulin over the night time hours can be a scary thing.  This is when you worry that he will drop to low in his sleep and have a seizure or die. 

Cole’s numbers have actually been really good the previous 2 nights so we were extra worried last night with the new addition of insulin.  Cole has had a cough for the past few nights and actually woke up about midnight and came to bed with us.  I checked his reading which was 250.  I did not want to correct then because I knew at midnight and at 5am he would be getting more insulin than normal.  I decided to wait until the 2am check(which ended up being 3am).  At 3am we checked him and he was 344.  WHAT IN THE HELL!!  So much for him dropping too low during the night.  Ugh.  So 344, could be because he did not get enough insulin at dinner, or maybe his site isn’t good, or perhaps this insulin is going bad in his pump and it’s time to change his site, or maybe it’s the cough causing him to run high and he’s getting sick, maybe he’s stressed because he can’t sleep because of the cough…. So many things could cause this.  So we give him a correction (dose of insulin) and get him to go back to sleep.  This morning he was in the low 200s, so that’s good news – insulin is not bad, site is not bad, maybe he’s just sick or didn’t get enough carb correction at dinner. 

So 2 more nights with these basal rate settings and then we bump it up again if he’s still running high.  Oh the joys of pump life.  Don’t get me wrong, the pump is great.  Giving Cole freedom to have a snack or drink some milk without having to get a shot is priceless.  I wish we could just get his numbers better.  The pump has been a life saver, literally.   At bedtime (mine not his) I go in while he is sleeping and check his finger to get his blood sugar reading.  I then enter the reading into his pump and give him some insulin if needed.  While this is great that I can now give him insulin without waking him up and giving him a shot, it’s also hard.  I can’t think about what I am doing, I just have to do it. I have to be like a robot like this is what I am programmed to do.  If I think about it, it’s upsetting.  This pump that I am punching numbers in is what keeps my child alive.  This machine operated by 1 AA battery is my child’s lifeline.  He will always need this, there is no growing out of this, there is no getting better, there is no cure. 

For now we will live one day at a time and continue to try to get Cole’s numbers in a better range.  On the plus side I have read on several sites that toddlers and the smaller children tend to run a bit higher and it’s okay because damage does not start happening to Cole’s organs until after puberty.  I don’t know if this is correct information but I hope so.  That gives us plenty of time to get this figured out.  And thanks to Cole’s pump we will enjoy a little more ice cream along the path of figuring out diabetes.  : )