A Day with Type 1 Diabetes: Insulin Pumpin

Back last March, I did my first "A Day with Type 1 Diabetes" post. At that time I was doing multiple daily injections therapy, which ended up usually being between 8-10 shots a day. Good times. Now, I'm an insulin pump therapy girl. If you've read my blog any other time before, then you know how much I love my insulin pump compared to multiple daily injections.  Let's just be dramatic for a minute and let me say that my insulin pump changed my diabetes life. Now, let's not be dramatic and say yes, my daily life with type 1 diabetes still isn't normal but my life with type 1 diabetes is now less intrusive compared to before in my very important humble opinion.

 

First, let me officially introduce you to my pump. and I'll do so by posting an awkward picture of me posing with it.

Ok cool.

 

It was a Friday..........

 

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1am - This diabetes day started early. Before bed at around 11pm on Thursday night, I checked my blood sugar and it was 46mg/dL. That's really low (normal range for typical people is 70-120mg/dL). So I ate 4 Starbursts to raise my blood sugar back up into a good safe range and went to bed. At around 1am I woke up and laid there and thought to myself "Did I wake up cause my blood sugar is low or did I wake up cause AJ was moving around?" I didn't feel like my blood sugar was low but decided to check it. It was 53 mg/dL. Low again. I said a little thank you prayer for waking up and then ate 4 more Starbursts.

 

 

9am- I know you're thinking "Courtney, you don't wake up till 9am?" I was sick this day and canceled any obligations I had the night before. Checked my blood sugar 103mg/dL. Perfect!

 

 

 

 

Then I made coffee and before I drank it I grabbed my pump and typed in how much insulin I wanted it to give me and pushed ACT. The pump then starts pumping the correct amount of insulin into my body through a little tube that is already inserted into the skin and fat of my stomach.

 

 

Noon - I'm hungry for lunch and decide that since I'm sick cough cough that I should go get Panera to help make me feel better. I look up the nutritional info of the meal I want at Panera so that I will know in advanced how much insulin to tell my pump to give me before I eat. I'm just concerned with the red circled carbohydrates number.

 

 

Before I hop in the car, I check my blood sugar again to make sure it's in a safe range to drive. 101 mg/dL = great.

 

 

Right before I eat, I type in the number of grams of carbs I'm about to eat into my pump and have it calculate the amount of insulin I should take.

 

 

2pm - I check my blood sugar about 2 hours after eating lunch to make sure my number is good. It was 112mg/dL. I like that.

 

 

6pm - I tend to get low blood sugar around this time of the day since it's around dinner time. I wasn't planning on eating dinner for another hour but check my blood sugar just to see if my body was good. For some crazy, unexplained reason (diabetes can be very unpredictable) my blood sugar is a little, little high at 123 mg/dL. This is crazy to me since I haven't eaten anything since around noon today. It may just be running higher than normal this time of the day cause I'm sick. Who knows. So I tell my pump to give me a little insulin to bring my blood sugar down a bit.

 

 



7pm - Friday's date night around here. The 3 of us head out to dinner (AJ, Court, and pump).

 

Dinner consisted of lots of insulin, I think I told my pump to give me about 8 units. I had to guess on how much insulin I needed because the restaurant we went to doesn't provide nutritional information about their meals. Pretty annoying. Oh and dinner also consisted of a really cute man.

 

8:30pm - After dinner I had to check my blood sugar to see how accurate my guessing was.

129mg/dL I'll take it! but I did tell my pump to give me about a unit more of insulin to bring my blood sugar done a little more.

8:45pm - We went and got ice cream. Ice cream is my most favorite food in the world but it is really hard on my blood sugar. So when I do eat it, I have to take lots of insulin and check my blood sugar at least once every 20-30 minutes for at least 2 hours after I finish eating it. It takes a lot of work to safely eat it but it's always worth it. So I ended up checking my blood sugar 4 more times before bed after eating ice cream.

9:15pm - We got home and AJ wanted to check his blood sugar for fun because he was curious to see what it was after eating ice cream for a typical person. His blood sugar was 112mg/dL. Why don't you and your working pancreas brag about it? I then decided to make it a competition and check to see what my blood sugar was compared to his. Mine was 103mg/dL. Win for the artificial pancreas.

 

 

9:45pm - Another blood sugar check

10:15pm -Anther blood sugar check

10:30pm - When you're married you can happily go to bed at 10:30pm on a Friday night. I check my blood sugar once more before bed and it's a low 61mg/dL. So I reluctantly shove 3 glucose tablets in my mouth. Glucose tablets taste like huge Smarties. The last thing my body wanted after eating ice cream was sugar tablets.

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There it is! What a day with type 1 diabetes can look like with an insulin pump.

 

love,

the 2 of us