Set Changes

Living with T1 Technology

After yet another sleepless night responding to alarms from my insulin pump and sensor, I thought I’d better get it all written down to show the endocrinologist. If I wind the clock back to last Thursday the 10th of September, I’d had 3 or 4 days of continuously high BGL’s sitting around 10 and nothing I did would make them drop any lower, finally that day, I decided to change the site. When I took the old insertion out, I felt it rip and blood poured out, nasty black thick blood as if it was old and contaminated. I put a new set in and my BGL’s came down over that night back to a respectable 7. On the morning of Friday 11th, I was wandering around in my pj’s and dressing gown with my pump in the pocket of the dressing gown and the infusion line looping out and back to the insertion site. I caught the line on a door handle as I walked into my bedroom and it gave the insertion site a little tug. I didn’t think much of it and got dressed & went about my daily business. During the day my BGL’s started to climb again. By 4 in the evening I was in the city seeing the researcher that I’m undertaking the Optimal Health program with and my BGL’s were up at 18 and wouldn’t come down and I was feeling really sick. I didn’t even think that it could be the insertion cannula again. I went home and gave myself an injection of insulin to top up & went out to a friends place for dinner. My BGL’s came down a little and by the time I’d relaxed and thought things through I decided I’d better change the site again. When I got home and actually looked at the site I found it was / or had been, bleeding. I changed the site and my BGL’s returned to normal. I reasoned that I must have damaged it when I hooked the line on the door that morning. I had 4 days of normal levels and then changed the site again on Tuesday 15th. From then, it went bad again, my levels kept rising, I couldn’t get them down. so on Thursday 17th, I changed it again and this time I found that the insulin had been leaking from the top of the connection and not getting into me. Once again my BGL’s started to come down and were good overnight on Thursday night, I woke with a 7 on Friday morning. On Friday morning I had to go into the city for a job interview. I did my usual routine of breakfast and walking the dog and just before I left to catch the train I did a BGL check. I was 20! I tried to think whether I had missed my breakfast bolus, I could remember dealing it up, perhaps I hadn’t hit the ACT button? So I re-bolussed and headed out. By the time I got to the city my BGL’s were 24. I sat on the station at Southern Cross and injected 6 units. After the interview I was down to 18 and I rode my bike (which I’d taken in with me so that I could get some exercise by riding home), to Newport station and came home. I was down to 9.8. I did another set change. Again it worked fine during the day and throughout the evening, at 8:30 pm I was 6.8. I had a pre-bedtime snack and bloused for it and went to bed. During the night my BGL’S started rising again, I kept getting High alarms and responded with extra boluses. I re-checked levels with finger pricks, the sensor was accurate. I did boluses for non-existent carbohydrate intake, just trying to get the insulin to push through. By 6am the alarms were screaming 14.4. I decided I needed to do ANOTHER set change. Here’s how it looks on a time line.
10th - Set change, ripped vein
11th - Set change, damaged site
15th - Set change, normal
17th - Set change, leaking from connection
18th - Set change, no idea why
19th - Set change - I’m OVER it!

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Closed Loop Here I come!

Inside the brain