Shelly, Quinton is doing a great job! Tell him this old man with type 1 for 64 years is very proud of him! I am not familiar with the Red Robin restaurants. Is it a diabetes restaurant? How did Quinton know how much insulin to use unless he knew the exact carb count? I go to restaurants that are listed in my Calorie King book so I will not have trouble with dosages.
That is super that Quinton is changing his sets ate age 12. Be sure he rotates sites and uses different body parts occasionally to avoid scar tissue.
Diagnosed in 1945, when I was 6. Pumping with the MM 522. A1c = 5.5
See my profile for information about my book.
Jessica, have you talked to the people on the following site?
http://www.childrenwithdiabetes.com
That site was created for parents of diabetic children. There are many parents of children of all ages who pump there.
Hey there...
I'll make sure to let Q know that you are proud of him! That will definitely make him feel good.
Red Robin is not a Diabetic Restaurant. It's a chain that specializes in burgers. We always ask for a nutrition menu when we go out so he knows how many carbs he's eating. About 70% of the restaurants have them. The others that don't, we rely on an iPod app that he has called "food facts". He searches for what he's eating and it tells us all the nutrition facts of what he's having. It's a GREAT app. We also use hte Calorie King book. I love that thing!
He does rotate his sites. On Friday when he changed his site the wierdest thing happened though. He pulled off the adhesive around the canula and the area was VERY red and irritated. This was to be xpected because I have super sensitive skin as well. Within 2 minutes, he developed 4 blisters all within the area of the adhesive. I immediately called his pump trainer who told us to call his PCP.
The PCP said that if the blisters aren't infected or ruptured, just to watch them. Well, they did rupture, but mostly it was just water with a little blood swirled in the fluid. I called Medtronic and explained to them the sensitivity that was happening. They sent us out an adhesive sample pack with all sorts of barriers/tapes/fluids/etc in it. He'll be changing his set again tonight so we'll start experimenting with the different adhesives they sent. They sent us Tegaderm, IV 3000, IV Preps (which we currently use), and some other suture liquid stuff that Docs use for open wounds to "glue" the wound back together. If none of this works, we'll have to meet with an ostonomy nurse to figure out what can be done to minimize the reactions. One thing that was suggested was the "sandwich method" and that's probably what we'll try tonight.
The one thing I'm concerned with though is even the paper tape that they use for regular IV's and the Tagaderm that is used for IV's still break me out in a huge red rash. I've never had blisters though. I'm just hoping that one of these things that they sent will work. Of course, none of it is covered by insurance, but it is a necessity, so I'm gonna have to find a way to pay for it.
VERY proud mama of an incredible 12 year old boy who amazes me EVERY SINGLE DAY at how he is "owning" his diagnosis
Quinton (Q-Jo) Diagnosed on January, 2010
Shelly, i have the same problem with the paper tapes. I bought a box of Skin Prep wipes at my drug store. I rub the area where the tape will go and let it dry. It feel kinda sticy then. It helps holds the set in place and protects the skin from irritation. I have not had any more problems wit reddness or blisters. I also bought a box of Uni-Solve wipes. When the set is removed there is some residue on the skin from the tape and Skin Prep. The Uni-Solve wipe will dissolve the resudue and cleans the area nicely. Both Skin Prep and Uni-Solve are made by Smith&Nephew. There are competing brands, but these work great for me.
That's so exciting! I was the same way when I got my pump and I was 20 years old! haha I'm surprised how many people are now getting pumps so early. I was only diabetic for 5 months before I had my pump! I had an incident about 2 months ago where my pump completely stopped working and I had to be at my internship that day for 7 hours, I was so afraid to go back on shots that I ate no carbs all day!!
Diagnosed at 19 on February 21, 2009.
I am on a Animas OneTouch Ping since July 2009.
Courtney, I am curious about your not eating carbs all day. You were not getting any basal, so did you have high blood sugar? Did you inject some basal? I have not had any basal insulin on hand since I started pumping. The pump provides both basal and bolus.
My blood sugar stayed consistent around 140 so it wasn't that outrageous. I had no insulin all day, until I got home and my new pump had arrived. I don't have any basal insulin on hand either and all I had were syringes which I did carry with me that day just in case. But I was only going to use them in an extreme situation.