Wednesday, December 27, 2006

is it new year yet?

Well, I am still not 100% unsick (although just about 95% today), and now I'm getting these inexplicable headaches every night. Not cool! I haven't narrowed down the cause yet, but I hope I can soon. Other than that, I've been kind of excited.

I finally got my boxes of supplies! However, I opened the box that should have contained three months' supply of Sure-Ts and IV 3000, and it had...one box of Sure Ts and one box of IV Prep. I'm not sure how this happened, but I guess I will call MM tomorrow and get them to send out the rest. I did get four samples from MM, even though I was told I'd receive two and the packing list says two, so that will help for awhile. I was planning on changing them every two days, though. I get kind of nervous when I'm low on supplies, heh.

I did the first training today. Mainly it was a lot of "hmm, you've done this." The most surprising thing was that the CDE couldn't sign off on my settings because they are outside the settings they're allowed to set. According to their formula, my basal should be .25/hour and my correction factor should be 1 unit to 40 points. By my calculation (i.e. me-based equation instead of everybody-based equation), my basal should be .15/hour. My correction factor is 1 unit to 50 points. Oh, and my insulin ratio is wrong according to their formula, but she didn't say wrong in what way. But I know those last two things are definitely correct. She said they'd call my endo to get different settings approved before I start on insulin on Friday, but I'm not sure it will be all of them. I might have to have the higher basal, which wouldn't be horrible for me; I just don't need it. But it's probably obvious that the formula doesn't fit me because it's designed for people who make no insulin. Anyway, I will be doing the saline for two days.

Hope you all are having a wonderful holiday season!

6 comments:

Bernard said...

Lili

Exciting times. I've two suggestions.

First err on the side of caution for at least the first few days. When you're using an insulin pump, I think you'll find that your overall insulin requirements will drop. So taking less insulin than you expect is a lot safer than taking too much.

Secondly, you can always accept your CDE's suggestions initially and then change them once you get home. Again, be careful about this. In the end you'll 'own' the pump, so you'll also own the settings.

I do hope it all works out for you and that 2007 is the year of the pump for you -- and a great one at that.

Lili said...

Bernard - since I already split injections and didn't take Lantus until last month, I don't think my insulin needs will change very much.

Also, look again. She's not telling me to take less insulin, she's telling me to take almost twice as much. I don't think that sounds safe at all!

Kerri. said...

Congrats on getting started, Lili!! Keep us posted as to how it goes. :)

Christine said...

When I started my pump the trainer had to get all the settings from my doctor. They were too high.

One box of IV3000 is 50 or 100 pieces. Assuming you use 2 pieces every time you change your site, that's 60 for a 3 month supply. At 1 sheet per set change it would be 30, so maybe they did calculate 1 box as a three month supply. I don't use it very often now that I use Cleos, but used it all the time with Insets.

Christine said...

Ah, never mind. I missed the "prep" part, even though you italicized it. I usually order from edgepark, though I have had some problems with them too.

Lili said...

Kerri - thanks. I wish I had something better to post.

Megan - thanks. It turns out that the IV3000 is covered by insurance; they just sent the wrong item.