So I talked to MM today and they said my pump was ordered and will come on Thursday! I was really excited until I talked to Joslin about scheduling the training. They won't schedule me until after my appointments on Wednesday. With some pushing, they told me they'll scheduling training sometime in January, but they don't even have dates yet. I thought the training classes were more one-on-one and that they could be scheduled right away, but I guess I was wrong. When I said I was frustrated by this, the nurse was kind of unsympathetic because apparently things are just happening really fast for me. I guess it seems that way to them, but when I've been trying to get a pump for four months to cut down on three hours a day of diabetes management, it doesn't seem that way at all.
This just seems very frustrating, because I don't feel like I even need much training. They are going to show me how to use the sets on Wednesday. I've done the pump school online and I can quote from "Pumping Insulin" as needed. I was really looking forward to a holiday where I can actually eat what I want instead of avoiding most of it. I guess I will have to wait another year for that. I don't really feel excited about this anymore. Also I think I will start titrating the Lantus down tonight.
3 comments:
That's frustrating.
I remember the absolute hardest part about starting my first pump (way back in the olden days!) was the period between actually receiving the pump and being able to start using it after training.
Sorry to hear that you have to wait. It kind of makes sense, no-one schedules classes around the holidays. Maybe you can just meet with a CDE? I was a Joslin patient in Boston and the only training I received was a 2 hour session with a CDE.
While you're waiting, you can at least experiment with the pump and get very used to using it.
What I mean is, don't put an infusion set into it, but go through the priming work and let the pump think that is has a set in there.
Then work on establishing your ratios, even though you can't really test those out right now.
Then, use the pump to help you decide when to shoot up. See if the bolus wizard on the pump will help you in calculating the amount to give. Don't forget to have the pump think it's also delivering a bolus amount.
That way you'll get used to the controls, and you'll maybe even get slightly better control and some idea of what your ratios should be while you're waiting for the class.
Scott - thanks, I had heard that from people before. I just didn't realise all the things I was hearing were misleading, I guess.
Bernard - I am also puzzled because I got the impression that's what I would be doing. Perhaps the trainers will all be off on vacation?
I am already pretty sure what ratios and such I need - I was on just Novolog for six months. So unless a *lot* changes in the next month I think it will be similar. Obviously (like everything else) this only works because I'm still making some insulin.
That's a good idea, thanks.
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