I often feel as if my diabetes is one of my children. It can behave for stretches of time, especially if I'm watching it closely. But as soon as I think everything's okay, it pulls a trick on me. Case in point: Just when I thought I could make progress with my new CGM, things backslid; every week for the past two months, I've gone through a day or two when I just can't find a spot on my body where the pump infusion set will work. I literally go through sticking myself four or five times in a day, with about an hour or two in between in cases when it seems to be working, only to find it's hit a blood vessel; blood sugar levels go sky high, and it's a fine mess when I take the set out. Needless to say, I haven't used the CGM at all; I'm finding it hard enough to find a spot for the pump.
But I don't like to just sit and complain, so I've found myself the new endocrinologist who specializes in pumps; and I'm going to have a nurse from the pump manufacturer out to my house tomorrow to see if she can't help. Maybe the infusion set where the needle stays in will help. This is what they use for lots of kids, with their small bodies and not a lot of fat.
In fact, I've always had to use the silhouette infusion sets, which go in at an angle, supposedly because I'm pretty thin (though I've only ever been normal weight, not underweight). But then, I lost 5 pounds in December, as I learned when I saw the new endo. What, lost weight, in December?? I know! I wasn't even trying, and it's not something that's ever happened to me before without a lot of effort. I guess the combination of taking care of a two-year-old and trying to get everything done over the holidays had me moving more than I realized.
Still, I'm only now back to my pre-pregnancy weight (almost 2 and a half years after giving birth). I suspect that the problem with my infusion sets is more because of the damage to the subcutaneous tissue from years of insulin injections and infusions (mostly in my abdomen), plus perhaps some residual extra blood vessels in my abdomen from pregnancy. But I don't understand why sites I've hardly ever used, like my arm, are now bleeding so often, without any signs of infection. Too bad! if it were just an infection, I could just take an antibiotic. No, no magic bullets for me, as the new endo said.
Oddly, my A1c is almost as good as during the beginning of pregnancy - it's now 6.3. This should make me happy, but it only makes me more upset to think I might have to go off the pump. What's more, everyone I consult on this - doctors, the pump reps - makes me feel like I'm the only person who's ever had these infusion-site problems. I'd love to know if anyone else has!
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