Yesterday marked the beginning of Hanna’s insulin pump start. For anyone who doesn’t know, Hanna’s pump will deliver insulin to her via a tiny site (about the size of a quarter) that has a small, felixble cannula beneath the skin. We change this site every 2-3 days but in the meantime, it delivers insulin to her subcutaneously 24 hours a day. Needless to say, we *heart* this device. (And again, a big shout out to the really smart people out there designing this stuff!)
For those of you wondering how something like this works for an active 8 year old, let me tell you, Hanna has already jumped on the trampoline, played basketball, danced an hour of hip hop & acro all without even noticing she was “attached” to the pump. Yesterday when we checked into the hospital for our required “23 hours of observation” we played a game I like to call “Now you see it, Now you don’t!”
Despite the interesting site changes we’ve experienced (it does take some practice just like doing shots required practice 4.5 years ago) Hanna says she much prefers pumping. We much prefer the numbers, the flexibility and pretty much everything else too. After all, when you’ve done 5 shots a day for as long as Hanna has, there’s no real argument that one site change every 3 days is an improvement. 😉
Oh and the walrus (Hanna named him Alex) was a gift for Hanna from Beth, our wonderful pump rep. (who incidentally also stuck a site in her OWN tummy yesterday morning to make Hanna feel better about the whole thing). Thank you, Beth!! Alex represents just one of the many accoutrements that came with this process to ease the transition. Hanna has also been racking up a collection of cell phone holders, SPIbelts and other groovy accessories to facilitate fashion-forward pumpwearing. Stay tuned — I’m sure she will be happy to pose for some additional photos debuting said items in the days ahead.
