Infusion Set - Site Failure

It was late afternoon, I was sitting in a cafe in town with my lovely husband, with a latte in front of me. My meter sat on my knee under the table staring back at me with a number that didn't make sense. Ok, I gave it the benefit of the doubt and bolused for the number and the milk in the latte. Thought that'd be the end of it. An hour later, when I got home, that darn number was still the same. It shouldn't have been.

I was sure I'd had a site failure.

A 'site' is where the cannula goes under the skin with whatever infusion sets are used with the insulin pump. In my case, with the Animas 2020, I use the Inset II (pictured) - today, a pink one.

So off I went to grab another infusion set. Inserted it a couple of inches over and hooked up with the old line. Meanwhile, my BGLs had been going up and up. Once hooked up, and because I wasn't all that high, I bolused again. Success! Within 45 minutes my BGLs were starting to come down. Yessss!

I then pulled out the old infusion set and sure enough, a bent cannula. I thought I'd done everything right with the insertion of that infusions set, but something still went wrong.

It happens.

Pump Occlusion

Monday this week, my pump alarmed with a pump occlusion. At the time, I couldn't figure out why - it was nothing obvious then.

It was clearly a while (no idea how long) before the pump alarmed me, and I was extremely surprised to see that my BGL went up so quickly.

I changed the site with a completely new inset, then took a new cartridge and filled it with insulin. On rewinding the pump, it all went a bit strange. I hadn't rewound properly and I had to call support for some assistance. A few minutes later, no problem, but I ended up with a cartridge with only 100u of insulin instead of 200u. No problem, I thought, I'd change it again in a couple of days, which I did yesterday afternoon. Somehow I'd napped through the 20u-left alarm. Lucky I woke when I did, I guess.

These things happen on a pump. In retrospect, I'd used my lower belly where I'd been injecting insulin for the past few years. And I'd occasionally had trouble with with absorption because of hard, fatty deposits that some people are prone to with insulin injections. I'm pretty sure I stuck my site into one of those places that were half-healed, but not quite.

Pump occlusions do happen, but insulin pumps alarm as soon as they detect it, so you can take action as soon as possible.

Otherwise everything is going really well. I've never had such good, steady BGLs - and this was one of the major reasons for me to go on a pump. Absolutely no regrets!

Pump Notes

This post is a tad overdue. I've been on the Animas 2020 insulin pump for just over a week.

With only one very explainable hypo early Saturday morning (lots of activity on Friday plus a party), I've been going great. Two site changes on my own so far - one last Friday and one yesterday. Both went well, although I was a little worried about the one yesterday, but it turned out ok.

There's no doubt that my blood sugar levels are really great, especially compared to this time 6 months ago on MDI. I'm astounded at the freedom this pump gives me.

Yes you need to test lots, but on MDI you should be doing the same if you want good BGLs. For the rest, it's so easy!

I uploaded a food database and it went fine. In Australia, the food database doesn't come installed.

I'm downloading pump data every few days because my DE needs to see what still has to be tweaked. We've already upped my basal by .1 an hour, and for some times during the day, maybe it's a tad too much. I'm just waiting for a call from me DE to see what can be tweaked from a full week of data.

Hooked up and flying! (Animas 2020)

Pump-start day yesterday!!! All went very smoothly. Out to dinner last night. BGLs really great, but some tweaking of basals probably in store next week. Even got the software to work on Vista (the Australian version isn't supposed to). Downloaded the pump data. Site change & refill today with the rep and handed in the reports from the downloaded data - less than 24 hours worth (LOL). Off to breakfast in town. So easy to bolus! Learning to trust what the pump tells me to do.

Am so loving this pump!! I made exactly the right choice for me.

Some hints before anyone goes on the pump.

• Do lots of homework.
• Download the manual and familiarise yourself with the functions.
• Do the online pump-school on the Animas site.
• Read "Pumping Insulin" by John Walsh, and then once you're hooked up, use it to understand more.
• Play with the virtual pump on the Animas site.
• Make a list of your favourite foods with carbs so you can upload them to your pump later.
• Read pumping blogs and posts on Tu Diabetes and other sites.
• And ask questions!

The more you learn beforehand, the easier pump-start day will be. No two people's requirements will be the same, but reading about others' experiences was invaluable for me!

I have the most awesome Animas trainer on the planet (sorry, I want to claim this one). Not only does she wear the Animas 2020 herself, but is a fountain of knowledge and helpful information, given in a language catered to whatever level you're at. She's very kind and encouraging, and has a wicked sense of humour - definitely things I appreciate in any trainer. I can't praise her and my DE highly enough for making this transition easy and painless in so many ways.

I'm definitely hooked up and flying!