August 4, 2009
Mari

Medical professionals, ignore this blog entry. I’m not sure it’s a medically supported activity that we did today. It was all in the name of maintaining good blood sugar control while being able to get some WILD work accomplished.

Here’s what happened. I had an acupuncture appointment and I realized once at the appointment that I had taken off my pump at home and had not put it back on when I decided not to take a shower before leaving the house. Right after the appointment, Karen L, Christina and I planned to have a WILD planning meeting. We are down to the wire on ordering our team uniforms and we planned to review the order and designs. I live in Denver, which was where my pump was sitting on the bathroom counter. The appointment and Karen L’s house, where we were meeting, was in Boulder – about 40 minutes from my house. Not next door.

Rather than go home after the acupuncture appointment, which I decided to stay for, as I had eaten right before driving up and had taken a bolus for the food I ate for lunch, I went over to Karen’s to meet her and Christina. I told them what had happened, and I asked if Karen had a needle and insulin that I might borrow. She of course, did, and she got them. I was getting ready to take a shot of insulin and she offered to let me take a hit of insulin off her pump. You know, to avoid having to give myself an actual shot. I had my infusion site on and as luck would have it we wear the same type of pump and use the same infusion sets.

I thought, what the heck? Seemed lots better than taking a shot. Less interruption in some ways. So, using the PRIME feature, (so as not to mess up Karen’s insulin on board calculations) I took a hit of insulin. We had the meeting, had a few snacks and some tasty refreshing Fresca soda, and before leaving her house nearly 2 hours later, I took another hit off her pump for the drive home. I did have my meter with me and I tested a few times. My blood sugar got as high as 200 at one point, but mostly it was in the 140’s and 150’s. Even after getting home and putting on my own pump, all has remained stable.


I have to say, that was one of the more intimate diabetes experiences I’ve ever had. Karen, I feel strangely close to you after sharing your pump for the afternoon. Thank you for your generous offer and thank you for being my teammate. Being part of this team is turning out to be a wild and wonderous experience on so many crazy levels. Here’s to having a team of incredible women who “get it.”