Pump it up!

Gwyneth is loving pump life. I am too. We have met some people that are not sure about getting a pump and Gwyneth wanted us to post a video of how to insert the pump. It was hard at first and the noise of the needle clicking scared us both for a bit.

The reward came the first time that she dosed herself for a snack in the back seat of our car while I was driving her home from Childrens Hospital LA. We both kind of freaked out. With shots, in order for Gwyneth to eat something while we were in the car, we'd have to pull over, find some light, get out the insulin, get out the syringe, grab a calculator and give her the shot. It is a pain.

With the pump, she enters in the amount of carbs that she is going to eat into her pump and presses a few buttons. No syringe to deal with, no needles to fuss around with in public. With the Animas One Touch Ping she doesn't even need to touch the pump...it is remote dosed from her meter! Way cool.

The pump we use is here: ANIMAS

We still have to prick her finger and test her blood sugar every two hours. We still have to think about diabetes 24/7. But now we have help. And less shots.

Here's how to insert the pump cannula into her skin. The last few seconds of video are pointless as we were trying to find where we left her testing supplies...not an uncommon event in our home. I hope this video will encourage our type 1 shot friends that the pump isn't scary once you get the hang of it and the freedom you enjoy with it is immeasurable. Gwyneth will show you how it's done. She's a rock star.

Gwyneth is going to post on the joys of pumping, CHLA, and Bearskin Meadows camp soon.

Thanks for caring enough to follow her journey.