penmachine

It's been close to 36 hours since I went off the pump and back on the Lantus and Humalog routine. Luckily, I'm still alive and kicking. Sure there have been a few bumps in the road, but overall it hasn't been that bad at all.

I started out with 10 units of Lantus on Wednesday morning, but stayed between 220 and 250 the entire day. So when the evening injection came around, I decided to increase the Lantus to 12 units. But I still woke up at 223 after a pre-bed reading of 255. So I raised the Lantus again this morning to 14 units.

After breakfast, I saw the highest number yet: 371. I wasn't so excited, and didn't feel so well. I bolused for the number and waited for the decline. And a few hours later, I was 176 after eating a banana.

The hours that followed that were like perfection. I stayed between 122 and 129 for over four hours. And my post-dinner reading only shot up to 195. It's down to 160 three hours after dinner. Since I've kept all the boluses the same as what I used on the pump, I'm not sure exactly which one to change: Lantus or Humalog.

I'm not happy that I ran in the 200's for so many hours over the past two days, but I am happy that I'm seeing these types of results so quickly. I'm also happy that my skin is getting a much needed break (and starting to heal!). The freedom of not having the infusion sites and the actual pump attached 24/7 have been quite interesting.

There have been a few moments where I've longed for the ease of the pump. For instance, I don't feel comfortable bolusing in public now with a syringe (I'm having to relearn that absence of anxiety). On campus, it's been difficult to time boluses perfectly so that I have bathroom access or can go somewhere where I'm not seen. It's also going to be interesting since I'm going out with a new friend tomorrow for dinner.

I've also missed the fact that the pump lets me know how much bolus I have on board (or active). Since I don't constantly keep track of my boluses, I have to guess at how much might be active to see if the previous bolus is bringing me down far enough. I really don't know how I managed this before...maybe I was just more aware.

The detailed accuracy of bolus options on the pump is quite amazing too. It definitely allows for more accurate blood sugars. But that hasn't been an issue so far, so I'm less concerned about that.

I'm planning to raise the Lantus dosage to 16 units this evening and 15 units tomorrow morning. I'm hoping that won't put me too low, but I'm also hoping that it won't leave me high. I really want perfection! It'd be such a blessing to only spend two days with topsy-turvy numbers. I also plan to do the injection when I wake up, instead of waiting till mid-afternoon.

I still haven't decided what I plan to do long-term with this whole thing. When I sat down with my pump averages over the last two weeks, I was surprised to see that I only needed a little bit of tweaking to get to optimal blood sugar levels. But now, Lantus has me leaning that way too. I loved being able to stay at 120 for the entire afternoon without worrying about lows or random highs.

At least I know that I can easily stay on the Lantus routine until my skin and my stress levels return to normal. Having that figured out is definitely a relief. Now it's just on to giving myself time to heal and readjust to whichever life I choose.