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November 21st, 2009
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We found 10 result(s) that match your search "Cannula":

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The letter C brings us to cannula, by request.
I found an interesting photograph of an insulin pump cannula that said much of what I'd decided to write when I was thinking through this post. Essentially, the photo verbalizes for me the sentiment that my life - the lives of all of us who use an insulin pump - turn (quite literally) on a dime. The cannula that delivers the medicine that keeps us alive is smaller than a coin that, this day and age, won't even pay for a gum ball. (READ MORE)


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I have a love relationship with my insulin. Every diffused dose I have taken over the years found its way into my system with appreciation, even if it stung like the bejesus at times. Like an addict, the smooth emptying of a syringe or cannula gives me immediate comfort, and I know that my body is staying up to date on its hormonal needs. I know the energy I consume can go to work and my internal hemoglobic labyrinth is not under any stress. (READ MORE)


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With all the blood that diabetes care involves, it's no wonder the "vampire" image keeps coming into play. A former T2 co-worker referred to going for blood work as "seeing the Vampire". Kerri's Diabetes Terms of Endearment list includes the entry, "Vampire cannula". For those who live in fear of (fictional) vampires, every time we prick our fingers to test... has to include the scary thought, "Am I inviting a vampire to bite me?"

 

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Today is the day for the letter "B."
Future posts featuring letters of the alphabet are forthcoming. Thanks to a suggestion from a comment on my previous post, I'm asking you, the reader, to help me decide what C, D, E, etc. will stand for. What would you like to read about?
There are so many Bs in the life of a pumping diabetic. B for blood sugar, bolus, basal. Today, though, B is for Basketcase. Did you ever have a blood sugar reading that left you emotional? A reading that left you confused? Afraid? Lost? A reading that left you feeling like a total basketcase? I'm sure you've gathered by now that I have. (READ MORE)


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There's no way around it: I'm almost completely out of real estate on my belly for infusion sets. My lower abdomen is my favorite place for pump sites because they give me such good numbers. If I go too high above my belly button or too far out toward my hips I hit some serious snags.

 

Most site-change mornings have me searching much too hard for a place that doesn't have a scar or isn't a place I've already tried with disastrous results. While I get OK numbers when I use my hips the sites get too damaged from my clothes for some reason.

 

This morning came down to it: I had to try something different. I tried to stand as naturally as I could while I searched for a place on my inner thigh that wouldn't get too much static from my clothes and wouldn't interfere with walking.

 

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Three days, or until the insulin is all used up - that is how long an OmniPod is to be worn for. Before pumping, I was unsure if the scheduled three day replacement interval was going to be a nuisance. I even pondered the idea of trying to sneak in an extra day on the pods- so long as there was enough insulin stowed away in them. Well, that notion, along with a little of my patience, consistently scurries away when I near the end of a pod cycle, and the three day itch sets in. (READ MORE)


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I'm always on the lookout for media representation of diabetes. I appreciate the media feedback that we get, although sometimes it infuriates me at how things are portrayed. Generally, I really don't see many movie or TV shows that feature diabetics in any great length.

 



However, as I was flipping through the channels last night, ABC's Private Practice caught my eye. One of the medical stories of the episode featured a diabetic little boy on an insulin pump. His infusion site had become infected and his blood sugars were elevated.

 

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Olivia uses a Minimed Paradigm pump - the 715 model. We have had no issues with it (knock wood, turn around three times, go outside and spit). I think I've called the help line once in the last three years.

She uses the Silhouette infusion sites. The angled cannula seems to be better for her. The sites that go straight in would bend and crimp. That's not to say she hasn't had the occasional problem with the Sils, but for the most part, they've been fine.

The last 10 or so site changes, though, have been different. The needle that plunges the cannula into her body (bleurgh) is bending. Really bending, like at a 90 degree angle. And it hurts a lot.
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There was the researching, and the chats with the doc,. There was the mental tug-o-war between my daily injection comfort zone and my need for more flexibility, and now, like the quickness of a self-inserting cannula, I am pumping insulin by way of the OmniPod. (READ MORE)


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My pump sites have just not been cooperating lately.  No matter where I put the canula - it ends up hurting.  A lot.  Enough so that I complain about it. 

 

To give you an idea of what it takes for me to complain - I am a girl who has had external fixators drilled into a bone in my arm for eight weeks and who refused pain killers (other than Tylenol) after two days.  I'm not a sissy.  Not at all.  So these sites are causing me more than a little bit of turmoil.

 

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Michelle Kowalski
Michelle KowalskiMichelle Kowalski, a writer, editor and photography hobbiest living in Phoenix, was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes in February 2005. In January 2008, as part of her quest to start on an insulin pump, Michelle learned that she actually has type 1 diabetes. (Read More)
Julia
JuliaJulia lives behind the Tofu Curtain, in the Pioneer Valley, in Western Massachusetts. It's a nice place. She likes it there. Her eldest daughter, Olivia, has type 1 diabetes. She's also 13. It's a real toss-up as to which is more difficult -- the diabetes or the teen-age drama. (Read More)
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