We found 10 result(s) that match your search "Pump scars":Search Results
Categories: Type 1 Type 2 Insulin & Pumps Complications Emotions Real Life
Tags: bruises fingertip calluses poor insertion sites
Views: 4173
Diabetes is a very physical disease. It loves to leave behind marks to show it was there. The strange "tells," "war wounds," and "evidence" that this disease is wreaking havoc on my body both internally and externally.
The easiest sign of diabetes is the calluses on my fingertips. They've been my biggest complaint with this disease (physically at least) since I can remember. I hate the way they mar my fingers with their tiny spots and uneven edges. It never can be skin against skin, smooth and simple. When I run my hands over anything, I feel the tips of my fingers drop their tiny hints of this disease.
As if my fingertips weren't beaten enough, my body has all the signs of needles and insertions. I have bruises galore. Plus the tiny red spots from infusion sites and syringes. And every three months, there's the bruise of getting blood drawn on the crease of my arm.
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Categories: Type 1 Insulin & Pumps Children Complications Emotions
Tags: Pump scars
Views: 2308
I talked to Olivia again about going off the pump and she's adamant about wanting to do it. We were changing her site because, once again, the site she'd had in got infected. She only keeps a site in for 2 days, but they often seem to get red and irritated. We use antiseptic wipes before inserting them - I don't know if she's just sensitive or if we're doing something wrong or what, but she's sick of it. I don't blame her; after looking at her stomach and arms, she's got a lot of ugly, raised white bumps, especially on her belly. We rotate sites all the time and go pretty far out on to her sides, but the scars just don't seem to go away.
I don't know if there's anything that can be used to get rid of the scars or if she's stuck with them forever. I just know they really bother her.
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Categories: Type 1
Tags: journey to better control patterns... Pumping scars type 1
Views: 1970
This morning, getting ready for work. I looked at the scattering of dots on my thighs from old pump sites. And then I wrote this...
We test, we write it down - we test, we store results - we test, we examine results - we test, we make decisions about what to do next.
We eat, we calculate - we eat, we guess - we eat, we dose - we eat, we hold our breath and hope we've done everything right.
We take our medication, we adjust our doses - we take our medication, we wonder if it's the very best medicine for us - we take our medication, we hope that it serves our body well - we take our medication, and wait for the next big advance.
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Categories: Type 1 Emotions Fitness Women's Issues Real Life
Tags: (none)
Views: 1724
I should not have worn shorts to the gym. Even though it's like a bazillion degrees in there and running is more comfortable wearing them. I should not have. In fact, there's a reason I don't. Running shorts, even if they're comfortable, show off "all those scars..."
My thighs are one of my favorite pump site spots. They don't reject the canula - which often happens on my hips and belly. They don't get it the way of my clothes as happens with my arms. So I probably over use them - just a little bit. I try, mind you, to move away from there here or there, but old habits are pretty hard to break. Funny, there was a time when I absolutely hated putting in thigh sites. Not so much anymore.
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Categories: Type 1 Insulin & Pumps Real Life
Tags: insulin pump site change
Views: 1396
There's a Band Aid on my tummy. A small, flexible-fabric Band Aid.
Underneath is neosporin, which is covering up my last pump site. I've never used neosporin -- or a Band Aid -- after pulling a site.
That site had been itchy for about a day. I knew it was (over)due for a change, but I had so little insulin in my pump that I didn't want to do two "site changes" back to back.
I primed my pump this morning and was preparing to quick-sert the set when I glanced at my soon-to-be-old site. It looked like my skin had been sucked up into the set. I usually leave the old set in for several hours, but this one I quickly ripped out.
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Categories: Type 1 Children Real Life
Tags: Pump Sites
Views: 1273
Olivia is starting to look like a pin cushion. Her stomach is a mass of red marks, scars and bumps. It's not pretty. She refuses to wear a bikini or half shirt because of how her stomach looks (not that this bothers me, mind you!).
The problem we're currently having is that she's got so much scar tissue built up that she's running out of real estate for her sites. She currently uses her arms, her stomach and her lower back.
I'm sure some of you will suggest thigh sites, but she has really bad luck with those. Thigh sites generally make her rollercoaster - she'll be in the 400s in the afternoon and by dinner, be in the 60s. It's bizarre. I've tracked it and she's not over-bolusing or over eating. I think it's an absorption thing. She's got meaty thighs (she can thank me for that one). I don't know if that makes a difference or not; regardless, thigh sites just don't do it.
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Categories: Type 1 Relationships Emotions
Tags: (none)
Views: 882
Most of the time, diabetes is a heavy weight to carry. It overwhelms the body, the soul, and the mind sometimes. During sick times, the physical management is challenging. During healthy times, the physical management is challenging. During all times, the mental and emotional management is near impossible.
But even with the load of diabetes on my back, sometimes it smiles on me. Sometimes, it shows me the kindness of others in a way I would never have experienced without it. Sometimes, it brings the most light-filled, heartening, beautiful people into my world. Sometimes, it shows me my own true grit, my own ability to overcome extraordinary challenges. Diabetes opens doors that, without the weight of chronic illness, would stay closed.
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Diabetes has clearly not been easy lately. Not that it ever is - but you know, it's beastliness lately has been kind of out of control. As I've written, some of that might be my fault. I think something that's been different, and likely throwing me off, is my attitude about living with diabetes over the past year. I'm having a much harder time remaining hopeful and positive than I have in the past.
I suppose this is a normal consequence of coming up toward another full decade of the d-life. Maybe it's also many of the not diabetes related changes I've faced over the past twelve months. Any way you slice it, things have been more challenging and I've been failing more than ever at maintaining not just control, but a healthy attitude.
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Categories: Type 1 Relationships Emotions
Tags: (none)
Views: 624
I don't dream so much anymore of a cure. I suppose I feel that in cutting off the dream of a cure, I spare myself disappointment or heartache in the long run.
But today is a Friday, and Fridays are for dreaming. Letting go of stressors. Play.
So I let myself dream this morning for a few minutes in bed before I got up. I sat in bed, knees bent, Curtis in bed beside me, snoring away. I looked at my insulin pump site, which is already red and irritated after just one day (fantastic, that'll need to go sooner rather than later) and the litter of scars on from my knees to my hips from past sites. I looked at my fingers, one at a time. Dirty-looking callouses looking back at me.
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I had one of those dreams last night. The kind of dream where I'm no longer diabetic. I both love and hate these kinds of nighttime imaginings.
In the dream, I was at a table with two old friends. We were eating from giant plates with these even more humungous forks. There was cake and bread and stuffing. Non-carb food too, but mostly heaping helpings of crap that will send bloodsugar into the stratosphere.
I reached for my pump, only to find it wasn't there. I pawed at my thigh looking for a site - to no avail. When I looked down at my lap, I saw that my thighs weren't littered with pump scars. I looked at my hands, not a callous to be found.
Confused, I asked my friends "Did you guys see where I put my pump?"
"Pump?" They said in unison.
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