How I Became a Cool Cyborg

"Kati!" the masses have been clamoring, "Why haven't you written a blog entry about your new insulin pump?" No one has actually said that, but I'm sure they all WOULD be if they knew about my newest cybernetic extension. I am the proud recipient of the latest in diabetic technology, the only tubeless insulin pump. It is somewhat of a terrifying acquisition because it involves you having to forget EVERYTHING YOU KNOW about insulin:carb ratios and how much insulin your body needs. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

A normal person's pancreas sends out periodic little spurts of insulin to counteract the sugar released by the liver and use it for energy. Their pancreas also releases bigger spurts of insulin every time they eat, to counteract those carbohydrates (sugar). A type 1 diabetic's body makes ZERO insulin ever, so we counteract those little spurts by taking one big shot a day that spreads out over a period of 22-24 hours, in addition to taking little shots whenever we eat carbs (meals and snacks). This adds up to usually between 4-6 shots on a normal day. However, the big, long-acting shot kinda sucks because it doesn't account for things like exercise or sickness, when your body may have more or less sugar floating around. So an insulin pump mimics a normal person's pancreas with little spurts of insulin every hour, and you can raise or lower that amount as needed. Furthermore, you can program it to give you different amounts of insulin per chunk of day: for example, from noon until 8pm, my pump is currently programmed to give me 0.65 units of insulin every hour, but from 3am to 8am, when my sugars tend to naturally rise, it's programmed to give me 0.85 units per hour. This precision will make things much easier in the long run, but it makes getting started on the pump a little overwhelming. 

All right, at the risk of this starting to sound too science-y, I'm going to show you PICTURES! Woo!

The pump consists of two parts: The handheld device where you input all your numbers, and the little "pod" (pictured here) that sticks to your body and holds the insulin. You have to change the pod every 3 days, or else that particular area of your body might start absorbing the insulin poorly, or you might get an infection.

The pod has a thin little tube called a cannula that sticks into your skin and delivers the insulin. The most common question I get is whether it hurts. I can feel it when it first goes in (you tell your device that you want to start a new pod, and it automatically inserts the cannula into you--it's a prick that feels similar to checking your blood sugar), but after that, I forget it's there. In fact, the most painful part is taking it off after three days, because the tape is so dang sticky. The above picture shows the little "viewing window" where you can faintly see the cannula going in (it's nice to be able to check to make sure it hasn't come out if you bump it or something).

Here is a used pod so that you can see how long the cannula is. Believe it or not, you THROW THE POD AWAY after its three days are up and put on a completely new one, which is kind of crazy for such a sophisticated little device. It is a very resilient little thing--I've bumped it quite hard, and the cannula has never come dislodged. You can shower with it, sleep on it, exercise with it... It kind of makes me feel like a cool cyborg.

Sadly, the pump does not test blood sugar, so I still have to do that. I do it with the handheld device, pictured here. This is NOT waterproof, and also kind of annoyingly big to lug around in your purse. It has to be near the pod when you are changing anything--activating a new pod, for example, or giving a dose of insulin for a meal--but they don't have to be near each other otherwise. The pod will continue to give the little bursts of insulin it is pre-programmed to do.

You can wear the pod on your arms, thighs, abdomen, upper back, or butt. I've been moving it all around to get the feel for where I like it best and where has good absorption.

So, there ya have it! And, to answer the second most common question I get regarding the pump, yes, Steven is thinking about getting one too.