John had an appointment Monday with an endocrinologist in Montgomery, and she feels that he probably needs an insulin pump. From the time he was diagnosed, he's been told that he was a type 2 diabetic, but she told him that he is actually a type 1. Since John started working at ECH, he's been seeing Dr. Mendez, and he (Dr. M) has done a great job of working with John to try to keep his blood sugar under control. At one of John's last appointments, Dr. Mendez said that in his career, he has been able to help patients control their diabetes in all but four cases. Yep, John was number for. So, he wanted to send him to an endocrinologist.
He was actually supposed to have gone a while back, but something came up. I think they may have been installing the PACS system at work, and he just couldn't get away. (That was not a very fun time for him.) The next time he was supposed to go, they had made the appointment for 9 AM, and that wasn't a good time for him, either. So, he finally went Monday afternoon.
He has to go back in a few weeks and they will have him wear a monitor which will record his blood sugar every five minutes for about three days. After that, he'll have to attend a class and then he'll probably be on an insulin pump.
I really wish, for him, that he would be able to control this disease without a pump, but it just isn't happening. He will do so well with monitoring his blood sugar and eating right, but that just isn't working as well as we'd like (Granted, neither of us get the exercise we need, and that is important for controlling diabetes.) His blood sugar will stay almost perfect for weeks, but then it will shoot up and it will take forever (or so it seems) for it to come back down. And then, it stays at the upper end of the ideal target range for the longest time before it drops to the 110 range. If a pump will work for him, then I'm all for it. The huge fluctuations aren't good for him, and with his family history of heart disease, stroke, etc., we don't need anything else. Plus, there are a lot of things much worse than having to wear a pump.
I think my original fear about John having to wear one was about how it would affect his daily life. I mean, he would constantly be attached to this thing 24/7. One of my students from last year wears a pump, but you'd never know it unless she told you. She takes dance and is one the school dance team. She dates and hangs out with her friends. She does all the things that a "normal" high school senior does. Her diabetes (and it is severe) doesn't slow her down at all. Seeing how she goes about life just like everyone else and doesn't let her diabetes interfere with life makes it easier for me to think about John having one.
If you have any experience with an insulin pump, please share it with me.
I hope you have a GREAT rest-of-the-week. I'm so glad that tomorrow is "Friday eve." :)
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I really, REALLY mean this...
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1 comment:
Hi there hate to hear the news BUT it could be a good thing. I know how you feel though.
We have a friend who is around 33 yrs old and she has a pump, you would never know she wears it either. She's the nurse at my kid's school...she does anything and everything just like anyone else.
How you're having these fears or dreads I guess would be a better way of putting it, I feel that way about my daughter (Molly) getting a port. We have came to the decision that the next hospital stay she needs to have one put in because her poor little veins are just wore out for all the strong doses of iv antibiotics she has to take. I know a port would make things so much easier, would make coming home on home iv's so much easier during those times we just weren't into staying in B'ham at the hospital for 14 days, yet the thought of getting to the point of actually needing the port just scares me.
Have a good night my new friend
:-)
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