Saturday, February 27, 2010

What a day...

Yesterday was suppose to be about Justin. As I mentioned to some of my FB friends- we had an appointment to have a pump site inserted just to find out if he would tolerate it in a place OTHER THAN his arms(Justin will only let me do his injections in his arms).

Justin had decided that he wanted to try it in his belly. Meri had gave me a tip that for the skinny guys... the hip/butt is a little better. So since Justin listens to the opinion of everyone BUT me, that morning I asked Justin if he remembered my friend Meri (we had talked about everyone over the holidays as each Christmas card came in the mail =)... it was great "talk time"). HE DID! So I told him what she/her boys said. He listened and at that point wasn't agreeing or refusing so we let him ponder.

When we got to the hospital the CDE was ready and waiting for us. She explained the process to him as he mindfully inspected the size of the needle. She also confirmed Meri's tip after some suggestive wording from me :)
THEN...She offered to put one on me first and sweet little Justin didn't want to hurt me. SO SWEET!! (sniff sniff)
I let him know that it was okay and I said I would love to try it, and I did :) CLICK!!! It really did not hurt. However, keep in mind that I have a WHOLE LOT more chub than he does so who am I to judge really?

Then, there we were... Justin's turn. We didn't drive almost an hour for nothing as far as I was concerned. We inspected "the property". He was willing to go to the "cheeks" but REFUSED to let the CDE see his tighty whities. OH BOY!!! NEW PLAN!!!
I ended up taking him in the bathroom and doing it. After a few minutes of nerves, a sweet "just let me calm down"and a deeeep breath... CLICK!!! WE DID IT!!!

(me)Did it hurt?
(J) "it pinched a little"
(me) "but not so bad right?
Justin didn't answer... he was still thinking about it.

We left the bathroom with me explaining my inexperience of the process and that soon he probably wouldn't even feel the pinch.
Unfortunately... I inserted the darn thing right where the band of his underwear lays and it bothered him. So we ended up removing it after about 5 min(mine stayed in).

Speaking of... I think we used a CLEO(?) insert. Does anyone have an opinion of them? It did not last the day on me. I intended to leave it on and give Justin my opinion about sleeping in it, but it came off?? ARG!!!

He didn't decide right away, but he has now said he might want to do it.(The two of us will work on a separate post with HIS questions and concerns).

THEN... the day switched gears. Lunch plans canceled. Strawberry short cake plans forgotten.
Because I got a call...

It was my Aunt Gwen...
Hey, where are you? Leaving the hospital...
WHY??? I explained...
Oh, okay. What hospital? St Joseph's...
Grandma's there- in the emergency room. Okay, I'm turning around.

I knew she hadn't been feeling good, but I guess it was hurting her to breath. Anthony sat with Justin for a few while I went in to get the details. Turns out she has pneumonia and she has become anemic. They decided to admit her and were talking blood transfusion. I hung out about 30 minutes and my uncle had arrived so I decided while they were looking for a room and getting orders, I should go ahead and take Anthony and Justin home(I didn't need him sick too).

I went back and hung out with her while she went down for an ECHO and a CT. She DOES NOT like to be enclosed so they couldn't do the CT... new plan!!!

I hate my grandma being sick... she the only grandma I know. It's scary to think about her getting older and not being able to fight off the sickness like she use to. My aunt stayed with her over night. She received 2 bags of blood(of course while she was trying to sleep).
So tonight I am planning on taking the night shift. This way she doesn't have to wait for the nurse if she need to go to the restroom or gets cold and wants a blanket.

Sadly, in my mind, I am worried about Justin. Anthony will need to do the night check for the first time(he doesn't know it yet). I guess it was bound to happen.

Today... I will be praying for an uneventful "D" night!!!
(Me and my grandma)

10 comments:

Tammy said...

My son Joel (6) isn't interested in the pump yet. I have to say that I'm slightly relieved. I've always been squeemish about all things medical, so dealing with his needs has been a challenge. I don't know that I'm ready for insertions. Sounds like Justin did great!

Unknown said...

I hope your Grandma is doing better today!!! Please keep us up-to-date.

Sounds like Justin rocked the visit to the CDE. Sometimes site changes hurt Joe and other times they don't. I am unfamiliar with the type of set you used...but it looks like the one we use with our Animas pump called an inset. They are fairly sturdy...they have fallen out with excessive swimming/water exposure...but they tend to kink and go bad every day and 1/2 or so anyways...so we usually change them every day to every other day depending on his numbers etc.

Meri said...

We have never used the cleo...only quicksets for minimed and insets from animas. The animas ones didn't stick well for us so we had to use some aditional clear medical tape to keep it there. (Hey, we don't like doing set changes more than every three days.) The minimed sets stay on no prob for us. We don't use anything extra with them.

SO PROUD OF YOU putting in the set yourself! That was a huge step! You totally showed that set who was boss!

I'm so sorry about your grandmother. That pic of you two is priceless. Praying for her! And for you...Justin will be fine tonight...try to let the worry go, your husband can do it!

Tracy said...

Glad the site insertions went well. :) I do not have experience with the cleo, but we do use a little IV prep on Zane before we do his pump sites. It makes the skin a little stickier.

I am sorry to hear about your Grandma. I am sure your hubby will do just fine with the night checks tonight! You need to focus on your Grandma and let them worry about D! (easier said than done, I know!)

Will be waiting for updates on your sweet grandma.

Beth said...

I'm glad it went well with the CDE - brave trooper trying out a new location! We used the Cleos for a while with Meghan, but they WOULD.NOT.STAY.STUCK. We had started with Comfort shorts (ick - manual angled insertion) and after the Cleos went to Insets. They work VERY well for her, and we have no trouble with them staying stuck for far longer than they ought to...cough cough...

I hope your Grandma is on the mend soon!

Hallie Addington said...

I'm sorry to hear about your Grandma. I'll be saying prayers for you all! Keep us posted!

Yay for you and Justin! I'm so proud of you both!!!

We used the comfort shorts and now use the quickset fro
Animas. We've had no trouble with them staying stuck. We don't use anything extra and they are still stuck tight after 3 days and baths!

When we visit- IN A FEW SHORT WEEKS!!!- Ave can show Justin her pump and site and everything. I always carry extra supplies with me so I can show you what we use. :). Fun, fun! I know Ave was really interested (and I was too) to see a pump on and in action!!!

Hugs to you both!

Heidi / Jack's Pack said...

Sending get well wishes to your grandma! I can totally understand why you'd be worried about Justin. I'd be the same way. But I bet Anthony does just fine tonight, and your grandma will feel loved and comfortable with you by her side!

Donna said...

How is your grandma doing? Hope all is well! Like Meri, we use the minimed insertions and they are FANTASTIC!! I have only lost two in the past year!!
Jacob is a skinny guy, but WONT let me put the insertion anywhere but his tummy... and everytime I ask him if it hurts he always tells me no... hope this helps, and YAY for Justin being so brave with the CDE!! =)

Penny Ratzlaff said...

We used a Cleo once just to see. It did OK, but Riley didn't like it as much. We use Insets and have never had a problem with them sticking even though he does a lot of swimming. The insets come with their own inserter just like the cleo except they are spring loaded and the cleo is not. Glad to hear your taking steps toward the pump. And, hope you grandmother is doing Ok.

Jill said...

Way to go Justin! What a brave boy :)

Kacey used the Cleo sets when we first started pumping. They didn't stay stuck for more than 2 days and so we ended up going back to the Comfort Shorts (manual insert). Kacey doesn't like the automatic insert ones and she actually cried and begged me to switch her back to the ones I had to push in. She's comfortable with them. If he prefers the Cleo then you can use something called Skin Tac. Its like an alchol pad wipe and it gets sticky and then when you do the set, it stays stuck a bit longer. Thats what we use in the summer for Kacey :) Good luck!

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