Minimed Paradigm Insulin Pump - Getting Used To It and Eating

I'm getting used to my new insulin pump. I've had it about two months now. It's a MiniMed Paradigm with Medtronic. The company has been terrific to deal with. It is getting easier to manage my diabetes, but I'm still not keeping it in a good range. That's my fault. I have to become more aggresive with my eatting and diet. I seem to stay hungry. They say the insulin will do that.

I remember I was having such a hard time making the choice between Medtronic's Minimed, the Omnipod and Insulet and another insulin pump company. I'm glad I chose the Minimed. It's hard though still remembering that the pump is attached to me and I have the tubing to deal with. It's great being able to keep track of my numbers, knowing how much insulin I have "on board" in my system and having the pump calculate my dosages for me. I still need to manage these numbers to keep in range. I've had some very low numbers (40's thru 60's) and still have the highs (300s and 400s). But, I do know that I can get them in better range if I do my part a lot better.

My problem is I love to snack and eat. My eating schedule is erratic and days are very long. I'm not real good at watching all I put into my body in a day. I'm not a 3 time a day eatter with a couple of snacks thrown in.

I check the web for interesting recipes and I watch my carbs.

I'm getting ready to order the Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM) that goes with the Minimed. It will help me with those lows and highs I've been having if I can see where I'm at at any time. I already feel like a pin cushion on my stomach and have been using alternate sites. It's getting better because I don't have to give insulin injections so much now. I still do a lot a fingerpricks (7-10 a day). It's good for me know where I'm at, so I don't mind so much.

Pumping Insulin

I've started using the Medtronic Minimed Insulin pump about 3 weeks ago. There are a lot of ups and down, especially my sugar. Now, for the first time, I'm having to deal with drops in my blood sugar more than highs. But, I'm actually loving the freedom that not having to give myself so many injections is freeing me from.

Don't get me wrong, I still have to check my blood sugar with needle sticks and put the numbers in my pump manually, but not the injections. They are delivered by the pump. Sometimes I forget that I have to check. It feels like I am forgetting to do something.

I'll keep you updated on my progress with the pump and getting a continuous glucose monitor (CGM). I really need to start blogging more. Sometimes just talking about the challenges of using an insulin pump, the hoops you jump through to be able to care for the medical costs and issues, trying to keep enough sick leave with my job, etc., is enough to drive me crazy and wondering if there wouldn't be an easier way. But, I'm also coming to think of the insulin pump as my lifeline, my external pancreas. I'll leave some of these issues to discuss another time.

Hopefully, I'll get followers somehow on my blog, and have other people contributing their comments and links. I know there are many sites on diabetes. Let me know where they are so I can link my blog to them.

Signing off, Laurette

Diabetes, Type 1: My Journey

I developed diabetes in January '09 and have since moved from a type 2 to type 1 diabetic. I have been on the oral meds and injections.

This past week I just started using insulin in my newly acquired insulin pump. This has been stressful, physically and mentally. I'm still getting the hang of things. Also, I've had so much help along the way to controlling my diabetes. It's good to see my numbers having come down from 560s to 80s. I've had many highs, but I'm now having numerous lows. The pump is helping to gete things in control.

I haven't updated my blogs for a while, but I want to include as many people as I can on my journey with diabetes. I'll working on making this blog more current. Let me know your story.

Milton Theatre up for sale - help save it

Since moving to Milton, I found it quite interesting to watch the traffic increase when an event was scheduled at the Milton Theatre. I live right on the corner at the end of the street and can see the building from my house. It's right across the street from the library. I am at a perfect spot between the library and the lake. I say I live between heaven and Nirvana because of those two places.

The turnout out for music, movies and other occassions is something to watch all by itself.

Anyway, the theatre is up for sale due to financing and funding. I believe that when it goes, it will be an extremely great loss to Milton, Sussex County, and Delaware. People know when events are planned, cars line the streets and it's nothing to see 150 people or more come out for the Wednesday evening events and other occassions.

If anyone out there reads this post, please consider donating to keep the theatre alive and running. I will get the number to contact someone for donations as I've seen numerous signs dotted around Sussex County, Delaware, asking people to donate to save the theatre.

My son and I have been housebound for the last two days due to the storm coming back and dumping another 6-10 inches on in Sussex and Kent counties. Our only ties have been by way of the radio, telephone and internet. I've enjoyed this time at home with Wade, my son. I've been cooking and eating too much and trying to get caught up on a little work at home that I've been wanting to get done. That part has been slow. I've enjoyed watching movies I've been intending to watch for the last two weeks and I started this blog, which I'm happy about.

I think everyone's more than tired of the snow, but of course, what can we really do about it. The workers who have been out on the road in Milton have been awesome. The house I rent is right on the corner of two main roads through Milton that always see a lot of activity. I heard the snow plows and tractors all yesterday and today moving through when noone else was or could be out on the road. At one point I couldn't see the lake or house across the street. "whiteout" they call it. Pretty much that's all I could see, white, almost blinding, snow. I was glad to stay in. I know this wasn't good for many of the business who had events set for the SuperBowl and Valentine's day.

There are still many without electric. The storm that started on Wednesday affected New Castle more that Sussex and Kent this time. But, I don't think any of us here in Sussex County felt neglected by this storm either. We've had more snow in one week that we've had in years. I've lived in Rehoboth Beach the majority of my 5o years and I can't recall being hit with snow storms like this. Thankfully, a State of Emergency was declared that kept people off the roads or be fined. Being stuck on the roads in this weather could have really devastating results.

State workers are set to go to work as scheduled tomorrow, Friday. I'll be glad in a way to get back in. The only problem is having to take my son in the opposite direction from work and come back, all on back roads that aren't clear. At least if there was a delay of an hour or two it would give the temperature a chance to risel, and possibly the roads would be less slippery and the chance of black ice would be lessened. In the last few years I've seen a good number of vehicles flipped over or in accidents due to black ice. You just can't see it and by the time you realize you've hit a patch of it, it's too late to really slow down or avoid it. I am, however, very glad to have a job in a time when people having none or losing the jobs they have, has become a very serious matter.

Wade and I went for a walk today and I took some pictures. I'll try to post some on this post. We had to walk down the middle of the street as no sidewalks are clear. We saw "Mr. Milton" and took pictures of him while some community members were snowboarding down the hill in the part that "Mr. Milton" resides in. I also took a closer looks at the signs across the street from "Mr. Milton's" park and the pond is not called "Milton Pond" as I think I said it was in my first or second post. It's called "Waggamon's Pond". I think it has two "g's" and not one, but I can't totally remember. And the fishing area across the street from it is called the Milton Fishing Pier. It's a stone's throw away from "Mr. Milton's statue.

Right now, I have to get ready for work tomorrow, so I will say good night.

This is a picture of the snow this weekend outside my kitchen window in Milton, DE

My son running near "Mr. Milton" this summer.

In my profile I included a picture of my son with the statue of "Mr. Milton" in the little park that faces the lake down the street from me. If you are ever in Milton, give "Mr Milton" a wave or a beep. I have to find a picture of myself that I think will pass muster.

(There is a picture of the lake that is across the street from my front door.)

My son and I are getting ready to go out and take a walk in the snow. But first I want to listen to this oldie on the radio, "Oh, what a night". Some days I could sit and listen to music like this forever and sing along. My son's laughing at me as I attempt to sing. Really, I can sing very well if I let myself forget that other people are around.

Hello, Mr. Milton in Milton, Delaware

My son and I moved to Milton, Delaware in July of 2009. Six days after moving in I was in a fender bender and was out of work for 2 weeks. While I was back and forth to doctor's appointments and physical therapy, I got to/had to sit back and enjoy the little town of Milton that I had just moved to.

The weather wasn't extremely hot and I couldn't do any heavy lifting, so I sat on my front porch and side yard and looked out on the little town that I could see. Milton, Delaware is a quaint little place in my estimation. I love it. I've been here for seven months now and it continues to grow on me. I tell people that I now live between heaven and Nirvana. In other words, I live between the lake at my front door and the Milton Library at the other end of the street.

I originally moved from Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, the "Nation's Summer Capital". I loved going down to the beach and "walking the boards", and I loved visiting the library and bookstores in the area. I couldn't imagine moving somewhere where I couldn't be within a minutes drive from the water or the library. So, I figure I found the perfect place here in Milton.

In the last several months, I have walked around the town and made friends with many people. I've taken pictures of the lake, houses, people and anything of interest. I'm still taking pictures to capture my "move to Milton".

I have been intending to create this blog from the first month I moved in, and I'm just getting to it. There are so many little things I want to journal about my stay here and the things that happen to me in my life here before I forget them. I will no doubt be putting in entries from things I have experienced since moving here in July, so bear with me if I reminisce and write about past experiences. I don't know if anyone will find any of this interesting, but I'm doing a lot of this as therapy and documentation for myself and my son.

I invite anyone to comment, but please keep things "clean and decent" as my son will be reading this blog and possibly including comments also. He's 11 years old, has ADHD and is high-functioning autistic. He is a very intelligent child and very active.

I have to figure out how to put pictures on this blog, so when I do, I will include pictures I've taken from around the town. If anyone has been to Milton, DE, please let me know how your experiences were. I think for anyone who has moved to a new town, gotten to a new place in their lives, that it's a good think to document these experiences, and the internet/blog experience, makes it easy to do that now.

Right now, we are experiencing a 2-foot snowfall that started on Friday afternoon. The weather was just as predicted and of course, we're supposed to get another snowfall starting on Tuesday. The school my son goes to, Rehoboth Elementary School, has already announced that they'll be closed for Monday and Tuesday. As a State of DE employee, I just hope that we will get off time like that to. Not just to be off, but all the back roads are going to be snow covered and dangerous to travel on for the next week and getting a child to daycare so you can go to work is going to take 2-3 times the amount of time it normally would. It normally takes me 40 minutes to take my son to the woman who watches him and then get back to the spot that i started from to go to work, which is another 45 minutes away. I hate driving on the roads when it's like this because you usually have people who drive too fast and they can't stop.

Anyway, back to Milton. Less than 1 minute down the street from me, is the little park. There is a statue of "Mr. Milton", whom the town is names after. My son and I often wave to "Mr. Milton" on our way past to our house that we rent. I tell my son we should wave or beep our horn as we pass Mr. Milton. It makes us laugh.

Of course, this is Superbowl Sunday today and most people are in watching television. I'm not much for the Superbowl. Many people here, over 12,000, are out or have been out of electric for two days now. Our electric went out at 4:00 am on Saturday morning but it popped back on and has been on ever since. Many, including some of my family, have been out of electric and/or heat for over a day. I, unfortunately, didn't have the money to buy a kerosene heater, but I do have a gas stove, and if needed I can turn it on and block off a good part of the house. It has been fortunate that we haven't had to. With so many things happening in the world and catastrophes occurring, I still pray that this little town stays safe and all my loved one and family also, no matter where they are, realize that myself and others are keeping them in our thoughts and prayers. Be safe everyone.