Good News

Amazing

The good (actually amazing and incredibly awesome) news is that my daughter inserted her first infusion set this weekend.  All by herself.  She had promised our endocrinologist that she'd do one before the next appointment. So with only days to spare to keep that promise, she went for it on Saturday morning. She chose her thigh for its high visibility and ease of access.

The accomplishment is doubly impressive since not only had she never inserted her own site before, she'd never even seen it done.  All of her infusion sets, for the past 11 years, have been out of her field of vision.

She practiced first on Ruby, her bear with diabetes.  She'd inserted sites for Ruby before, but a long time ago. This was a great way to refresh her memory on the mechanics of the process:  where to set the inserter, where to squeeze, how to attach the tape, how to pull the inserter back out, how to finish attaching the tape. It's not hard, but it's a bunch of steps and the practice helped.

There was plenty of time between when she first rested the inserter on her leg and when she gathered up enough courage to go through with the process.  There were a few cries of "I can't!" The concern about doing it herself was accompanied by worry about whether it would feel different going into her leg than it did going into the usual spots.  But eventually, with Ruby tucked in a strangle-hold under one arm and constant verbal encouragement from me, she squeezed the trigger and in it went.  She grinned proudly, and said it hadn't hurt much.  She plugged the pump tubing into the new site, figured out how to arrange the tubing, and negotiated a fitting reward: a jumbo pack of tic tacs.

This was a significant step along the inevitable road to diabetes independence and one to be greatly celebrated.  Even if she doesn't do all of her own sites from this day forward, knowing she can do it is huge, both in terms of being able to be out and about without a parent, and in terms of a general sense of independence.

Unfortunately it wasn't all good news.  Check back in a day or two for the flip side....