An update on Sam’s Insulin pump

It works. And in other news…

It’s not quite that simple, and we are still to fully calibrate his basal levels. But the pump replaces his slow acting levimer with an hourly dose of 0.3 units of insulin, giving it to him in small increments across the hour.

Samuel hasn’t seen any real downsides so far to this change in treatment. But we have noticed a couple of upsides.

Firstly, it is a lot easier for him to have a dose of insulin. No messing about with insulin pens and needles. Just program the amount of the remote handset and press ‘bolus’. The pump does the rest. When using needles, the trouble you had to go to for a dose of insulin usually meant Sam would rather go without the snack. So while Lily-Anne & Grace would graze like normal children, Samuel was often feeling left out.

I am led to believe that this is ‘normal’ for diabetics, but we can still remember the time before Diabetes took over, and this was not normal for Samuel. Especially, as he is such a vociferous eater.

But with the pump, Sam is happy to have snacks and other foods between meals, which means we are returning back to normal a bit more. He has always liked trying things, and has a very healthy interest in all things food. So, the pump has helped bring back his natural curiosity. Which can only be a good thing.

Secondly, his insulin doses are much more tightly controlled, to the point where the pump will remember how much active insulin is in his system from his previous dose, and will compensate accordingly. This very tight control is never something we could have done manually, but it is perfect for a small computer program, which is what comes on the pump remote control.

Whether this translates into more tightly controlled Blood gloucose levels remains to be seen.