They recommend one of four different pumps -- they all work pretty much the same way, and the difference between the four brands is a question of what's going to fit your lifestyle the best, and which bells and whistles mean the most.
At the class, we got to actually put our hands on the devices, punch in a bolus (obviously the pumps weren't attached to anyone or filled with insulin, but we could see how it worked), scroll through the menus, feel the weight of them, test the doohickey for applying the set... It was crowded (there were probably a dozen families there, and because of renovations to the usual teaching room, we were in a smaller conference room) but it was all interesting.
Penny was having none of it. All the technical talk was boring, and she DIDN'T. WANT. A. PUMP.
No one could get her to articulate a reason. I got her to actually hold one of the sample pumps, but when we tried to get her to push buttons, she shoved it nervously back into the sales rep's hands as if she thought it was going to jump up and give her a shot.
She wasn't interested, and nothing we could say changed her mind. "I just want to keep getting my shots," she said, over and over, being as patient as she could muster with these Dumb Adults who obviously were not listening.
So, fine, she's not interested, and she doesn't want it, and she's not ready for it. We'll keep asking her about it, I guess, and maybe in six months or a year or so, she'll be ready to try it. That's fine; the technology can only improve, and maybe by the time she's ready for it, there will be more combination pump/continuous glucose monitors (one of the units we looked at last night was CGM capable, though the CGM piece is sold separately and requires more hurdle-jumping with the insurance companies) and more bells and whistles to tempt her.
Finally, in a last-ditch effort to convince her to at least consider it, I offered to let the nurse put a set in me. I'd have done this anyway, if she'd wanted a pump -- if I'm going to be sticking things in my child, I'd like to at least have an idea for what it feels like, if only so I know how much whining is real and how much is for show.
Penny was all for this. "I'll hold your hand," she told me, very seriously. I admit to being a little nervous at first -- let's not lie; the needles are pretty long and (since they're threading a tiny piece of tubing) somewhat thicker than the itty bitty baby needles on Penny's shots. But they go in at an angle, rather than straight, and that made quite a difference, weirdly -- it actually hurt less than one of Penny's insulin needles. No, really. The nurse slid it in and I got the tiniest of pinches, and she pulled the backing off the tape and patted it into place, and then she pulled the needle out, and then patted the other half of tape into place, and that was it. Took all of about 10 seconds.
(The tubing for the pump then clips into the plastic grommet, and the pump itself goes in your pocket or clips to your belt or whatever. Most of the devices also have a remote control, so if you wanted to keep your pump completely hidden under a loose shirt or a skirt, you'd never even have to take it out to dose yourself. Which is good to know, because Penny loves wearing dresses, and while I'd figured out some hacks for letting her wear a pump with a dress, I couldn't quite figure out how to do dosing without showing off her Hello Kitty underwear to the world.)
So I'm wearing this for a few days (you change them at least every 3 days on the pump) to see what it feels like.
So far: It doesn't feel like much of anything. No random pinching or twinging, and certainly no pain. I did have a moment when I went to the bathroom this morning, when I leaned over to reach for the toilet paper and my boob scraped against the plastic grommet. It didn't hurt; it was just startling, because I'd forgotten about the set being there. And even that could be avoided by putting it in a different location, like my side or my hip. (And obviously, Penny won't have to worry about boobs at all for at least another five years or so.)
So anyway, I'm still enthusiastic about the idea of a pump. I think it could really help Penny's sugar control, and fewer shots is a bonus, and would make so many things easier. We'll keep pushing the idea, and maybe eventually she'll come around.
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