Friday, April 23, 2010

Can you keep a secret? Alex is going to get a pump!

This is all very hush hush, and not a done deal. Not yet, only because I haven't received it yet. But, on the basis of my faith and trust in the person who will be sending an Animas 1250 Pump (plus various accouterments), Alexandra, my too sweet girl, will be a pumper by the end of the summer.

The story goes like this...

A while ago, I posted a request for donations to our CWD forums and got a bunch of expected replies (CWD parents are amazingly generous and kind -- the thought that a D child somewhere in the world is doing without the basics simply because of monetary and logistical constraints physically hurts them)... and one very unexpected one. One very nice lady offered her son's insulin pump, which he doesn't use any longer because he has a different type of diabetes, one that is treated with oral medications as opposed to insulin injections (a very interesting story, by the way, and it would be a disservice to try to accurately explain it here, so I will leave it to Christy to do the relating through her wonderful blog).

Now, originally, I declined her kind offer, because I was worried about getting the supplies needed for pumping -- like reservoirs, cartridges, insets -- I mean, that's a whole new language for goodness sake! But then, Inga, another CWD parent, followed up and said that if I took Christy up on her offer, she'd be happy to send me a month's worth of the reservoirs and some other things I would need, because she had a huge supply (CWD parents tend to hoard, and I don't blame them in the least, think Katrina and you'll understand why). I started thinking This.Could.Work!

So I backpedaled, and asked Christy if I could rethink my declination. And she happily agreed! She sent me a huge list of stuff that she would include in the box along with the pump itself, and my jaw dropped -- all this?! I'm scared now. How will I ever learn how to use this "thing" to keep Alex alive? I have a degree in finance, not engineering! I mean, I had to read the manual to figure out how to work my Nintendo DS -- an insulin pump? *GULP*

But I am going to keep thinking positively, and I've been starting my own stockpile of things that I will need. I figure, if I can get a month or two worth of donations under my belt, I can (little by little) buy the other stuff Alex will need, without breaking the bank. I mean, it already runs us well over $400 a month just on MDI -- add pumping supplies to the mix and we're talking beaucoup bucks.

Now, Alex doesn't know the good news yet, so let's keep it our little secret.