I woke up early this morning to go running. I had a nice 10 mile run in the park and when I got home I took a shower and went to change my infusion site (after 4 days).
I went to the drawer where I keep all of my insulin pump supplies and got a new infusion set (Reservoir and Quick Set).
Then I went to the refrigerator to get my insulin. I looked for the vial I had just opened four days ago. It wasn’t there. I looked all around the fridge thinking that maybe, by mistake, I’d placed it somewhere other than the “insulin section,” but it wasn’t to be found. I went to my desk (where I usually switch my infusion sets) and looked to see if I’d left it there. Nope.
I felt like I was playing a game of hide-and-seek with my two-year-old son. Where did insulin go? Is it in the fridge? Noooo. Is it on the desk? Noooo. Is it in the bathroom? Nooo.
I’m usually very mechanical when I deal with my pump, doing everything exactly the same way each time so I don’t make any mistakes. I get all my equipment out – reservoir, quickset, insulin and inserter. I fill the reservoir with insulin and attach the infusion set. Then I disconnect the infusion set from my body and remove the reservoir from the pump and go through the steps according to the pump’s instructions (thanks, Medtronic – very user friendly).
When I’m done switching my set I put the insulin vial back in its box, put the inserter in its box, take the insulin, all of the empty wrapping and the old set to the garbage can and from there to the refrigerator.
As I retraced my steps in search of the missing insulin, I realized I must have thrown it out together with the old set and the wrappers from the new one.
Luckily, I still had one vial left. I don’t know how other diabetics are about their diabetes supplies but I get uneasy when I feel I’m running low. I try to stockpile test strips and infusion sets. When I was injecting I always had a lot of extra insulin pens and now I like to have a few vials of insulin in the refrigerator. So the first thing I did today was head out to the pharmacy and get two more vials of insulin.
That is not a staged photo.
I love the chocolate bar with the insulin! I need to get more organized with my supplies. Feeling guilty when I see everyone with their stuff so organized when all I have are meters, test strips, and lancets. LOL