I have been wearing a Minimed insulin pump for about 9 years now (the Paradigm 522 at the moment), mostly without problems. But I’ve noticed that in the past year or so, my body has not been reacting in the same ways it used to. I’ve been getting a lot more hematomas — pockets of blood pooling between my insertion sites. \u00a0Those are fun. Everyone loves blood pockets — especially on their stomachs.<\/p>\n
Today, though, I have a new problem. Despite just eating a salad, my blood sugar soared on Sunday afternoon. Fearing a site issue, I changed my infusion set. Then yesterday I noticed that I had a large, tender lump underneath my skin where the site had been. It wasn’t visibly red, and it wasn’t hot. But I could feel it, and it hurt.<\/p>\n
Subcutaneous skin infections are one of the less sexy aspects of being a diabetic (as opposed to, say, wearing a pump to begin with, or covering your body in pieces of linty adhesive). I guess I knew this already, but it really hit home yesterday when I was having lunch with a friend of mine who’s in med school, and I made him feel my lump while we were waiting in line to order.<\/p>\n
“Touch it,” I said, pulling up my shirt. “Isn’t that weird?”<\/p>\n
“Uh, yes,” he said.”Is there any pus?”<\/p>\n
“What can I get you?” asked the woman behind the counter.<\/p>\n