I suspected that this had been a good 7 days and a look at my target graph on the meter confirmed this.
Remember, my target range is set from 5 to 7 mmol/l, so the meter / pump combo are working to achieve an average of 6 mmol/l. Pretty ambitious compared to what I could achieve with the old pen Basal / Bosal combination. The pie chart is showing the following:
19% above 7
58% between 5 & 4
23% below 4
0% less than 4
Looking into the figures further, I've worked out my average reading for the last 7 days was 5.95 mmol/l. I'm well chuffed with that :o)
It's been a hectic couple of weeks in and out of work.
First the work bit. Lots of O/T and 'unsociable hours', meaning less than ideal food. On the whole it was fine, with BGs at a good level, except for one Sunday morning where I hit 21! Now, I blame this on a) starting at 02:30am and b) there being a shed load of crap food around. Some correction bolusing saw me return to normal levels pretty quickly.
I've also been out and about quite a bit, including more flying . The general out & about aspect meant unpredictable food intakes, but my carb counting was pretty much spot on, with no dramas. This is good :o)
The flying bit proved to continue to be interesting, well, the security checks have been anyway. As I've said before, the airport scanners don't set the pump off. Each time I've negotiated security, I've been clutching my hospital letter which sates I'm a pump user, etc. Now of the last 4 times I've been through the security process, I've only once been challenged. the other 3 times, they've completely failed to spot the pump. I do find this slightly alarming in today's 'terrorist sensitive' society, but hey, I got through quicker, so all's good for me!
Last week also saw my 6 monthly check up at the hospital, and the first HBA1c blood test. I was expecting a bit of a rise as it's only couple of months since going on the pump and a bit of fluctuation was to be expected. My last HBA1c before going on the pump was 49, or 6.6 in 'old money'. This test was exactly the same! I was pretty pleased with that, especially as I'm so new to this pump business. My target range that we've set on the meter is 5 - 7 mmol/l. This basically means I'm aiming for 6 (or 48 for those younger than me!), something I think I'd never achieve on the old Basal/Bolus pen regime. I'm pretty sure that I'm be there come the next test.
Bubbles, yes, I've been struggling with them, but I think I've nearly got it sussed. Key to this is getting the insulin out of the fridge well before drawing it up into the pump cartridge. For some reason, it's a lot less susceptible to 'bubbling' at room temperature. I'm sure there's some fantastically complicated scientific reason for this, but it's lost on me. Having the insulin at room temperature and slowly transferring it to the cartridge seems to do the trick.
Finally, it would seem the season of festive engorgement is rapidly approaching. It's always a bit of a testing time for us diabetics, for instance, an average mince pie is around 40g of carbs per pie and a modest slice of Christmas cake about 50g. Oh, and that tiny slice of Christmas pudding? That'll be about 60g. Best I stock up on insulin supplies!
