Shot vs. Pump

Serenity was given 3 shots a day (mostly by me & the school nurse) for a year and a half. Then she got on the insulin pump. It has its ups & downs.

When Serenity was getting shots she was on a very strict eating schedule. If she ate too early, her blood sugar levels were high. If she ate even half an hour late, she would inevitably get low. We, as a family, learned to work our schedule around meals. If Serenity got an extra snack, for example... at a class party, I would have to give her an extra shot. (Just a side note: it is so annoying when others comment on how much they hate needles and act like they are scared of my daughter getting a shot. I'm not talking about little kids, either. If you are a grown up and you're not even the one getting a shot, suck it up. My daughter IS the one getting the shot & she does.) Another down-side to getting shots is that you have less control over your blood sugar levels... but I'll explain more on that later.

Before Serenity got on the pump, we (Serenity, my husband, & I) had to attend a pump class. The diabetes educators showed us the different pumps we could choose from, went over the pros & cons, and put a pump site into each diabetic child's arm to make sure they weren't allergic to the adhesive on the inset. One of the things they were adamant about telling us was that getting on the pump would mean more work for us, the parents. If the pump were to malfunction (which we have never experienced) or if the inset did not go into the skin or deliver the insulin correctly (which we have experienced multiple times), it can quickly result in high blood sugars, ketones, and even DKA (diabetic ketoacidosis). For this reason, we have to check blood sugars more often.

For the first month that Serenity was on the pump I had to check her blood sugar several times a day, as well as at midnight, 2:00am, and 6:00am. I was VERY sleep deprived at the end of that month. But as a result of knowing those blood sugar patterns, we were able to tailor Serenity's insulin dosages, hour-by-hour, to result in better numbers and over-all better control. Serenity's first A1c test after getting on the pump was 6.3, the best it had ever been since being diagnosed. And after that first month, I got to catch up on sleep.

Now Serenity doesn't have to be on a strict eating schedule. We can sleep in on the weekends. We can go out to eat on special occasions and not worry about the long wait. We can eat around our daily schedule instead of schedule the day around our meals. And at class parties, Serenity just has to press a few buttons on her pump to eat that extra snack. We still have to check her blood sugar often, but not around the clock. We were told, before getting the pump, that it's not the best choice for everyone, and I can see why some would choose to continue with injections, but for Serenity, and for our family, its made life with type 1 diabetes just a little bit easier.