Well defined abs not included.
As you can see, there's a little electronic gadget that looks like a pager with some neato buttons on it and a thin, clear tube that looks like it's taped neatly to a diabetic's belly. The tube is actually attached to a little plastic doohickey (technical medical term) that is inserted under the skin. I believe it is made of Teflon or something, and it doesn't hurt, though it is inserted via needle. In fact, you can poke me right where the insertion set is on my stomach and I can hardly feel it most of the time. For those of you squirming, know that I will take inserting a short, thin tube into my belly once every four days over inserting a short, thin needle into myself four times a day. And now you're squirming even more. Still, everyone who has insulin dependant diabetes should be on one.
Since I've been on the insulin pump my over all blood sugars have been better, I've been able to eat more or less depending on whether or not I'm hungry, and I've been able to eat whenever I want and not be stuck on a schedule dictated by when the long acting insulin I gave this morning is going to kick into action this afternoon. It has given me a freedom that I had not had for most of my life, and even though there are times I want to throw it across the room and watch it smash into a thousand tiny little pieces like the fax machine in Office Space, I wouldn't ever be without one again. I cannot stress this enough, and not to sound like a broken record, but everyone with insulin dependant diabetes should really be on an insulin pump.
Come to think of it, that wouldn't sound like much other than silence. *shrug*
Surprisingly, you don't see a lot of people wearing insulin pumps out and about. I know, because I look. Depending on what I'm wearing you may not even see that I have one on. It can be tucked into my pocket, tucked into my bra (not always comfortable but if I'm wearing a dress where else am I going to keep it?), or worn on my belt alongside my continuous blood testing monitor for a real Batman-esque look. The same is true of everyone else who uses one of these. With all the cell phone holders and mp3 players people have these days insulin pumps tend to blend in rather well.
But when I do see someone with one, or someone comes up to me because they see that I am wearing one, there's a camaraderie there that is kind of neat. What brand is that? How do you like it? How many days do you get out of a set? It's an immediate thing you have in common. I spent twenty minutes talking to a women in IHOP the other night about our pumps. I was doing a story time at a mall once and one of the dads in the audience started asking me questions about it because he had one, too. I can only think of maybe one other thing off the top of my head that is as good at breaking the ice as an insulin pump.
I literally added that video just because.
The Pump Club is kind of a rotten club to belong to, and it's one that I wish in many ways I didn't belong to, but it's nice to occasionally see someone else with a pump just so I can have a reminder that I'm not the only member. I often joke when my pump beeps that my pancreas is talking to me, or refer to myself as a bionic woman, or say my pancreas fell out of my pocket when my pump does the same, but joking and occasional irritation aside I love the little thing.
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