Success!

A couple of exciting things have happened this week ...

We heard that Dotter's application for an insulin pump has been successful! This means she'll be given a pump, which will still be owned by PaTCH (Paediatrics at The Canberra Hospital), to use as long as she needs it (I think). I'm not sure of all the details yet, but at Diabetes Clinic yesterday we found out a little more.

(Photo from Wikipedia, public domain)

An insulin pump is a microcomputer which holds a vial of insulin, and is attached to her via a cannula (a soft tube into the fat layer on her tummy), and worn in a little pouch or pocket. So instead of having to inject herself each time she eats, she can simply dial up how much carbohydrate she's about to have (something we're much better at estimating than a year ago!), and it will deliver the insulin. It also provides a background, or basal, level of insulin all the time.

The cannula only needs to be changed every 3 days or so. She'll still need to do heaps of finger prick tests, of course, to check her blood glucose levels, but it's a lot fewer injections into her tummy.

The pump can't get wet, so she needs to disconnect it from the cannula when she has a shower etc. Otherwise she needs to wear it all the time.

It is a very complicated device, and a much more involved way of managing her diabetes - we've got a lot to learn. But it should help a lot, as she has poor BGL control because of her other autoimmune illness. The PatCH pumps are only available to kids who have a dual diagnosis (ie are sick with something else as well as the Type 1 Diabetes).

The pump is courtesy of a wonderful group of parents who do fund raising and purchase pumps for PaTCH. Pumps are very expensive ($4,000 to $8,000 each), which is beyond us. The consumables are more expensive than for insulin pens (which are totally subsidised by the government), so running costs will be about $3/day. Well worth it.

We need to decide which pump we want from a small selection, and then Dotter will need nearly a week of hospital visits (outpatient) to set it up properly. Soon, hopefully!!

******************************************************************************************************

In other exciting news, which I can't go into in detail, and is NOT associated with the book proposal I sent off last week, I have been asked to be the author on a proposed puzzle book. I don't have to write the proposal or anything, the acquisitions editor does all that, I just have to say HELL YEAH! I should know in a few weeks if it's been given the go ahead ... even if it doesn't come off, it is SO great to have been asked, a real break for me.

Of course, if it is approved, I'll be launched into a heavy writing schedule pretty much immediately 0_o Which is good - but also a little daunting!

******************************************************************************************************