Pump & Nitrogen

**Warning - this is a long post that most of you won't care about - feel free to skip it.  I do know that we have some friends and family who are very interested in Zane's diabetes and the "next steps" we are taking with it.  I also feel I should document this because it is potentially a very big next step for my little man!

For the last week Zane has been doing a saline trial of the Omnipod insulin pump.  It started a week ago Thursday when the rep came to our house and taught us how to use it.  Once we went through my LOONG list of questions/concerns and went through how to use the PDM it was time to get Zane all "hooked up".  When the needle and canula discharge from the pod it makes a really loud "click" noise and to say that that was traumatic for Zane is an understatement - he flipped out.  We calmed him down and then things were fine for the next 3 days.  That pod expired last Sunday morning - since he is still has to have his insulin injections as the pump is only housing saline, we let him have a little break before we put on another pod that night (in real life, there wouldn't be a break between pods).  This time, we let him wear headphones and put on some music to help mask the "click" noise...it helped a little bit, but he still said it, but regardless he got over it a lot quicker this time around.  Each pod ideally is supposed to last 3 days - this 2nd one unfortunately didn't even make it 24 hours...the adhesive started to peal up and in turn the canula started pulling out and he was complaining of it "stinging" him.  We had to take that one off.  Once that pump came off, he was DONE.  He told me, he wanted to stay on shots, didn't want a pump anymore and was FINISHED.  We talked about it and I realized that he might not be 100% done...I was pretty sure he was still in the gray zone and I still had time to get him back on board!  I called the rep the next day and told her all about it, I asked if I could get a few more pods, I wanted Zane to have one or two positive experiences with it before giving up.

Last Wednesday Amy (rep) met me at my work and brought me 3 more pods!!  I picked Zane up from school and told him I had more pods.  I made a deal with him...I told him if he could be brave one more time and wear a pod again, after it expired (ideally in 3 days) he could put a pod on mommy!  He asked if he could make it "click" on me and I said he could and said that I would wear it for 3 days just like he has to.  He was pretty excited about that - that is...until later that night when I asked him wear we should put the pod...hello meltdown!  He flat out refused.  I let him have his moment and then tried to reason with him.  I asked him to remember back to when he was first diagnosed and how he hated his shots so bad and how they would hurt him really bad.  I then reminded him that even though the shots still hurt (nothing can take the pain away unfortunately), he was now used to them and they weren't that bad anymore and they weren't as big of a deal to him.  I explained to him that the same thing would happen with pumps, he'd get used to them, they may still hurt, but they would eventually not be as big of a deal as they are right now.  I reminded him that with the pump, ideally he would get ONE poke every 3 days, opposed to the 5-6 shots a day he gets now (still has to check his blood sugar though). He understood and agreed to all of that, but still refused to put on another pod.

Fast forward to yesterday, Thursday.  I told Zane if he let me put a pod on and didn't throw a fit about it that I would take him out for ice cream - he happily obliged!  By the way, I am not above bribing my children and I'm not sure I ever will be :)  Josh's parents were over last night, so he was pretty excited to show off to them how brave he was.  I filled, primed and stuck the pod to his belly - now it was time to "click" it.  I let him wear headphones again and then I pushed the magic "ejection" button!!  He flinched, but didn't shed a tear - I could tell he wanted to, but he was so brave and just dealt with it!  As always, I was and am very proud of him!  He hasn't complained once since we put it on - I'm hoping I have him back on board!

As promised, we headed out for ice cream!  I let him pick the spot (totally thinking, he'd pick McDonald's) - he chose SubZero a very cool place that uses Nitrogen to make your ice cream!!  We have only been there once and it was quite awhile ago, so I was a little surprised he remembered!  Grandma and Papa joined us (and even treated - THANK YOU).  We all enjoyed a great dish of ice cream and celebrated our brave little superhero!

Stay tuned for my big debut of wearing the pod for Zane (just wish I could really wear it for him - wear his diabetes forever for him).