Friday, March 30, 2012

Lyle's new insulin pump

As promised in my posting before, I said I would discuss Lyle's new insulin pump he's been using. I wanted to consult the "expert", aka Lyle on the pump before I put I posted anything on the blog.

  The pump is called the Omnipod. It's a little white pod about the size of half of a deck of cards. It's completely wireless and he sticks the device to himself with adhesive that's on the back of the pod. The pod works wirelessly and it has another device that looks almost like a cell phone that he uses to check his blood sugar, give himself insulin and check carb counts for food.
Omnipod


Personal Data Manager

The Omnipod is something neither me or Lyle ever imagined to help him manage his diabetes. It's so small, convenient and easy to use that I really think it will be something he's able to use for a long time. When I first met Lyle he was so against using insulin pumps to manage his diabetes. The main reason was because they didn't fit into his lifestyle. Most pumps have tubing that runs on the outside of the body. All of the tubing for this pumps is internal and he doesn't have to worry about pulling it out or breaking it. 

He's been using this pump for around a month and even though things aren't completely figured out with it, we still have a pretty good grasp as to how to use it. So far, he's really liking it and we've gotten good reports from his doctor that it's working well too. It's nice for him because he always has the pump connected to himself and he doesn't have to take insulin pens and needles into restaurants or family gatherings to give himself a shot after eating. Also, the pump gives him a small amount of insulin all day long, so this is supposed to help his sugar levels be more stable.

As with anything, this pump is going to take a lot of time and patience but I'm so proud of Lyle for trying something new and giving it a chance. It's a big lifestyle change for him because he's changing the way he's done things for the last 18 years! It's also nice that he's having to "relearn" some things because it gives me a chance to learn more about his diabetes too.

For anyone who's a diabetic and insulin dependent I would highly recommend the Omnipod. It's working well for Lyle and he really finds it easy to use.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

Lyle: The strongest person I have ever met


Some of you may already know this, and some of you may not, but Lyle is a Type 1 diabetic. He manages his diabetes very well, so well that most people don't even know he has it. Lyle was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 5 and since being diagnosed he has seen so many changes/ improvements to his treatment. Lyle does a remarkable job managing his diabetes. We get very good reports from his doctors and nurses that he his healthy. Nothing to worry about right now! I wanted to take the time to post this because I feel like everyone should know what he goes through on a daily basis with this disease. Most of our family and friends know that he's a diabetic, but I don't think they fully understand what all goes into his disease.

For any of you that are not familiar with what type 1 diabetes is I will give you a short summary. Type 1 diabetes is a disease that causes a person to have high levels of sugar (glucose) in their blood because their pancreas, the organ that helps regulate blood sugar, does produce insulin. Insulin is a hormone that is needed to help move blood sugar (glucose) into cells, which it is stored and later used to help produce energy for the body to function. One of the most frustrating aspects of type 1 diabetes is that they don't know what causes it- so there is no cure for it. There is ongoing research to help determine a cause for diabetes so we can (hopefully) one day find a cure for it. We are praying there is a cure for this disease sometime in Lyle's lifetime, but only time will tell.

Diabetes is a very stressful, straining and expensive disease to have. It requires Lyle's monitoring on a daily, and on most days, hourly basis. Since his body cannot regulate itself he has to test his blood sugar levels with a blood tester. It gives him a reading and there is a range of where his blood sugar should be at. If he is having a "low", where is blood sugar is lower than it should be, he has to eat something to bring up his levels- he typically uses fruit snacks to do this. If he is having a "high", where his blood sugar is higher than it should be, he has to give himself insulin to correct the sugar and bring it back down to where it needs to be. He also has to give himself insulin whenever he eats a meal. To do this he calculates the number of carbohydrates in a particular meal and uses a math equation to figure out the amount of insulin he will need to keep his blood sugar regulated.

Lyle is one of the most patient, meticulous people I know and I think it is because of his diabetes. He works hard everyday and fights for health. It's something that is taken for granted by many of us. He can't just eat something without thinking about it or spontaneously leave without planning to take all of his medicine with him. Luckily, diabetes doesn't really stop Lyle from doing anything because he manages it so well but there are some things he has to do differently than the rest.

Currently, Lyle's going through a lot because he's switched the way he's doing things with his diabetes. I will be posting more updates as we go along through this new exciting (scary) journey!

Stay tuned...