My Moronic Moment

It’s day five of Diabetes Blog Week and I’m going to play my wild card.   I've got a moronic moment to share and it's a doozy.  I probably should just stick with the assigned topic and talk about exercise rather than expose my inner numb-skull but I've been meaning to share this one all week.  If I don't get this off my chest now I'll miss my opportunity to purge.  So I shall commence purging....now.

I’m human.  I screw up every now and then.  And I’m okay with that...unless those screw ups have an adverse effect on my child’s wellbeing.  Then I'm totally NOT okay with it. 

Jenna gets a break from her ever-present Animas One Touch Ping during two activities: swimming lessons and gymnastics classes.  During those activities her pump takes up temporary residence in my purse.  Now, for those of you who aren’t familiar, the Animas One Touch Ping is a pump and meter duo that communicates remotely with one another.  So you don’t have to actually handle the pump to administer a bolus.  It can all be done with the blood sugar meter from several feet away, if necessary. 

After her lessons are over Jenna heads to the change room to change from her body suit or swim suit back into her regular clothes.  At this time her pump should be extracted from the cavernous pit that is my purse, the lure-lock engaged and the case strapped back around Jenna’s waist.   

It SHOULD be.

I try to keep everything in order and be the organized anchor for my family. Like most moms, it is a job I take quite seriously.  So you can imagine how I’ve felt when not once, not twice, but three times I have forgotten to reconnect Jenna’s pump after a swim or gymnastics lesson and on one occasion have even gone so far as to bolus my purse for her snack, assuming the pump is where it should be - connected to Jenna!   The sickening moment of realization occurs when, sometimes up to two hours later I check her blood sugar and discover that it’s on a trajectory for the freakin’ moon.

If motherhood has taught me anything it is humility.  I have proven to myself time and time again that I am human.  But diabetes seems determined to poignantly drive that point home now and then.  Furthermore, as much as I love the remote bolusing capabilities of the Animas One Touch Ping, this is it’s one Achilles heel; it is too easy to forget to reconnect when you don’t have to actually handle the pump to bolus, setting the stage for precisely this scenario.

It is because of this that I’m thankful for another piece of technology - my iPhone and it’s ability to be programmed with reminders and alarms!  I love my iPhone almost as much as I love Jenna’s pump. It has since spared me countless potential episodes of self-loathing.  Just imagine if Apple and Animas combined their awesomeness and collaborated to create a new insulin pump - the “iPump”.  No...the “iPing”!  ...sweet.