Site Success

The title says it all! Today was site change day...yep it's been 3 days already! Kacey had been telling me all day that she was doing her own site. I told her that it was fine for her to not do them but she kept insisting that "Today was the day!" and she was so right! After lunch she told me she was ready. We got all the supplies and she had the old site out before I could even fill the new cartridge. She had this smile on her face that couldn't be wiped off....or could it?

After I got everything filled, then she said she needed me to hold her hand while she pushed it in. Sure thing! So I held her hand....and this was the face she gave me.....
I asked her if she wanted me to do it? "NO! I wanna do this!", she shouted back at me. So I smiled and started chanting "Go Kacey! Go Kacey!" About 10 seconds later.....
SHE DID IT!!!!! And there were NO tears!!!! She was all smiles and we were all in near tears from the happiness. I am so proud of how well she's done with this. She set this goal with her CDE on March 20, 2008 when we went to pump training with Herbie and here we are not even one month later and she's done her first site...ALL BY HERSELF!

What have we learned with sites?
The first thing we learned is that Kacey does much better when she does the sites with a device. The manual insert sites are the ones I can do but she is much more relaxed with the automatic insert ones. We actually didn't have these recommended to us because when Kacey did her own injections, she used to put the needle in really slow. We were told that since she was a slow inserter then she wouldn't like the automatic insert sites. The Cleo is a combo of both. Kacey has control of the insert but it automatically retracts the needle for her. The only drawback we're having is the fact that they don't stay stuck to her for more than a day. We're using the clear IV stuff that goes overtop but when we do this, it means she can't disconnect so we're having to disconnect the CozMonitor so she can bathe or shower during those 3 days. The Comfort Shorts stay stuck (and then some! LOL!).

Another thing we were told was the straight in sets tend to kink more than the angled sets. Sure that may happen but it hasn't happened to us yet. I must say, the Cleo sets have given her nearly perfect blood sugars, whereas the Comfort Shorts she was bouncing around a bit. I wonder if it had anything to do with the angle it was in? I'll certainly ask when we go back to the Endo!

We go back to the Endo next month for a check up and I'm going to ask for some samples of some other sets. I think it's only fair to Kacey to let her explore the other sets out there and then decide on the one she really likes rather than limiting herself.

So....don't let anyone tell you that a 9 year old child CANNOT care for their diabetes because Kacey is now proof! She has the desire to be independant and the determination to do it and I must say....I couldn't be more proud of her than I am right at this moment!

This pic made me cry. Here is Kayleigh sharing one of the proudest moments in Kacey's life and praising her for a job well done. They hugged for about 5 minutes after this and Kayleigh kept telling her how brave she was. What a wonderful big sister to show the support that Kacey needs.

As for Kacey....she looked at me afterward and said "I told you I could do it!"

She sure did! :)