Herbie Fell Off!!!

Yesterday was NOT a good diabetes day!

I got a call around 1:30pm from the school nurse. My heart always skips a few beats when I hear that ring tone that sounds like a siren when my cell rings the school nurse number. I answered it and her nurse said, "Hi Jill, I don't want to scare you...but....." BUT? BUT WHAT? "Kacey lost her pump...." WHATTTTTTT? OK....before I could let her finish I was already spouting. Where was she last? How did it fall off? Did she find it? UGHHHH! I was freaking! Her nurse went on to explain... "Apparently she was in music and it fell off and another child found it and thought it was a cell phone and Kacey came rushing down to me with it. She reconnected and she tested. Her blood sugar is fine and she's gone to lunch and bolused." AHHHHHHHHH! That still doesn't explain how it fell off. Where did it disconnect? Is there air in the tube now? Forget it! I'm on my way!

I get to school and rush in carrying a new infusion set, bottle of insulin, a cartridge and a pump pack with her belt. Kacey was sitting in the nurse waiting for me. She began to explain the little vacation that Herbie decided to take. To backtrack just a little....Kacey has always been a "chunky" child and we've never been able to find jeans to fit her. Last weekend while we were shopping, we ran across plus size little girl jeans. Wow! Kacey was so excited because she usually wears stretch pants and she's wanted to wear her pump in her pocket like the teenagers do. I can understand her wanting to try it. When she tried the jeans on they were perfect fits! She was overly thrilled that she'd be able to put Herbie into the little case with the clip and wear it on her pocket. I bought her 3 pairs! Yesterday she decided to wear Herbie in the case with the clip and tuck it on her pocket. She went to music class and apparently Herbie made a break for it and bungee jumped and she never felt it. The diconnect was at the cartridge....not her infusion set! She was walking around with a tube hanging and then a child in her class picked up Herbie and gave him to the teacher, thinking it was a cell phone!!!! Thank goodness he didn't tuck it in his pocket!!! Kacey realized that it was Herbie and ran right to the nurse with him. After careful inspection, we found that the clip was broke and thats what caused Herbie's jump. :( I went ahead and did a complete site change because I wasn't taking chances on getting air bubbles! She strapped her belt back around her waist and tucked Herbie safely into her pack and with a smile she said, "I think I'll just wear my pack from now on!" Whew!! I had the sickest feeling in my stomach thinking about her losing a $6000 piece of equipment that is supposed to be "attached" to her.

For those of you that haven't seen the weather....we're being hit with a November Nor'easter here. The wind is picking up and we're already seeing some tidal flooding. The wind gusts are up to 45mph and they're expecting them to get stronger. They're expecting 2-7 inches of rain by tomorrow and they're anticipating the flooding to be worse than Hurricane Isabel. During that storm, our house flooded! I'm a little worried and I'm praying that we don't get the water like we did in 2003. They're calling it a history making Nor'easter and we'll be keeping a close eye on the news as this gets worse! Say a little prayer for us!

I'll update as I can!