Life is funny — I was just going to post on a “mistake” another pumper made, when I just did something incredibly stupid — I lost the rubber cap on the top of my insulin pump. Probably because I had my mind on other things.
I’m fairly certain I threw it in the trash. The good news, because I am anal, I am not completely screwed. When I sent back my recalled pump, I kept the rubber cap. I ordered an extra battery cap (and kept the recalled one, so I have two), but I was waiting until my next supply order to get another rubber cap.
I’m fairly certain I threw it in the trash and I am looking for it now, in between posting.
And yes, that is exactly what I did — I had it in my hand with some trash and threw it all way.
Here’s the start of the original post:
I was reading another one of our pumper blogs the other day and felt really bad for her. I am not going to link to the post as I am afraid I’m going to come across critical.
One of the biggest problems with pumping insulin is obtaining supplies — meaning cartridges and infusion sets. This is not a item you can pick up at your local pharmacy. In a pinch, I could probably get some supplies from my endos, but that would only happen during office hours. Maybe even from my pump trainer, but I would also never presume to both her outside of “office hours”, even though she works out of her home.
This means you have to plan ahead. And planning ahead saved my rear today.
Because I had saved the plastic cap from my old pump, I could calmly go get it, put it on the pump, and then take a long time to search. You see there was a possibility it was laying on my desk. There was also a possibility it landed on the floor — which opens the possibility that a beagle ate it — though they usually don’t, but you never know. If I had a puppy, it surely would have been eaten if it had hit the floor.
SO NOW THE POINT.
I keep at least one spare of everything I need. I even have a spare CPAP machine these days. I keep at least 1 month’s worth of any medication I need on hand, and I get nervous if I go less than 2 weeks.
At the end of the 90 day period, I have at least one extra box of infusion sets and one extra box of cartridges. Back before I was covered on insurance, I bought those extras on ebay. (By the way, watch eBay and expiration dates, always ask, sellers aren’t always aware of expiration dates).
Same things goes with test strips.
I’m REALLY bad about meters. I keep an extra in my car — the old Freestyle, and keep an extra in my bag. If you go WAY back in time, I actually go to an agility trial without my meter. DUMB, DUMB, I dropped it on the street and a neighbor returned it.
Being anal isn’t always back.