It took a lot of work and proving myself to the people that would okay it. A whole year of showing that I was willing to put the work in. Having a pump means doing lots of blood sugars, watching what you eat so that you can input the right amounts and looking after injection sites even more so as the cannula stays in for days at a time.
So for a girl that found it hard to do regular blood test I really put the work in, did at least 4-6 tests a day and had weekly contact with my nurse.
My nurse took it to the meeting that goes over all the candidates and I was lucky enough to be accepted. All my hard work had actually payed off this time, it felt great.
They had me go on a week long course to make sure I was carb counting properly, to go over the effects of food, drink, exercise and daily life. Going over blood testing and injection sites and how different insulin's work in all different ways. It was like being a new diabetic, it was really interesting, the first time around I'd been to young to take it all in and I was learning things that I'd either forgotten or things had changed since I was first diagnosed.
It was also really nice to be around other diabetics, it had been along time since I'd been around others and last time it was kids at the diabetic camps.
Once I'd been on the week course and they knew I knew what I was doing and could be trusted to look after myself they had a day where they went over all the different pumps and what they could do. Essentially they all do the same, but some where more fancy or technical then others. You can get simple ones that look like pagers or uber smart ones that look like smart phones. You can also get fancy sensors that sit under the skin and test your blood for you and cool blood meters that bluetooth the results right to your pump.
It was really fun picking out the one that was just right for me. The major thing that I was really worried about was injecting the cannula. I have a real phobia about cannulas and having to inject them myself was really hard to get my head around. I've got a special gadget that kinda does it for me, although I still have to press the buttons.
The whole process of getting the pump was like starting again, I could put the past behind me and start off fresh.
