By Valerie Robinson valerier@eup.k12.mi.us
My daughter, Chrissy, is 13 and was diagnosed 6/98. She started pumping 7/2000 and we drive 350 miles to the nearest pediatric endocrinology clinic. We don't have the first hbA1c results back yet, so don't know if it is better, but her blood sugars seem to be at least 50% better.
The nicest things about pumping are the flexibility in eating and sleeping and the ability to fine tune control for certain things, such as the slow highs that pizza cause. We have also found that track and cross country running is much easier with the pump.
Before the pump, Chrissy's blood sugar would go really high during her races and even though she started the race well, after 1/2 mile, her blood sugar would skyrocket to about 400, making it almost impossible for her to run. This fall, she increased her basal rates for about 4 hours before she raced and was able to keep her pre-race blood sugar on the low side(about 70) so that she would end the race with a blood sugar below 200 where she could still race well.
Chrissy is looking at the immediate benefits of the pump, while her dad and I are thinking that the pump will make her life much better many years from now-or until a cure is found!