Hi! My name is Jeannie Schwertfeger and my 9 year old son Cody just began
using a pump about 3 weeks ago (Nov. 28, 2001). Cody was diagnosed with
diabetes at 17 months old and was life flighted to Morgantown, WV, Ruby
Memorial Hospital. We were so fortunate to have Evan Jones as Cody's endo.
Evan has always been very supportive and reassuring through the years.
About 4 years ago, we asked Evan about using the pump and he was willing to
share the info but Cody was less than willing to try. We put the idea in
the back of our minds, because we knew it had to be his choice, not ours.
Well, this fall, while Cody was playing soccer against another local team,
we noticed a young boy from the other team wearing an insulin pump. My
husband and I sought out the boy's father and began asking questions. He
was so positive and waited till the end of the game so we could introduce
Cody to his son. That was all it took!!! Cody was ready!! Every day he
would ask questions and we would search out more info on the pump. We
emailed Evan and told him we were interested in the pump -- as we knew he
would, he immediately told us that he had the info and would give it to us
at the next visit. Once we read all the information, and read the letters
from the Insulin Pumpers web site, we were ready to go. Our insurance worked very quickly,
thanks to the help of a wonderful woman at MiniMed, and our pump was sent to
us. Cody has been on the pump for 3 weeks and it is amazing. For any
parent of a child with diabetes, do not hesitate!!! How nice it is for Cody
to sleep in on Saturday morning, or eat when he is hungry instead of being
told that he has had enough. The infusion set changes were a little scary
the first couple of times, but with practice, even that isn't a big deal
anymore. We use EMLA cream and it works wonders!!!
ED... well a month has gone by and this excited update was received from Cody's mom. Read on...... :-)
Wed, 16 Jan 2002
Wow!!!! You said it when you talked about a dramatic change in Cody's lifestyle. After he had been on the pump for about 3 weeks, I began thinking that his coloring was so much better. However, I simply laid it on to the fact that I was his mother until several different people (including his art teacher) commented about his cheeks being so pink and how he has started growing so much in the past few weeks. I was thrilled to know that it wasn't just me!!! Cody really seems to feel great. He has gone from having DAILY bg fluctuations from 30 to 450 (for the past 8 years), to most days staying in the 80 to 150 range. He seemed to have blossomed and even seems so much more mature as he becomes more independent. At Christmas, his 3rd grade class had a party with the usual bag of candy. Through the years, Cody has brought the goodies home and given them to his older brothers. This year he came home with a bag of LICK 'EM Candy (a packet of pure colored sugar!!), and asked if he could eat it. I thought this would be one of those perfect times to let him try something he had never been allowed before. We checked the carbs, bolused, and Cody dug in!!! He was in Heaven!!! It was really difficult for me to let him eat it since that has always been a big "no, no", but it was worth it to watch the look on his face as he licked every last piece of sugar from the packet!!! A half hour after he ate it, I tested his blood, waiting for the glucometer to read 400---but much to my excitement, his reading was 101!!!! We are still careful of what Cody eats, but it is nice to know he can eat normal kid stuff once in a while!!!
The pump has definitly changed our lives; sleeping in, late lunches, no more am and pm snacks at school(which he hated)-----and most of all-----NO MORE NEEDLES!!! We are so happy with the pump ---in Cody's words..."This is AWESOME"
If you have any
questions or would like to talk to us about the pump, we would enjoy hearing
from you.
Cody's mom,
Jeannie Schwertfam@peoplepc.com