Helping. I Love It.

On Tuesday I went to a church Primary activity to see if I could help out. I didn't have work so I had the time. After we had sent the children home and we were cleaning up the Gym. The woman who was in charge came over to thank me.
"I appreciate the help, it's nice that you came." She thanked me.

"No prob, I had nothing else to do anyway."

"So I couldn't help but notice that you are diabetic." She pointed at my pump.

"Yeah, I love this thing. Makes life a lot easier." I grinned, I always love to brag about my pump.

"My niece just got one last week. We're hoping it helps her a lot. So what do you like about it?"

We jabber jawed a bit about diabetes and then switched to talking about who I am related to here in Delta. Like everyone else in Delta, she instantly knew my Grandparents and told me which of my aunts and uncles she went to school with.

When we had finished cleaning up I offered her my cell phone number just in case her sister ever needed some advice on using the pump or on Diabetes in general.

So this morning about 10 minutes after the 8 am phone call from my boss saying that we weren't working today, I got a call from the woman I had spoken with. I rolled back out of bed and answered the phone.

"Hey Jess? Could I ask you a favor? I'm babysitting my niece today and her infusion site pulled out and I can't figure out how to put in a new one."

"Sure, where you at?"

She gave me directions and I got over there as fast as I could. When I got there, Both Grandma's and a couple of aunts were gathered around the little girl, worried. I think the little girl is around 4 years old. Cute little girl. They showed me all the supplies and handed me the instruction book. They were telling about the night they'd had. Last night she had been so high the meter couldn't read her number and then she woke up this morning at 54. Sounds A LOT like my first few weeks on the pump. It took me a while to get used to it too. They showed me the site that had pulled out, asking if it were kinked, It was kinked right in the middle. So that explained why she had been so high the night before.

After about 20 minutes of fiddling with the site inserter I finally figured it out. The girl's pump is an Animas versus my Medtronic Paradigm. So it took me a bit to figure out I had to pull the tubing out before I could cock the inserter. But we finally got it done and got her arm cleaned off and that girl impressed me a lot. I know that it doesn't hurt to put a site in but she didn't even flinch when I told her that I was about to put it in. She was too engrossed in the juice she was sipping on. After about another 10 minutes I finally soldiered through the menu's and got her pump primed and running again. So after being badgered with thanks, I told them it was no problem and told them to call me if they ever needed help again or just wanted to talk.

I'm glad I went to that Primary activity on a lark, I'm glad I basically forced my cell number on her, (I'm a little awkward sometimes when exchanging information.) And I'm glad work was canceled so I could help out.

I feel good.