Benson's trial pump

On Tuesday Benson got his trial pump. It had saline solution instead of insulin so it's sole purpose was to make sure he wouldn't tear it out. I thought Benson would do well with it becasue he does so well with me poking his finger and giving him shots. All I have to say is "Benson come here, we need to check you" and most of the time he'll come and sit in my lap. One of his favorite toys are his syringes. Yes, he plays with syringes...and yes I realize I should break that habit. He hasn't taken the cap off the needle so I'm not too worried about it. Anyway, we got home from the hospital with his pump on and he loved it. He was hilarious. He started running around the house laughing because his pump pak was flopping up and down! He also did great sleeping with it. To my knowledge he didn't play with it because it was in the same position I put it in when he woke up.

Here are some facts about the pump:

* Benson will wear it 24/7. The insertion site is in his bum. He can disconnect the tube to take baths and swim.
* It will help us better control his blood sugar because it acts more like a normal pancreas. It gives insulin every hour according to his needs (we will pre-set the amounts which very according to his hormones, time of day, etc). I will tell the pump how many carbs Benson ate and it will disperse insulin.
* NO more shots!
* I still have to check his blood sugar on his finger. Our monitor will check his BG but it's not totally accurate so I will continue checking him.
* It is the same size as a pager.
* I will change his insertion site every 3 days. I put a needle that has a tube around it into his bum and then pull the needle out so the tube stays in his bum. This is how the insulin gets into his body.

We are scheduled to get the pump on November 10th (our insurance is being SLOW).

Good news: I have had to fight a lot of battles to get the right test strips and insulin lately. The State of Washington and Blue Cross wanted to give us the cheapest test strips that have a poor accuracy rate and I found out today that I won the battle with Blue Cross and the State of Washington and now get the test strips I want and get a months supply at a time (every since his diagnosis I have had to go to the pharmacy every ten days to get more strips).
P.s. I also won the battle with our doctors over our insulin! I have learned that persistence and having all your ducks lined up pays off!