Some things are worth waiting for....

Some things really are worth waiting for!

Friday evening we went to a JDRF Skating Party. (The skating rink donated half of the admission cost to JDRF.) It was nice for Ally to see other children with T1 and a really great family outing as well. I have not been roller skating since I was about 12 years old. Ally, Jessi and I all put skates on and hit the floor...almost literally!!! Keith and Lexi watched from the sidelines:) Grandma & Grandpa, Aunt Mindy (my sister) and cousins - Brett, Brody and Kaylen also came out to support Ally and JDRF. It was a great time!

But now to the part that was worth waiting for....

First, We met fellow D-Mom, Hallie, with her husband Jason and adorable Avery! Hallie and I live about 5 miles away from each other and "met" over the phone about 9 months ago, but had not yet met in person. Although we did not get lots of time to chat at the skating rink (I couldn't keep my girls off the skating floor!), it was so nice meeting them in person and I look forward to spending more time with them. Hallie is just as sweet as I thought she would be and she really "has it all together"!

The second part that was worth waiting for...

At the skating party, representatives from a couple of pump companies were available to answer questions. I thought I'd check out the pamphlets and chat with the Medtronics rep; Ally has a MiniMed Paradigm insulin pump. Every time that I walked up to her table she was in a conversation with another person. I really did not have anything pressing that I needed to talk to her about so I went back to skating with my girls. Then I kept feeling myself drawn back over to that table. The rep had been talking with a couple for a very long time and again I thought that I did not really need to waste her time as I already have a pump and this couple obviously was trying to make a decision about getting a pump for their child. So again, went back to skating. After waiting for most of the evening, and it was almost time for the skating party to come to an end, I thought I'd give it one more try. Boy was it worth the wait! I wanted to ask her more about the CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitor) and also about different infusion set options for Ally's pump. (For those of you not familiar, and taken from Medtronics site...An infusion set is the thin, plastic tubing which delivers insulin from the pump to your body. At the end of the tubing is a soft, flexible cannula, which is a small tube. You insert the cannula under your skin. This spot is called your infusion site, and it remains in place for up to three days.) We currently use the Silhouette infusion set. As we were talking about it she mentioned a Sil-Serter. At first I thought that she was talking about the insertion device for the Quick-Set infusion set which inserts with the click of a button. I mentioned again that we use the Silhouette and that we manually put the needle in to insert it. She said, "You don't have a Sil-Serter?" The blank look on my face must have told her everything she needed to know because the next thing I know she is running out to her car! She came back with a Sil-Serter...an insertion device for the Silhouette infusion set.
Want to see a site change in action with the Sil-Serter? Click here, then go to the Silhouette demonstration on the right side of page.

OMG! How did I not know this existed? With a simple cocking and clicking, snap the site is in! Anything to make site changes less stressful for me and for Ally. After 8+ months, Ally still gets really anxious for every site change. I am also trying to train my sister and my mom to do site changes, but Ally is dragging her feet! She has been really nervous about it. Now she is very excited about the Sil-Serter and even said that she thinks with that she could even put her site in herself! (We'll see about that!) Hopefully this was worth waiting for!