One of the benefits (or drawbacks, depending on how you look at things) of living with diabetes is that you develop a pretty high tolerance for all things Gross. The sight of blood doesn't phase you in the same way it seems to bother most other people. Needles? Pssh. Please. Give me a real challenge.
That said, living with diabetes doesn't mean you won't still get a few moments of Gross that surprise you. Last night, for reasons that escape me, I had a "gusher". For those unfamiliar, a "gusher" is what soemtimes happens when an insulin pump infusion site is removed, and the hole it leaves consequently starts spurting or leaking blood. (A Blood Faucet, if you will.) I had been readjusting the bottom of my shirt, and somehow caught my pump tubing when I yanked - and, as you might guess, my less-than-24-hour-old pump site came with it.
And so did a whole lot of blood.
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| You'll notice that the cannula didn't even have blood in it. He was perfectly clean! Jerk. |
In my five years of pumping, this is only the second one I've had - which are pretty good odds, I guess. It wasn't something I handled gracefully, either - I could be heard yelling, "Awwww, crap!" when I saw the blood on my hand (because yes, it splattered everywhere).
Eww.
Great post, Kim! Don't you just hate it when that happens, unplanned so soon after changing a site? That's typically how it plays out for me. Of course, it's also usually when I'm wearing a white shirt, too. The jumping dog pull outs are the best, by far. And those jerky caninulas are always clean and mocking me... SOBs.
ReplyDeleteOnce I had a bad site and decided to change it while at work. I went into the archive room (if that is the word for it) and removed the set. The only room with some privacy and a lock. Merapi volcano was a little baby! Blood was spurting out and also leaking down into my sneakers. Wearing white socks, of course.....
ReplyDeleteIn over 7 years of pumping, we've had 2. But we were lucky in that they were 3 day old sites instead of perfectly good new ones... Always fun !!
ReplyDeleteI gushered the other morning at 6:00 as I was climbing into the shower to get my day started. I just ignored it all shower and just cleaned my arm post shower.
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