Decisions, Decisions....

Making medical decisions can be so stressful. Maybe it's because we often don't know what course of treatment truly is best. Which route will be better in the long run.....or even short term. Jason and I daily make decisions and judgment calls concerning J.J.'s care, but today we decided to go pumpless and give shots a try again.

This morning we had J.J.'s endo check-up. His A1C was a titch higher, but nothing to complain about. We went into the appointment knowing we would ask the Dr's opinion on going back to shots for the summer and getting all the details/prescriptions we needed to give it a try again. She stated that many families here, especially ones that own lake/cabin property end up switching to shots in the summer. With the heat, sand, and water the pumps don't make much sense.

Granted we don't have lake/cabin property, but we might as well. J.J. finally filled his dirt pit with water and we started the daily routine of taking off of his pump and the constant showering. It's also warmed up....so even if he does have his pump on the exposure to the heat makes the insulin less effective and/or predictable. Every time we take the pump off it seems to get air bubbles in the tubing, so we have to prime it, plus his infusion sites get "gritty", making it hard to get the connections to work properly without ripping it out.

I think it would be one thing if J.J. were a screen or book junkie. His days wouldn't involve tremendous amounts of dirt and water and he'd probably stay inside where it's cooler, but right now and for most of the summer he's around dirt, heat, and water. It's just the way it is.

The other major factor in our decision was that with him on the pump we go mindless. We RARELY evaluate numbers or trends or anything until that 3 month endo appt rolls around and we wonder how he's doing. I know even on the pump we should do that, but we just don't. When we were forced to log on MDI we tended to care for him better.

So the decision was made and we jumped in fast. The endo gave us a sample of Lantus so we really didn't have to invest any money in this trial run.

I was all fine with the decision until I had to give that first shot of Lantus this afternoon. I forgot how much it stings compared to the Novolog. He teared up and asked me "Why? Why do I have to go through this?" If that doesn't make a Mom's heart prick....man alive!! I tell ya....where's the Kleenex!!?? I explained that we're just trying it out again...... to see how it goes. See if he likes it, if we like it, if he's more stabilized, etc. Yeah, but he doesn't care anything about our reasoning...he cares about pain!!!!

And there began the list of the cons of going to shots.......the pain involved....instead of getting poked once every three days it's back to 4-6X's a day. And what about the other family member's involvement.....only our oldest can give shots......and they'll have to do the math now....the pump won't figure it out for them. Our anniversary is in a couple of days.....we wanted to sneak away....how will that work with J.J. on shots? He's only been on the pump when we've been gone!! So many more details flooded my brain.......grrrrr!!

Sooooo.........

Who knows??? This decision to go back to MDI may only last a week.....or 2 days if my emotions have any say in it. But I know we have thought long and hard, and for now we'll give it another SHOT!!(Pun intended!:)