I-PORT, take 4

This I-PORT came by far the closest to what I had hoped for when I ordered the things.
I did a pinch and my mother inserted the port onto my left thigh midmorning on Friday. It went in without much pain. My thighs have been really bruised lately because I've felt hesitant about injecting elsewhere, and so we had difficulty finding a spot that was not bruised. We ended up inserting it sandwiched between three small bruises.
Unlike the rest, this time the adhesive didn't stick that well- about half of the adhesive part flapped up and wouldn't stick.
Unlike the rest, this time there was minimal site irritation. I was able to wear the port for the full 72 hours, at which time it was just begginning to hurt. Shots really wear painless because I wasn't pressing down on a really sore spot the way that I was with the others.
It was a little annoying to be putting shots into my thigh and needing to pull my pants down, but that was ok.
When I pulled the port off on Monday after breakfast (and three painless breakfast shots), unlike the other three times, there was no large red and inflamed area; just the spot where the cannula came out was bloody. The port itself was sweaty.

I'm not sure what made this one different. If only they were all like this one! This is the first time that I've removed the port and then wished I was still wearing one.

Picture Game

This picture:means Be Kind Above All.





This one I made up. Get it?>



I-Port 4 was inserted a few hours ago, in my thigh, and is so far ok.

Meet-up

The first Chicago Diabetes Meet up of type 1 diabetes is gonna be happening on Sunday. I'm excited.
Chicago already has one support group in the near north suburbs, and it has a chapter of DESA.
I met with two Chicago area type 1 diabetics four or five months ago. Then I didn't contact them again because I felt embarrased for not mentioning that I'm trans, and especially embarrassed about it because one of them is blind. They told me that diabetes support groups are a bad idea. I asked them why, and they turned towards each other and laughed but didn't tell me.
Anyhow, I'm hoping this will be a pleasant meet-up. It's in a cafe, and I don't eat cafe food, but hopefully the cafe won't mind since I'll be with a group. So far, 6 of us have RSVP'd yes. http://diabetes.meetup.com/115/calendar/5974502/
My numbers have been running high for the last week or so. The good part about that is that in the last ten days, my lowest low was 50, and my second lowest was 58. That's unusual for me.

Lantus Expiration

I used to read about insulin expiring and think that that had never happened with me. Then I decided to do an expiriment; use a Lantus vial until something wacky happened.
I had used the same, outside the fridge vial for 56 days when I woke up one morning with a 357. I had woken up high the previous three days, while going crazy low during the day, so at that point I decided to open a new Lantus. My morning numbers became much better.
With the new knowledge that Lantus acts quicker the longer it's left out of the fridge, I looked back and noticed that even before the month expiration, my overnight numbers get worse; the week after I open a vial, my numbers are mysteriously beautiful.
Right now I'm on a road trip, and I packed insulin. I decided to take only one vial of Lantus, and at the first sign of expiration, to begin splitting the dose. So this morning, I was up at 4 AM and my bg was 89. At 9 AM when I got up, it was 159. So I decided to take 12 units of Lantus at that time, an extra breakfast Novolog unit, and at 9 PM I took 6 units of Lantus. Tommorow morning, I will take 8 units, and twelve hours later the same, splitting my dose for the rest of my roadtrip.
I left on Sunday, June 24 and had euglycemia (sort of- between 60 and 180) until Saturday, with one exception of hypoglycemia when I forgot to eat my supper after I injected for it. I will be back home on Friday.