We have just started doing sites on Cara's legs (sorry no pictures, we have been rushing around here lately). Her legs have been off limits since she was diagnosed. In the beginning she would fight us tooth and nail when we tried to give her a shot of insulin on her thigh...we did do it but it was a fight.
Once we started pumping and she got older and stronger we stopped the fighting and stuck with the arms and bum however when we switched to the Mio sites over the Sure T's we could only get the short tubing in pink and the option for her arms were out.
Her tush was the only pin cushion we could use for a while and it was showing the wear. We did try her tummy and that was a big day but we had a kink from swinging on her belly, so we really have not gone back. A few days ago I talked Cara into doing a leg site in exchange for a dollar store visit and it went beautifully. I was so happy that I could give her bum a little rest and rotate the leg site. However today when I was inserting her 2nd leg site she started to cry, actually I inserted her site and then before I could pull the needle out she cried. She has not cried during a site change since we started using the Mio sets. That is one of the reasons that we are still using the Mio sets, they are way more expensive then the Sure T's that we used previously and we have had more problems with kinking cannulas with the Mio then the Sure T's (the Sure T's have a steal cannula so no kinking) but with the Mio sets there has been no fighting, no screaming, no crying until today.
So I'm trying to figure out was it just this one time, maybe I hit something weird? or maybe she flexed her leg at the wrong time? or does the leg site just hurt more? It always has been an area that Cara has hated.
With Cara sometime it is hard to know if she is hurt or if she is just really scared or nervous and kinda faking or over exaggerating to make a point. I think it did hurt at one point but maybe she took it a little far with the limping around the house this morning, not being able to bend down and whining that her leg hurt, but I don't know do I.
So the question is, leg sites do they hurt more then others?
Side Note: These kids are so amazing, I was rushing and getting Cara's site change done this morning because my husband and I were spent last night A.K.A lazy and did not do it then. As I was getting her new site ready I asked her to pull her old site off her leg. Cara hates to do this, I think it freaks her out to pull something out of her skin. At first she did not want to do it, then she started to pick at the sides to try and pull the sticky part up...she took 3 HUGE breaths, and under her breath she said "OK" she looked up at me with her hand ready to pull and said "will you be super proud of me mom?" "I sure will Cara" I said and with that she pulled that site off.
That girl will never really understand the extend that I look up to her, every day that she triumphs over this beast of a disease which is EVERY SINGLE DAY SHE WAKES UP AND DOES NOT LET DIABETES STOP HER she makes me SUPER proud.
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4 comments:
I also use the Mio sites, and put them in my legs sometimes. I've only been on the pump for about 6 months, but here is my experience so far with leg sites. I find that I hit sore spots more often than on my stomach, and sometimes it bleeds under the site. Not enough to affect the insulin delivery, but enough to make it sore and sometimes there is a bruise when I take the site out. One time my leg site hurt so badly that I had to take it out after an hour, because it hurt anytime something touched it. So in my experience, I do find leg sites a bit more painful than other spots, but not bad enough to keep me from doing them. Hope this helps!
thanks so much Kate, that did help a lot!!
Yes, in our experience the thigh sites do hurt more but our DD has very high pain resistance (docs noted it during surgery) so no complaints. CDE told us to use angled sets in the thigh because not too much fat and more muscular. We use sils. The Mios are a straight-in 90 degree set, which would hurt more than an angled set. There is an angled set called the inset 30 which has a built in inserter like the Mio; it is a sister set to the Mio; try to get your hands on a few samples and I would try those when using the thighs. Or if you have sils onhand, just manually insert them on a 25 degree angle. Pinch up the fatty part of the thigh before inserting so you get into the fat, not the muscle. Thighs are not our favorite, but she won't let us use the stomach, tush needs a rest, so thighs it is. But use an angled set.
I've only ever done one leg site and I won't again, unless I have to. It didn't so much hurt going in but it ached afterwards and the insulin hurt going in. I also knocked it a few times when I had to use the toilet.
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