Let’s go get naked at work………….

Timing, timing is key in life. For a diabetic, timing can mean a lot of things, the timing of giving insulin, the timing of a low blood sugar episode, or high blood sugars, the time between waking and eating, the dawn phenomenon and the time insulin can be out of the fridge for, just to name a few. I was unfortunately victim to a case of bad timing the other day – the timing of when one needs to change their infusion set.

Now most modern pumps will remind you when you need to change your infusion set. This is usually every two to three days, depending on your infusion set type. Now the thing is that the reminder will go off at the same time you did your infusion set three days prior. For me this was at 11:07am on a Wednesday…while I was at work. Now usually I remember to redo my infusion set in the morning before I got to work, as removing the old set is easiest straight after having a shower, however this day I did not. Now this resulted in my boobs, beeping and flashing red lights (wooo!) I tried to ignore it for awhile, but when your chest is lit up like an Iron man costume, there isn’t much you can do. (Side note – the pump screen shows up a looooot when you wear black, which is 99% of the time for me).

After about half an hour of ignoring my pump, I decide I should have a look at what it was reminding me to do (its either infusion set changes or replacing the battery). When I realised that it wasn’t the quick fix of a battery change, I checked how much insulin I had left in my reservoir….it was rather low (sh!t). This meant I would have to change it at work.

Now when you are doing temp work, you tend to not necessarily let everyone know about your diabetes, your pump and the idiosyncrasies that come with it. Without telling anyone what was happening, I went off to the medical room, which was handily located on my floor (win!). However, as it is a medical treatment room, it doesn’t have a lock (sh!t). So after swiping the sign to “occupied”, I started prepping for putting new infusion set in. After prepping my reservoir, I go to remove my pump and detach my old infusion set. It is at this point I remembered where I had placed my set…..in my arm. I stood there for a minute and contemplated how I was going to detach my pump. My top was too tight and long sleeved to just remove my right arm, so after a deep breathe I take off my top.

So, here I am standing in the medial treatment room, which is conveniently located between both the men’s and women’s toilets, topless trying to sort out my insulin pump. Because you can’t completely remove the old set until you have place the new one successfully, I have to remain topless, through the whole preparation of my new set. And its when I look at the packet for my new set, that I realise I have a 9mm set – which means it has to go into one of my legs. And because I am a bit strange and allergic to medical tape, I have to spray the area I am about to place the set with a barrier spray and wait for it to dry. Here I am, my skirt and tights pulled down, the side of my bum exposed, topless waiting for the spray to dry, all the while sh!tting myself that someone will walk in and find me in this very peculiar position.Which of course happened, kind of.

See because workplaces aren't really designed for anyone, but for the average, they don't often have a first aid room and a place for women to pump, if they are breast feeding. So, of course the time I needed the first aid room for my medical emergency, just so happened to be when a woman had the room "booked" for her to pump. This resulted in some angry knocking, and evident "bitching" about me outside the door.

After what seems like an age (probably more like a minute but in this position the seconds seem like minutes), the spray has finally dried and I was able to place my new set and remove my old set and more importantly get dressed again.

Timing……can make all the difference.

M x