Q: When does a pumper use Lantus?

A: When her pump breaks.

I was on vacation from Sunday-Tuesday, and on Monday morning, bright and early, my Minimed pump decides to break.

Actually, it was slightly more exciting than that. First, my silhouette set decided to rip out of my body in the middle of the night, awaking me with a 345. When I decided to change the resevoir as well, *that's* when my pump decides to break.

The culprit: a faulty sensor designed to detect the presence of insulin. Oops! After priming 5 times, and wasting nearly 50 units, I gave up.

Since I was visiting a family with a 5-year-old daughter with diabetes, this little mishap was not deemed a fault of mine. Instead, we drove into the nearby town to order a pump replacement and a prescription for Lantus from my endo, to be faxed to the local pharmacy. With newly purchased syringes (as I only brought one- what was I thinking?), my own initial Humalog and brand-spanking new Lantus, I have managed to survive three days.

And it's driving me insane.

Apologies to all Lantus users, but I don't think I could survive for very long on this stuff. My pump has broken before, and Lantus was our back-up method, so this isn't a new experience for me. I was on MDIs for 6 years before I went on the pump, and honestly, injections just don't do it for me. Lantus might be great for some people, but I actually like having something attached to me because that way, it's always there... I'm sure this is just a case of "well, if you had it long enough you'd get used to it" syndrome, but I really like having a pump. I really really truly do. I was practically skipping to the FedEx office to pick up the pump today. I won't be able to go it again until tomorrow morning, when the Lantus runs out, so until then, I will leave you with five little words:

I want my pump back!