Pump Trials

Up again at 4:00am this morning.  I think I didn’t mention already (and am too lazy to go back and look) that my son’s insulin pump broke down on Sunday night.  He called the technicians and it’s officially dead.  They are UPSing a new one that should be here today, but in the meantime he is back on Lantus (long acting insulin) along with his Humilog (short acting insulin).  This means that I have to test him a few times in the night.  For the most part, it does interrupt my sleep, but I’m usually able to get back to sleep fairly quickly.  This morning, however, of course I had to lie there wondering about my future.  Where will I worship?  Where will I work?  Should I go back to work full time or part time? What do I want to do with my life?  What do I want to do when I “grow up?”  I’ve spent so much of my life doing what was the fiscally smart thing to do.  After 20 years at the market research company, I did Starbucks for 2 years.  I don’t think I want to go back there as much as I loved it.  It doesn’t pay much and it is devastating to call in sick because, at a store, the place just won’t open or, if it does, just won’t go if you’re not there.  I did enjoy waiting on people, though, that was really fun.  Every day was like playing store. 

 

I thought about going back to the lawyer I used to work for.  He’s difficult to deal with but maybe if he offered me a lot of money I’d go back.  There was a certain autonomy there but he was such a pain in the butt. The work was sort of fun for the most part.  I don’t know.

 

I thought about going back to the market research company.  I still have people there who liked my work.  I just don’t know.  I thought about becoming a nanny because you can do that tax free, but the hours are long and I’m not sure I’d enjoy it unless I started with a baby.  Finally, I decided I should try to get a job at the hospital/medical building near my son’s high school.  It’s easy to reach by bus in case I should ever need to do that.  It’s close by to him in case he needs me.  It’s only 3 miles from the house which makes the commute nice.  And, I’ve always been sort of interested in health care.  I was a nurse’s aid all through high school.  I don’t really want to do that, I don’t think.  However, I believe I’d be a great receptionist.  I’m always cheerful with people and it would satisfy that desire to “wait” on people like I did at Starbucks.  At the same time I could do a lot of typing which I really love.  It’s so easy and mindless yet it seems to take my mind off the things that might worry me.  I do love typing.

 

So, thus were my thoughts at 4am this morning.

 

My son’s pump has been a source of much aggravation this past week or so.  In May, he called for more supplies.  They told him they would be to us by May 20th.  That date came and went and no supplies arrived so I had him call again.  They said they were just waiting on some insurance document and then they would send them.  Days came and went and still no supplies.  Finally, I called them two days before my son was slated to go out of town.  I told them that he had just 2 infusion sets and no cartridges left.  (I’m getting a feeling of deja vu, as I’ve already complained about this in an earlier entry.. forgive me if I repeat myself.)  Anyway, they said that they were still waiting on a referral from the doctor.  Apparently, our PCP (primary care provider in HMO lingo) refused to do the referral saying that the pediatric endocrinologist should do it and the endocrinologist refused saying that the PCP should do it.  I was livid with them both and called their offices.  One of the nurses that I’m friendly with at the PCP’s office said she’d look into it but she didn’t call me back.  I finally called her back at the end of the day and she said the same thing, basically, that the endocrinologist was supposed to do it and that the notation was made in the computer.  When I called the endocrinologist, I couldn’t get a human.  Finally, I called the head of the whole healthcare system that runs the place.  On and on this thing went until after making a zillion calls it turns up that last year one of the other nurses in my PCP’s office did the referral paper work so that “proves” that the PCP is supposed to do it.

  Oy vey.  Finally, the pump company got the referral.  Now they’re waiting for some insurance verification thing.  Mind you, nothing’s changed since last year at this time (when we got the pump) but I guess everything has to be re-checked every year. 

 

Because I was complaining and desperate, they said they would send a few sample supplies so that my son would have something to use.  I told them they’d better send them to my office because no one would be at the house to sign for the package.  They assured me they could send it with no signature required.  And what should I find when I returned home on Friday.  A little slip sticking in the window saying a signature was required in person!  I was so annoyed.  It actually turned out to be UPS’s fault.  The pump company did not require it, but since I live in a condo and the buildings are set up like an apartment building, it’s up to UPS to decide how to handle it and they decided a signature should be required.  I had them just keep it at the UPS office, then, and picked it up myself yesterday.

 

Picking up this package was a whole delight (I say sarcastically) in itself.  My son and I went there after I picked him up from school.  We went into this little brick shack and waited and waited for this woman to acknowledge we were even there as she did something on her computer.  Finally, she looked up and asked if she could help us.  They had been so insistent that I have the tracking# but she just asked the name.  Slowly but surely she worked through finding it on her computer.  My son could see the package sitting right there on the shelf next to her desk.  He pointed it out to me.  She got the signing machine (you know that little handheld thing they carry) and pressed her way through a series of screens.  Meanwhile I had the tracking number and my license out and was obviously ready to sign and go.  She sees this then turns to my son and says, “Are you ***(son’s name)***?”

 

“Yes.”

 

“You got any ID?”

 

My son fumbled and pulled out his school ID.  She looked at it for a long time. “You got any ID with your signature on it?”

 

He fumbled around in his pockets some more but couldn’t really find anything so then she turned to me and said, “You sign, Mama.”

 

Aargh.. Of course I signed, showing her the driver’s license that was out on the counter in the first place.

 

Then she turns away, picks up the phone, and calls someone.  I told her the package was there on the shelf.  She calls anyway and talks about something totally unrelated.  After that conversation, she reaches over, pulls the package down, and finally hands it to us.

 

I felt like I was in an old Carol Burnett skit.

 

So now we have several infusion sets and I think a couple of cartridges, but we have no pump.  THAT’S supposed to be coming today.  I had them route it to my office so, with any luck, my son will be back on the pump again tonight.  The Lantus will still be in his system, however, so we’ll have to test him through the night again.  What a mess.  I’m going to be exhausted.