Traveling with my new "best friend"

If you know me already a little longer, you know that traveling is my big passion.  I traveled extensively while being diagnosed with Diabetes, but traveling with the new insulin pump was a new experience.  I am just back from a  road trip of two weeks here in New Zealand.  I like to share some of the experiences with you. 

Let me start with the preparations.  On a daily base I already need to take quite some stuff with me.  I have this little pouch (photo one ) that contains: test strips, meter, blood test pen, insulin pen, glucose tables, needles, a full set to change the insulin container and infusion site for the pump, and my weekly dose of medication.  

This means that when I travel I have to calculate, how much of all these requirements I need to take with me  for the time I am away, plus some extra in case there is an unexpected delay.  Also there are a couple of extra things, like the BGL sensor, alcohol swipes and tape to adjust the infusion site.  Photo two shows everything I took with me for this trip of a fortnight.  Can you imagine what a pile it will be when I will go on a trip for three months again ☺ (hopefully sometime in the future again) 

 

    Photo 1                                                      Photo 2 

Two other new things I experienced, was making use of a spa pool and going for swim.  The pump is not water resisted. The BGL sensor and transmitter are.  A normal day to day experience is taking a shower.  For this I unhook the pump,  for a period of approximately 10 minutes.  As you will understand I wanted to enjoy the spa pool for a little longer than just 10 minutes. 

The advise is that you can be without the pump for two hours.  This means that you will not receive any basal insulin for this period.  I thought it would be good to go into the spa pool just after I had given myself a bolus for food, this would mean that there would be enough insulin in my body.  I did enjoy the spa pool, although in saying so, I think I was not as relaxed as I could have been.  I was a bit anxious about the working of the sensor and the transmitter. I was not so worried about the BGL's.  

The sensor and the transmitter kept working fine,  but my BGL's went up quite a bit.  I was without the pump for approximately 45 minutes and the result was that my BGL's went up to almost 15.  Not dramatic, but still I was not happy about this.  What did I learn? Whenever I like to do something like this again,  I have to give more "pre-bolus" so that the BGL's will not rise so much.  

Was it worth it? 

Eating and drinking are of course also quite different from the home situation.  We stayed in self contained accommodation most of the time, so I can prepare my food and I knew, most of the time, exactly what the number of carbohydrates were, so I could instruct the pump accordingly.  But part of the travel fun is going out for dinner, or as in this trip,  enjoy drinks and nibbles with friends and family.  For me it is extremely hard to "let go".  To "not care" and have BGL's that are a bit higher as normal.  I experienced some stress moments about this during the trip.  Back home, when I uploaded the information of the pump, it showed that  the average of the BGL's was not a lot higher than during a "normal"  fortnight, but still,  I will have to learn to deal with those "high's".

To end on a good "high".  I did some very nice walks during the trip.  I stood on the place where James Cook landed.  I climbed to the most eastern point of New Zealand and I hiked to some stunning waterfalls.  I definitely made some progress on controlling the BGL's while exercising.   

    

    Happy at Shine Falls                    Part of the 800 steps to the East Cape Lighthouse   

Traveling with my new "best friend" had its ups and downs,  but the overall control and management of my health was a lot better.  It will definitely not stop me from traveling and I hope that the world opens up again quickly.  Stay safe, where ever you are.