Some of you may remember that I gave away one online course at Gary Scheiner's Type 1 University as part of Grace's 2 year Diaversary. Gary graciously let me take the class too, after signing up the winner of the class, Jen from I Am Your Pancreas. We took the online class 'Mastering Pump Therapy' together last night at 8 pm (EST). And I was in my jammies (shhhhhh, no one has to know!)
It was marvelous!
It was easy to log in, having been sent an email from Gary before the class started. About 15 minutes before the class started, I logged in and got set up. I clicked on the link to the web course and entered the password. Two steps and voila! it loaded!
Once the first slide came up for the presentation, there appeared Gary in the lower right hand corner.
He had his headset on and I could see him. He could not see me though. He can see who has logged on for the course and who is 'there' so to speak, through the list of names. I didn't know who else was in the course with me, all I saw was Gary in his office.
Here is a screenshot from the beginning of the class, before it started. That's all I will show about the course, cause if you want to learn this stuff, you GOTTA TAKE THE COURSE!
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| I love how the screen has 'legs' That's my girls legs at the beach peeking out, by the way. |
For one hour, Gary lead us through advanced pump therapy, detailing everything from basal testing to temp basals, prolonged boluses, DKA and how to get the most from your pump. I took notes, and I asked questions by typing to Gary on the screen above his head there. He would get the questions from the class and answer them throughout his talk.
It was good stuff guys and gals. Meaningful stuff that can make you the master or mistress of the pump. This is where you cross the line from good management to great management, and I don't say that lightly. This is the knowledge that brings down and A1C and lets you have control over various situations called 'life.'
I view it this way. I can attach that pump to my gal and be done with it, or I can learn how to master it, truly master it. I mean be the flippin Jedi of the pump attached to my gal. To where it seems like second nature at times - when to temp basal, how much to temp basal, when to prolong bolus, how to get things back on track, etc. In turn, when I learn all that and practice, practice, practice, it does a few things - it frees up my time fighting highs and lows, it lets my child see that more knowledge is a great thing, it keeps her healthy longer, it imparts the knowledge to her (because one day she will be a grown-up with diabetes and not my baby anymore) and it doesn't make this darn disease any more frustrating than it has to be. Knowledge is power baby.
I am by no means the mistress of my gal's pump. I am at it's beck and call most days and some days I am convinced a monkey could operate it better. But I swore to myself when she got it, that for both her and me, that I would learn this to the best of my ability. To prove to myself and to Grace that we could do it. That there would be more sunny days than cloudy. That we would keep on keeping on, learning and growing and living.
At the end of class I thought of all the CDEs we see, some good, some not-so-good and some who don't know all this intensive pump management. Here is a CDE who knows it, lives it, and is here, in your living room, teaching it to you.
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