A Bloody Mess
Wednesday, May 27, 2009 at 10:25AM Yesterday was the first time I changed my sensor out on my own. And it was awful.
First, I was nervous. My trainer was so great and she made me feel at ease when I first inserted a sensor last week. Everything went well but it was because she was telling me what to do. I had no help.
I was having trouble getting the sensor into the plunger to insert it, then when I finally shot it down into me, and thankfully it did not hurt at all, I pulled the needle out and blood came pouring out of the site. POURING. I got blood all over my pants, my belt and all over my stomach. It was awful. I thought my wife was going to pass out or call 911 or something. It was gnarly.
I got some tissue and applied pressure to the site. I held it there for what seemed like forever and it was still bleeding. I sat down and watched the end of my newest obsession, Chopped. After that was done I pulled the tissue off and it all seemed to be good. I attached the transmitter to the sensor and as soon as I did, I started bleeding again. I grabbed more tissue and applied more pressure.
Finally it stopped and I grabbed an IV-3000 out of the package to put on and suddenly I went blank.
I turn it over and over again not remembering how I was supposed to put this thing on. My wife saw my confusion and came over to help. She grabbed it out of my hands and took a look at it. “Dude, there are numbers right on here. Pull 1, then 2 and so on.”
DUH!
I got one on and sure enough, it was totally crooked and not covering the entire transmitter. I had to grab another IV-3000 out and put that on too. At least that one didn’t take as long.
When I finally got it all secure I went to bed and decided to not start the sensor until morning.
This morning I woke up, checked my BG, calibrated my sensor, and started my day.
I will get the hang of this soon enough I am sure and thanks to all of you following me on Twitter.
You guys helped calm me down yesterday.
Reader Comments (8)
Dang man, sorry to hear about the bloody mess. From what I hear this happens from time to time.
Happens sometimes with my Navigator too.
I've been lucky not to have a bleeder yet and I've not had any pain either, but I NEVER look forward to changing my CGM site. Quite intimidating.
OK, you can stop that now! You're scaring me. I get trained on my CGM tomorrow. Did notice the "no pain" part of your post though...focusing on that part. Glad you were at least able to salvage the sensor.
I'm a weirdo, or old school. I always found the sen-serter a PITA and it wouldn't 'seat' the sensors properly. I manually insert my sensors. I had a bad bleed when I tried my thigh. Uh-UH! I'm staying to Abs and hips :-)
Ugh! I hope things go better quickly!
I love Chopped too! Only I say to Jason "You have been Chop-ded" Then he will say ok, we have beets, tofu, and honey! Make Dinner! LOL
Jen Roth<3
P.s. Had to post anonymous cause i cant remember my username and pw... LOL
Don't have a CGMS so I will say I also am really enjoying Chopped.
Don't like the faces that the lady who sits in the middle makes though. She kinda annoys me. Did you see the one were the guy added salt instead of sugar. THAT was a good one!
It must be a right of passage to go through this. The third sensor or so that I put in felt a little funny and I noticed about an hour later that it was oozing blood. I go spooked when I couldn't get it to stop, so I removed the sensor and then *really* couldn't get it to stop.
I came downstairs with a bloody belly and tears streaming down my face telling my husband, "it won't stop bleeding - fix it!". He had me lie down and made a good ol' fashioned compression bandage til it quit.
Ugh. But thankfully things have been going much smoother recently! So hang in there!