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Monday 23 February 2015

The Scream

All pumpers have a secret fear instilled upon us. A fear that one day, we may drop our pump in the toilet bowl.

Today, my fear came true. The clip lost its grip on my pants, and my pump took a dive straight down. I watched in horror as it fell. I might have screamed. My hands worked overtime in ultra-speed to grasp at the tubing. But it still went in for a short dip. In less than a second I had jerked it back up and rushed it over to the bathroom sink. I unclipped it from my site and set about rendering it emergency assistance.

I gently dabbed the water off, taking out the reservior and gel case. I then left it to dry on a towel for 5 minutes whilst I gathered together my entire stash of alcohol swabs. Whilst, thankfully, the toilet hadn't been used yet, my pump still went in the toilet, so I wasn't taking any chances. I carefully swabbed every single inch of my pump, clip and gel case with alcohol wipes. I changed out the reservoir and tubing for new ones.

I finished off by basically bathing in hand sanitiser.

I still felt dirty. I couldn't eat breakfast; I felt so physically ill. In a way, I was hoping for a button error or some other malfunction so I didn't have to clip it back onto me. I began imaging scenarios at my doctors office where he told me that I had aids now because of the short dip my pump took. Somehow I thought aids would be lying dormant in my toilet and would then inch its way up my pump tubing and into the site. Which I know is probably super duper 100% far fetched.

I wasn't even sure I could admit that it happened. Maybe I should just repress my memory of the incident?  Not to be melodramatic, but I wondered if I should join a support group for this. Or go to some counselling. I'm afraid I'll develop feelings of resentment towards Luna. It's probably my fault for calling it Luna. That chick has the worst luck.

I'll never speak of it again. One day I'll be at a diabetic meet-up, or conference or otherwise, and someone will mention their fear that this will happen. I'll catch another pumpers eye and we'll both know that this fear is real and warranted. But we'll never speak of it and will just continue our lives like it never happened.

I'm a 'pump-in-the-toilet' survivor. Look out for the movie deal.







1 comment:

  1. Oh no! Hasn't happened to me yet *touch wood* but I have the new medtronic waterproof one. Still doesn't help the icky factor though.
    A woman at the RTA once told me that her friend dropped it in the toilet 5 times and medtronic replaced it each time

    ... I wonder what she called her pump- Macbeth?

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