To Shave or Not To Shave?

Saturday rolls around and I am going to be gone most of the day.  I need to a do a site change before I go.  I have my first painful "KELLY CLARKSON"  moment of removing a site.  The last placement was a little more into the dense area of hair and it hurt when it was time to remove.  After avoiding the center area (or most densely hairy area) I decide to give it a try and to see how it works out.

After first placing the site a couple of inches above my belly button all is good at first.  I have the clear sticky patches to put over the site to help make sure it stays in place and use one.  I have been using them all along as I want to be sure I don't issues while I get used to sleeping with it among other things, plus I sweat a lot when I get hot.

I go to take a shower and the problems begin.  As I get out of the shower the clear sticky patch is coming off and pulling on the site.  The hair in the area is making it hard to stick to the skin.  As I get dressed I realize this is not going to work out.  I noticed some red on the infusion set adhesive pad and figure I need to redo the site, plus it is painful.  Both kids decide they need to use the bathrooms at the same time.  So I grab an electric razor and head to the kitchen, sure would be nice to have a little privacy.

Since I am in a hurry I just shave an area that I am going to use for the next site.  I pull out the old one and now I am bleeding as I try to get the new site in the newly prepped site.  I get infusion set set up and get it on and clean up the other site that doesn't want to stop bleeding.  Finally get it taken care of and wonder if the other bolus actually made it since I had such an issue.

I test every hour after to be sure I got the insulin bolus for breakfast as I need to be ready as I have 12 young kids I am coaching at a track meet that day and want to be make sure I am in good shape to do so.  Everything checks out at every check so I am able to relax and be there for the kids. They had a great track meet by the way and turned my bad morning into a great day.

Now I have some thinking to do, do I shave as I go or just shave it all?  I am still not sure what I am going to do.  I don't think my wife will care either way as long as I am healthy and happy but I want her to have a say in the choice as well.  Plus I wonder how the brochures make the pump set look so good.  I want to be able to rock the pump out like that but I fear it make take a lot of crunches or maybe one of Tony Little's programs or devices I see on infomercials.