Storing Insulin When Pumping (Becoming Label Obsessive)

From Miss Martha Stewart, Goddess of Organizing

It's no secret. 

I love organization.

"Everything has a place and there is a place for everything."

Sigh.  To me that is pure poetry.

In my last post on the mini-fridge, I showed you how our fridge works and gave you some reasons for why it has come in handy.

Remember.

Me in the middle of the night before we discovered the awesome mini-fridge

Seriously. 

No, seriously I am kidding.  Sorta.

But in any case, there was a reason that we have those brightly colored beautiful containers.  The ones with the labels.  Yes, it might seem obvious that some of the boxes contain Lantus and some of the boxes contain Apidra.

However, without reading those boxes, the only visual is separating the two clear glass vials which are identical in size, is a thin color stripe.

One stripe is blue and one stripe is purple.  Seriously.  This makes me crazy!  Do you know how easy it is to mix the two vials up?  Incredibly easy.

Example of the similarities

There is no visual or large label to differentiate the two.  Once that brightly colored cap is popped off, there is no difference.  No dye added to the insulin and no bottle shape difference.  The vials are in-fact exact.

To help solve that problem, I created several 4" x 4" labeled bins.  The bins stay in the refrigerator and are clearly labeled with the insulin and the use for the insulin (pump or injections or both). 

My hope is having a plan like this will hinder or even prevent the chances of mixing the two vials up. 

Which we have had happen. 

Nothing is more frustrating than disconnecting the pump for 24 hours because you accidentally bolused 14 units from a new cartridge wrongly filled with Lantus. 

In a case like that, your child will end up with high blood sugars, medium ketones and missing school the next day. 

And you will end up feeling like the worst parent in the world.  Or your husband will. 

Not fun at all.

So until the drug makers realize the enormity of producing these two very different products in identical packaging, being label obsessed will have to do.

Now go on out there and make Martha proud!