Living with Diabetes

Blog

  • A Brag on My Pump Trainer(s)

    My pump trainer has been super. I need to compliment both Animas and her for her hard work.

    She had originally contacted me back the day the shipped the pump, Friday 15th. She had scheduled me 2:30, which was a bit of an issue, but set me up with another trainer to show me the pump on Tuesday, who could do it at 4:00.

    That worked out beautifully. I had time to get home and relax for a few minutes before we trained. That trainer did a super job making me feel comfortable.

    However, the main trainer is the person who has been on the phone, and setting things up. We’ve got a pretty good routine started — I send my daily logs to both her and my doctor every day. Got to love technology, though it’s frustrating. I don’t know why some days Acrobat will give us the graphs and some days it won’t.

    But just wanted to thank her and Animas for making this a pleasant experience.

  • First Site Change

    I just lived through my first site change. It wasn’t too bad. This is the part I dreaded the most.

    Don’t have to worry about not changing my sites often enough. I woke up itching.

  • I love my pump!

    I still love my pump, and I still love the Palm pilot software that comes with it.

    We have some tweaking to do yet, but I’m already seeing quite an improvement. Didn’t crash at the gym yesterday and even did my favorite — elliptical trainer.

  • Why I Picked Animas

    The first thing I did, when my doctor suggested I look into the pump, was do a web search on insulin pump. One of the first and best resources is the Insulin Pumper’s site.

    I joined, and then sat down and read about 3 months of archives.

    That immediately ruled out Minimed. I dont think a week goes by without someone complaining about them. I have not noticed that with any other pump company. (Maybe Distronic, but that’s okay, the FDA isn’t letting them do anything in the USA anyway).

    Then I sat down and looked at some websites comparing the pumps. Deltec Cozmo and Animas had almost the same features I was looking for. Very adjustable flow rates, water proof (we have a pool), etc.

    I was invited to a support group demoing EasyManager Plus and even though the rep wasn’t that good at demoing, I could see that the software put Animas over the top for me. Like I said in my post about EasyManager Plus, I’m a Palm kinda of girl.

    After 3 meals on the pump, I’m sold. The Palm/Pump/Desktop model is flexible. Much more flexible than I think the MiniMed Paradigm model is, and more flexible than Cozmo.

    So that’s why I made my decision.

  • IR Port

    Well, I broke down this morning and ordered it, along with a night shirt and a t shirt from Animas. I’ll let everyone know how it goes.

  • I love my pump!

    It’s been 24 hours now, on the pump and things are going super. I’m still worried about changing the infusion site, but I think that will be fine.

    And man it is nice to eat breakfast and dinner without injecting!

  • Getting the Pump – Part III

    Last post on all of this….

    So Cigna has the paperwork and they decide to sit on it and see if it hatches anything After 3 days — maybe that wasn’t bad, they come back and deny the request.

    They claim that they only pay for pumps for Type I, Level 2 diabetics. NO ONE has every heard of a Level 2. Not the doctor, not anyone on the insulin pumpers list, and an internet search turned up nothing.

    So, I agongize over that a day, and decide to just bite the bullet. My health is much more important than money — can’t make any of money if I am not healthy, so I call up Animas and want to order one. The guy I was talking to about it is OUT! Scream.

    Finally, first thing, Friday morning (Aug 15), I leave him a message to the effect if I don’t hear from him by noon, I’m calling Deltec and order a Cozmo. He returned my call, we got it ordered and on the way.

    That afternoon, the local trainer calls me and offers me an appointment on Thursday afternoon. I’ve got to dump my last period class off with a teacher friend — super lady — but its doable.

    Get the pump on Monday morning. Pulled it all apart when I got home, starting watching the video tape. Oh, and dealing with no A/C at the same time.

    Best news of all, get a phone call on Thursday, a different trainer, she wants to know if we can move appointment later. YES! YES! No dumping children off on teacher friend.

    So, we do the training on Thursday, and I’m a pumper.

  • The morning after….

    Posted by me on the pumper’s list.

    It’s my first morning after the pump.

    Last night, I was so tired, so overwhelmed by the events of the last weeks, when we finished pump training, my response was “well”, and a neutral one at that.

    I had been very anxious all day being without any type of basal insulin. I was expecting a whirring, clicking little beast, and it was absolutely silent. So that was weird. I was just numb tired.

    It was so bad, I couldn’t really think last night, yet at the same time couldn’t sleep — I have a myriad of sleeping disorders (sleep apnea, restless leg to start), and bad nights — the ones with no A/C just mean more bad nights, even when the situation gets good.

    However, after taking a sleeping pill I was finally able to shut down and sleep. Alarm clock at 3:00, quick test and rolled over and back to sleep. Wasn’t sure if I needed to do anything, it was 82, but I felt fine — felt stable.

    Woke up at 4:30 — I’ve been doing THAT a lot lately, and managed to stay in bed until 5:00. However, I don’t feel groggy like I usually do. It typically takes me a good hour before I can function. BS is at 85, typically I wake with sugar between 120-140. Bet that’s a primary cause of the grogginess.

    Pump doesn’t bother me at all to sleep, but then again, I’m hooked up to a CPAP and humidifer, so how bad could the pump be. I think I do want to get a couple of pajamas, and a couple of pairs of cotton pants for around the house. On the thinking stage.

    I really like the following (and this is the Animas software):
    Being able to put in food in the database, and it tell me exactly how much bolus I need.
    Being able to put in BS in the database, and it tell me how much correction I need.
    And it putting that straight in the database.

    I also like the reports, and my doctor did too, but that’s the statistical voyeaur in me (I’ve actually formerly been accused of that). I would like a tad more information in the reports.

    I’ll let you know how the day goes.

  • Animas EzManager

    Well, I’m in love with a piece software. Okay, the user interface is cluggy as all heck but it is similar to the user interface on the pump itself. Once I started programming the pump, the interface made sense, but I STILL want to graffitti my numbers!

    Now that this is out of my system. And darn, I didn’t tell today’s trainer the whole truth. What actually pushed me over the edge from Deltec to the Animas pump was the software. Yeah, the Cozmos is cute, but the Palm/Desktop EasyManager software is something that I can use.

    First, I was already hooked on the Palm, and really liked the Diabetes Pilot (and you can actually graffiti your numbers with it, plus edit the fooddata base). So moving to Easy Manager wasn’t hard. I actually started playing with EasyManager before I went to the pump.

    I’m not a paper person. I lose paper. (You should see the desk right now, in order NOT to lose paper, it has to stay on the desk, where it first appeared — and even then it’s chancy.) So running around with a Palm pilot that I can backup on a regular basis (I have one of those fancy little cards I back up to + the desktop) is right for me. Again, that pushed me over the edge.

    I really love being able to hook the meters to the software (I use Freestyle) and I love the fact that the software works with several meters. Here’s the great news — and one of those really weird, head scratching things. Freestyle had sent me a new meter about a month ago and for a week, it wouldn’t talk to the EasyManager. For some weird reason, it started talking today.

    And so now, the big question. I’ve already spent $29.99 on the upgrade, and I think $89.99 for the Therasense software and cable. Do I spring $159 for the IR port, and when? Now, or wait a while.

  • People messing with drugs again….

    Novo Nordisk Announces NovoLog 10mL Vials Missing, Patients Urged To Check Their Supply