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I have a #Climapak from @KewlInnovations which I love, but I have been keeping it in the same bag with my water and Slim Fast. Not sure what happened but they say that it was water damaged, so I won’t be keeping the new one there. Will probably be keeping it in the Ful Bag I purchased from them at the same time and where I usually keep my laptop.

I will say that everyone at @KewlInnovations was very nice and gracious. My ham radio friends recognized the area their office is in as “technology corridor” and I passed Rockwell Collins to get there.

It holds more insulin, but is lighter and thinner. However, it is longer.

I can read the numbers on the screen. Well, I could on the Animas, but not the remote.

User interface is easier and has more functions.

Sent from my Windows Phone

I was talking about how Dulce helps me (the Diabetic Alert Dog), to an agility handler today and she asked if my diabetes is worse.

Well, I consider diabetes like being pregnant. You either are or you aren’t and there aren’t degrees.

Yes, according to my endo, my numbers are better. However, I’m on more drugs and am on more insulin to keep them there. My diabetes certainly wasn’t under control for the past two years, and it is getting more under control with Dulce’s help. Lows scare the Jesus out of me, and since she does a nice job of letting me know they are coming and helping me stop them, yes, I’m using her. In fact, I’m getting more and more dependent on her.

BTW, I’m running lower with the new pump and it dawned me today as I was filling my second reservoir – NO BUBBLES! It was impossible to get all the bubbles out of an Animas reservoir and I think I even stopped trying. Getting the bubbles out of the Medtronics reservoir is easy peasy.

Have run into two, one on a listserv and one in person. The second knows me.

Not sure what is up with the one that knows me, and I am trying to be kind but she has been doing the mean girl thing for about a year everytime I have been around her.

Sent from my Windows Phone

It's awesome, and I am hoping to expand on it.

I have had positive comments. She walks on a loose leash to the elevator, gets in, gets out, walks to the bikes, waits for her mats and then lies down. Hangs out while I ride for 30 minutes.

Hoping for the same behavior at weights soon.

Sent from my Windows Phone

I’ve lost over 45 pounds and I’m still dealing with a great deal of arthritis pain. I seriously thought it would be better at this point.

I’m not disappointed in the lap band itself. I got want I wanted – I was gaining about 10 pounds a month, and it stopped that. I never expected a huge drastic weight lost and that wasn’t what I wanted. I knew I couldn’t handle it. I wanted to make slow gradual changes.

I’ve been through the drastic weight loss, and knew it wasn’t for me. I’d lost about 100 pounds in one year once, and knew what a toll it took on me mentally and physically and that is part of why I had the major regain.

What I have been wanting is the pain to go away.

And it’s not a clear indication. I can tell from her behavior when my blood sugar is dropping too fast. I get a bit cranky when my blood sugar drops and she obviously doesn’t like it and gets a bit agitated herself. Thus, when she starts acting up, I know it’s time to double check.

It’s happened at both agility trials, last weekend and this weekend, which is weird, as I tend to run high at trials. Last week, I was running my old pump, and had cranked up the insulin a bit too high. I didn’t want to repeat it today, so I left everything along, and I still went low – though I tend to be running a bit low on this pump – not sure why, could be because I’m checking my blood sugar more, and adjusting my blood sugar more.

Will know better next week when I’m back in a regular routine.

Just went through all my emergency supplies and got rid of the Animas stuff and stocked it with Medtronics. Also just pulled the plug on the Animas pump as the whining it was doing was getting on my nerves. Pretty sad.

I’m glad to get rid of the big clucky meter whose numbers were too small to read. Seriously.

I’m not having trouble reading the Revel.

Wish that the pump would remind me two hours after testing, but the Contour meter will when I’m using it. I have several boxes of One Touch Strips to go through before I can start using it. Also the insurance company won’t pay for it until February.

I’ve got a few strips coming from Amazon, I’ve sold some unused One Touch strips and I’ve got a few that I’m bidding on at EBay, plus Walgreens has a pretty good price on them too.

Not getting email after I send them to Animas. Seriously. Over the past year, I have sent several emails without a reply, both from the website, and directly from my email account.

Not being able to order from the online website. Nothing like going through the whole process and then the order never arriving.

Not being able to get automatic ordering.

Not getting my phone calls answered when I’ve tried to order. Has happened three times in the past year.

No upgrades. I have to keep a Windows XP computer around to download the pump. Well, there is Diasend. But they gave us software to modify and backup the pump and then don’t upgrade it in like 5 years.

Doctor doesn’t like the fact that the reports and software haven’t been upgraded either.

However, I will miss the remote, though I won’t miss the size of the meter and I won’t miss the screen. It’s getting increasing harder to read as my eyes get older. The screen is white on black with some other colors, why not the meter?

Also the meter database hasn’t been updated in years.

And why did I get notified that the pump warranty was out in August?

But not in the way people usually mean, and Medtronic didn’t help.

First, you have to understand I have been pumping for 8 years, and I have worn 3 different models of pump (well, 4 now).

Medtronic sent me an email late Friday night telling me that I would be getting my new insulin pump on November 20. Now that wasn’t very nice as everyone involved knew that my pump warranty wasn’t out until January.

Now here’s some of the bad parts:

• I have 30 days to decide if I don’t want the pump and return it.
• I also have a limited number of days to return the Animas pump for the $500 credit (not sure what that is).
• The pump trainer didn’t have any free time under December 6.
• I was told to go through the pump training. After I did it, I knew that the only thing I didn’t know exactly how to do was the fill the reservoir.

So I decided to see how difficult that was. Oh, by the way, it’s easier than the Animas way. Or maybe not. Just different.

Yeah, I’m using the new pump. The Animas site is still in, and the Animas pump is currently sitting in my purse making very sad sounds. About like one of my beagles do when I ignore them.

The Animas pump is much more vocal than the Medtronic.

Anybody need Animas supplies? Especially in the Dallas area?

And for the tech friends who are not diabetes – suppose Microsoft sent you a nice shiny new computer (maybe the Surface Pro) – and they told you that you shipped it to you but you couldn’t use it until someone smarter than you told you how to use it. Oh, and the new computer was supposed to make you magically healthier.

Are you going to leave in the box from November 20 to December 6.

No way.

In fact, everyone is probably surprised it stayed in the box for one day.