[Diabetes-talk] Appreciation

Sat May 9 20:10:34 UTC 2009

Hi Amy,
I feel much like you do when it comes to controlling my diabetes. I want to
be in total control of everything including my insulin dosage. When I was
using Lantus along with Humulog, I felt like I had total control of my
insulin dosage. If I needed more long acting Lantus, then I adjusted the
amount I gave myself. The same held true for the Humulog I took before meals
and snacks.

Using an insulin pump definitely has a lot of advantages over injectible
insulin. It can definitely help lower your  A1C reading and give you more
freedom and flexibility than does insulin you must inject daily. But those
positives do come with a few negatives. The biggest negative for me is not
being able to independently adjust my basal rates.  In addition, I cannot
take advantage of many of the more advanced features of my pump due to being
blind. But I can say that the people at Minimed have been pretty helpful
when it comes to making those types of changes.

I  have talked with a number of people at Minimed about the development of
an accessible pump. But I usually get the same response that goes something
like "yes, we have received a number of requests for such a pump, but, it
just isn't in the plans right now. But wait until you see some of the other
new features we are working on." When I hear this type of response, I tend
to become pretty frustrated as I just feel like they don't care about those
of us who are blind and are trying to use a pump to manage our diabetes. I
certainly realize that adding text-to-speech capabilities to an insulin pump
does mean that they might have to modify an existing pump design. But it
sure seems to me that they could do this at the same time they are adding
all of these other "great" features to the pump If they took that type of
approach, then the FDA process would be a mute point and they could then
have an accessible pump. Of course, there is plenty more than just adding
speech capabilities to a pump, but I think they just don't want to take the
time or devote the resource to doing it. In the end, it comes down to what
will make us the most amount of money for the lowest amount of resources.

However, DDI, the makers of the Prodigy Voice meter, are working on an
accessible pump right now. I think they are hoping to get it to market in a
year or so and I can't wait to see the pump and find out what it does. Kelly
Massaro with DDI, is on this list and is actively seeking any comments or
suggestions on what type of features we would like to see in an insulin
pump. I believe that once DDI gets their pump on the market, then we will
see the other manufacturers of pumps get started on their own designs for
accessible pumps. I truly hope that this will get those winds of change
blowing <grin>.

Have a great weekend,

Dave

-----Original Message-----
From: diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Amy Krout-Horn
Sent: Saturday, May 09, 2009 2:51 PM
To: diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Diabetes-talk] Appreciation

Thank you to everyone for your guidance. Home Care Supply of America is the
supplier who plans to send the Clevercheck. The order will ship on the 12th,
so I'll simply call Monday and politely tell them to keep it. Hopefully,
this won't create some kind of Medicare billing headache, but if so, I
believe it will be worth it. After using the Prodigy Voice, I've become
spoiled and don't want to revert back to a meter that requires sighted
assistance. It annoys me enough that I require some help with my insulin
pump; I'd hate to have to have another piece of semi-accessible diabetic
technology that would cause me frustration.
Insulin pumping has been a huge life-changer. In 2007, right before I
started, my A1C was 8.3, now, it's 6.5. Whereas, the results have been
marvelous and I feel healthier than I can ever remember feeling prior til
now, there was a very difficult transitional period at the start because I
had to relinquish some control when it came to my diabetes management.
Before, I handled all my insulin dosing, my husband had never, in seven
years, even touched an insulin syringe. But the pump required that he "look"
at some of the visual displays, and because I can't insert the type of
infusion set I have to use into certain areas without assistance, he had to
step up and help. He didn't mind and has been really wonderful, but it was
psychologically challenging for me, because my motto has always been, "Hand
over that needle. I'll do it myself."
I've since learned that some of my sighted friends who use the Silhouette
infusion sets need assistance inserting them, too, so I'm feeling a bit
better. Long story a bit longer,I intend to make whatever changes necessary,
in order to continue using the Prodigy. Hopefully, that mythical talking
pump , we've all been wishing for, will make an appearance, soon.

_______________________________________________
Diabetes-talk mailing list
Diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/diabetes-talk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
Diabetes-talk:
http://www.nfbnet.org/mailman/options/diabetes-talk_nfbnet.org/danspach%40ta
mpabay.rr.com