[Diabetes-Talk] The great experiment has begun!

Tue May 1 21:12:52 UTC 2018

Veronica,

I will be particularly interested to learn how this goes for you. I plan to
switch to a new pump sometime in fall of next year as Animas will no longer
provide supplies. As of now, I assumed the MedTronic would be the only
viable option, but this seems promising.

Bridgit

-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-Talk <diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Veronica
Elsea via Diabetes-Talk
Sent: Tuesday, May 1, 2018 3:24 PM
To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind' <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Veronica Elsea <veronica at laurelcreekmusic.com>
Subject: [Diabetes-Talk] The great experiment has begun!

Hi everyone.
Okay, as of yesterday, I am now using the OmniPod insulin pump. There are
things about it that I'm really starting to enjoy and yes, there are some
tricky bits as well. 
There is a lot of memorization and we did find a work-around for one screen
where what key you need to press is not consistent. But boy would this
remote be fun with speech. Two things are saving me, well, one really, my
cool hubby. <grin> I am able to fairly easily read the screen with the
Seeing AI app. So Peter and I are designing a little stand that I could
carry with me if I needed to check something.
The other thing that is tough for me is filling their syringe. To use this
pump, you fill a syringe with the amount of insulin you want, then use the
syringe to fill the pod with insulin. The pod is inserted into your body and
then you use the remote to bolus and anything else you need to do. 
But the syringe is short and fat. The needle on the end of it is really
short and not as sturdy as many I've seen. So when I put the needle into the
vial of insulin, I'm having a hard time turning the whole thing upside down,
holding it together while I pull the plunger out. It holds up to 200 units
of insulin, but a pod lasts for 3 days. So I'd need to make some marks on
any gadget I create, but clearly for my hands, I need something that holds
the vial and syringe together. And no way does the count-a-dose work for
this one. <grin> So here's my question. To those of you who used the old
H-tron pumps in the past, anybody remember that fitment for filling their
cartridges. It was a cute holder for their cartridge and the insulin vial.
Now I wish I'd kept mine. Anybody still have an old one hanging around? 
In the meantime, as I progress in this trial, we'll see how things behave. I
need to see how I cope with any messages, alerts, etc and find any gotchyas
down the road. But so far, I'm actually quite happy with delivering various
kinds of boluses, correction, meal and just insulin. I'm enjoying being able
to be more precise than I was with the Animas. I'll let all of you know how
I get on over time and whether or not I do the actual switch. 
Veronica

"Guide Dogs, First Hand", Veronica Elsea's classic album is now available on
iTunes, along with other music from her and from the Guide Dog Glee Club. 
To learn more, visit:
http://www.laurelcreekmusic.com
                Veronica Elsea, Owner
Laurel Creek Music Designs
Santa Cruz, California
Phone: 831-429-6407

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