[Diabetes-Talk] The great experiment has begun!

Wed May 2 00:42:38 UTC 2018

Well, darn!  As for drawing up the amount of insulin...

Before I went on a pump, my husband and I used these plastic strips to  draw up our insulin.  We had strips cut and brailled for 1 thru  100 units.  The strips have a notch in them that fits over the flange of the syringe.  You would pull back on the plunger until the end was lined up with the end of the strip.  If you mixed two kinds of insulin, you would use one strip for the first amount, and the 2nd strip was the two numbers added together.  I still have them.  All  I can get Seeing AI to read is that they are for U-100 syringes and are made in Berkley, CA.  Is that L,S&S?  I don't know what they are actually called, since my husband had them when I married him.  Let me go have my son take a picture of one and send it to you.  Maybe, Peter can figure out how to make a template of one for you.  If not, I'll see if I can find out who makes them or if they are even still available.  If not, I can send you one.  

				Jamie

-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-Talk [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Veronica Elsea via Diabetes-Talk
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2018 7:28 PM
To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind' <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Veronica Elsea <veronica at laurelcreekmusic.com>
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-Talk] The great experiment has begun!

No such luck here. It's unique. The up side is that because the needle is so short, I'll be able to really get every bit of insulin out of that vial. And no matter how much I messed around yesterday, I couldn't seem to manage to get any air bubbles. Thursday is my next big test when I change the pod. Oh boy!
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

-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-Talk [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jamie Gurganus via Diabetes-Talk
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2018 5:12 PM
To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind
Cc: Jamie Gurganus
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-Talk] The great experiment has begun!

Is it possible to get longer needles from your pharmacy? Hopefully, the cartridge has a universal tip that could fit a different size needle.

    Jamie

Sent from my iPhone

> On May 1, 2018, at 6:26 PM, Veronica Elsea via Diabetes-Talk <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi Eileen and everyone.
> Yes, I thought of something like the staples too. I just have to 
> figure out how to combine that with a holder. That needle is so short 
> that when I try to hold it with one hand and then pull out on the 
> plunger with the other, the syringe just fell out of the vial. I've 
> never met such a stubborn plunger before. Sheesh! I'll let you know 
> what we design. <grin> 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
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Diabetes-Talk [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On 
> Behalf Of Eileen Scrivani via Diabetes-Talk
> Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2018 4:14 PM
> To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind
> Cc: Eileen Scrivani
> Subject: Re: [Diabetes-Talk] The great experiment has begun!
> 
> Hi Veronica,
> 
> I’ll be interested to hear how you make out with all of this using the OmniPod. My Medtronics pump will be out of warrantee in February of 2019 so I will have to start looking at pumps by the end of this year to figure out what I want to do.
> 
> As for loading your syringe, I use a length of staples that are scotch taped together as a gauge. This gives me the correct number of units when I fill the reservoir. However, the reservoir I use has a smallish cap at the end around the needle so it helps to cradle the vial of insulin and allows me to use the staples to draw on the plunger end. 
> 
> Years ago I used a device called the LoadMatic or Load A Dose – its been a long time and I kinda forget the exact name. Basically it had a circular holder for the insulin vial at one end of the device. The other end was a longish arm that allowed for the syringe to snap down securely. The needle poked through the circular holder area so that when the insulin vial went into it the needle pierced the rubber on the vial like a bulls eye. Then there was a system of clicking a gauge down by I think 5 or 10 units and a dial that increased by single units. It did work very well until the day it broke.
> 
> Any way, keep us posted on the pump and how you manage.
> 
> Eileen
> 
> 
> From: Veronica Elsea via Diabetes-Talk
> Sent: Tuesday, May 1, 2018 4:24 PM
> To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind' 
> Cc: Veronica Elsea
> 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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> 
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