[Diabetes-Talk] The great experiment has begun!

Wed May 2 02:14:08 UTC 2018

Hi again.
Just one more thing I neglected to say. I am so appreciative of all of your
support and suggestions. There's just nothing better than the feeling of
having company while trying something rather ummm, well, major. <grin> 
I'm so glad to have all of you out there and I hope I can provide similar
benefits to all of you.
Thanks so much.
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
Veronica Elsea via Diabetes-Talk
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2018 7:05 PM
To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind'
Cc: Veronica Elsea
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-Talk] The great experiment has begun!

First, Bridgit, all of the newer pumps now behave kind of like an iPhone in
that the screen locks after a certain number of seconds. The maximum amount
of time I've seen is 60 seconds. In order to unlock the screen, first you
push a button to wake up the pump. In the case of the Medtronic pumps, after
you push the first button, one of the spots on the cursor cross is
highlighted. Left or right arrows, up or down. You then press the
highlighted part of that cross and then you have successfully unlocked your
pump. Trouble is, to be what they call a safety feature, it's not always the
same part of the cross you press. So there's no way for us to know which one
to press. You can't just hit all of them because if that first one did
unlock the pump, the next presses would be doing something. And given how
often we'd be doing this, not nice. The OmniPod does this too. As I said,
they all do. So for the OmniPod, I hold down the home button and count to
two. Then to confirm, it's either soft key 1 or soft key 2, never know
which. The good news here is that when I successfully unlock, I land on the
status screen. On this screen, soft key 1 goes to the home screen but the
others don't do anything. So I can get in by holding down the home button,
then always hitting soft key 1, then soft key 2. So no matter what, I'm in
with no damage or disorientation. Whew! That's the world of today's tech
stuff. 
As for the syringes, I do remember those insulin gauges. Don't know if
they'd help hold things together though. As for the difficulty with this
plunger, my pump trainer said it's because of the shape of the syringe,
short and fat. She said I had things perfectly placed but that this was how
these behaved. The size and length of the needle sure does make them easy to
position and insert into the pod though. So we'll see what I come up with.
<grin> 
But granted, 30 hours does not a pattern make. But I'm sure liking my
numbers right now. I sure hope this is a trend. It helps that I can put the
pod in my arm and give my abdomen a break. The only thing I notice is that
in a couple of doorways I have to remember to stay away from the door frame.
<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
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter via Diabetes-Talk
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2018 6:35 PM
To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind'
Cc: Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-Talk] The great experiment has begun!

Veronica,

What do you mean by "unlock?" I wasn't aware of any of this. I just spoke
with my nurse educator a couple of months ago, and we were discussing when I
should start training on new pumps. This is devastating. I've been on a pump
for nearly 15 years; I don't know if I can go back to manual injections.

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 4:59 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!

Actually, unless things change, by next fall, Medtronic won't be a viable
option for us because they are discontinuing the 530 model in June. That
would leave us with the 630 or 670, neither of which can be unlocked by us.
That's why I went to the extreme choice of the OmniPod. I can't tell you how
much I hope I can sneak into some little crevice and show them how cool it
would be to have a talking PDM for this pump. Hey, why not have a really
good fantasy! <grin> I was wondering what you were going to do, Bridgit.
Anyway, stay tuned. I'll certainly keep you posted here.
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
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter via Diabetes-Talk
Sent: Tuesday, May 01, 2018 2:13 PM
To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind'
Cc: Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-Talk] The great experiment has begun!

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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