[Diabetes-Talk] My fourth day on the Mobi insulin pump

Tue Aug 27 19:46:49 UTC 2024

Eileen,
Thanks for your input on the swimming. I actually used to swim regularly but haven’t been in the pool since Covid and I would feel a bit worried to wear it in the water so I probably wouldn’t risk it unless the company guaranteed that it would be under warranty should there be a problem.
Patricia
Sent from my iPhone

> On Aug 27, 2024, at 7:34 AM, Eileen Scrivani via Diabetes-Talk <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi Patricia,
> 
> So glad you are doing well with the Tandem Mobi and loving it as I am. One thing I have to add about your comments regarding it being waterproof. While it can get wet, I know when I went through training with my pump, my trainer said she would not go swimming with it on and have it totally submerged in water for a long period of time. The way she said it was that if I had the pump in the pocket of my swim short and jumped into the pool the pump would survive, but she would not keep it submerged. She said "Why temp fate and risk having it damaged." It sounds sensible to me so just wanted to mention that point.
> 
> Yes, they do need to work on getting the selection of the CGM type fixed for those of us using Voice Over. I hope this will be a quick fix and I have complained to both my trainer about it and will call the 800 number next week when I go through changing out my transmitter for the G6. I will of course need to have a sighted family member on hand to assist me with this change.
> 
> Eileen
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Diabetes-Talk <diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Patricia Maddix via Diabetes-Talk
> Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2024 2:23 AM
> To: NFB Diabetes Division <Diabetes-Talk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Patricia Maddix <pmaddix at comcast.net>
> Subject: [Diabetes-Talk] My fourth day on the Mobi insulin pump
> 
> Last Thursday I received training and began using my new Tandem Mobi insulin pump. I am loving it very much. those of us in the blind and low vision community have been watching the development of this pump and it’s progress through FDA approval for several years as we saw a huge potential for it to be accessible for our community. unlike my previous Tandem pump which was controlled by a touchscreen directly on the pump with no voice feedback this Pump has no screen and is controlled entirely by an iPhone app.. with the previous pump I was able to independently take bolus or correction doses of insulin directly from its app so could remain completely independent for several days until it was necessary to fill the pump once again with insulin at which time I needed sighted assistance. With the Tandem Mobi, I am able to do almost every single task required completely independently except for  one. When a new sensor has to be started using the Dexcom G7. It is necessary to do this from the Mobi app by selecting from the picture icons showing the G6 and G7 sensors.  Voiceover skips right over these icons as if they were not there and does not allow a person to tap on either one while voiceover is enabled. so to get the Dexcom G7 to connect to the pump at the beginning of each 10 day sensor session sighted assistance is required to select the correct sensor with voiceover turned off. For those patients wanting to use the Dexcom G6 sensors, they can start them directly from the Dexcom G6 app and the pump will pick up the readings once the warm-up period is over , thereby bypassing the step required to select the type of sensor that you wish to use. However, no doubt every three months when a new G6 transmitter would need to be started. It appears that sighted Assistance may need to be available to select the sensor and enter the transmitter ID number into the Mobi app.   I know of two other blind people that are using this pump with the G6, but they have not had to start a new transmitter yet so we will find out what works for them when that time comes  around. The other person who is using the G7 does need some assistance every 10 days when changing the sensor. Many of us have let Tandem technical support and other Tandem employees know about this problem and are strongly encouraging them to revise the app to make this feature fully accessible. There are various serial numbers, PIN numbers, and other codes that are needed to be entered into the app, but so far these all can be accessed by the Seeing AI or Be My AI app. The process of filling the cartridge that holds the insulin and snapping it into the pump is much simpler than the previous pump and very doable without Sight. From time to time there are various alerts and notifications that show up on the app that have to be dismissed in order to get rid of the repeated beeping notifications. There is a bit of a workaround that was found to work using voiceover to dismiss these alerts that is not a gesture that I have ever used with voiceover before, but I learned to do it very easily.  my other challenge was in charging the pump which is done on a wireless charging platform.   A person is supposed to line up the letter T, which is printed on the bottom of the pump with the letter T that is printed on the charging pad so another technique needed to be found.  I know that some people have found that when they place the pump in the right location they feel a very slight vibration or a magnetic pull but I could not hear or feel that so ended up putting two layers of gorilla tape on the charging platform in the area that would be on the top and the side of the pump when it’s placed on the charger correctly and this works for me to just slide it into the correct location . There are rumors of a newer charging pad being  developed that will be better for placing the pump in just the right location.
> Although this pump holds 200 units of insulin, it is small enough to fit in the coin pocket of a pair of jeans with plenty of extra room left over. It can be used with infusion sets that have tubing lengths as short as 5 inches or as long as 43 inches so the pump itself can be placed in many places on the body for personal choice. It can simulate a patch pump by using a sleeve pocket that attaches to the body With adhesive and using the 5 inch tubing. Because it is waterproof, you could leave it in the sleeve attached to your body while showering or swimming and only remove it when you needed to change the complete site after three days. I would say that the Moby insulin pump is within a hairs width  of being fully accessible to the blind and low vision community and it shouldn’t be very hard to push it over the finish line.
> I very much hope that all insulin pump companies will eventually incorporate accessibility as part of their corporate culture, as we should be allowed all the same choices in products as sighted people with diabetes.
> Patricia
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Diabetes-Talk mailing list
> Diabetes-Talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/diabetes-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Diabetes-Talk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/diabetes-talk_nfbnet.org/etscrivani%40verizon.net
> 
> 
> _______________________________________________
> Diabetes-Talk mailing list
> Diabetes-Talk at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/diabetes-talk_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Diabetes-Talk:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/diabetes-talk_nfbnet.org/pmaddix%40comcast.net