Cut the Cord

For anyone that know me, knows I am Minimed's BIGGEST supporter.  I LOVE their products.  I love that their pump and CGM are all in one unit.  It makes it so easy for Brianna to only carry around one device.  I love the ease of use.  Brianna has been on the Minimed Revel pump for a little over three years, and the CGM almost three years.  We have the Guardian and MySentry.  Seriously LOVE minimed and all their products.

BUT a few months ago we went to a JDRF event and Omnipod was there.  We looked at it and honestly I didn't think much of it.  Yes, no tubes would be nice but at that time they still only had the bigger pods, so I didn't really think much of it.  My husband and I talked a little about it in the car but it ended there, or so I thought...

Then in March, knowing swim season was coming up, hubby asked, okay I'm going to blame him for this one, have you thought any more about trying Omnipod?  WHAT?!?!  We swim a LOT during the summer.  Brianna's pump is not water proof which isn't a huge deal as she likes the freedom while swimming of not having something attached to her, but in the same sentence I must say no pump no basal.  For the last two swim seasons, I have been giving her missed basal as a bolus right before I disconnect her.  BUT do you know how hard it is to give 0.50 units when she's 70 or 90?  If I don't hours later she will be in the 200's-300's and holding there.  So it worked.  I knew what to do.  Once an hour I would hook her up and give her the missed basal as a bolus and off she would swim.  Well, then she would want to eat, back out of the pool and hook up and give insulin she needs for what she was eating.  Not a huge deal.  But it was something I was comfortable doing, I knew how to do it.  But I was the only one doing it.  Not for one second I want you to think I don't want to do it, because if it is what she needs then I will but then my thoughts were what if I'm not there, what if she is at a friends house?  I can't expect someone else to do what I do.

So with that I agreed I would call and get information about Omnipod and the Cut the Cord Program.  I seriously felt and feel like a traitor.  They were very helpful and told me that for a certain price we could get the PDM and then when it was time to refill pump supplies instead of sites and reservoirs we would get pods.  Seemed easy enough. 

I am someone though, that is under the mind set if something is working then why switch?  Her A1C for the last year has been in the 5's.  She was happy with the pump and CGM.  Why switch?  I had talked to several people that were on the pods.  I didn't want to know the good things about it- I wanted to know what could go wrong!  Some of my fears- the site would fall off all the time.  The PDM meter would be "off" from what I was use to and would cause a dramatic increase in her A1C.  Many people also talked about super high numbers right after a pod change- I didn't want to deal with highs every 2-3 days just from changing her site.  Pod size was another concern, I didn't want this HUGE thing on her.  Probably the thing I was most of afraid of was what if she hates it??

With all that being said, in March we decided to go for it.  Brianna was VERY unsure of this- really I don't think she wanted to try it at all.  We told her several times that if she hated or even didn't like it a little we would switch back right way and wouldn't try it again.  I wanted HER to feel good about the switch after all it was all about making HER life easier.

We ordered Pods in May, the next time we were eligible for supplies, and it was a done deal!  We set an appointment for the beginning of June to meet with a nurse educator about transitioning to the pod from the pump.  I probably could have done it myself but it was recommended we go so we did.

So June 6th, we went and transitioned from the pump to the pod.  It was the easiest transition ever.  We just put the pod on and took the pump off.  Because she was already on a pump there was no missed basal or that, just stopped one and started the other.  We learned how to bolus and set up the PDM.  And we left.
It was the first time in almost 3 years that she didn't have something attached around her waist.

And there it is on her back,hooked up and running. 

Next post- what do we think 4 weeks into Podding??  Stay tuned and follow my blog.....


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