To say the process of getting the pumps has been arduous would be a lie. We have had to do very little paperwork, we haven't had to deal with the health insurance company and ultimately with the help of the pump company and our Diabetes Educator all we really had to do was to turn up for the appointment.
So in our pack we got our new
- 640g pump. Pink for my daughter and purple for me (I have had the charcoal and the blue so purple was the next option).
- Our new Bayer contour meter. Thank goodness that it allows for a second go of applying enough blood. So many strips have been wasted over the last 3 years with not enough blood. This meter also acts as the remote control for the pump and also the USB dongle for downloading the pump to the Carelink system.
- Our next generation CGM transmitter. Instead of having a delay in getting accurate results for the first 12 hours as soon as I had connected and calibrated for the first time it was within 1 mmol and it has now been going for 4 days with little to no variance against my meters results. To say that I am very impressed is an understatement.
I began the training with our educator and she had to hold me back from jumping ahead of her in getting it set up. The screens were so easy to navigate and understand that each process and menu made sense and was easy to move through.
All the settings were done and explained, including the new predictive technology that will not only suspend the pump when it is looking that you will head towards a hypo but also restart again when your heading out and also alert when it is predicted that your heading towards the high limit that was set. This process was completed and done all within an hour and I was connected and ready to start.
Of course I had to wait the standard 2 hours before the sensor would kick in but that is expected.
Next was to take my wife through the process with our daughters pump. I have had 25 years now of experience however my wife has only had one of being a parent of a T1 child. She had done wonderfully well grasping and understanding all that is required and the process with the new pump was nothing different. I think she had just gotten through and felt fully confident with the last one however she went through the training and to tell you the truth if I had a dollar for every time I heard "WOW that is so easy and SMART" while she was setting it up I would have over a thousand dollars. All the aspects that she understood about the old VIO pump were made even simpler to understand and navigate. They were also enhanced to give us confidence that our daughter would be in great hands.
The whole setup process was now complete and we were on our way with new pumps and technology on our hips.
One the way home the new sound of the pump sounded asking for a BG to begin calibration for the CGM. I did my test which was in the mid 4's. Once that happened 5 minutes later another new sound happened and I looked down and the pump told me that it had suspended automatically with the understanding that I was heading low. WOW, WOW, WOW this thing was on the ball right from the start. I found my glucose and had only a fraction of what I would if I was hypo and 10 mins later my pump sounded again. This time it was telling me that I was heading back into range and the basal pattern had been resumed. It is amazing to think that this technology is now available to us and has the ability to make our lives easier.
This process has happened a number of times over the last 4 days and my daughter has not been under 4 in that whole time. During the night we are able to sleep knowing that we will have notification if anything was heading in the wrong direction and that it will slow down or stop a hypo from coming. Of course in extreme circumstances where you over bolus or make an error it is still possible but in everyday scenarios we are looking to a very positive future.
If you do want to know more then take a look at www.medtronic-diabetes.com.au it really is amazing.
