Speaking as an uninformed outsider (never been within ten feet of a pump), saline starts sound pretty dumb. I certainly didn’t spend days practicing with a syringe when I started insulin. The CDE made me do it once with saline, and I did the same as you—nodded and smiled, then went straight home and bolused for lunch. Like you, I had done exhaustive research before I ever got there.
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If everyone was required to read Think Like a Pancreas and pass a test afterwards, saline starts and substandard D-care (for all Types of D) would become a thing of the past for everyone with even a modicum of intelligence. I need to finish my book: “How the D-World Should Run According to Rose” by me. 
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Your best bet is to contact your insurance company and ask what their specific policy is regarding insulin pumps. If your ask you should be able to get the medical criteria you use. You have to remember doctors and even DME providers deal with 100’s of insurance companies, so many times the info you get is generalized info. Also it may be an endo’s preference as they may feel get a hang on the diagnosis first and then proceeded to pumping. But if your endo is behind it, I’d call your specific insurance company and ask for their medical policy. That way you will know what your specific insurance company wants, and make sure you have all your duckies in a row before submitting the request. When everything is all lined up, the process goes pretty smoothly from start to finish. Both my insurance plans I’ve had for both my pumps, each one of them it was less than 2 weeks from start to finish. As far as saline starts, i’ve never had to do one and was never asked to do one from my endo or medtronic or tandem. My diabetic educator asked if I wanted to and I said no, and that was that. If you have a good grasp on carb counting, and bolus injections etc. I don’t see a lot of benefit in it.
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I had to practice on an orange the first time I went on insulin. Repeatedly. I really just wanted to eat the thing.
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Supposedly (never tried it) you can use a large syringe to inject brandy or cognac into an orange, wait a while, and then eat the orange for a real treat.
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We do a similar thing with cumquats, layer cumquats and sugar in a large clean glass jar and when full cover with brandy. We will have a lovely orange liqueur come Christmas time, which I will not be able to drink, alas! You are supposed to be able to eat the fruit with cream, but they are very pippy and I am not keen.
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We didn’t have an option. We had two appointments set from the start and didn’t seem like we could negotiate even if we wanted too. The first was the saline start (week of training). The second is the actual live pod put on our son 1 week later. We’re doing that live transition this Thursday.
I, for one, don’t mind the saline start. It gave my wife and I (who were both totally unfamiliar with pumps beforehand) the opportunity to “play around” with the PDM with no harmful side effects - something not possible with insulin in the pod. We tried different combinations of things, extended bolus, suspending insulin, etc., just to SEE IT IN ACTION once or twice so that we know what to expect when we start up on Insulin this Thursday.
Was it 100% necessary? No…I’m sure we would have been alright either way. But did we appreciate having a “training week?” Most certainly. Had we the option, I think we would have still opted for the 1 week of training.
That’s just our case, though! Our son is too little to make mistakes at this point…if 1 week training will make us feel more capable, it’s worth it IMHO.
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I love language and am not familiar with “pippy.” Will you please decode?
pips = seeds (in citrus fruits)
There is even a Sherlock Holmes story with “pips” in the title.
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I enjoy how English speakers in other countries (non-U.S.) use the language differently. I wonder if pippy is sometimes used to describe an irritating personal behavior.
Now I’m remembering an expression I read in the UK Guardian describing a recent Olympic contest. The article used the word “pipped” when describing someone losing by a hair. They also use the expression “pipped at the post” for this same idea. Perhaps that comes from horse racing.
As a long time, hard core anglophile, I can attest that it does indeed.
Do you mean anglophile or linguaphile. George Carlin is my favorite linguaphile.
Well, I consider myself to be both, but I meant anglophile in this instance because that is a British expression.
Even within the same country people use language differently. Having moved to a lot of towns and changed country in my lifetime I can attest to that.
I had never heard of the word “shat” until I got some UK gaming friends…they said that quite frequently when bad things happened to them in the game. 
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Oooo… That sounds amazing!
I would have to agree here…Even though I am a Nurse by trade, and declined the Saline trial and went straight to Insulin, I think parents of T1D Children, if they have no prior experience, SHOULD go through a 1 week Saline trial to learn and become comfortable with the workings of a Pump…I personally would especially if my child was very, very young at Diagnosis.