That's awesome. Those between insurance buys are killer. You guys are so helpful!
I forgot about the freestyle promise discount. Will it work when I'm purchasing before my deductible is met and paying in full, going through a DME company? Think I'll call them and ask!
I also started on the Omnipod after 36 years of injecting and love it. It would take CONSTANT failures for me to even consider going on a tubed pump. I would go back to pens first. I haven't had many problems but they do come in groups. I'll go months with nothing and then all of a sudden-2-3 in a row. Very weird...but again, not enough for me to even consider switching.
1.I use the Omnipod meter. It is more convenient than carrying around a separate meter and a PDM.
Yes the Accucheck Mobile was a lot better. No strips and no waste every time. I have got two of them and not using them anymore.
2.My health insurances pays for all test strips. So no problem.
3.For disposal of Pod there is a recycling program. I save up 30 pod and send them in a toll free box to Ypsomed (distributer for Europe). They send them to Switserland so they can recycle the pods. This helps to protect the environment.
Glad to hear that you will be pumping and not just ordinary pumping but OmniPod pumping, it makes a difference, I will comment at the end of this reply.
I use the built-in OmniPod meter with the FreeStyle strips, why would I use anything else and why would you want to carry a seperate meter. My insurance will not cover anything but the One Touch Strips which I HATE so I pay out of pocket and order from a really good mail order store "American Diabetes Wholesaler", they are an honest shop and I pay as low or even lower than stores on Amazon or ebay. As for meter/strip accuracy you could drive yourself nuts comparing and re-comparing. Some people say this one is more accurate, some say that one is. My experience using test meters since 1986 is that there are so many variables that you can't really gage the accuracy of the test unless you are in a lab environment. I must have a least a dozen meters and each one of them will give me different results checked with blood from the same drop so what does it all mean. What you are looking for is consistency in the results from the same meter itself and more important is to look for is "How do you feel". Most endos go more by your A1C then your actually meter results. They use the meter results to spot trends on highs and lows to provide corrections in your managements.
I have a iMac so I upload my pod data using Bootcamp with Windows 7. Had a separate windows 7 PC but the PC was so unstable now I run Windows 7 on my Mac and it runs faster and better then on the brand new Gateway I bought from Best Buy which I thru in the trash.
I break open my pods, take out the batteries and throw the rest out in the trash. I know that may seem environmentally unfriendly but then have you ever seen the waste that comes with any of the other pump systems? Gees I think I could fill up my whole garbage can with the packaging (two packages, one for the syringe + needle and one for the tubing and infusion set, the tubing and actual infusion set itself of my Animas system now I just have one empty package the syringe + needle and the pod.
Now why Omnipod makes a difference:
First of all NO TUBING, now don't let people tell you how not having tubing would not make a difference in their lives. Either they are fooling themselves or they don't have much of a life.
Some of these people are the same people who will not embrace anything new - period.
If you are a normal active person the Omnipod is the only way to go. Tubes just complicate your life on so many levels. When I first was told I had to go on a pump back 5 years ago I did all my home work. I met with the vendors - MiniMed, Animas, Cozmos and Omnipod. They are all good machines - they all have their pros and cons but only Omnipod was tubeless. I narrowed it down to either the MiniMed or Omnipod. The MiniMed people were very helpful, almost too helpful, they really wanted that sale, lunch, visits at home, invites to demos. But I had two problems with the MiniMed pump. One of course was the tubing and the second, which i believe is an unforgivable problem in the whole pump/meter business - the display was a cheap LCD non color display which was very hard to see even with the crappy back light. The only pump display that is easy to see besides the Omnipod is the Animas Ping but the One Touch Ping Control which is also your blood meter is hard to see because it is a cheap back lighted LCD display too. Why did Animas, known for it's great display opt for a horrible control for the Ping system? For heavens sake - we are diabetics - some of us have vision problems either natural with age or from the disease itself - give us a decent readable color display.
Anyway I went with the Omnipod. Within 3 months my A1C dropped from 12.4 on multiple injections to 7.2 and 3 months later down to 6.8.
After two years my insurance changed and they would not pay for the pods but gave me a choice for either Animas or MiniMed.
The MiniMed still had a crappy display and the new Animas Ping had a controller for it. Went with the Animas Ping. Was on the Animas PING for over a year, did not hate the machine but hated the tubing. My insurance switched again. I decided that if I could not get on the Omnipod with the new insurance that I would get off pumping because I was sick and tired of the whole tube thing. Well my new insurance approved the Omnipod and I am back on the Omnipod - THANK THE UNIVERSE - to me being on the Animas with the tubing and infusions sets was a nightmare, trying to hide the tubing, as a man trying to make sure the tube was not in the way when using the rest room, getting the tubing caught in zipper, trying to figure out where to put the pump which you where getting dressed, connecting - disconnecting - connecting - disconnecting, the knots in the tube, the tangles, the occlusions, you can keep them all.
They say some Omnipods fail - this is true but I have had numerous infusion sets fail on me and Omnipod has always replaced my failed pod overnight free of charges.
They say when a pod fails you waste insulin - true but look how much insulin is wasted every time you prime your tubing - 10 units - 15 units??? and you could suck out most of the insulin in a failed pod.
The Omnipod is the most simple system to use. It has the best self inserter in the business - I never feel any pain - the Animas self insert had a springing effect that you some time felt bad. You could place the pod in more places than with a tubed set.
The Omnipod inserts the cannula on an angle. The Omnipod infusion rate is very slow - I know a lot of people do not like this but my endo and I believe this is a good thing for a number of reasons which you don't hear much about in the pumping world but is very very important and here's why - when insulting is being infused through the cannula at a slower rate it helps avoid the back flow of insulin right out of your skin along the sides of the cannula. Almost every time I remove my Animas cannula from my skin it was moist with insulin, sometimes I would actually see if pour out during a bolus, but not with the Omnipod. Granted this probably affects people who require larger boluses then smaller ones. Another thing is the slow drip also probably assorts better and the longer angled cannula itself help keep in higher with less tunneling.
Now for some quick tips for you to help you with your Omnipod experience:
Make sure the area that you are going to put the pod on is cleaned with alcohol extremely well, not so much for germs but to get the oils off your skin - be a little rough with the cleaning. All this is so your pod will stick well. Clean well and you should not have a problem. If there is hair in the area it really should be shaved off first. Stick the pod on good, smooth out all the sides, get under the actual pod a little.
Make sure before removing a pod that you spray some De-Solv-It around the bandage first. Believe me this stuff is the best, the pod will fall off by itself if you use enough and wait long enough. Found out about De-Solv-It in this Omnipod Group. All of us who use it swear by it. By the way De-Solv-It is a environmentally Friendly, Biodegradable solvent that pod people use on babies to get their pods off. It completely harmless orange based natural solvent. Smells nice too. Get it a Ace Hardware.
I know I was long winded here, sorry, I am alway available for any questions that you or anyone may have.
I hope that I have helped you in some small way.