My infusion site is really sore today (2 days in), especially when it gets jarred a little from waistband interference. I'd love to get rid of it, but I don't want to waste the insulin. I think I remember somebody referencing such a clever maneuver but, being a newbie, I'm scared to mess up. Oh I'm dying to get this thing outta me!
As long as your set has a way to disconnect and reconnect to the resevoir then it is totally doable. Go for it, Cindy!
If you use the quickset, you can disconnect it, take your cannula out, put a new one in, then use the tubing and reservoir from your old set. In your reservoir settings, you can select fill cannula. Then you can continue to use your existing insulin. I’ve keep the “extra” tubing in case I needed it. (spares are always nice to have)
Cindy,
I swap out my infusion set only almost every time. I load my reservoir up to it's max which lasts me 5-7 days and always the site needs changing before the reservoir is empty, and vice versa. I currently use Insets but did the same with Cleo's. Remember to refill the .3-.5units for the infusion set. Be careful to avoid your pumps priming sequence if it has one unless your infusion sets have the tube permanently attached, then you'll have to reprime the tubing also. I've used 5 different pumps over the decades and have always done this.
Good luck,
Frank
Do it all the time so I'm with Karen here GO for it.
I do it all the time as well. If there is a small amount of insulin left, I get another cartridge and draw what's left out from the old one. If there's enough for another 3 days (minus the approx 20 units for priming), then I simply take the tubing off the old cartridge, hook it to a new one and put it in the pump. I use a Ping and see you have a medtronic if you need more specific instructions, I suggest posting on the Medtronic group.
I hate wasting insulin, so always either draw out what's left or reuse the cartridge if the site goes bad early
Thanks for the support Zoe, Franco and Sam. I'm off to shower and give it a try. And thanks for the heads up on the Medtronic group. I didn't know about it. Smart money would post on that group and wait for opinions, but I feel like I've got a nail in my belly and you three are a good send off. Bottom line I lose a little insulin, but I definitely want to conquer this technique. I love Frank's full load every time approach. Brilliant! Here goes. I'll keep you posted.
Cindy
All showered and fresh using new cannula, same rez of insulin. What a neat maneuver you taught me today! That is slicker than ... oops! nevermind.
I love you guys. I wonder what I'll learn tomorrow~
Yep, reuse lots, esp if a piece fails early! Just swap them out, good to go!
I swap out all the time for a second reason. I get anxious putting in my sites and having to do two things (insert the cannula and changing the reservoir) is about 4 times as stressful for me as doing just one or the other.
Maurie
Oh, do you mean I can do the opposite? Can I keep my cannula in place and attach a new rez & tube? Never thot of that. Are you guys saying I can choose each time which I want to swap out?
Maurie, I relate to you. 6 mos into this gig, I still follow the manual when I start up a new infusion. There are so many little steps. And I have blundered, especially when it comes to bubbles and to getting the site adhesive mucked into itself and one of my finest mistakes involves my fingers getting in the way of the spring loaded inserter preventing good insertion.
So you can see that I need all the handy hints I can get.
I really feel great tonight!
That's right - swap out whatever needs to be swapped and keep the rest. It took me the longest time to put away the cheat sheet for doing a site change :-)
Please indulge me with one more question...
Today I did the reservoir swap using yesterday's new infusion site. Being nervous, I put on my big girl panties and filled a new reservoir to make the change. I saw bubbles in the tubing next to the rez and BEFORE ATTACHING TO MY BODY I did the fill tubing action to be sure they were out. I used even more than my usual tube filling amt of insulin. Can someone talk to me about that? Do you take that step? When I attached back to the site I assumed my cannula was still filled and didn't need filling so I omitted that step. Everything seems fine, but I'm a little skitterish. Thanks in advance.
Here is my suggestion - works for me. (sorry kinda long!)
make sure you let your bottle of insulin come to room temp. I store mine in fridge, but remember to take it out ahead of filling reservoir.
When filling res, pull slowly, trying not to get huge bubble in. Little ones, ok, not huge. Slow is the key. Fill past what you will use, with res still attached to insulin, tap res - insulin bottle above res. This gets bubbles to get to top of res. Push out what you don't need back into insulin bottle, slowly!
Attach tubing to res, keep res with top (where needle of tubing goes) upright toward ceiling. Don't lay it down.
Into primed and ready pump, again, keep tubing/res pointed to ceiling. Prime as normal, all the bubbles that may be in res should be primed out. Anything left should just be the little ones and are usually not a bother. Insert, finish as normal, and should be set.
Bubbles will tend to develop in res with temp changes, i.e. working outside in the heat. Also you will tend to see more bubbles when insulin in res almost out.
Biggest key I think is insulin at room temp, not cold. And slow when filling res! Anytime you find large air bubble in tubing that worries you, just prime it out. Bubbles won't hurt you, just if to large you will miss insulin either w/basal or bolus. Depending on your sensitivity it may or may not be a big problem.
If you do not put in new site, do not need to fill the cannula. Some people reuse reservoir and tubing multiple times, I chose not to just because. I have reused when new reservoir or tubing is faulty. (Always call and complain if that happens, you should get new and may need to mail in faulty parts) I never add insulin to old insulin though, if reusing reservoir push any old insulin out before reusing w/new insulin.
I have a One Touch Ping. I did this a few days ago by inserting a new inset, d/c the tube that came with it, and plugging the old one (which was already primed) in. Then, I "filled cannula" with 0.30U and have been good to go ever since! I used to switch them both out at the same time every time, but found this way to be much more frugal in terms of supplies and insulin.
I always use fresh tubing with a fresh reservoir. Were you trying to reuse the tubing?
Maurie
I reused my reservoirs (Minimed) a lot, and still do sometimes. However, I did notice after a while that sometimes the O-ring in the reservoir plunger (that slides forward as the insulin is dispensed) sometimes leaked a little insulin on the 2nd or 3rd use of the reservoir. Since then, I've started using reservoirs only once (most of the time). It may have been a bad batch of O-rings/reservoirs, I don't know if that was typical of all Minimed reservoirs ever made.
When I've had a bad set/site before it's time to "change out" I will often continue with the reservoir and most of the tubing that was already in action, and just "fill cannula" into a new 2" of tubing + set, and then insert the new set. voila.
Cindy - you'll be a pro in no time!
Yes, I did use the same tubing.
Big sigh of relief!! Don't apologize for length; my brain needs step by step instruction initially. I'm not one of those quick studies. Plus there is an outsized fear element for us because we're dealing with insulin. Too much or too little are behemoth problems for us. I'd be a little more cavalier if you were telling me how to change my oil. Please know, Korrie, that you have made a difference for me! LOL
Cindy
Great! You must have used Korrie's technique and avoided the bubbles. I didn't and did have bubbles by the rez. I'm going to get it right soon. Thanks for encouraging me to swap separately if I want to. B4 this, I thought you had to replace the whole shebang everytime, even if only one end was a problem. I have been shy about this from the beginning.