Clean Bill of Health

I saw my Endocrinologist yesterday. My a1c is 6.3 and everything is functionally normally. I have been a type 1 for 35 years with no complications, I am proud to say!:blush:

5 Likes

Good work, Dee! Your a champ.

Thankyou. I am thinking of upgrading to the 670. I found out that I have 2 years to wait for a new pump. I thought it was only 1. What are your thoughts?

Pumps are usually 4 or 5 years depending on your insurance company.

My experience has been that the folks who ultimately pay for the pumps base the replacement period on the length of the pump warranty. That used to be 5 years but is currently 4 years, at least for Tandem & Medtronic.

We have a program in Ontario which pays for an insulin pump every 5 years. I am getting anxious to switch to better technology. I don’t think the 670 would do it for me. The only benefit of getting it is that I could upgrade for 0.00.

The trick with the 5 year plan is this,
The warranty is 4 years.
If it breaks after 4 years your insurance will get you another.
If it’s working fine, they make you wait.
My old animas had a small crack in the case from the battery. I was able to get a new one after 4 years because animas would not repair it passed warranty.

I don’t know if it would work the same with me. It is a government run program and they will probably replace it with what I have right now. Are you saying for me to fool around with my pump so that I can get a replacement? That is what I did with my Ping. If they suspect you have abused it they won’t replace it.

I would not suggest any kind of insurance fraud. But the warranty is 4 years for a reason.
If it’s not working right they will replace it. No need to limp along just because your warranty is not up.
If you are in the 4th year they will get you a new version, but only if you need it.

My 2 animas pumps broke several times in under 2 years. My Medtronic lasted 6 and is still good.
6 months into my Tandem so far so good.

Medtronic seems to make insulin pumps that are of good quality.

In US, medicare is 5 years, and some US insurance plans may require evidence of current pump not working, or having problems, and refuse approval of new one just due to 4 years usage.

It’s 5 years in Ontario. That’s okay because right now there is nothing better than what I have right now. I just wish medtronic connect with dexcom, urghhh.

Not necessarily. All pumps in Ontario (if not Canada) cost roughly the same, so it doesn’t make much difference to ADP which pump you get. The only thing I’d caution is that, from what I hear (I haven’t come up to my first renewal yet), the replacement after five years is not guaranteed – if your pump is in fine working order and your A1c’s are good, they may not pay for a new pump. (Especially now, with provinces strapped for money because of Covid.) I suggest you talk to your endo’s office. Often the staff is used to fudging – sorry, I mean handling applications for replacements.

I feel hesitant.

I feel like because those pumps tend to have inaccuracies in their dosing, you might have a harder time than some. I just worry that because you require such small, precise dosages, that error might hit you harder than most.

I’m open to discussion about this, but I feel like the tech has been pretty similar for decades. They don’t re-engineer the thing frequently. MT just doesn’t do a lot of engineering work.

The newer models are supposed to connect. Omnipod and MT have deals with Loop, once they get that algorithm through FDA. Everything at FDA has slowed because of death flu. They just sent it to FDA and I expect a very slow approval process because they are busy with covid.

Loops algo allowed Omnipod to use Dexcom. MT is also allowed. Doesn’t terry use Loop with MT and dex CGM? @Terry4

Jaeb was anticipating they would publish before the end of the year and they havent (to my knowledge). Things are very, very slow across the board.

Here’s a source:

Yes, I found that article too from Healthline. I might look into the 770 if Medtronic allows me to upgrade my 630. If not I will wait for when I am due to get a new pump.

What features of the 770G would you expect to use that would make it a better fit for you than your 630G?

I was thinking if I upgrade to the 770 that when the 780 becomes available I will get it sooner.

My understanding is that the an upgrade from 770G to 780G would essentially improve the pump’s loop insulin delivery algorithm. However, since you use Dexcom CGM you would not be able to use that feature with either the 770G or 780G.

So I do not see what additional benefit you would derive from using either pump. :confused:

I would give the guardian sensor a chance. I haven’t used a medtronic cgm in over 3 years. I have also heard that they have improved it and eventually all cgms will be able to connect to any pump. When this happens, we don’t know but it will someday.