If you read my old post I was having problems with getting my pump from my endo and the problems with the endo himself.
I got a call the other day saying they had a meeting and I am to start pumping on the 1st Feb 2011. I was pretty damn excited. I went in to the clinic today to sign the insurance paper work, NDSS Pump Consumable forms, and Hospital forms. I picked the Medtronic Veo because my D team uses CareLink and highly recommend Medtronic.
As soon as my NDSS form clears and I am approved to access cheap pump supplies, I can ring me Rep for the clinic and she will advise me what infusion set to use. Its all a exciting process.
I am going to order the books "Think Like a Pancreas" and "Pumping Insulin" after being recommend by many people.
Does anyone have any advice or stories about starting the pump and the first couple of weeks? I want to know EVERYTHING I need to know to start me off. I have pump education in January but I would like to learn some stuff before all that.
Work with you CDE or trainer closely in the first month. Work on you Basal doses as a high priority in the beginning. Don’t hesitate to ask all the questions you think of when you contact your CDE/trainer. NO trainer knows it all. Be patient with yourself and know that there is always going to be challenges. Keep the exchange on tudiabetes. You are never alone in the T1D pump world. When in doubt, test you BG.
Keep learning all you can about T1D. Have fun with the new experience!
My pump was sent to me in advance of my appointment with the CDE and pump trainer, and I went over the training book and the CD several times. I found it very helpful to know how to program the pump and how to work all the buttons, etc., before hand. It made it easier to absorb all the other information I was given when I met with the CDE and trainer. So if you do get your pump in advance, do read the book do the exercises, watch the video, and don’t be afraid to play with the pump.
And congratulations on finally getting the approval!!
It doesn’t get delivered to me but to the clinic. They did say once it is in they will give it to me to have a play around. I never thought about the CD. I will be sure to go over both of them like a mad person
For me the pump itself was the easy part. It's just a big automatic syringe with a programmable timer. The treatment regime is far more complicated than the actual pump.
The infusion sets are the critical link, so I advise you learn about the different types of infusion sets and why people use them. In my first 6 weeks on the pump I was experiencing problems with about 1/2 of the infusion sets I used. I switched from the teflon canula to stainless steel manual insertion and all the problems vanished.
