I left work on Friday and was half way home on my one hour commute and realized I had left my PDM at work. I would have turned around, but I had other things going on. So I was getting my basal insulin, but couldn't bolus and I couldn't set a temp basal if needed. So for the rest of the day Friday and all day Saturday I used the pod for my basal and I injected with syringes for boluses. By Sunday morning the pod was beeping at me and since I had no way to silence it I took it off and popped the batteries out to shut it up. Luckily I still have my old Medtronic, so I put that on.
This experience made me realize how dependent I am on the bolus and correction calculations the PDM does for me. And how much I rely on checking my PDM to see when my last bolus was.
Luckily, the next time I need to order pods, I will most likely get the new pods and PDM. I plan to save a handful of older pods so that I can use the old ones with the old PDM as a backup if anything like this happens again.
My daughter forgot her PDM at school once on a Friday and luckily we were able to get it from someone who happen to still be in the office. But that day I too realized how dependent we were on the PDM. I wish it was less expensive to purchase a new one as a back up if needed. Good idea to keep the old PDM with a few extra pods once the newer version is shipped. We will do that as well.
I've seen info about similar pod style pumps that also have a few controls on the pod itself. Maybe Insulet will do that in another future version of their pods? Also, a few users here on this site have talked about buying a "backup PDM" to keep at home for just such a case. Only negative there is you can't control your current pod on your body with a 2nd PDM, you'd only be able to control a new pod with a 2nd PDM.
There are times I'm not sure what's worse. Leaving my PDM behind or my Cell Phone :)
I left my PDM in the ladies room on a cruise. Luckily....LUCKILY!!!! someone turned it in because I had no clue how to deal with things without it out at sea for 5 more days.
Good call on keeping the old PDM when the new ones ship. I will do that as well.
Once I left my PDM on the commuter train-that was very very nervewracking. I was convinced all was lost but the conductor actually called my cell phone when he was checking all the cars at the end of the route. He waited at the last station on the route for me to come pick it up, thus reaffirming my faith in humanity. The craziest part is that it was at the end of the day the day AFTER I lost it - after another entire round trip. Amazing.
We forgot my PDM and test kit when going out for a meal a few days back. No way were we going to travel back home to pick it up (that would be a 56 mile round trip). My wife had the spare insulin pen but no pen needles (oops). A quick trip to Walgreens allowed me to get a $9.99 True2Go meter with 10 test strips (and an a rebate slip inside for the whole amount) but the pen needles cost $44. It's actually a neat meter (it clips onto the vial of test strips.)
Everything did work out fine, although doing meal boluses (I did three during the meal) reminded me of the horrible inaccuracy of injecting insulin in 1 or 2 unit amounts with a pen.
Apart from that brief annoying piece of forgetfulness my only other experience has been leaving my backpack on the wrong bus at Heathrow airport (we got off too quickly when we worked out it was the wrong one.) I only realized when we got off the correct bus at the Renaissance Heathrow Hotel and my backpack wasn't there. Panic, panic!
Fortunately the concierge at the Renaissance knew who to contact in the shuttle bus company and within the hour they had tracked down the errant backpack and delivered it to the hotel.
When my 10 year old switched from a tubed pump to Omnipod a year ago, we bought a back-up PDM. They had a special program running that allowed us to purchase it for $200 because we were switching from a tubed pump. I called Insulet last week to find out if they planned to give me 2 PDMs when we make the switch to the new pods, and was pretty upset when they said probably not. The sales rep actually said they had never even considered it because they didn't realize there were people that had back-ups. I always thought the back-up was almost a necessity for a 10 year old, although we've managed to keep track of his so far. Like you said, it seems like it's only a matter of time before we lose it or leave it somewhere.
I have this mental check list in my head that I run through every time I leave the house or my office...PDM check! Dexcom receiver check! Cell phone check! Keys check! whew! Exhausting just to go anywhere! :)
I haven't forgotten my PDM at work *yet* but I did forget my insulin and syringes once...
Prior to going on a cruise, I thought about that exact issue. I talked to my local omnipod rep and he gave me a loaner to take along in my suitcase, free of charge. I never ended up needing it but it was nice to know that it was there. I plan on doing the same thing on any future cruises or trips out of the country.
