Glad to hear something is finally working for you! I’m kinda surprised that the difference in length made that much of a difference, but whatever works…works! 
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And another update:-(. Still waiting for the Ping cartridges to arrive but the Sure-T insets seem to be having the same problems as the Mio. I got one set to last 69 hours out of the possible 72, but the two before that were 12 hours and 30 hours. The one after that was 12 hours and now I seem to be having problems with this one at 24 hours:-(. I saw my endocrinologist today who has given me a vial of Humalog to see if a different insulin makes things more successful, plus ordered all sorts of blood work to make sure systemically there isn’t something wrong with adrenal glands, etc. and a prescription to return me to MDI :-(. If the Humalog makes no difference and I am still running through a set change a day average and throwing ketones far too often, and even if the Ping tests fine that is now a dead end because of the discontinuation of supplies (I really wish I hadn’t exchanged my Ping supplies for Medtronic ones now :-)), then it is back to MDI. So, test results by Friday, then back to the Ping for as long as I can swing it, then back to MDI until Insurance allows me to consider looking at Tandem or what else might be available in 2021. It may just be that there is something in the materials used in the Medtronic pump tubing and cartridge that leeches into the insulin enough to cause some sort of systemic response that more often than not causes my body to blocks off the insulin flow after a certain number of hours. I am still holding out hope that something else will come up to explain it, but that seems to becoming the most likely explanation. 
I have been pumping since 2012 - I so wish Animas didn’t decide to pack it in!
Paytone, how do the materials used in the cartridges and the tubings for the Tandem pump feel compared to the Animas pump? Is it the same type of plastic - a solid hard plastic cartridge rather than flexible, and the tubing very thin and firm, not soft to the touch? The Medtronic reservoirs are very soft and bendable and the tubing is also soft, extremely pliable, thicker than the animas tubing and has a sort of milky cast to it as opposed to the more grayish cast on the Animas tubing. If Tandem supplies are akin to Animas, then that gives me hope it might eventually work for me, but if they are more like the Medtronic, then it might also be a problem.
I could be wrong, but doesn’t Unomedical make the sets for all 3 pumps?
I didn’t notice much difference at all between the tubing on Tandem Autosoft 90 and Animas Inset infusion sets. In fact I think they’re identical except for the cartridge connection. Animas uses Luer Lock, Tandem uses a proprietary connector.
Over the years, I noticed the Inset tubing would vary from batch to batch. In some cases the tubing was clear and smooth. On other occasions it would have a textured feel with a frosted appearance. Both worked equally well in my hands. The Tandem and Animas pump cartridges have completely different designs so you can’t really make the comparison you described.
I believe this is the manufacturer. Maybe Unomedical handles the distribution? UPDATE - Just saw that Unomedical is a Convatec company.
Unomedical is the name on the Animas and Medtronic infusion sets and cartridges. The infusion sets for both are made in Mexico. The reservoirs for Medtronic are made in Puerto Rico. The cartridges for Animas are made in Singapore.
Thanks, Paytone. I am going to have to see if I can find someone with a Tandem and see if for myself. It may not be an option, but it may be.
My endocrinologist called to say he had talked with my Medtronic trainer and rep and thought there was a chance I could ‘back out’ of the transfer. I am to call the Rep tomorrow after my tests. I would return all of the Medtronic supplies and the pump, and I get back a Ping still under warranty to end 2020 (I know, it won’t matter much longer :-() and the boxes of supplies that I exchanged. Of course, the Medtronic supplies arrived today. It would at least give me a number more months of pumping before I had to switch to MDI, or if the Tandem pump appears viable after investigation, try that.
FYI, you might have more occlusion alarms with the Tandem pump, if you go by the things I’ve been reading on line. That’s my big concern, going forward, as I switch from the 530 to an X2, perhaps this year (depends on Medicare).
Thank you for this link. I think I will write to the company and see if I can find out any information about the different materials used in the cartridges and infusion sets and see if I can at least narrow down any possibilities. I can also ask about the materials used in the Tandem TSlim and see if they can tell me if they are the same or different from the other two. I suspect, from the way the description is worded, Medtronic may have some innovative materials used in its products so this may bear fruit. It won’t hurt to ask, at any rate. They may also have some insight into what else it might be.
When I was getting chemo every week, they also gave me massive amounts of steroids to avoid nausea. Of course my BG went up, usually to around 330 or so for about 36 hours. I bought some ketone strips and those tests were always negative.
I asked my endo about it and he told me I didn’t need to worry about DKA for the BG excursion for that amount of time.
In any case, I just started to make sure my BG was around 60 when I got to the chemo lab. It was in a university hospital, so they were equipped to handle “accidents”. They also fed us during chemo - with choices from turkey sandwiches (my favorite) to jello or ice cream.
I’ve used several steel sets, and all the documentation I’ve seen says to change them every 24-48 hours. I see many people complaining that they “react” to steel sets because they don’t last three days…but steel sets were never designed to last three days. Even if you have to change them every 24 hours, that’s normal and recommended according to the documentation. Even many doctors don’t realize that these sets need more frequent changes than plastic sets.
I change sets every 24 hours most of the time. Sometimes my body is really reactive and they get sore and die after just 12 hours. Sometimes my body is calm and I can keep them in for 36 or, rarely, even 48 hours. But 24 hours seems to be the majority for me.
And steel sets CAN still stop working, although for most people they are more reliable. I have at least several sets a year die on me. In the past two weeks I’ve had two separate occlusion alarms, one of which resulted in a blood sugar of 25.6 mmol/L. In my case, I think most of this is my immune system attacking the set and/or the site getting so inflamed it can’t absorb insulin properly. But some types of insulin, such as Fiasp (which I use) are also more prone to clogging in tubing and infusion sets, or so I’ve heard.
I tried them when I was using the short-lived Snap pump. One of its less favorable attributes was that it used some kind of light-based sensor for non-delivery and it was hyper sensitive, always giving me false occlusion alarms. Trainer I was working with recommended switching to angled steel sets, which actually did seem to solve the problem. Something to do with not going as far into the dermis and avoiding scar tissue. I don’t remember them being painful particularly, but they used up significantly more geography, and I didn’t care for inserting them much. Kinda like a syringe only you’re leaving the needle in. I stopped using them after Assante cratered and I went back to my Medtronic.