I got the call from Insulet today. My insurance has approved the pod and my first shipment is on the way to my CDE… I’m very excited and a little nervous. I used the try-out pod and had little trouble. I had placed it on my lower back, and it was super comfortable. I wore it for 2 days, and in the middle of the night, I had forgotten it was on. I pulled my pants up in the restroom and ripped it off in the process. Whoops.
Anyway, I’m not worried at all about the comfort of it. But I am a little scared about the negative comments I have heard. I’ve never used a pump before-- I’ve been on shots for a long time. I wonder if I’m doing the right thing by starting it. But I can always go back to shots if I need to!
I have been on shots for 36 going on 37 years and am shopping for pump…I have made my mind up and am meeting with CDE Tuesday…what do you think of it so far…oops! I guess I should mention I went to a vendor fair and received demo of omni pod and I am impressed…
Don’t let the negative comments rain on your parade, Cindy. I’m new to pumping also and the OmniPod was not only the first pump I felt comfortable looking at, it has re-invigorated my interest in my diabetes care; it has actually excited me.
I do sympathize with people who have difficulties with it, but I also know that there are thousands of users and most of them don’t post comments about how OmniPod just works and enables them to get on with life. I think the people with problems are going to be more vocal by nature of the fact that they are having problems.
So I encourage you to keep your enthusiasm and see how it works for you; I firmly believe that one’s mental state has a big impact on one’s level of control. And don’t hesitate to ask questions here or on other forums and mailing lists.
Oh, and don’t hesitate to use Insulet’s customer service phone number - they seem to always have a live person answer the phone 24/7.
Eric
I know exactly how you feel. I’m going for my training session wednesday. I’m pretty psych’d about the whole thing…No more sticking needles in my gut everytime I want to eat. That alone is worth it to me. If you keep a positive attitude, I do not see why it would not work out for you…It has for countless others…
Hi everyone, thanks for the feedback! It’s very nice to hear the encouragement. I haven’t gotten the pod yet, but expect that it will be in sometime this week. Hopefully I’ll be able to get trained and be up and running quickly. I am really ready. I was out of town for a long girls’ weekend with a friend until yesterday. Having to deal with endless shots in restaurants and on the road reminded me of one of the reasons that I am so excited about the pod! Eric, you made a great point-- they call them the “vocal minority” for a reason! Mike, I hope you’ll share your experience after you go live with it!
Don’t let the negative comments ruin your pod experience. I love the OMNIPOD and couldn’t see myself using anything else. I have only ripped a pod off of my arm but I refused to put a new pod on because the cannula was still in, I walker around with a sock wrapped around my arm for 2 days. hahahaha
I love the freedom. I love the easy to use PDM. The Reps at insulet are very nice and will answer any question you may have.
If you have any questions let me know
Do you have your Pod yet…I have one… waiting to be trained…Also how are you doing after Ike…my sister lives and works in Conroe and said it was like nothing she had ever experienced.
My pod arrived, and I was supposed to go for training last Tuesday. Ike cancelled that for me. Now I am going this Thursday. I am looking really forward to it! I’m still a little nervous, but excited too.
Thanks for thinking of me with Ike! We are doing well. Still without power (day 10) which completely stinks, but I am in the office today where there IS power, and it’s a nice change of pace! I hope your sister made out okay. It was quite a storm!
Thanks for replying glad you are doing well…so glad you love OmniPod…
I have to wait until 10/21 because endo office is so busy…been there since 8/25…but next Friday 10/3 i will be trained on Navigator…I will be asking
quesstions when I get my Pod…Cindy W.
I have been working with Insulet (CCS) and my sons insurance company since May of this year and we just got the call on Friday that the insurance WILL pay for the Omnipod! We are expecting the Omnipod tomorrow! YES!
Dominic has been dealing with shots for over 5 years now and is beyond excited to try this new
way of life. Truth be told I am very nervous about all this change. It feels like I have to learn about this whole thing all over again.
Mine is on the way. The tracking showed that it was scanned in Tennessee this mornig and I live in Mississippi. Just one state away. Training scheduled for the following week.
Woo hoo! Good luck with it Robin! I have been on it for a little over a week. I went for some fine-tuning with my CDE yesterday. So far it is great. I know it will take a little time to do the tweaking and get things adjusted perfectly, but even so, it’s amazing and has really freed me up a lot. It is great not to have to take a shot a 4 to 6 times a day!
The pod shipment came in Saturday. It was like Christmas. I had to threaten my family to leave everything alone. I am scheduled to meet CDE on Friday and get trained. I think he’ll want me to start with saline first so that I can play with it and insulin the following week. I hope I can get him to agree to go with insulin on first meeting. I think many CDE’s are scared to start insulin at first because some people are not tech savvy and will hurt themselves with wrong pump adjustments.
My trainer never even suggested a saline “trial period” and I think that was because I showed a lot of interest and experience with managing diabetes from the minute we met. If you show initiative (perhaps by having read the user guide or gone through the interactive videos) and show that you are ready and capable, I don’t see why a trainer would insist on a saline trial.
Furthermore, my trainer was especially conservative in calculating the numbers to program the PDM with (IC ratio, insulin active time, correction factor, etc); he said it is standard “good practice” to err on the side of caution, especially with people new to pumping (coming from injections). My doc even left most of those settings alone until I see him again after ~9 months on the pod (he’s waiting for more data and patterns to emerge before making adjustments).
I hope that I can talk him into starting with insulin at first training meeting. I have been reading the manual but the training CD would not work in three different computers. I e-mailed my rep and he said that he would get me another sent to me. Also he daid that the CD and manual are nearly the same info.
That is true-- I really didn’t find anything new on the cd. The manual is far more comprehensive. My CDE and/or the insulet trainer that met with us never mentioned a saline trial either. I had been doing a lot of tracking though for weeks leading up to starting my pod. I was logging everything I ate, all insulin injections and bg’s before and 2 hours after a meal (plus fasting and before bedtime). That gave my CDE the data to get me up and running. I have been on it for almost 3 weeks, and I love it. It is far less intrusive than I feared it might be. And the freedom from injections is amazing. I go for my second follow up tomorrow, for more tweaking of settings. I hope you are as satisfied!
Just got back from seeing the CDE and I am pumping…
----------saline-----------------
I’m still excited though. It’s been torture having the PDM in that neat little case and not playing with it. This coming Wednesday I’ll start with Humalog. I am the first Omnipod this trainer has done. He does other pumps all the time and he wanted to follow Insulet’s rules to the letter. He even called a rep to ask if he could start me on saline.
First off congratulation. I’m sure it’s exciting to get to use the PDM/POD even with saline.
But, what’s the point of saline? To make sure you know how to adjust basal and give bolus? Except for learning the control of the PDM - which seem to take a little less than an hour to learn - what will be the difference between now and next Wednesday?
Still, like I said, congrats. In the long run the 4 days of saline won’t make a hill of beans worth of difference.
I work in a school system doing psychological testing for special education. Individual standardized achievement, IQ, ADD rating forms…I guess that Insulet wants to make sure the person getting a pump has an IQ somewhere above normal room temperature. Just me there is a lot of folks out there that doesn’t and what scares me the most is that me and my family (and you also), pass them on the road everyday driving at high speeds and such.
I think not starting insulin right away gives the CDE a chance to make sure the patient is not a liability to the pump manufacturer. Just my guess.
