Intro to Pumping Class on Thursday + Choosing My Pump

        Yes my little sugar free niblets, I am officially on the road to becoming a pumper of insulin. On Thursday I am scheduled in an introduction to pumping class at the children's hospital in my area. It's pretty ridiculous how excited I am. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I did a complete turnaround in my stance on insulin pumps. I hated the idea of being connected to something. I quickly got over that though when I saw all the benefits (oh yeah and all the cool kick butt features some of them have). So below I decided to include the pros and cons of the insulin pumps available in Canada right now that I considered and why I'm choosing the one I am.

OMNIPOD

Pros:
-No tubing
-Sophisticated PDM (personal diabetes manager)
-Don't have to see needle
-Cheaper than many other pumps

Cons:
-Wasted insulin if the "pod" fails
-Inability to disconnect
-Stranded if the PDM is lost
-Bulky under tight clothing/ no ability to relocate pump once attached


MEDTRONIC VEO

Pros:
-Integrated CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring)
-Customizable Skins
-Carelink

Cons:
-Not waterproof
-Low Resolution Screen


ANIMAS PING

Pros:
-Waterproof
-Meter-Remote (ability to deliver insulin using glucose meter without needing to remove pump from wherever it is stashed)
-Colour Screen (in Canada there is a high resolution colour screen on both the pump and meter remote)
-Carb database (store foods along with their carb values in the meter. Eliminates guesswork when calculating carbs)
-Customizable alert songs (that's just cool)
-Company will lend you a spare pump if you go on vacation in case something happens to yours

Cons:
-No CGM
-Limited options for skins


So by what I've written you can probably hazard a guess as to which one I've decided on. Animas Ping baby! For a while it was a little bit of a toss up between the Veo and the Ping (Sorry Omnipod, but I knew you weren't going to work for me after about five minutes). I really like the idea of continuous glucose monitoring especially since I will be at university next year. I would love to be able to catch any possible nighttime lows and know my BG and any given time. But in the end, I could just see myself using more of the features on the Ping (e.x I'm a lifeguard/ swimming instructor. The waterproof feature was kind of a no brainer.) I'm still hoping and crossing my fingers too that the stand alone cgm system Dexcom will be made available in Canada soon. Happy pumping everyone!!!

I WANT AN INSULIN PUMP SO BAD!!!

Two days after I was diagnosed, one my support workers at the hospital mentioned the possibility of going on a pump at some point. I was completely opposed. There was "absolutely no way" I told her that I was "ever, ever, EVER!" going to get a pump. I was perfectly fine with my multiple daily injections and I hated the idea of having something attached to me 24/7. Of course at this point, I didn't know the first thing about insulin pumps. After I got home I started doing a ton of research and discovered what all the benefits of pumping were. Furthermore, it baffled me the amount of features that some of these pumps offered.

After some nosy-ing around I've decided that when it does come time to get a pump that I am going to get the Animas OneTouch Ping. I'm choosing this one for a couple important reasons. 

1.) It's 100% waterproof for an extended period of time. I'm a lifeguard, swimming instructor, and I work at a beach. This was an absolute "must".

2.) It connects wirelessly with your meter and allows you to control your settings without having to even touch your pump. This is great because then I don't have to go reaching into my bra or other places when I need to bolus or change something. It will just look like I'm texting or something along those lines.

3.) Built in food database on the meter-remote. I love this feature because it has hundreds of brand foods that you can select and it will count up the carbs for you. It also allows you to add some of your own foods.

4.) Sleek design. Of all the pumps I have seen this one has the most attractive design and interface in my opinion. I love the high contrast color screen and the fact that you can pick from a selection of different colored pumps. (Also if you get yours in Canada like I will be doing, the meter-remote has a color screen also!)

5.) Ability to customize the tune. Okay this one definitely wasn't a deciding factor but I just thought that it was really neat. Makes it feel a little bit more personalized just to you.

Why did I choose this over other pumps?

I did definitely check out other pumps such as the Medtronic Paradigm, Omnipod, and Accu-Chek but I just didn't feel like they completely suited my needs (for example the Medtronic is not waterproof). When it comes to the CGM (Continuous Glucose Monitoring) on the Medtronic, I just feel like it is something that I don't really need right now. I check my blood sugar more than average anyway and 95% of the time they are always in target range (and I'm not going to lie.......I don't find the idea of a second site very appealing) Plus it doesn't come with the advanced meter-remote (which I <3!) As for the tubeless pump (Omnipod), I don't have an issue at all with tubing. Actually, I really like the fact that with traditional pumps you can unclip for a little while. I also wear a lot of tight clothing and I feel like this pump would probably show through. Don't get me wrong, these are still great pumps and would probably be perfect for other people but I think the Animas Ping just really fits what I need.

My concerns?

I think my only concern was that I may not know where to put it. But I feel like it's one of those things that you could put anywhere you store your cell phone. To be honest I will most likely just hide it in my bra (mother nature blessed me enough so I shouldn't have a problem with this haha).