I don’t really know how to explain this simply, so I’ll just say it, we’re changing insulin pumps. By we, I mean my 2 little girls with Type 1 (suckyness filled) Diabetes. A lot of factors went into our thinking. It seems strange that such a big family decision goes into 2 things the size of a pager, but that’s our crazy life, dealing with Type 1 Diabetes, 24/7.

We liked the Pods, the girls have been on them for a while, but some things have changed. The main thing, their numbers have gone up, and on the 3rd day we battle highs. Maybe it’s the combination of insulin and the Pod (insurance limits us to only Humalog); maybe it’s just our girls physiology. But the bad looking sites and the skin irritation were making us re-think pump options.

There’s a lot of things we could try to overcome these problems, and we’ve tried a few. If we couldn’t change and had no options, we could grind it out and make it work, it’d take a lot of effort, but it could be done. However, we did the cut the cord program and paid out of pocket for the PDM’s from Omni Pod. That’s a great program too. So it was easy to get it through insurance since the Pod never shows up as a new pumps prescription. Maybe the biggest factor was Aud telling us she wanted her old pump back (her Ping). That sparked a discussion with my wife about a change.

We’re familiar with the Animas Ping and the Medtronic, but we wanted to take a look at the Tslim. To be frank, in the past I wasn’t impressed with Tslim, but we looked it over again and were impressed with what we saw. All our concerns and questions were answered. So we made the choice; we’re going over to Tslim. The girls really like them, maybe it’s the touch screen they like, but they liked what they saw too.

They arrived last week , new and shiny.

Perhaps the biggest factor, and the one thing I try to keep in mind, it’s their disease, not mine. They will have to live with this disease for a while, barring a cure. I try to keep in mind that what I say can have a big impact on them positive, or negative. I try to make sure what I say and do will make a positive impact on them, because it will stick with them for a long time. They will deal with enough negative with Type 1; they don’t need me adding more. This is hard to remember in times of stress and busyness, but we as d-parents have to try to keep this in mind.

I think we made a great decision and I think we have great partners in the Tandem Diabetes team; we’re excited to get started. Being a d-parent is a crazy life, switching pumps can be hard, but we’re glad the girls are excited and it all came together. We’ll started them up on Friday so we have Christmas break to get used to them. So glad everything worked out and we’re able to have the time to adjust. By the way, it’s great to be back blogging again, missed you all, happy Holidays.

Godspeed

Tim