Ok so now onto the talk about pumps. He said of course we can get her on a pump if you want let me go bring you some samples. So he brings 4 different colors of the Minimed Paradigm Revel Pump. Of course that was the pump I knew the least about. The majority of the people I've heard from on the DOC have Animas Ping or Omnipod. So I tell him we got a demo pod from Omnipod and we really like the no tubing aspect. He discouraged against it because he said there is a high failure rate compared to other pumps, that its big and Elyssa could hit it off her arm, that it's harder to take off etc, etc. He said I should start off with the Minimed since it has the CGM integrated into the pump so it will be less remotes to carry around. Ok thats a valid point but all weekend I have looked all over the web and see pros and cons for each pump but I still prefer the no tubing. I thought well I can't knock it til I try it so I thought I'd go with the Minimed. That way if something went wrong with the Omnipod I wouldn't hear I told you so from the Dr. Then on some peoples blogs I saw that you have to enter into contracts. So would that mean I couldn't change the pump til the contract ends? If I'm going to be stuck with a pump I rather it be the one I want. Another problem is how do I get insurance to pay for it or how do I try to pay for it myself. So that might be another big factor go with the pump my insurance will pay for or struggle even more for the one I want.
I made a funny this week. Elyssa was playing with her lancing device and I said "Be careful you're gonna poke your finger". hahaha Uh Duh. She looks at me and said "you poke a me too much mommy, when the moon comes out you checka my finger, when im sleeping, when the sun comes out u checka my finger. It's crazy before you'd be scared of every poke, bruise, scrapes or cut your child could get. Now she always has pokes and sometimes bruises. Good thing is this week her vocab has really came back she's back to saying her silly sentences and we went through the ABCs, Shapes and Colors with no problems. So that was a sigh of relief. I was really scared that the DKA had messed with her brain a little. Now it's onto trying the potty training again. It seems like every time we got her potty trained she ended up in the hospital for Asthma and she had to wear diapers because she was all wired up. So now I'm really scared that she has Asthma & Diabetes and Flu season is coming.
We use the medtronic and are very happy with it. The tubing has not been an issue for us. We don't have the CGM part hooked up yet.
ReplyDeleteAll the pumps are great. It just depends on which one fits you guys best. The company will send reps to your house if you want to play with something other than the minimed.
ReplyDeleteThe ping and minimed has smaller basal rates than the
The omnipod and ping have remotes... Total bonus!
If you loose/forget the ping remote(like I did tonight when we went to dinner) you can bolus from the pump itself. If you forget the one for the omnipod....you have to go get it or you can't bolus.
The minimed is the only pump right now with an integrated cgm.
The omnipod is less expensive up front, but the ongoing supplies cost more if your ins. Does not cover 100%
Most ins. companies Will only pay for a pump every 5 years.
You cand find out what % your ins. Pays for durable medical equipment to get an idea of cost, but when the time comes... The pump company does all the insurance approval work for you.
I hope this helped... You can google "parade of pumps". There was a post written about each one....great info.
Good luck :)
Get the pump you want. When Ellie was diagnosed I asked the Endo for an Omnipod. He flat said no. He had almost no experience with Omnipod and felt it was a dangerous option...I told him we needed to meet and discuss that answer because I had just sat through an Omnipod meeting the week before with 10 little children wearing them...and they were all alive! The pump companies will get your approval from your insurance; they get the information from your endo and find out your co-pays and limitations. Our Omnipod rep went to my Endo's office and trained him and his staff on the Omnipod and they now include it as an option for all their patients! A pod will not fall off or give you any more trouble than a site and tube. What ever pump you choose, she will learn to live around it. Ellie immediately worked around the location of the pod and rarely ripped them off. You will find that Type 1 information and Endo's are all sooo different. Especially when it comes to children. Take your time and purchase the book Pumping Insulin by John Walsh it's the pumpers bible. Think like a Pancreas by Gary Sheiner. The commitment to a pump isn't a contract per say, it's a warranty. Once you purchase a pump the insurance company will not cover or pay for another pump before the warranty on the pump you select is up. Usually 4 years. No matter which pump you select you will do well. Keep your chin up, you are doing great! It takes a lot of time to "settle" in.
ReplyDeletewe have Animas Ping and Minimed Revel; pumping six years. Minimed has a feature which could be useful for such a young child. You can change the insulin to carb ratio up by small increments. So, 8.1, 8.2, 8.8, etc, whereas on Animas you have the choice of going from 7 to 8 only. It does help. Our ICRs are so low because we have a teen. I would choose either Animas or Minimed because Omnipod does have a lot of failures. But if your heart is set on the Omni it is an inexpensive pump to purchase, it is the supplies that are expensive. You could theoretically buy Omni out of pocket. Your insurance will cover Pod supplies if you switch. Minimed and Animas are 7 or 8 thousand, so it would be better to have the insurance cover that pump. Also the Minimed and Animas do have tubing but a much smaller footprint on the body; comfortable to wear. The tubing is not really an issue. You can wrap that tubing around and stick it in a pump pack and no one will even notice the pump under her clothing.
ReplyDeleteP.S. Forgot to mention Animas is so waterproof you can leave it on while swimming (we never do because of hypos); and Animas has the remote. The pump could stay completely hidden while you bolus with the remote. You can even bolus a few feet away.
ReplyDeleteThe endo. Dr. showed us a remote with the Minimed but didn't go into too much details. Has anyone used the remote? It looks like a black car remote. I didn't even see that remote on the Mimimed website. hmmmm
ReplyDeleteWe have our three year old on the OmniPod. We love it. It has come off on occasion, but it's so easy to put a new one on, so quick and doesn't hurt more than a finger poke. We also have a separate DexCom CGM, but since Roxy doesn't wear the device that goes with the Pod (we carry that separate), she only wears a pouch for the CGM. Our insurance didn't cover the Pod so we switched insurance at Open Enrollment and HAP covers everything 100%. Best decision we ever made.
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