Pumping!

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Sugarbum

Sugarbum

Well-Known Member
Relationship to Diabetes
Type 1
Hi all!

Yes, today finally came, can you believe it! please anyone who is waiting for a pump dont make my very first pumping mistake- acting like a four year old at Christmas, getting way too hectic and not sleeping the night before and then not being able to concentrate and being over tired in a very intensive session! GRRRRR!!!!

So let me introduce you to my new friend, Medtronic Veo (a.k.a. "Rumpy-Pumpy"!). http://s589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/superlouie62/Rumpy-pumpy/?albumview=slideshow way too may pictures I know! I can only apologise for the offensive belly coming right at you there!

It all went very smooth, a pump "clinic" as it were. Four of us (a blue pumper, another moonshine silver like me and a fella with a very trendy sleek looking black Veo). Went very well, 4 hours, I have an amazing DSN. We got a prog for the next month or so, things we need to do and I painfully sat through the introduction when all I wanted to do was pull the wrappers off and get down to business! Way too much excitement on my part and of course, unnecessarilly exacerbated by a free pen- it nearly toppled me over the edge!

So, the logistics....obviously you get the pump, a fantastic ring binder of instructions, a wallet emergency card, a flying card/airport information when travelling abroad, giving sets (6mm and 9mm in 2 different lengths), the saline and reservoir, the medtronic pump clip, some sort of supplies bag, a remote control (!), batteries, a leather case/holder that fits on to your belt.

I chose the moonshine silver, formally known as "clear". All I can say is the colours are much more vibrant and nicer looking than in the brochure, I had a small pump envy moment when I saw the blue (which didnt interest me in the slightest before) and worried I had made a horrific mistake....but soon fell in love with mine, and of course there are skins.

My DSN inserted a giving set into herself and attached herself to her (work) pump and we copied following her instructions. I felt (in a nice way) I was copying mum and then we were all going away to fly! All very interesting. Quite intensive, even with months to years of thinking about it I can only say it was strange and slightly weird to finally be all hooked up.....then I got up and went to the loo and thing went crashing on the floor! Yes, I must remember to bring the thing with me and not leave it behind on the desk....:confused:

Getting the cannula in was a little aprehensive- there is a device you put it in that shoots it into you. I normally use a 5mm needle on novopens and I was given a 9mm to inject! Normally my technique is slow as I am wimpy, so not greatly impressed by this weapon of mass destruction, but it was suprisingly pain-free. I could feel this 'thing' for a bit after and it was strange but now I am home it is fine. Clip included in the starter pack and I wore it clipped between my boobs on my bra and it didnt slip or feel funny at all. Actually in the bra cup made the boobage look WRONG on more than one level. Its fine for your Oyster card and ?20 on a night out, but not an insulin pump. Enough said. Certainly the man next to me wondered what on earth I was trialing, but to be honest I think he was wishing he had a bra too (but thats a whole new thread).

Inital disapointments: the canula is bigger bump wise than I had realised once inserted. I went in a vest top, and yes it can clearly be seen there was something underneath. Hmph.

The alarms are not near loud enough to wake me from sleep- small beeps in fact. Unless there is volume control I am yet to discover. I had pre-read from medtronic they were whatever decibels and would wake the dead (probably not their exact words). But does this defeat the object of the alarm function? I think so. It does vibrate, but again not as good as a phone.

Inital fab points: I think I fought the system, with a DSN who is worth more than they pay her I am sure, and I got MY pump. Im sure that makes bumps and beeps pretty minascule....

Well this has gone on long enough.....homework is reading, button pushing and I hope I can sleep with this thing tonight. Set change and saline reservior change in a day or 2. Half sundays lantus and Monday start insulin. Wooop! Wooop! xXx
 
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Wow 🙂 Thanks for the update!! Glad it all went well, and soon the bumps under vest tops will soon seem insignificant! Keep keeping us all posted 🙂
 
hey thanks for keeping us informed i hope you and the pump have a great relationship so to speak 🙂 x keeps us all updated
 
Sugarbum said:
Hi all!

Yes, today finally came, can you believe it! please anyone who is waiting for a pump dont make my very first pumping mistake- acting like a four year old at Christmas, getting way too hectic and not sleeping the night before and then not being able to concentrate and being over tired in a very intensive session! GRRRRR!!!!

So let me introduce you to my new friend, Medtronic Veo (a.k.a. "Rumpy-Pumpy"!). http://s589.photobucket.com/albums/ss340/superlouie62/Rumpy-pumpy/?albumview=slideshow way too may pictures I know! I can only apologise for the offensive belly coming right at you there!

It all went very smooth, a pump "clinic" as it were. Four of us (a blue pumper, another moonshine silver like me and a fella with a very trendy sleek looking black Veo). Went very well, 4 hours, I have an amazing DSN. We got a prog for the next month or so, things we need to do and I painfully sat through the introduction when all I wanted to do was pull the wrappers off and get down to business! Way too much excitement on my part and of course, unnecessarilly exacerbated by a free pen- it nearly toppled me over the edge!

So, the logistics....obviously you get the pump, a fantastic ring binder of instructions, a wallet emergency card, a flying card/airport information when travelling abroad, giving sets (6mm and 9mm in 2 different lengths), the saline and reservoir, the medtronic pump clip, some sort of supplies bag, a remote control (!), batteries, a leather case/holder that fits on to your belt.

I chose the moonshine silver, formally known as "clear". All I can say is the colours are much more vibrant and nicer looking than in the brochure, I had a small pump envy moment when I saw the blue (which didnt interest me in the slightest before) and worried I had made a horrific mistake....but soon fell in love with mine, and of course there are skins.

My DSN inserted a giving set into herself and attached herself to her (work) pump and we copied following her instructions. I felt (in a nice way) I was copying mum and then we were all going away to fly! All very interesting. Quite intensive, even with months to years of thinking about it I can only say it was strange and slightly weird to finally be all hooked up.....then I got up and went to the loo and thing went crashing on the floor! Yes, I must remember to bring the thing with me and not leave it behind on the desk....:confused:

Getting the cannula in was a little aprehensive- there is a device you put it in that shoots it into you. I normally use a 5mm needle on novopens and I was given a 9mm to inject! Normally my technique is slow as I am wimpy, so not greatly impressed by this weapon of mass destruction, but it was suprisingly pain-free. I could feel this 'thing' for a bit after and it was strange but now I am home it is fine. Clip included in the starter pack and I wore it clipped between my boobs on my bra and it didnt slip or feel funny at all. Actually in the bra cup made the boobage look WRONG on more than one level. Its fine for your Oyster card and ?20 on a night out, but not an insulin pump. Enough said. Certainly the man next to me wondered what on earth I was trialing, but to be honest I think he was wishing he had a bra too (but thats a whole new thread).

Inital disapointments: the canula is bigger bump wise than I had realised once inserted. I went in a vest top, and yes it can clearly be seen there was something underneath. Hmph.

The alarms are not near loud enough to wake me from sleep- small beeps in fact. Unless there is volume control I am yet to discover. I had pre-read from medtronic they were whatever decibels and would wake the dead (probably not their exact words). But does this defeat the object of the alarm function? I think so. It does vibrate, but again not as good as a phone.

Inital fab points: I think I fought the system, with a DSN who is worth more than they pay her I am sure, and I got MY pump. Im sure that makes bumps and beeps pretty minascule....

Well this has gone on long enough.....homework is reading, button pushing and I hope I can sleep with this thing tonight. Set change and saline reservior change in a day or 2. Half sundays lantus and Monday start insulin. Wooop! Wooop! xXx
Click to expand...


Hi Sugarbum,

Welcome to the club. Hope you continue to enjoy the pump x
 
Hi Sugarbum/rumpy pumpy!

Wow! It sounds like christmas in your house! Love the photos, i have seen the canulas in and i must admit i never thought about them obtruding - but i suppose its different being a girl! I doubt Alex will be bothered. I like the colour you have got as it will blend in nicely with anything! Good idea to give the pump a name - i might mention it to Alex - although at this very moment in time i could cheerfully strangle him! He decided it was a good idea to squirt insulin at his sister! He has had the lecture and has gone to bed in tears....Anyway, didnt mean to hijack your thread, are we having this as a sticky? It would be great to compare yours and Patricia's experiences!:DBev
 
What a superb description, thank you Sugarbum! I hope ll goes well, especially overnight ( remember to take it with you!:D)
 
bev said:
He decided it was a good idea to squirt insulin at his sister! He has had the lecture and has gone to bed in tears....
Click to expand...

Sorry Bev, I know it's not funny but that did make me laugh, Alex is obviously getting quite confortable with his diabetes to do that, I'll have to remember next time someone irritates me!

Congrats on the pump sugarbum, reading with a lot of envy, I'm next back at the hospital in September and planning to start nagging them for a pump! Keep us updated in how you get on.
 
Hi Sugarbum

Sounds great, what a whirlwind of a day for you. Welcome to the world of pumping. If I can be of any assistance just shout. If you want ideas and suggestions on how to deal with foods just shout. Couple of things :

"Inital disapointments: the canula is bigger bump wise than I had realised once inserted. I went in a vest top, and yes it can clearly be seen there was something underneath. Hmph. "

What set are you using? Silhouettes or Easy or Quick. They are all different. The Quick sets stick out more than the silhouettes. I have seen very skinny girls with silhouettes and they wear them just under their waist bands or even one had it above waist band and you couldn't see it through the tight little t-shirt ! My daughter has the silhouettes. They come with a 'hippo' sil serter to insert them will. THe Quick sets have a sort of clunk click thing which is easy to use, as is the hippo once you get the hang of it.

Do you have sensors? I am taking it that you do if you have the alarms set. The alarms are not high and they have not been increased with the Veo which is so stupid. That is one of the biggest complaints. It does get louder, have you heard the siren yet? It is literally a siren and I have a baby monitor beside me at night for my daughter and the siren wakes me up but not the alarms before it. It doesn't however wake my daughter up.

Sleeping with it is fine. My daughter has it loose in bed with her and is the most fidgety person I have ever met. Some people keep them in a pump pack or sew a velcro patch onto a pocket in PJ's.

Good luck and keep us posted and remember I'm here if you need some help. Roll on Monday eh! :D
 
Yay Sugarbum! How fab! I'm so excited for you, and your account made me laugh out loud. Adrienne, never thought about different kinds of obtrusion levels, but good to know and investigate.

It's so good to have another account, esp from the point of view of a girl/woman -- important I think cos I suspect much is different...

Loved the 'boobage'. Quite. If only this were an issue with me...

Last night we awoke to great racket: pump having got stuck down side of bed, then caught behind radiator. E trying to recover it half asleep: bash, bash. He's off to France today and of course I spent much of morning thinking omg he's dislodged it etc and will go sky high...But these things are robust: he didn't and he isn't.

More on other thread.

Anyway. Just great news. Keep it coming. I want to know how it is for you!
 
Oh Patricia! Adriene! Bev! You all make me chuckle! 🙂 Thanks for your continued support and spurring on! Aymes, my fingers are crossed for you!

I am sure with this line length I could perfect lassoo, but perhaps Ive learned enough new skills for today. I have also found on about section ten million of page one squillion of the medtronic book volume control! Phew!

It is the quick set I have today. We all got the same, changes will be on monday when we put our orders in with medtronic. I hear from DSN, silohette is for the more slender (bless her!), perhaps not me. This one is abit bumpy but I am aware it seems such becuase Im obviously not used to anything there at all. I anticipate tomorrow at work will give me better practical insight. Its all new, in my head its the size of a melon...😉

Bev, obviously Patricia will be best placed to say something along these lines from her experience, but I can totally see how kids/teens will absolutely love these. I think I am abit blown away at the moment, my thoughts are everywhere. But I think what I am trying to say is the future feels bright!

Right off to bed. Must go to work tomorrow and bore the C*** out of anyone willing to listen to me about it!

Take care, and thanks again for your support! xX
 
Sounds brilliant, I like the pictures, As Bev said it will go with any outfit. Not too sure what my other half will say when she see's in the history that I've been looking at a photo album called 'rumpy-pumpy'! :D

Please keep us up to date with how things progress, hope you managed to sleep with it last night and today goes well at work.

And don't forget to change your signiture!
 
Thanks Nikki!

I had the most dreadful nights sleep, any tips gasman or adrienne? It was rotten. I woke with it wrapped round my neck at one point and couldnt take anymore after that and got a right stroppy strop-strop on marched into the kitchen at 5:00am and got the manual and changed the reservoir and put a short set on, much better but it was too late to fall asleep before work, and consequently Ive had a bit of a naff day. Exhasted now. Only tomorrow to go and then next week off for the insulin so its not all bad....

There was a funny moment of miscommunication between the ambulance crews, whereby apparently I was rather excited about my new "bicycle pump"!
 
If it's any help Sugarbum, I think the nighttime thing is probably the worst... When we've had to test at night, sometimes E is like mumble mumble, can't get comfortable, mumble mumble, pump, mumble. I don't think it's so fun. He's tried attaching it to his pjs, but when he turns over to one side or another, it sticks into him etc. I've read about putting it under your pillow, but he says that doesn't work.

I've occasionally gone in and been unable, in the dark, to tell the difference between the pump tube and his ipod headphones, all tied up together...I don't know, somehow he makes it through. But then again, he's a teenage boy for whom sleep is pretty much top of the list, so I guess it figures that we've heard hardly a peep in the daytime about it.

Hope you have a better night tonight.
 
Hiya

Whoops what a horrid night. My daughter has the shorter tubes as do all the children I knew. There is no reason you can't have them. She just leaves the pump loose in bed and has no problems. Some of the children have their pump packs on and keep the pump in there but that is hard for parents to get to the pump then, you won't have this problem though 🙂
 
hi there,

I had the medtronic quick set paradigm 43 inches in from the clinic yesterday. I am probably about 5'8" and with this set on you drop your pump and it hits the floor, not best. The alternative in the pack is 23 inches which I put on early this morning, much better, I am guessing thats what you have Patricia? I could probably learn a thing or two from E, on the bus to work this morning I was listening to my ipod and trying to do my pump settings, I do believe they it "multi-tasking"...and then when I got to work I have a small bleep, same size as the pump....it was a little much!

Right off to bed now, thanks for your support. Its a bit of a harsh description but there is a little shock factor in this still, or is it just a little weird?! Hope you all sleep well too.

Love Louisa x
 
Oo crikey Louisa, yeah you want the short one. I'm sure that's the one we have. I can't imagine such a long one (oh dear all freudian here). It's going to be like sleeping with a horrible ribbon or something. Ergh. The short one will be better? Hope so. Let us know.
 
Hope you have a better nights sleep, I have never heard of anyone stopping using the pump because they couldn't sleep with it. I think for most people they get used to it and it causes no problems, and for the others it's a minor inconvienince.

Just a quick question, is the tubing and resevior connected? so you couldn't only change one part?
 
Hi

Yes they are connected, the tubing is attached to the top of the reservoir. What they suggest is that if you fill the reservoir up then when you need to change the canula you could keep the same reservoir and tubing and just change the canula. What I do, and lots of others, is to only fill the reservoir with enough insulin for 3 or 4 days, then you change the whole lot.
 
Thanks for your tips all much appreciated!

Well its saturday and, HUZZAH!!!! I have the day off!

Looking back on the week, repsectively I wish I had not gone to work on thursday morning (I pick and choose my own rota) but you live and learn. I wished I was a little more like my neice and nephew who have these "tamagotchies" (I am so out of touch with the youth!) and I think feeding and watering these little machine things they take everywhere with them on keyrings would have been like a good 'boot camp' pre pump for me. Certainly my 9 year old nephew would have mastered the art of the pump in the first three hours, and make it look easy work the little tyke.

I am quite tired today post events of yesterday, again I worked all day from 7.30am but right through till late evening 11pm as we had a major incident at work. It is headlining on the BBC news this morning so I am quite thoughtful watching it back this morning. Now I am watching Sky and it is on the Breaking News with updates and interviews, very sad stuff. I was literally about to stuff a sandwich down my gob (an eat and walk job as I was yesterdays boss) and then it all started. Food and water passed me by completely until midnight by the time I was home and I only had a salad for lunch, my BM was 20mmols! Crazy numbers. I had set my pump to alarm at 21:45 to take my lantus (I am still on the inital saline) and like a good girl I went off and took it (normally I would be at home to take my lantus). The same rules stick, I cant look after anyone unless I look after myself and it has always had to have been that way. It annoyed me slightly that I had to go and do that but also enlightened me- from next week I will never have to do that again- just push my buttons! This is a great change in life and freedom and I think this is what I ultimately crave with the pump (but I think you will no mention what-so-ever of anything resembling that in the NICE guidelines).

So today, my time is my own and I intend to swat-up. The contour bluetooth BM machine is coming out the packet, as is the remote control, and I intend to sit down on my balcony and absorb the doorstop that is the Medtronic Veo user guide like a sponge.

Oh I forgot to say as well, that I slept better last night, shear exhastion until 3am, then a hypo woke me up where I over compensated trying to correct that dreadful high earlier. I clipped the pump to my undies and it didnt annoy me too much. What with the heat and the events of the evening making me restless, all in all Im pleased with the hours I got. That short line is definately the one I will order from here on in.

I need a new signature, clearly. Any ideas?!
 
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