Soon to be Pumper

[cmathison]

Well I have been lurking around this site for the past couple of months and have gained quite a bit of helpful information. It was great to read about everyone's experiences with their pumps as it helped me make my decision to finally get on one. I received my Paradigm 722 last week and I am going in this afternoon to do the training and finally get “hooked-up.” I am really looking forward to it.

Anyhow, I am glad to have this site available as a resource as I start my new adventure and I hope to make beneficial contributions to it in the future.

[spike]

Well I have been lurking around this site for the past couple of months and have gained quite a bit of helpful information. It was great to read about everyone's experiences with their pumps as it helped me make my decision to finally get on one. I received my Paradigm 722 last week and I am going in this afternoon to do the training and finally get “hooked-up.” I am really looking forward to it.

Anyhow, I am glad to have this site available as a resource as I start my new adventure and I hope to make beneficial contributions to it in the future.

Welcome aboard! You MUST have some questions...

[cmathison]

I don't really have a lot of questions at the moment, but I do have a couple of things that I have been concerned about. I had figured that most them would iron themselves out after I started, but maybe some of you have had experiences with these and could share your thoughts.

1) I am a very lean individual (6'3” - 145lbs) and so I am worried about having enough places to insert the infusion sets. My stomach and back both have a little bit of fat that I think will work, but I don't think that there is a single spot on my arms or legs that would. I ordered the 6mm cannula's so hopefully that will help out.

2) My wife has a fear of needles, IV's, etc. so I am worried about how she will adapt to me having an infusion set in all the time. She has been extremely supportive of me getting the pump so I hope that it will not be too difficult for her to adjust to it. Have any of you had issues with your spouse or someone else being afraid of the sets, tubing, etc and if so what did you do to help them get used to it?

Those are my greatest concerns at the moment. I think that only time will tell how it all will work out, but if you have personal experiences that you are willing to share, I would love to hear them.

[HollyB]

HI there, hope you love your pump!

My son is skinny like you and so far his belly and that little fatty place above the butt are all he has used. I'm thinking that long term he's going to have to find a little more variety (even on his stomach there are only about 4 spots with a good pinch of fat) but so far this works well -- he does 4 insertions on his stomach, then one on each hip. One thing that might work for you too is that he uses two different infusions sets -- the short angled type for his belly (I don't think Minimed has the short sets yet, but they told me they will soon) -- good because you can place it quite shallow in skinnier spots -- and the short straight-in set on his hips (because it's pretty hard to insert an angled set properly twisted around peering at your own butt!).

For your wife -- she probably won't be able to handle watching you change the sets (though Aaron did a set change at a pool party in front of the whole class once and everyone seemed to cope fine), but once everything is in place it's just a circle of tape, a little button and a tiny tube. I'm sure she'll get used to it quickly.

[spike]

I don't really have a lot of questions at the moment, but I do have a couple of things that I have been concerned about. I had figured that most them would iron themselves out after I started, but maybe some of you have had experiences with these and could share your thoughts.

1) I am a very lean individual (6'3” - 145lbs) and so I am worried about having enough places to insert the infusion sets. My stomach and back both have a little bit of fat that I think will work, but I don't think that there is a single spot on my arms or legs that would. I ordered the 6mm cannula's so hopefully that will help out.

2) My wife has a fear of needles, IV's, etc. so I am worried about how she will adapt to me having an infusion set in all the time. She has been extremely supportive of me getting the pump so I hope that it will not be too difficult for her to adjust to it. Have any of you had issues with your spouse or someone else being afraid of the sets, tubing, etc and if so what did you do to help them get used to it?

Those are my greatest concerns at the moment. I think that only time will tell how it all will work out, but if you have personal experiences that you are willing to share, I would love to hear them.

I'd never consider putting my sets on my arms or legs. For the past ten years I alternatr areas of my stomach--around to the love handles. The only fat I have on me is around the middle and most of that goes away in the summer. I'd hit muscle if I tried to put a set (even a 6 mm) in my legs. I also don't want tubing draped from my arm, etc. For me it's quite convenient and suitable to use only the areas I mentioned. Others use arms, legs, buttocks. that's why the saying "differen't strokes" is used with regards to pumps, sets, and set locations. No one method works for everyone. YMMV.

I'll go out on a limb and predict your wife will get over her fears of your sets.

[psilocybin]

welcome to the pumpers club =]

[am1977]

Welcome! :shakehand

I think you will really like your pump, once you get through the initial learning period. Please feel free to visit and post with questions or whatever that's on your mind!

Best of luck :smile:

[EdnaDeel]

Wonderful news!!!!! I hope all goes well with the training
I go tomorrow and hopefully I will get to be pumping soon

[JediSkipdogg]

Welcome to the club, congrats on pumping, and ask away with questions, we know you have lots.

[chumtochatwith]

You are going to love your new pump! It works great! It is a little overwhelming at first but after about the first month, you will love it and it will become just another part of your ordinary routine. Feel free to ask if you have anymore questions and I hope that everything goes well! Good luck and welcome to the club!
Chumtochatwith

[cmathison]

Well, I thought I would give everyone an update. I went in yesterday afternoon for my training and was excited about finally getting started. I had put in lots of time doing research on the pump so I was pretty sure that I was not going to run into anything new or surprising during the training session. For the most part I was correct.

We got towards the end of the training and so I was beginning to get excited about getting hooked-up. That is when it got to the point where the CDE was like, "Do you have any question? No. Alright, see you next week." Arghhhh!!! Apparently my endo has some sort of policy that you come in one day for the training and then you come in a week later to get setup. I'm not really sure what that is supposed to accomplish, but I do have some speculations.

Oh, well. I am disappointed but I guess waiting for one more week won't kill me.

[HollyB]

Good grief -- that must be frustrating! They had my 13-year-old hooked up and running within about about an hour of our arrival and he never looked back. I mean we'd watched the training video at home and played with the pump a bit but it doesn't take THAT much prep. Haven't they basically just given you a week to forget everything they just told you??

[poodlebone]

1) I am a very lean individual (6'3” - 145lbs) and so I am worried about having enough places to insert the infusion sets. My stomach and back both have a little bit of fat that I think will work, but I don't think that there is a single spot on my arms or legs that would. I ordered the 6mm cannula's so hopefully that will help out.

Have you thought about trying the Silhouettes instead of a set that goes straight in? The Sils are best for very lean people, since they insert at an angle which you can vary. They might look scary at first but they're really not bad/


2) My wife has a fear of needles, IV's, etc. so I am worried about how she will adapt to me having an infusion set in all the time. She has been extremely supportive of me getting the pump so I hope that it will not be too difficult for her to adjust to it. Have any of you had issues with your spouse or someone else being afraid of the sets, tubing, etc and if so what did you do to help them get used to it?

Only a soft plastic cannula stays under your skin, and you can't even really see it. Basically you just see a little lump of plastic stuck to you with an adhesive patch. With the Silhouettes you can see the point where the cannula enters the skin, but nothing is visible on the other types of sets. Did she ever have a problem with your syringes/pen needles? If those don't bother her, the infusion sets shouldn't either.

[cmathison]

I had looked at the Sils, but I was hesitant to try them because the cannulas are nearly three times as long as the quicksets. I might see if my endo has some that I can try. If not, maybe Medtronic would ship out a couple for testing.

As for my wife, at first she could not stand to see my needles and she definitely could not touch them. She still is hesitant to touch one of them, but she doesn't mind watching me inject anymore.