Conquering life living with Type 1 Diabetes

Friday, August 9, 2013

I got to see the AWESOME new T Slim insulin pump from Tandem Diabetes, here is what I think...

So yesterday I met with the Tandem Diabetes territory manager Nathan Reese and got to see the T Slim pump.  One word describes this pump, AWESOME! I have been a Minimed pumper for four years and dont really have all that many complaints about it or their customer service.  I am just ready to give my business to a pump company that is on the leading edge of Diabetes technology.  I currently wear a Dexcom CGM and cant say enough praises about it so I wanted a pump company that was working with Dexcom for a combined pump.  It's in FDA and they hope for it to come out in a year.  Im not holding my breath but it is an awesome thing to look forward to.  New and exciting treatments and devices are really all that we have to look forward to as a Type 1 Diabetic with a pancreas that decided to take a permanent vacation!

So here is what I think is awesome about their pump, keeping in mind I only got to play with it for about 2 hours and dont OWN one myself.  Yet (I just sent the fax to work on getting it).
  • The menus are awesome, very easy to navigate and easy to change settings.  To change your bolus/basal/carb ratio/BG targets/sensitivity/EVERYTHING for one time period is on in one area, no going back and forth a million times to different menus.  You can also set up various profiles, for say the weekends, or to correlate with your mentrual cycle (if your a woman you get this hellatious craziness) or if you workout on certain days, its just awesome.
  • The fact that they are working with Dexcom for a pump that gets the readings vs carrying the separate device is in itself, AWESOME!
  • You can upload several different brands of meters onto their program and your doctor can log in and see your uploads from your meter and your pump.
  • The reservoir is a LOT different and will take some adjusting but it is a bit better because if there happens to be a pump failure, it wont accidentally dump all of its insulin in your body, which would 100% gaurantee a trip to the ER.  For myself personally, if I loaded that sucker up with 300 units it would last me about 10 days if I let it and so yeah 300 unit would kill me in a flash! SCARY! I have had one of my 6-10 Minimed pumps (yeah I had it replaced that many times and I never dropped it as they accused me of) I was priming the tubing and stopped holding the act button to stop the priming and yeah it didnt stop priming.  That was scary! They actually flew a pump to me that night, that was pretty awesome though! Gotta give MM props for that!
  • The bolus speed is the same at the MM pump, for me this is great because boluses sometimes burn as it is, I could NOT  handle a faster bolus speed.
  • Correction doses are given before your meal bolus, say your high and it wants to give you 10 units for your meal and 3 for the high, it will give the 3 first say if you set an extended bolus. (I think I have that right)
  • So far that is all I can think of but after I get it, I will let you know how I feel using it!

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