First Week With New Pump

Eight days ago I made the switch from using a Deltec Cozmo insulin pump to the Animas OneTouch Ping. Overall I’d have to say that I like the Animas. Those of you who are deciding on what type of pump to use or contemplating making a switch to a different pump from the Cozmo (since Smiths Medical has ceased manufacture of the Deltec Cozmo), you may ask: Do I like it more than the Cozmo? That’s a tough question, and one I’m going to explore in blog entries over the next few weeks as I spend more time with the Animas.

In short, though, for this week’s entry: No, at first I wasn’t taken by the Animas OneTouch Ping. Aesthetically, yes. I mean, I find the design of the Animas so much more appealing than the Cozmo; in fact, I grew to hate the look of the Cozmo. I’m not sure why, exactly, but it struck me as quite bulky; when it was coupled with its blood glucose monitor, which piggybacked the pump, I would think, “This thing looks dumpy.”

Yes, I’m somewhat shallow. So what?

I also despised the vibrate notification system on the Cozmo. No, not the fact that it notified me; that I liked. I grew weary of the way it vibrated. (Does anyone actually use the audible notification function instead of the vibration? I mean, it might be nicer, but if you spend any time around other people, it has to be completely obnoxious!) My old pump vibrate-notified too quickly, and for too long. When it reminded me to check my blood glucose two hours after a meal, eight short vibrating shocks pulsed out against my side or against my thigh depending upon whether it was attached to my belt or in my pocket. Then inside of a minute, eight more bursts, and so on until I interacted with it.

I began to anticipate these notifications, and not really in a healthy, responsible way that a person with diabetes should think about checking blood glucose. For instance, if I was dozing on a Sunday afternoon, or if I’d gone to bed and forgotten to check my blood glucose, I lay there with dread and tried to figure out which was worse: expending the energy to either reach in my pocket and turn off the upcoming notification; expending the energy to actually get up and go check my blood glucose; or continuing to lay there and wait until the pump woke and told me it was time, at which point my pulse kicked up a few beats when I felt the vibrating barrage begin.

Seriously. My blood pressure goes up a bit remembering that aspect of the Cozmo.

So, on the vibration front, I’m happy with the Ping. I know that’s one small part of it, but you’ll have to give me a few more entries (and some more time with the new pump) to better evaluate what I like and don’t like. I will leave you with one gripe about the Animas pump that I just discovered: I bolused for my breakfast, and to do this I used the meter-remote. Then I got up and went to do something in the other room. On my hip I felt the (more inviting, if that makes sense) vibration from the pump. Why? I wondered. Then I read the display: I’d walked out of range of the meter-remote. Well, I don’t like that. I don’t like that at all. It isn’t a huge burden, but I’ll have to remember to keep that meter with me for a few minutes after I bolus from now on, because the bolus was cancelled, and I had to load in another bolus to complete the darn thing.