Insulin Pump Transition Musing

The four-year warranty on my Deltec Cozmo insulin pump is up this July, which means that in a couple of months my insurance will pay for a replacement pump. Those of you who use the Deltec Cozmo, or those of you who follow anything to do with insulin pump news, know that Smiths Medical stopped producing this particular brand of pump two years ago. Actually, the company is slowly transitioning out of the diabetes business — if it hasn’t already. While I imagine diabetes supplies production is a lucrative field, I also know Type 1s aren’t as numerous as Type 2s, and because Type 2s don’t often use insulin pumps, maybe there wasn’t enough market share for Smiths to remain in the black with pump production.

It’s dispiriting to be moving away from the Deltec pump. I’ve heard from several fellow pumpers that the features on the Cozmo are incredibly intuitive and comprehensive compared to other pumps on the market. Some of you have used the Cozmo and used other brands, and you talk about how you’d always go back to the Cozmo. While I’ve always wondered what it’d be like to step out on my Cozmo (it isn’t really as sexy as some of the others), I’ve grown accustomed to the familiarity and reliability of my insulin pump.

Yet the era of Eric’s green Cozmo, of its familiar buzzes and beeps, and of drawers and closet shelves full of Cozmo supplies, quickly draws to a close.

I have options, and I’ve explored most of them.

There’s the option of going back to injections. I mean, that’s always a possibility. Yet I’ve grown accustomed to the insulin pump as part of my life with diabetes. I no longer find it a burden to live with an insulin pump in tow. At least, I’ve become conditioned to no longer think of it as a burden. Most of the time. The same way that the diabetes itself — most of the time — isn’t a burden (it’s all in the way I try to approach my perception of living with the illness; I admit there are times when such thinking fails).

An insulin pump allows me to maintain tight control over my blood glucose levels and lets me eat when I want without worrying about going high or low due to the actions of long-acting insulin such as Lantus. It’s as close, I think, as I can get back to the semblance of a nondiabetic’s lifestyle, and for that I’m grateful.

Then there’s the status quo option, in which I could continue to use my Deltec Cozmo pump past the warranty date. I quickly decided against this, though, so I’ve not done much research about keeping the Cozmo. Quite simply: regardless of whether or not people do do this (yes, I wrote “do do”), I’m more comfortable with getting a new insulin pump, something that’s not four or five years old and hasn’t been dropped, jiggled, bumped, stressed, subjected to moisture and temperature fluctuations, and which hasn’t been in constant use for four years.

I’m more at ease with newer technology regulating my basals and boluses, more at ease with a product that is under warranty. Plus, my insurance is going to cover the cost of the new insulin pump, so why wouldn’t I get a new one?

I’ve chosen to get a new pump, and in the coming weeks as events unfold with doctors and insurance companies and medical equipment suppliers en route to my new pump, I’ll keep you posted on how it goes. I admit that I’m slightly apprehensive about the transition, and I’ll try to write about some of that, as well.

I’m not a person who’s resistant to change, but I am a person who’s been through diabetes routine changes before, and such changes, I know from experience, don’t always go smoothly. I’m hoping my fears are unwarranted.