Transitioning to the pump

I started on the pump in September 2008.

Back during my first appointment with my CDE, she had recommended that I go onto the pump. She had been using one herself for 5 years and absolutely loved it. The pump scared me. No rational reason why but the thought of being attached to something for the rest of my life freaked me the heck out. So I politely told her no thank-you and was very happy with my insulin pens for the next 4 years.

My husband and I got married in December 2006 and had always planned on starting to try for a baby as soon as he finished school in 2009. Unfortunately my A1C was at a whopping 8% in 2008. My edno (different from my original one as I had moved across the county by this time) of course told me that we shouldn’t start trying until it had gone down to at least 7%. He also mention that Levimir, my long acting insulin hadn’t been tested on pregnant women and that he would be ok supporting me through it if I wanted to maintain. This was so not an option for me as I just couldn’t justify forcing my baby to be involved in a research study. He/she would have enough problems being cooked in a womb with my blood sugars I just didn’t feel comfortable adding one more thing for them to deal with. It was one thing for me but something I wasn’t prepared to risk someone else on. My only other choices were going back to NPH, which didn’t do great things for my blood sugar, or going onto the pump.

So the pump research began. I met with quite a few pump reps from Animas, Medtronic, Deltec and Disetronic. I did up a spreadsheet comparing all of the various benefits and downfalls to each one, talked to my endo and CDE to get their thoughts and finally decided on the Medtronic Paradigm722 insulin pump. Mainly due to the fact that the reservoir could hold 3ml’s of insulin and if I wanted to in the future, it had the capability for a continuous glucose monitor already built in. Unfortunately my insurance doesn’t cover a CGM yet.

Absolutely love it and am happy to report that my A1C just reached 7% in June 2010.