New pump kind of

[Liam]

So the end of last week I got a call from the pump clinic asking if I could come in on Wednesday for my pump renewal. Not much notice but I could do it so said yes.

As some might remember my pump clinic is a good 2-3hrs on public transport from me and I don't drive. I was lucky and a friend was able to run me. As the appointment was at 13:30 I asked the friend if I could take them out to launch before hand. They agreed and we had a nice time.

So I get to the clinic and my name gets called. It turns out to be the Animas rep for my area that is running it. The first news she has to tell the 3 in my group is that there has been a mix up and they don't have our new pumps. So they are going to send our pumps out to us instead. We'll need to return our current pumps to the clinic.

We spent about 30 mins chatting which was fun but really the meeting was a waste of time. We got talking and all three of us has had at least 1 pump replacement. It seems the battery compartment crack I had is fairly common. The advice is to replace the battery cap often and not to over tighten it.

I really like that the rep was a pump using type I (also a trained nurse) and that she was trialing a CGM and couldn't work out how to turn the alarms down on it. I was nice to talk to some people that knew about pumps and diabetes in real life.

I had been planning to cancel my next appointment at my current clinic as I've had the appointment in to start seeing my old clinic that is much closer as they have started doing pumps. I decided not too and I'll use that appointment to hand in my old (new really) pump and tidy up any transfer issues. 

[Venomous]

Glad it went so well for you, though I would have been kinda peeved at the time wasting it seems you rolled with it

[sedge]

It's nice to see different faces and be able to speak openly with other users - there's another Open Evening at my clinic on 10th Oct, so I think I will try and go to that.   Missed the July one - 2 days before we went on hols and too much to do to be bothered with it LOL

[Pattidevans]

Hi Liam

Glad it wasn't a complete waste of time for you, it's always interesting to chat to other T1s

I am kind of surprised that you are due for a replacement pump as you started on the pump a good while after me and I'm not due for a replacement until November this year.  Do the Animas have shorter replacement times.  The Combo is 4 years.

I know I am going to be offered either an Animas or a Medtronic this time as my clinic no longer do Roche pumps.  I wonder how the Animas can be watertight if the battery compartment can crack?

[Liam]

Well when I called Animas about my pump dying the tech guy checked my warranty and said I had 7 months left. It might be to do with doing it as a batch of people. There was 3 people in my group and the rep had done another group in the morning. Maybe they don't do it that often?

I hadn't really been given much information about what was happening. I had thought maybe the replacement pump I had was only a loan kind of thing and I was getting a new pump because of that. The replacement pump I have has refurbished on the back of it. So I thought maybe it was only a temporary thing.

Well I thought I'd been unlucky with my pump dying and cracking. That was until all 3 in my group had had replacements (one lady was on her 3rd) and when I said mine had cracked at the battery bit she said one of hers had too. The rep then went on to tell us that it was a known issue (she never used those words) and gave advice on how to stop it happening. Replacing the cap often and tightening it so the slot is at 6 o'clock and never more than 5 past 7. She also said it was the main vent to the pump and so a large part of making it water tight.

The rep also talked about the warranty being void if the screen protector wasn't on the pump. Nobody said anything at the time but all of us kind of smiled and looked at each other. 

[Pattidevans]

Thanks for the info Liam, I've filed it away to weigh up against the Medtronic.