A few weeks with Omnipod

I have been on an insulin pump for a few weeks.

The CDE that I met with at my two-week-later appointment said that I have it together and am intelligent about my insulin pump and diabetes management in general (yay!). Then she asked me how things were going with the pump in everyday life. I mentioned that I tend to forget it’s there until I bump my pod and that I have to remember to be careful with the seat heaters when my pod is placed on my back.

She looked a little confused then said, “I’ve never thought of that before. We’ll need to remember to mention that to our Omnipod patients.”

Since Omnipods have the reservoir inside of them, directly at the infusion site instead of attached by a tube, they are susceptible to heating from my cozy seat heaters. Since high heat can cause insulin to break down, seat heaters can speed up insulin break down, especially since it already sits on the surface of my approximately 98.6 degree body for three days at a time.

“How do you like your pump?” is a very common question that I’ve gotten over the holidays. I typically answer that I like it and that the time between putting food on my plate and being able to actually eat it is much shorter now. But in all reality, do I really like my pump? Do I like having an insulin pump? Do I like using my pump? Or do I just prefer my pump to injections?

Given the choice between insulin injections and my Omnipod, I’d choose the pod every day of the week. I don’t love my pump because it’s a cool piece of technology, the way that you might love an iPod or a Kindle. I like having my Omnipod because it makes my life easier, but my life would be much easier if I just didn’t have diabetes and my pancreas were resurrected.

I was participating in the 2011 year-end DSMA Twitter chat (Questions and transcript here) and one of the questions was, “What is the one thing you are looking forward to in 2012? -diabetes related” Being diagnosed this year with diabetes was a real low point, and I answered the question honestly, “I’m still adjusting to having diabetes, to be honest I’m not looking forward to having it in 2012.”

Having the pump makes my life a little easier and I like it for that.