this is the way I make decisions, this is a little peak inside my head...ENJOY!!
We are right smack dab in the middle of making a decision on what pump to go with. I thought that it might help if I "talked" this through with all of you.
First a little background:
We live in Ontario and our government covers the cost of insulin pumps (wonderful and thankfully) but only pumps not CGM's. Next we do not have any extra coverage, we are both self employed and EVERYTHING is out of pocket. Therefore payment of the CGM are really out of our budget and not something that we can do every day for as long as Cara will be pumping as of right now. A year of CGM's would cost us anywhere from $1300 if we were able to stretch every CGM to the max to $2600 or more if used as recommended without taxes. This plus all our other type 1 cost and it just blows our budget. Next the Omnipod is soon to arrive here in Canada however there is no assigned dates to it's arrival. So we are still debating if this is something worth waiting for. If we decided to go with Animas I think that we would take the time to see Omnipod, just to cover all our bases. However if we go with the Medtronic Veo it will be because it has something that neither the Animas or Omnipod has to offer an integrated CGM.
So that means we are looking at the Medtronic Veo or the Animas Ping.
The Veo is an insulin pump and continuous glucose monitoring system all in one with an automatic low glucose suspend. Which means the pump stop the flow of insulin if it senses or calculates a low coming which is absolutely wonderful... plus, plus, plus!! However, remember I mentioned that we do not have coverage therefore the CGM would be off the table for us because it is just too expensive for every day use. However if we went with the Veo we would have the option to use the CGM whenever the chance arose or if our work or money situation changed. So that is a plus for the Veo, having that low glucose suspend is always a plus.
The Ping does not have an integrated CGM however they are said to be in talks and soon to be coming out with an integrated dexcom in the next Ping. However again if we went with Ping right now and wanted to upgrade to the new integrated one with the CGM it would cost us an upgrade fee, plus the money for the GGM sensors. So a negative for the Ping.
Now the Ping has a great coloured screen, cute! But the real plus with the Ping is the remote meter that can work the pump. A plus during nights when I just don't want to dig out the pump to bolus or even to bolus at meal times, I can really see us using it. I like that idea! I also like the proven waterproof...would Cara swim or play in the water with the pump on?? I'm not sure, maybe that is something that I would ask the Ping users our there!!
Do you Ping users wear your pumps in the water when swimming or rough housing in the water? Remember Cara is 5 and she is not going to be lying still on a floating chair catching some rays, she will be playing and jumping all over the place!!
Anyways, so water proof maybe a plus, colour screen, cute but really nothing to base an important decision on and a remote, defiantly a big plus for the Ping.
The Veo we have used before for a few weeks when Cara was hooked up to the CGM. We liked the menu, it was easy to understand and it also lit up at night, so a plus. That was nice! The one thing that I loved about the Veo was Care link. Care link allows patients to quickly and easily upload data from their Veo to a secure online database. It's super easy and allows the Endo docs and nurses to see what is going on without stepping foot into the office. That was great!! However if your not using the CGM this wonderful piece of technology and a huge plus for the Medtronic Veo is irrelevant.
The Medtronic Veo comes with 3 meters that "talks" to the pump free of charge. So we could have a meter at home, at school and in our to-go bag and not have to worry about missing information it would all be stored on the pump. The Ping comes with only the one meter that also "talks" to the pump but you are also able to work the pump with the meter. However you lose that and your paying for another one. However we have NEVER lost a meter before!!
Both meters for the Veo and the Ping I really don't like the looks of...they are ugly!! so no marks for design of the meters but I think I like the look of the Medtronic Veo over the Animas Ping. I like were the buttons are located on the Veo a little bit more. The up and down arrow by themselves and the act button off to the side. On the Animas the up and down arrow are aliened with the OK button and I just don't like that.
So anyone counting??
I'm just stuck! Some options are much more important to me then others and if we were going with the CGM hands down we would be using the Medtronic Veo. I would sign us up right now but I'm not sure how many times we could afford to use the CGM.
I do like one over the other and I really do think that I'm very close to my final decision. Cara is really NO HELP, she likes the pink one...well they both come in pink!
So go ahead DOC please post your comments about your pump and what you love it. I know you all love your pumps BUT please no bashing of other pumps and other's decisions. I know this is very personal to all of us!
13 comments:
Your decision is a lot tougher than ours! As much as I LOVE LOVE LOVE our ping (remote) I'd trade it for the intergraded CGM if there was no other possible way to get our hands on a free one! I'm sure you can find a few d-mommas to toss you a few sensors if you run into a problem and need to use the CGM :)
Thanks Chasiti :) Thanks to this post I have actually received some information on programs that can help in covering the CGM. Defiantly going to look into that and I know we can always count on our d-rents out there!! That is one of the reasons I love the DOC :)
Hi,
I have a Medtronic Pump (not the VEO) and just regarding the companies, I have almost always had good customer service from Medtronic. I had a pump failure about two years ago and they had a pump delivered to us by an independent carrier in just a few hours. It was amazing.
Regarding animas, I have heard good and bad things about their customer service. Our Diabetes specialized RN recommended medtronic (keep in mind that this would have been 6 or 7 years ago) because it seemed to be more popular in Canada and therefore have more local customer support.
As for the CGM, we generally wear ours for diagnostic testing only, which is why we like the option of pump only or pump and CGM all in the same machine. It is excellent for adjusting ratios but we don't like the feel of it and find our version rather cumbersome.
I hope this helps!
The waterproof feature of the PING is great. Bryce is always in and out of the water in the summer and I never have to worry about his pump. For swim lessons, I disconnect him but for water play, he usually always wears it...in the pool and the bath.
Also LOVE LOVE LOVE the remote!! I have had to go a couple days without it and it was torture to have to stop my active kiddo, pull out the pump, not yank tubing, just to bolus him...though so thankful I can do that!! Have always had great customer service with Animas. They overnighted a new meter to me even though *I* was the one who dropped and broke it, no probs. Got a new meter and pump when they stopped communicating. Our rep brings us infusion sets and other accessories when we want to try something new. Anyhow, super happy with our PING. Let me know if you have any questions about it.
***No matter which you choose, you are going to LOVE it!
We have a VEO. Been pumping 15 months now and my son is also 5.Have never had an issue yet.
It is tricky deciding but you'll make the right decision.
Cant wait to hear what you choose xx
Joe does not wear his ping in the water. I believe Ronda's daughter does (Ronda from Autoimmune Island). I have tried the Medtronic CGM and HATED it for a few reasons. If you want to know them...let me know and I'll tell you. If Joe was on the MM pump, I would use a Dexcom CGM anyway due to it's superiority to the MM CGM.
Good luck with your decision. I am a Ping girl through and through.
We don't let our 5 yr old swim or bathe with his Ping, but kids get wet unexpectedly. ("I don't know how I fell into the lake!") So I don't worry about those normal kid events with the waterproof Ping. (The main reaons for not letting him swim with it is that he would go low if we left him hooked up and bath nights are usually site change nights.)
The meter remote is a hard to live without tool. It was left at school 2 days ago and I just found it to be a big pain to have to dig his pump out for every bolus - and it was only 1 night! Also, if he asks for extra servings at dinner, I just bolus for them as I dish them out. This would suck with no remote.
That said, I don't think there are any BAD choices, just decide what is most important to you. The 2 reasons above were my top 2.
Isaac uses MM and the CGM (sometimes). The only reason we don't use the CGM all the time is that our folks are paying for it out of pocket because our current insurance doesn't cover them so we're spreading out the sensors we've got AND Isaac's skin is very sensitive so all the tape necessary to keep the sites and sensors on so he needs more healing time than a lot of other pwd.
We've had amazing help with MM and we've gotten a lot of great information on how to utilize the pump for a variety of activities and meals. Also, the carelink has been priceless in that we download and if there's an issue his endo can just look up his info without us coming in (and paying for another visit if we're just talking #'s).
So, we're happy. However, hubby is going with Omnipod and he's stoked about that for meeting all his needs :)
We have Animas as the back-up pump (was our first pump); now using the Revel. Regarding waterproof issue... we never used to wear Animas in the water because of steep blood sugar drops from swimming; now that she is older, we could use it at about 25 percent basal and have. VEO turns off if blood sugar gets to 50 for a few hours so that is a safety feature I would want. MM already has the Enlite sensor out in Europe and it is more comfortable than the previous cgms. MM holds 300 units of insulin so if she will be going through puberty within the next four years, that may be a factor. MM has fewer screens to go through to accomplish priming, bolusing, anything. But don't feel this is a huge issue. Animas Ping... remote is nice, but the Animas that integrates with Dexcom will not have the Ping remote. Animas USED to have superb customer service; I would have to disagree with this statement due to reading another blogger's recent post. Minimed has excellent customer service. For us, Dexcom works so much better than MM cgms, comfort-wise and every other way. MM has been a far superior pump than our first Animas, but we have had no trouble with the Animas backup we have now. They both have their pros and cons..... I would investigate the customer service for both pumps with other pumpers in your area and make the final decision then.
Love your blog on this because we are in the process of making a pump decision as well. We are leaning toward the Omnipod because it's tubeless but would love it if it had a CGM (which I heard may happen in the future).
Good luck and can't wait to read more!
RE: Waterproof -- Sugar doesn't wear her pump when she's swimming, but that's primarily because we're trying to prevent low blood sugars. She also takes her pump off for showers.
She DOES wear her pump if she's running in the sprinklers for hours on a hot day, splashing in the rain, or at a backyard waterslide party (which are popular here in AZ).
We have been caught in a rainstorm unexpectedly and her pump got drenched....the waterproof feature was especially nice during that debacle.
RE: Customer service -- We've never had an issue. Animas has been very responsive and helpful for anything we've ever needed. They've never given us a reason to doubt their commitment to our pumping experience. Basically, I've never encountered a problem.
RE: The Remote -- LOVE IT. Sugar pumped without a remote with Cozmo for a few years previous to this and, I have to say, I LOVE IT. I would never go back to not having a remote...and I say that knowing that the VIBE (combo) is launching in Europe within the next few weeks and probably later this year here in the US. The Vibe won't have a remote...at this point, I don't see myself considering it until it does. I love the remote THAT much.
RE: CGM -- I don't have experience with MM at all. We've been very happy with Dexcom, but use it intermittently. When the Vibe launches, it will be using the newest Dexcom sensors (GEN4), and they're expected to be pretty amazing.
(And FYI -- Omnipod has a contract with Dexcom, but is designed using the Dex7 sensors that exist now. As of the end of 2010, Omnipod did not have an expanded contract to include access to the Gen4 Dex sensors, leaving it's combo pump in limbo.)
RE: Other Stuff -- We've never lost a meter, but we have left it behind...SO NICE to be able to administer insulin from the pump itself instead of only from the remote. The buttons don't bother me on the Ping. Love the Ping screen.
I think that's all :)
Whatever decision you make will be the right one...because this is YOUR FAMILY and YOU ROCK!
IM 13 AND I HAVE A MEDTRONIC VEO AND I LOVE IT... THE MEDTRONIC VEO DOES HAVE A HANDY REMOTE AS WELL SO THAT MY DAD CAN DO MY BOLUS WITHOUT WAKING ME OR STOPPING ME FROM DOING MY OWN THING AND ITS A BRILLIANT SIZE AS WELL MY DAD WEARS IT ON HIS KEYS AS A KEY RING. AS YOU MENTIONED THE PLACE THAT THE BUTTONS ARE ARE VERY CONVENIENT AND EASY TO USE. ALTHOUGH THE PING LOOKS MORE ATTRACTIVE FOR ME PERSONALLY LOOKS DO NOT MATTER OVER MEDICAL CONVENIENCE(BUT YOU CAN BUY VERY NICE SKINS AND POUCHES TO PUT ON THE PUMP AND PERSONALIZE THEM WITH YOUR NAME ECT FROM THE MEDTRONIC WEBSITE) MEDTRONIC OUTER CASING/ SHELL IS ALSO WATERPROOF I REPEAT WATERPROOF LIKE THE PING, THE ONLY REASON THEY SAY ITS NOT IS BECAUSE IF YOU CRACK IT OR THERE IS A HAIRLINE CRACK THEN WATER MAY GET IN AND RUIN IT. ALSO YOU CAN GET A CHOICE OF COLOURS NOT ONLY FOR THE PUMP BUT ALSO THE CANULAR. THE PLUNGER IS BRILLIANT AND I CANT FEEL IT GO IN :D ... IM MEDTRONIC ALL THE WAY ... ALSO THE CUSTOMER SERVICE IS BRILLIANT XX
CANT WAIT TO HEAR HOW YOU GET ON XX
PHOEBE XX
I'm 23 and 3 months on the pump now. I spent over 20 hours researching, and highly suggest Medtronic. There are many reasons. The Veo is waterproof, they just don't cover it if there are cracks. So get a Diving case for it and you will be fine. Medtronic has over 20 years pumping experience, they are used worldwide, and there is a reason they have 90% of the worldwide market. They are amazing. Animas does not do much outside of the pumps (7 years now). I'm so happy with Medtronic. Also the new Mio infusion sets are amazing.
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