Last night was the night. I was able to FaceTime my local trainer and be trained to use my brand-new t:slim insulin pump! I had everything together and ready to make the training as fast as possible because I also had choir practice to attend right after. I had my syringe pre-filled, new site inserted, and everything laid out where it needed to be. I thought I’d be smart and program my basal rates in too, but she had me delete everything and reprogram it just so she could see that I knew how to do it… which is totally okay with me.

Training was so simple! I was even able to hold my fussy 16-month old during the whole process (except for filling the cartridge…don’t worry, I put him down for that).

One thing that I noticed, though, is when we got to the “Fill Tubing” stage, it took a large amount of insulin compared to my Animas prime records. Usually, it only takes about 11-13 units to completely prime the tubing. Last night, it took 22.. a whole 10 units more. I was curious about this, but my trainer must have read my mind because she told me it’s due to the connection… and that makes sense. See, in other pumps that use a luer lock connection, there’s a small tip on the cartridge that goes inside of the connector of the tubing, so there’s really not much wasted space, if any. With the way the t:slim works, there is a “pocket” created because there’s a slightly bigger connection area. Not that big of a deal, but that’s what I was told was the reason for the “extra” units. Plus, I had to prime a couple of units after that to get excess bubbles out of the tubing. No big deal.

My biggest and ONLY gripe right now is that as of last night, I have no way to upload my pump… so I’m going it manually. Some have suggested a Kevin chart? I haven’t the slightest idea what that is, but I’ll be Googling it later.

Also, I hate strongly dislike the case/slider. It’s like an OtterBox for the t:slim. I mean.. I may be wrong… but the whole thing about this pump is that it’s sleek and small and stuff…. well, if you use the clip, it’s not at all sleek and small. It’s quite bulky, actually. I cannot WAIT for the t:clip to be available. I am SO going to get a PINK one and a PURPLE one!

My biggest LOVE of this pump so far? I bolus in like, a 4th of the time verses my Animas Ping. Woot! LOVE LOVE LOVE! And remember when I posted about it before that I thought the delivery time would be an issue? It’s not.  I rarely bolus over 5-6u per meal, and that’s delivered in just a couple of minutes. And truth be told, I can’t even hear it delivering.

My second biggest LOVE is the IOB showing on the FRONT screen! EEK! I thought I would miss not being able to see what basal rate I was getting on the front screen like it shows on the Ping, but honestly? I don’t. IOB is much more important and not having to scroll to status screens to see it is AWESOME. Why? Okay, so here’s a scenario: You check your BG after your meal and you see that you’re 218. Wow… that’s higher than normal for you. How long has it been since you bolused? Should you bolus again? Just tap the wake-up button and you can see that you have insulin still working and how much. If you feel that it’s not enough and you need more, all you have to do is unlock it and calculate a bolus. IF you need more, it will suggest it. If not, it will tell you that you still have X.XXu still working and if you bolus more, you could go low later. YAY! Love love love love love love love that. The ability to know right away about IOB helps me to be more aware of it and possibly not rage bolus as much.

I’m a total tech-geek. I love new technology. Granted, I am admittedly VERY excited about this pump. These are just my first impressions of it right now, so I’m sure I’ll have more to say in a week or so. I’ll keep you guys updated as I go, especially after a few cartridge changes. I’ll keep ya posted.