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Getting pump & work.

S

Sabantha

Well-Known Member
Messages
95
Hey I've posted before but still feeling very nervous about this so please help! Any advice will help!

I'm getting pump on 25th with saline until 4th.

4-9th in on a weeks course for pump.
Unsure when il go 'live' with insulin? I have the week off my work to attend the course, (I work part time) unfortunately to get time off means I need to work the Saturday (8-6) and am then on rota for 4 days in a row as over (sun-wed). So my concern is what if I don't got 'live' until the Friday and have lots of hourly test to do for basal rates ect. Do you think it's going to be too much getting to grips with pump and working more than normal (some of which is lone working) I have young family too so it's not like I can sit back and relax when home. I want to give this my ALL and really focus on this as for me it's hoping to be life changing. I've waited since April to get my pump.

How did starting out go for every1 else? How much work was testing/tweeting things take?

Sorry for asking same question again I just want to give my work plenty of notice if can no longer work the extra shifts that week.



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Hi Sabantha,

I got my pump on the 22nd of April this year, I didn't have saline for a start and had only handled one for about 5 minutes before I was given my own! Personally I found the transition quite easy. Cannular in and off I went! I had a couple of days learning about it the month before and a full day on the day I started.

My DSN and the rep from Roche (I've got the accu chek Aviva) helped us all work out our basal rates from our mdi doses and programmed our pumps and it was just a case of getting used to it for the first few days. Everything was the same as normal apart from the delivery of the insulin. Thankfully I didn't have any problems over the first couple of dys, one of the guys who started at the same time had an occlusion the first night and had to call the helpline and get sorted but he was fine after that. We all went back a few days later and started to tweak things like ratios. But I'm still doing that now. I'm sure you'll be fine I was scared for a start but you've already had way more practise that I did! Good luck! X


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Re: Getting pump & work.

Hi Sabantha,

I started on a pump 2 weeks ago and am already really pleased with how well things are going and how much more control and repeatability I get. That said, the first 5 days were a bit of a rollercoaster as I had repeated hypos at all different times of the day and had to do more testing than advised to get things under control. I started with a group of 3 other people and we were a 50/50 split with 2 of us having issues with hypos and 2 people having no issues.
Chances are you won't have a problem, but you might want to have a back up plan in place in case you do have unexpected hypos at awkward times.
 
Re: Getting pump & work.

i started on a pump last Tuesday. I went in at 4pm. I had a quick overview of the settings. The pump was programmed, filled and I was on my way by 5:30pm.
Ive not been back to the hospital. My DSN and I communicate by email every few days. I have changed my settings a few times, upped my basal, lowerd ny CHO ratio. Just lots of testing which is easy and quick.

You really dont have much to worry about. Its also not wise to change settings all the time. Perhaps every few days. You just have to test every couple of hours and record the numbers.
I am fasting after breakfast each day to fine tune my basal during the day. Once I get that right, I will start te night time testing. Just do it in stages.
 
I'm having to do a 1week course?! I get in on 25th with saline and then go for a weeks course a week later. Seems strange sum are taught in few hours and I need to do a week. Oh well I should be thoroughly educated on it by end haha


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It just shows how all hospitals are different, the week off work is a bit of a ****** but if I'm getting given this expensive piece of equipment I want to know and understand it fully so il go with it! Just hope it's not a wasted week! I'll let you all know what I'm actually taught in this week!


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Re: Getting pump & work.

perhaps they going to teach you how to carbohydrate count - Have you done DAFNE? DAFNE takes a week.. The pump only takes a couple of hours.
 
I've already done a course like that few years ago we did 1 afternoon a week for 6 weeks. So think at my hospital it's just pump stuff we have to learn. Still waiting to get to 6 people before I can get mine


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Re: Getting pump & work.

6 people? thats v strange. It takes a normal person an hour to learn the pump and its settings. I just got my pump by post. Had a week to play around with it then went in. They reset the pump. We went through the menu's. Programmed it together. I then filled a pod, stuck it on, pressed a button and that was it. I went home. Test every 2 hours. Fast every 2nd day or so by skipping a meal and then Im fine tuning my basal via email with my DNS.
its been 2 weeks now and Im staying around to 4-9 mark so really happy with that.
I think the most important bit on starting on the pump is to wake up at 2am and at 4am and getting those settings correct. Goodluck on your start.
 
They do it in groups of 6 at my hospital was me & 1 other person who was at pre assessment so only 4 more to get.

They would never just post a pump out to you at my hospital, as for email they've not heard of that I normally send a carrier pigeon to them lol


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I've waited since April for the additional people to he found and it's been out back 3 time as they couldn't find a conference room to hold the course!! I'm in Dumfries Scotland. I wouldn't hold your breath!


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Re: Getting pump & work.

Sabantha said:
Sorry Brett you've lost me

You can edit your original post, rather than having to guess what word to change lol.
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