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Pump clinic appointment

kimrooney89

kimrooney89

Well-Known Member
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201
Location
Glasgow
Type of diabetes
Type 1
Treatment type
Insulin
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Evening all :)

I have received a date for my first pump clinic since my referal was done by the consultant.

My appointment is in 4 weeks time. I was just wondering what kind of thing I should expect/prepare for at the appointment?

(P.s I'm in Scotland and attend the David Matthews Diabetic Clinic at Monklands hospital if anyone has first hand experience with them)
 
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hi there @kimrooney89
that is great news for you !!

My experience was a rather long one at 13 months in total from first appointment to pump start day.
on the first appointment I just met with the Pump DSN who went through some of the details of being on a pump and to confirm I was committed to wanting a pump.

Following this appointment I had -----


to get "pre approved" by the consultant , attend appointments with a dietician , and then join an appointment queue for the actual pump start date ( they only put 1 new person on a pump per month at my clinic )

I will tag a few other pumpers to come along with their experience @noblehead , @Snapsy , @Juicyj
 
Thanks so much for taking the time to reply & share your experience with me @himtoo :)

I guess I'll need to wait and see what happens on the day, I'm just really curious about the unknown
 
kimrooney89 said:
My appointment is in 4 weeks time. I was just wondering what kind of thing I should expect/prepare for at the appointment?
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I'd expect they'll discuss pump options with you (if you haven't already chosen one already) and will go through the pump features and where to site the cannula.

They may also discuss with you a possible start-date and explain what will happen on the day, I don't think you need to prepare for your first appointment apart from taking in a record of your bolus/basal doses. Good luck anyway @kimrooney89
 
I would consider buying the book "Pumping Insulin". Its a great reference after you start, but the first 6 or 7 chapters are worth reading before hand as it gives plenty of things to think about when choosing. I also took about 4 weeks worth of CGM data (or BG readings if you don't have CGM) along with comprehensive insulin doses, times etc and a complete food diary, to ease the calculations for I:C ratios and Corr. factors.
 
noblehead said:
I'd expect they'll discuss pump options with you (if you haven't already chosen one already) and will go through the pump features and where to site the cannula.

They may also discuss with you a possible start-date and explain what will happen on the day, I don't think you need to prepare for your first appointment apart from taking in a record of your bolus/basal doses. Good luck anyway @kimrooney89
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That all really makes sense. Thanks so much for your reply @noblehead

I havent chosen a pump yet but my DSN did twll me which pumps they offer at my last appointment. They offer animas and medtronic pumps at my Clinic so I have been asking for opinions on here and doing some online research in to both types of pump :)
 
paulliljeros said:
I would consider buying the book "Pumping Insulin". Its a great reference after you start, but the first 6 or 7 chapters are worth reading before hand as it gives plenty of things to think about when choosing. I also took about 4 weeks worth of CGM data (or BG readings if you don't have CGM) along with comprehensive insulin doses, times etc and a complete food diary, to ease the calculations for I:C ratios and Corr. factors.
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Thank you for your reply @paulliljeros :) I'll have a look online for pumping insulin, seems like it'd be helpful in helping me choose which pump is best for me.
I always take my meter to the appointments with me, that way my Clinic can upload all of my readings

Is it pumping insulin by Ruth Roberts or John Walsh? Those two seem to be the most popular ones that come up when I search the title
 
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Hi @kimrooney89 this all sounds great!

In the run-up to getting my pump I read everything I could here on the forum, plus 'Pumping Insulin', plus 'Think Like a Pancreas'.

Although my clinic did have a variety of pumps to offer, the one I ended up with was the one they seemed to want me to have, and happily I'm delighted with it.

They agreed in the July to put my case for funding to the CCG, and then they wrote to me with a 'yes' in the August. In the September I heard when my training day was, with the pump start 2 weeks after that (October).

There were four soon-to-be-pumpers at my the training day (well it was a morning actually) and we all went through our total daily doses and the basal rates we would start off with in the pump, and we worked out correction ratios and bolus ratios. My brain was fizzing......!

We were given our starter packs to take away with us to get to know - so, the pump, the handset, a variety of cannulas and hosepipes, LOADS of instructions...... and by the pump start date two weeks later I had devoured every single scrap of information and was terrified and thrilled and excited in equal measure.

I HAVE NEVER LOOKED BACK!

Love from a happy pumper!

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