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27th January 2007
Patrick the Paradigm Pump!
On Wednesday we finally picked up Patrick, the replacement for Philip, Alissa's Minimed 508 pump. (Thanks to Helen and Joan!)
Patrick is a Minimed Paradigm pump capable of many cleverer things than his predecessor. including the wonderful bolus wizard.
Also, the instructions on the pump are written rather than using symbols, so it's much easier to learn to use and understand.
One of the useful aspects of the bolus wizard on the Paradigm insulin pump is that you can set target levels that you'd like to be at various times of the day.
Then input your current level, the amount of carbs you've eaten and it works out what to bolus, checks you're happy with that amount and then proceeds to deliver it.
An example of the use of this would be that at bedtime you might target a slightly higher blood glucose level than during the day, to minimise the risk of hypos.
Also, it seems possible to program for different levels of insulin sensitivity at different times of the day - this is something that I've not really hard discussed and will be reading up about more. At present, Alissa's worked on the same rate across the day - so this may be one of the factors in helping to improve her current control.
Improvements to the Pump
Two great improvements are that the new pump takes ordinary AAA batteries - so that in an emergency you'd be able to purchase them from the nearest store.
Also, instead of having to open the case to insert your insulin, which could so easily lead to damage and also means that dust can get in to this area, this part is now enclosed and you insert the cartridge into it. Far better design!
Alissa tells me that Patrick is also slightly smaller than Phil - another bonus.
Getting on with Patrick
Of course, we'd forgotten that we'd have to order the supplies for the pump - the sets and cartridges are all different.
So, we've ordered some from Minimed who delivered swiftly and will be getting Patrick up and running over the next few days (from Monday onwards).
It's given us an opportunity to re-work Alissa's basal insulin rates which have remained unchanged for several months (apart from a big boost post-Christmas). This will mean recording foods, blood glucose levels and fasting from meals - but should be well worth the information that we obtain to help target insulin rates and sugar levels.
Can't wait! At least this time I won't have to be getting up in the night a couple of times to check Alissa's levels ..... or will I?
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