Introducing Phil - the Insulin Pump !

When Alissa first got her pump, we felt it was important to give him a name.

Every other family member has a nickname and Phil was going to be with us for a long time - Alissa chose the name Phil.

Phil joined us in 1989 and is finally being retired in 2007 for a newer, hotter (and more purple!) model.

By the way, he doesn't usually look like this, he has a black neoprene cover which has lasted all this time!

Phil is a hard-working chap, he's only had one holiday when he went away to relax and have a week or two off - get his internal workings checked and seen to.

We're all very fond of Philip and we shall be sad to see him go - but he's given top service over the years.

Phil is a Minimed 508 insulin pump, now replaced by newer younger models capable of greater agility and far more functions.

Despite his compact size, Phil has a value in excess of £2000 and is precision engineered to deliver tiny, precise amounts of insulin just when they're required. 

This is one piece of equipment where there's no room for error, which is why there's a built in self-test facility for those who start to wonder if their pump is working OK.

Imagine the consequences if too much or too little insulin was delivered, hence the requirement for this kind of sophisticated technology.

January 2007

With great excitement Patrick, the purple paradigm, has finally arrived.  Phil will be eased gently into retirement over the next couple of weeks and returned to Minimed where he will, no doubt, be put out to pasture somewhere to serve out the rest of his days in peace.

You can read more about how we get on with Patrick in Jen's blog for January '07.

Further Info

FAQ - frequently asked questions of what, why, when, where and how about diabetes.

Insulin Pumps vs Injections - why we felt the pump was right for Alissa