Our kid’s pump had a piece break off, so the doc told us to get a replacement from Medtronic.
This is how we set up the new pump at home instead of going into the clinic.
If you have to replace your pump, or use a backup on holiday, the setup isn’t rocket science. But if you’re like us, you probably don’t remember how your doctor set it up at diagnosis. And the process isn’t totally straightforward either.
The pump is good, but the interface could be more 21st century. It looks like a pager from the 1980s. And reviewing whether you entered all your basal rates correctly is a chore.
But this isn’t a complaint piece. The staff at Medtronic were super pro, helpful and fast. When it broke, a new pump arrived at our door within four hours of the call. Nice one Medtronic.
Here’s how we did it. The support team made sure we recorded the following before switching over:
- wizard bolus setup,
- basal rates setup
- cannula amount setup
It’s worth keeping these listed somewhere safe in case you have to replace your pump in an emergency.
Once the new pump was set up, we tested his blood every hour for the next few hours just to make sure everything was working properly. We tested again through the night just to be sure as well. Might be a bit of overkill checking every hour, but it gave us confidence that things were going as expected.
Photo Credit: NASA’s Marshall Space Flight Center
