pump meeting
I met with Ms Minimed yesterday and it went very well. She showed me the three pumps they have available and the different features of them. She also showed me the CGMS - OMG that needle!!! (Apparently this needle does not hurt...) We spoke about diabetes control, the pump etc. and I asked her a few questions. We also discussed the pricing and how to go about motivating to the medical scheme. I have my doubts... Not so much about them paying for the pump itself, but the monthly consumables. These are very expensive. I did some calculations on the amount the Scheme is currently spending on me on average on insulin, needles, glucose strips, and then made an estimate on what insulin would costs should I change and added all the others. The amount they would have to pay is considerably larger. I will try contacting them today to see what they would cover. I would not mind a co-payment of say 10 - 20% on the pump consumables per month, but I doubt I would be able to afford paying the full amount every month...
She also gave me contact details of a pumper working close by. So we met for coffee in the afternoon. I have never really contacted somebody I don't know and invited them for coffee, so I was actually a bit nervous about the meeting, but excited too. This was the first time I have actually met another Type 1 face to face (that I know of...). We spoke about the pump, she showed it to me, where it was inserted etc. She had done a site change in the morning, so I could actually see where the previous site was too. We spoke more about diabetes, and also about things other than diabetes. It was great meeting with somebody who is actually wearing it!
My next step is to contact the Scheme to find out there policy on the monthly pump consumables. Hopefully by Monday afternoon I will meet with a rep from Roche to see the Spirit. I want to read up more about the differences between these two. It would really be great to be able to contact somebody who has actually used both..
I must say, I am quite excited about it now! Still a bit apprehensive, but I really think that moving to the pump would be a good thing. In my chat with fellow Type 1 yesterday, we spoke about controlling thing now to the best of your abilities, and not trying to fix the problems and complications later in life that could have been prevented. And I think the pump is probably a very good start!
She also gave me contact details of a pumper working close by. So we met for coffee in the afternoon. I have never really contacted somebody I don't know and invited them for coffee, so I was actually a bit nervous about the meeting, but excited too. This was the first time I have actually met another Type 1 face to face (that I know of...). We spoke about the pump, she showed it to me, where it was inserted etc. She had done a site change in the morning, so I could actually see where the previous site was too. We spoke more about diabetes, and also about things other than diabetes. It was great meeting with somebody who is actually wearing it!
My next step is to contact the Scheme to find out there policy on the monthly pump consumables. Hopefully by Monday afternoon I will meet with a rep from Roche to see the Spirit. I want to read up more about the differences between these two. It would really be great to be able to contact somebody who has actually used both..
I must say, I am quite excited about it now! Still a bit apprehensive, but I really think that moving to the pump would be a good thing. In my chat with fellow Type 1 yesterday, we spoke about controlling thing now to the best of your abilities, and not trying to fix the problems and complications later in life that could have been prevented. And I think the pump is probably a very good start!
hi,
have you looked into the other two companies, deltec and animas??
Posted by
mbb |
22 February 2007 at 06:03
hey,
Tried finding some details on cozmo and animas online, but they don't seem to be available in SA unfortunately.
Posted by
justme |
22 February 2007 at 09:13
Hello Justme,
I was looking for your email add to send this.
You are right the choices you have in SA are Medtronic and Roche’s Spirit. I have however contacted both Cozmo and Animas to see if they have reps or selling agents located in Africa. I will let you know when they get back in touch with me.
Between the two companies I will go with Medtronic, ask what version they currently have available in SA, If they do not have the 522/722 ask, when that will be available and what your upgrade path will be with them. The 522/722 are very good pumps plus this pump has the inbuilt Continues Blood Monitoring.
In my opinion Accu-chek Spirit is not the way to go. I love the Roche Company and most of their products but not this one. Because, most of the advance controls and calculations are not inbuilt, they are done via a Palm PDA or Palm Treo cell phone. My personal experience with the Accu-chek pocket compass software was that the company did not keep up with technology and as soon as my palm OS PDA was upgraded the software was obsolete. Till this day I am still waiting for them to upgrade that software.
You may however have better experience with Roche; they seem to release things in Europe and sometimes SA months even a year before it gets to North America. You may want to still talk to them ask what they are currently working on and if you do go with them what their upgrade path will be as well.
Let me know if you have any question I will be more than happy to help.
Posted by
Pearlsa |
17 April 2007 at 21:05