Tag Archives: omnipod

Tattoo-ing my Omnipod

24 Friday Feb 2012

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I recently interviewed Jessica Floeh, designer and founder of Hanky Pancreas about her cute and fashionable “wearable diabetes technologies.” Interested in the social and psychological issues of living with chronic illness, she describes her product line as:

“a series of fashionable products for wearable diabetes technologies. Current products consist of scarves, neck pieces, and decorative elements that envelop these devices. The goal is to ignite positive conversations and holistically improve health for those living with diabetes.”

Jessica and I had a great conversation about what it means for women to wear a piece of ‘durable medical equipment’ on our bodies every single day. She and I both wear the omnipod and she is working to create a design that will be omnipod appropriate. (Can’t wait!) Her current designs work on wired insulin pumps such as Medtronic. Jessica said she often feels conflicted when clients tell her they love her products because they are “a great way to hide the pump.” That’s not what she’s after. Jessica says she wants to address the current shame that comes with wearing a pump, and the desire to hide, rather than display, this life saving device.

This got me to thinking about my own love/hate with the omnipod. I love what it does for me, but I hate that I have to wear it.

It’s ugly. It’s plastic. It hurts sometimes. It sticks out under my clothes. It’s always there.

So I do my best to hide it. (Sorry Jessica!) and sometimes, I go without the omnipod in the summer when I’m wearing sleeveless dresses, tank tops and bathingsuits. I’m vain, pure and simple. But maybe not….maybe, instead of hiding and feeling embarrassed of my omnipod, I could make it look cool. I could make it pretty?

So I asked my son to tattoo my pod and here’s the result. I have to say I think it looks pretty cool. I even felt like showing it off this morning on my run, while I wore a sleeveless shirt because of this freaky warm weather, and it made me feel cool. Thanks Jessica for the idea, and thanks Will for the great art!

My Ever-Expanding Omnipod Bill

27 Friday Jan 2012

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Just got my latest bill from Omnipod and it’s up to $1500. Yikes. They have me set up on a payment plan of $50 a month so if I don’t order any more pods, it’ll take me more than 2 years to pay it off. Of course I will be ordering more pods, in fact I’ve only got one box of pods left so that means in about a month I’ll need to order more.

I shouldn’t be writing about money right before I go to bed.

How is this fair? I’ve written about the cost of living with diabetes plenty of times before, but the bills never fail to surprise and overwhelm me. Nothing changes. Sometimes I’ll get some extra money, after taxes or on my birthday, and I can pay $100 instead of my measly $50, and I’ll feel like I’m making a stab at the mountain of medical supply debt, but then it’s time to order supplies again and I’m right back where I started. 

My endocrinologist used to call MDI (multiple daily injections) the “poor man’s pump,” and I would laugh because I was using MDI and doing just fine. But I’ve been using a pump for 3 years now and I don’t want to go back. The pump makes my life easier and helps me manage my blood sugars. So why does it have to cost so much?

I’m not alone…read a few comments from others who are struggling like me: (Diabetes Health article)

“My son needs a pump but my insurance company will not cover it. Where can I find help to get a pump? I can’t spend 5 to 6 thousand dollars out of pocket for a pump.”

“My husband is a pump candidate and wanted to use the Omnipod, but Medicare said it would not cover it. When I read the Medicare regulation there was nothing said about a specific brand only that it would cover pumps. I’ve been on hold to Medicare several times but haven’t gotten through to get an answer. Any help here?”

“Who can use an insulin pump, which is unaffordable though it is a boon to diabetes? We should think of something which dosen’t eat our pockets. Please bring something in the market which is affordable. I am a diabetic, take injections, and I want to get rid of these tensions.”

How can any of us put a price tag on the quality of our life? We shouldn’t have to.

Running with the Omnipod

25 Wednesday Jan 2012

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Most of the time when I am running, I feel strong, healthy and powerful. I am fast as I run through the slowly waking neighborhoods surrounding our house. The streets are dark and sometimes, the newspaper delivery guy in his small red car speeds past, tossing papers in their blue plastic onto the wet from dew driveways. I am strong and gaining speed, I don’t feel like someone with a chronic illness. Most of the time anyway.

Some mornings if I am slow, I worry about my blood sugar…am I high? am I low? I carry my glucose tabs in my hand, switching from left to right as I go. I wear my pod on my lower back or my arm and in the winter it doesn’t matter because no one can see the pod beneath my running clothes. A recent question posted on tudiabetes about running with an omnipod peaked my curiosity. A member wrote:

Hey everyone! I have my appt. next week with my Pump Educator to get me going on the OmniPod! I was wondering about you people that are runners, can you share any tips? In my mind I am thinking I will like having the pod in my triceps area, but maybe you can share with me what sites you have found that work well while out running.

I immediately wrote about about how I wear my pod on my arm or my lower back and how it’s never a problem and I think I jinxed myself.

Last night I changed my pod and placed it on the back of my right arm. This morning I went out for my run and halfway through I felt a stabbing pain. I ignored it for a few minutes and eventually had to stop. I was wearing a long sleeve shirt and had to pull the neck down so I could look at my arm and I have to say, I expected the worst. I thought for sure I’d see blood. But there was nothing. So I kept running and tried to ignore the pain but I cursed the pod all the way home.

The pain went away when I stooped running, but I know it’ll pinch again tomorrow morning. It hurts a little when I move my arm around so i’m guessing that I just got unlucky…I hit a bad spot when I attached the Omnipod. What I don’t want to do is remove it and waste a $30 pod. (Plus the 50+ units of remaining insulin).

What bothers me the most is not the money, but a run that hurts. A run that is hindered because of my insulin pump. A run where I don’t get to feel strong, healthy and powerful.

Omnipod Delivery Rocks

15 Thursday Dec 2011

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I used my last pod last night. I was at a Christmas party when the tell tale beeping began and I hurried over to my handbag, dug out the PDM and read the words: your pod will expire……I had no more pods at home which meant that I had to dig out my box of syringes and stick myself in the behind before I went to bed. It had been awhile since I gave myself an injection, since August I think, and I hesitated for a moment, holding the syringe above my skin. I couldn’t quite remember how much lantus I should give to get me through the next 24 hours and so I guessed. Big mistake. I woke up this am at 288. ugh. There is nothing I hate more then waking up high. Waking up high means my am run is going to suck and it also means its going to take a big dose of humulog to get  myself back down and it also means I have to wait to eat my breakfast. And I wake up hungry.

It was all my fault of course, isn’t every diabetes mistake? Most of the time there is no one else to blame unless I can blame my body for attacking my cells oh so long ago. We know that doesn’t do any good. But running out of pods really was my fault. CALL OMNIPOD was on my to-do list for 3 days before I actually got around to picking up the phone. It’s the holidays and I’ve got 3 kids and a job and I’m busy! I also took myself off Omnipod’s automatic re-fill system because I was trying to save money and only order exactly what I needed. Anyway, I made the call knowing that the clock was ticking and that I would have to go back to shots for a few days until the shipment arrived. I am used to reordering my test strips through Caremark which is always a disaster of an experience and takes forever for the shipment to arrive. (3 days in “processing”!?!) I was prepared to give myself MDI at least until Friday.

And then low and behold, as I sat here moments ago typing away, the FedEx truck stopped in front of my house and the driver handed me my box of pods! Wow, that is impressive. I didn’t even request a special delivery (so actually, I should check to see if I was charged for a next day air because I didn’t ask for one), and here they are. Hook me back up because I am still in the 200′s and need to come down…..thank you Omnipod for this special, extra fast delivery! Maybe I will learn…..