Hey, Good Lookin'

This post is very overdue. I have felt disconnected to my diabetes as of the past month or so, and have been one slack lady in updating. I have, however, suddenly felt the mood to write, and set up a bunch of automatic post updates over the next few weeks :)

I give to you, my very overdue thoughts on the new 640G:

640G - Part One - It's all about the Looks

On first glance, I was still not sold on the new design. But I'm being superficial here, and I was used to my pretty MiniMed. Then my Educator pulled a pink silicone case from her bag of diabetes tricks, so now it looks 'happier' at the same time as giving more protection against the drops and whacks my pump is subjected to. I'm hoping that they will soon release customised skins like with the MiniMeds, but I'm not sure if the design lends itself towards that. In the meantime I have busied myself with obsessively searching for one of those 'Lenny the Lion' silicone cases, which you can get at the UK Medtronic shop.

ITS A LION. ON YOUR PUMP. As a mature, responsible adult who has a mature, responsible adult job and does mature, responsible adult things with my life; finding and wearing one of these is now my biggest goal. Just incidentally, they have these amazing exercise t-shirts on the UK website that have 4 different pockets for your pump, and I don't know why we don't have these here.

After pulling my silicone case on, I immediately began the size comparisons. The 640G has only been released in 300ml reservoirs here in Aus, and I was used to the smaller 180ml MiniMed. The silicone case also seemed to add some bulk when I put it on. I have seen photos of another 640G user comparing it to his 300ml MiniMed and it is the same size. Obviously, bigger reservoir = bigger pump.

The fact that it only comes in 300ml is a bit of an issue I have with the new pump. I was a big fan of
sticking my pump into the groove at my hip/thigh area under my underwear band when I wore tighter dresses, but the 640G creates just a little bit too much of a bulge to do this anymore without things looking a little suss. So I've had to adjust a little and I just put up with the pump obviously stuck to my chest now. I've only had one query about why my boobs looked so boxy from a lady at a coffee stall. Unfortunately I was in a bad mood, so I just grumbled 'Insulin pump' and walked away. Hopefully she googled it.

Layout of the pump is different. I don't think it makes much difference either way. The 640G is faced upright instead of sideways like the MiniMed. I can understand the need for the upright position on the 640G because of its lovely new screen, but this does create a functional issue (read: issue for lazy people) in that I can't just twist the pump to the side to bolus.

I love the 640G screen. Its bright and colourful and auto-adjusts to light. Read: never squinting in the sun or in the middle of night again.

Everything is also right there on the screen for you to see, including your CGM graph. It is also coloured for a quick-glance check. Green means full or close to full for battery, insulin and CGM time indicators, yellow means about mid and red means its running out of whichever one is in red. The screen is also set up so you can access whatever you need quickly.


One of the weird pluses to the new design is that I no longer get any 'pager' comments, which is good, because I seriously wouldn't be this poor if I was a doctor. I'd be living in rich people town with all the rich people and their many, many tables, and their really weird fashion choices, and not next to a block of housing commission. Not a pager guys, sorry. Instead I now get the "That's a really old MP3 player" statements. Which yeah, it does. It reminds me a lot of my Creative Zen that I had when I was 15.

So mostly pros, some cons with the new design - biggest being that as a previous 180ml reservoir user, I'm just not used to the size. All-in-all, looks don't really make a difference to what the pump does and does not do. I am really loving the screen though.

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Reason why I'm Hypo: I was on 21 (shhhh) and gave myself a 2 unit correction.

Happy Gratitude Day!

Today, Facebook tells me, is world gratitude day. Today I feel gratitude for many things in my life.

I am grateful for my husband, my soulmate. The man who makes me smile and loves me unconditionally. The man who puts my needs before his. My husband, who seems to have a weird sixth sense about my diabetes at night, and can tell from the way I'm sleeping if I'm low or high and if I need to be woken up to deal with my BGLs.

I am thankful for my family and friends, who complete my life and who slap on a happy face when they're putting up with me. Especially thankful they accept all of me, weird moods, fussy taste, diabetes and all.

I am super thankful for the food in my pantry, roof over my head, poppers in my handbag, test strips scattered across my carpet and insulin in my fridge. Happy to have the things I need to keep me alive.

I feel so much gratitude to those who work tirelessly to give me access to great diabetes products, like my insulin pump, glucometer and more, that make living with diabetes so much easier. I am thankful for my CGM, that helps to keep me safe.

I am so glad to have my diabestie in my life. Without diabetes, I would not have met so many inspirational and beautiful people.

I am grateful for my health. I know more about my body than most other people my age, and what is good for, and not good for me. I am grateful to be able to see the world around me and watch my favourite TV addictions, and grateful to be able to stretch my legs and walk home at the end of a long work day.

I am thankful for my job. I get to earn a living whilst doing a job that I love, and a job that further inspires gratitude for my life. I am happy I get to help others living with a chronic illness at my work. I do a job that inspires me.

I am most grateful that I am alive. Happy that the disease I have, does not limit what I can do with my life, or stop me expressing who I am.

I am grateful for my diabetes. Just not the high and low blood sugars. I'd appreciate if diabetes kept those particular gifts to itself.