My Stuff: Mini-Med, Medtronic

                      Checking out a magic pump in '92                    Test infusion site pre-pump trial                               My First Pump

I've been a lifetime supporter of Mini Med, which was bought by Medtronic, becoming Medtronic Mini Med in 2001. It was the first pump I was thoroughly introduced to in 1997 (a friend did have one in '92, and he seemed to go low an awful lot) and the first (and only thus far) brand I used. After learning more about them as a company, hands on experience with friend's pumps and even trying a loaner pump at camp, I came home wanting one. My family also saw the bright future ahead of the company, and we purchased stock in Minimed, anticipating an explosion of their product into the market.

Tutorial VHS

         I've had updated versions, and new releases as warranties ran out, and new models were releases, all reliant upon whatever my insurance would allow. And it was told to us for many years that the continuous glucose monitor would be coming soon too. Now, I was extremely skeptical about the pump: a mechanical arm delivering insulin to you, and it took lots of time for me to experience it in order to want and trust one for myself. And although a continuous glucose monitor was not life-threatening if it malfunctioned, I knew it would get better as generations came and improvements were made.

     When Medtronic's CGM finally came out with the Mini-Link, I had already tried the Gluco-Watch in 2002 and a trial run of an early version of Dexcom's CGM through my Endocrinologist in 2008. I was not impressed with either of them. The gluco watch was generally inaccurate and irritating to the skin. The Dexcom was tough to calibrate, and it took a lot of work to get it synced up. In my experience, it cut out, and was unreliable with reporting numbers. So with the reliability of the MiniMed brand, I was eager to try their device.

     I contacted the company, saying I was interested in the CGM, and they set up a meeting. I went through the training process, and reviewed the options, and I was definitely interested. The one downside was that they would not allow a trial run of their product. I wanted to try it out to see if it was irritating or reliable, and not just jump into the thousands of dollars investment (granted, mostly paid by insurance). But despite having to dive in, the pros seemed to outweigh the cons. It was a trusted brand, and it would communicate with my pump to create a closed loop, externally functioning pancreas.

Revel & MiniLink starter kit

     I signed up, went through the insurance rigmarole, and eventually received my first shipment of sites and instruments to make it work. Upon putting the first one on- first one in myself, since there was no trial except a practice insertion into fake skin. I found it to be quite painful. The guillotine style inserter was brutal, and not very smooth. As I used it for multiple weeks, there were many times where the site would insert crooked or not at all, which was doubly painful and rendered the site defective. The sites were expensive, so wasting them on improper insertions was very wasteful.

     The transponder that attached to the site was bulky, and often cause me to pull the site out by getting it caught. The stickiness of the site was not strong, and I sweated off the site after playing tennis. I started taking the transponder out, and one day, I ended up losing the transponder that sent the data to the pump.

     I was actually relieved by losing it, as I would not have to go through the teeth clenching process of application and calibration just to receive CGM data. I never called to replace the transponder, and I have a few of the sites left, unused. I was OK with this

     I have no doubt that they will work out these bugs and uncomfortable traits that I ( and others I have spoken with) have experienced, and as their product becomes more accurate, reliable and streamlined, perhaps I will go back to it. Most discerning, however, was the fact that they would not allow a trial period before I purchased it, forcing an all or nothing decision.