Friday, July 26, 2013

Laundry Detergent Aisle, Pet Store, Party City?

Last evening...

As the Schnauzer Party continued...with the post dinner~leash~tangling~excrement~depositing~and streaming~and~spritzling stroll around the 'hood.


I spared you the "depositing, streaming, and spritzling"

Me to Dave:  "The instant feedback from the DOC is invaluable." (most recently in reference to pumping insulin with the Omnipod)

As many of you know, we were having adhesion issues with the PODs.  The solution to date seems to be Skin Tac (Penny)  and a Band4Life (Marla...Thanks!).  Joe's PODs were falling off in the pool with Skin Tac alone.  I believe the "Band" helps keep the edges of the dressing down and prevents water seepage into and under the dressing.


Joe's Band4Life ~ The Orange Lightning (on his arm)

 
 

Onto all the other awesome Omnipod tips.  Now, I am not a doctor nor have I trialed all of these tips, but I am gobsmacked by the nuances of PODding.  Shopping in Laundry Detergent aisles, at Pet Stores, and at Party City for POD accessories has been recommended:

*....not sure if you're doing this already but I was told, when filling PODS, to leave Pod in tray and always, when filling PODS, to keep it on the right side of the PDM, with tray touching PDM.
 
* Also, (and I made a comment on your blog) PODS need to be filled to at least the 100 mark (NO LESS) or they'll fail.
 
*Hey there! Yes, I just put a sheet of bounce in the box with the pods. I read it somewhere else and figure it can't hurt. I have heard of some wiping the pod down with the bounce sheet, but I don't do that. I have sprayed her with anti static spray prior to a bounce house, but really we had NO problem at a bounce-y house and she is a crazy girl at those places. I think our static issue happened when she went down the slide and she also happened to be wearing a sweater dress that I had not washed before. (I always wash our clothes with downy fabric softener so that helps too.) I assume Joe won't be wearing any sweater dresses. (NikDuck)
 
*Ahhh, the joys of an active, podding, 10-year-old boy! I know them well! We often wrap Jack's pod with coban or "vet wrap." We buy it at PetSmart, because it's significantly cheaper there, and it's the same stuff they sell at pharmacies. Vet wrap comes in cool colors too: red, blue, black, purple. It works really well at keeping the pod adhered. Someone else told me to try spirit gum. Apparently, costumers use it to keep costume parts in place. I bought some at Party City, but haven't tried it yet. We've tried SkinTac, but it doesn't do much for Jack. The pods still fall off. The coban/vet wrap seems to do the trick, and Jack doesn't mind wearing it at all. Hope this helps! xo ~ (Heidi)
 
*In a pinch depending on how much insulin is in the pod you can suck it back out. I've done it a few times when a pod has failed right off the bat! It's against the rules of course...but I can be done! XO loves! (I'll leave this one Anon)
 
*Hang in there Reyna. We have pod "moments" too.  FYI. Apidra is only approved for 2 days in the omnipod...your script should be for a every 2 day change. Ours do fine with 3 days.  XO (Sara)
 
*About getting them to stay on in water: we had a big problem with pods falling off in salt water (not so much in pools), despite using Skin Tac before putting them on. We tried slapping on waterproof Tagaderm, but still no luck.  What finally helped was using the Skin Tac before, and then using another Skin Tac pad to soak the pod’s adhesive bandage afterwards so that it was soaked with Skin Tac and couldn’t take up water. Added strips of waterproof Tagaderm on top, and it stayed through 3 days at the beach. ~ (Kristin)
 
A day~in~the~life of gratitude for the DOC.  Thanks guys for helping Joe and I figure this PODding business out.  I am still not sure if I like it better than the Animas Ping.  Joe does though.  I guess, in the end, that is what counts.

3 comments:

Penny said...

Happy to help, my friend! Pods are a different kind of pump and take some getting used to. You are working out all the kinks. Glad the SkinTac seems to be helping, even if it's a little bit.

Denise aka Mom of Bean said...

Bean's been podding for three years in October and some of these tips are new to me! Thanks for sharing them and I hope you find something that works well!!

I saw some of the bandage stuff at PetSmart the other day and thought of you...it wasn't close to the food, so maybe it wouldn't smell!! ;)

Marla Stills said...
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