We have the guadian real time... walk me through hooking it up

[valerie k]

we got it with the pump. back in january. we wanted to get familiar with the pump before intergrating this into our lives...

Is this something I need to go back to the clinic and have them get us going, or can we be chatted through on how to hook it up for ourselves here and with the book?

ken only has so many vacation days... and unfortunately, the plant he works at has a few planned shut down weeks coming up... meaning NO MONEY coming in for us unless he uses vacation.

He would hate to have to take another day if it wasnt truely nessesary, and since so many of you'all already use minimed and real time, wouldnt we get just as good of education here as apposed to there.


also, before we start, someone made mention of a bandage thing that goes over, is this really benificial? something I should get before start... matt gets easily frustrated with failure, I need to make it work the first time...

I have the unit and several sensors... what else do I need, and what do we need to do?

[WestinsMom]

How comfortable are you with inserting infusion sets? It is similar to putting in a sihouette. Is there a video on youtube or somewhere you could watch? Mama2H has some on her blog, but I don't recall if they are detailed enough to walk you through it.

We cover ours with tegaderm and we cover the end of the sensor with a piece of paper tape to keep it from moving around. The clam shell shaped transmitter is a bit floppy. I would at least want it taped down.

I personally would see if someone could come out and train you for your first insertion. That is just me. Depends how confident you are with experimenting. What do others think, that will be interesting. Plenty have started without waiting for training, I am sure. :)

[twbeckman]

I think it would be really beneficial to have formal training, only takes a couple hours at the most and the trainer would likely work with you to find a convenient time so no work is missed. If you have your local Medtronic rep's phone number, they will either do the training with you, or get a certified trainer to meet you. If you don't have a local rep, call the 1-800-MINIMED number and I am sure they will get you assistance. It can be somewhat frustrating getting started on the CGMS, and it would be a shame to get frustrated and quit using it if a little upfront training could help you ensure success with it.

We initially thought we would use it occasionally to test the basals, but I can not imagine my son's care w/o it now, the trends are SO useful to keep tight control.