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Sunday, January 22, 2012

It's HERE!!

If you remember from my last post, I was very excited for Medtronic's release of their newest product MySentry.  The device is suppose to help parents hear the pump (CGM)  at night as well as see what is what is on the pump's screen.

We were trying to decide if we should wait and see if insurance will pay for this item or if we should just pay for it.  At this point in time, Medtronic is not working with insurance companies to cover this item.  It is a cash only item.  They do offer a payment plan that is interest free which is nice.  We decided to go ahead and purchase this item and try to submit to our insurance company and see if they will cover it.  I will update in a few weeks-months to what the insurance company says.  We are waiting on our first bill and then we will file.

The hook up was really easy. It only comes with three parts, a color display screen, an outpost and a power cord.  You just had to connect the pump to the display screen and then connect the outpost.   Following a few very easy instructions.  The first time the outpost did not link correctly but after the second try it worked fine. Total it took just a few minutes. 


Right away I could see how awesome this was going to be.  She was up in her room playing and the display was downstairs with us.  She was going low and pump was beeping and so was the MySentry.  I loved that I didn't have to wait for her to come down to tell me, or have to worry about her playing and wonder if she was high or low.   Of course within 30 minute of us having it her sensor died and needed to be recharged and  a new CGM site put on.  For those who don't know how it works, the transmitter charges about 20-30 minutes and then there is a warming up period of about 2 hours. During this time no data is transmitted.  That two hours seemed so long!!   But when it was time to put in that first BG the MySentry beeped and let us know.  This was really nice because before if Brianna was playing she might clear the "Meter BG Now" screen several times before letting me know.

We put the outpost in her room and then moved the display where I went, either in my room or in the kitchen.  She was playing the basement for a while with the display right at the top of the stairs and it did lose signal a few times.  But once she came back near it, it picked her right back up.

The best part so far is knowing what her number is doing without asking her a million times a day, "What's your number?"  I don't think I realized how often I did that.  I think she really likes it too.  She is able to walk over and just see her number without having to push buttons on her pump.  (In all honesty she rarely looks to see what her number is without being asked)  She does think it is really cool though. 

The next big challenge, the whole reason we got it was bed time.  Her sensor I thought was reading really well, but apparently we did a bad calibration and the sensor was not happy!  It said she was trending downward fairly quickly, when in reality she was holding steady at 138.  I will say every time her pump beeped in her room the MySentry beeped.  The volume is adjustable which is nice.  We have it on the loudest setting right now and we can hear it from the first floor when the display is on the second floor.  But back to last night.  It took a good hour for the sensor to be back linked up the her actual BG.  After that I went to sleep, it was nice that when she was starting to go upwards it beeped let me know.  I went in her room cleared her pump and corrected.  Back to sleep for me.  There was two times when the outpost and the pump went out of range.  We are planning on moving the outpost to a different outlet in her room that will hopefully fix that problem.  It also beeped weak signal.  There are sometimes at night that her pump, if we miss it, will beep weak signal so long that it will lose the sensor.  So to fix that I just had to readjust her pump so her CGM and pump were a little closer.

Before we had the MySentry, at night, she would wear a wireless microphone in her pump pack and I would have the receiver and speaker on my nightstand.  You could always hear some noise coming from her room, if it was her rolling over, coughing, her stomach growling, etc.  It was a little hard at first to hear nothing but just see the number.  I did walk down to her room once.  Got there and didn't know what else I could do.  I know it will alert me, I guess just because it is so quiet I will have to get use to it.

Here are a few pictures...

Brianna and the box!  We are so happy to get it.  It really did feel like Christmas morning!

The outside of the box. 

Up and running.  Couldn't have asked for a more perfect BG  :)
From the picture above you can see there is a lot of information on the display screen.  From left to right- B.H. is her initals.  You can add a picture under it but none of them are that great.  She was a little disappointed.  Next is the battery on the pump.  The 70u is how many units of insulin that is left in her pump.  Next is how strong the signal is.  The next two deal with the sensor.  The first is when the next calibration is due.  The other is how long the sensor has left, they say a brand new sensor last 3 days.

As other people that have gotten the MySentry have mentioned it would be nice to see how much insulin on board left.   But maybe that will be changed eventually who know  :)

Another thing that might be nice would be if there was more then one outpost.  For us we have a two story house with a basement.  It would be nice to keep an outpost in her room as well as in the basement so it is always able to pick her up.  You might be able to buy another one, but who knows. 

I am looking forward to this summer to see what the range is outside.  We have a swingset in the backyard, it would be nice for me to be able to monitor from inside and not have to yell and ask her how she feels.   We are also looking at finding an adapter so we can take this with us in the car on long trips.   This could also help me feel a little safer IF she was to go on a sleepover.  Funny how a small device that just displays a number can make me feel so much more relaxed. 

Here is what it sounds like...



Overall we are thrilled with it.  I hope now at night I will have a little more confidence that I will hear the alarms and maybe sleep a little better.  I know I will always either get up and do a fingerstick at least once a night or get up and look at the screen, but now those inbetween times I know it is also watching and keeping me informed. 
And that in my mind is priceless....



I will update in a few days with my thought about how things are going!  Coming up too, it Brianna's 3 month endo appointment at the beginning of Feb. 

I LOVE reading your comments and questions so post away!!

2 comments:

  1. Sounds like you are off to a great start with it! I love the idea of being able to use more than one outpost with it. Can't wait to see if it works while she is playing outside.

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  2. Awesome!!! I'm so excited for you! When can I come see it?!?

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