Towards the end of the year last year, I’d say the final 10 days of the year, I went from thinking about going back on a pump to somehow being on the phone with Omnipod ordering my new insulin pump. It all happened pretty quickly, but here’s the story.
I recently wrote about my thoughts of going back on an insulin pump. I was torn between a t:slim and an Omnipod. I’m not going to go into full details of that thought process again, you can read the article.
The final decision for me came down to the fact that I have loved not being connected to a device with a wire for the last year after going back to MDI. I still do not want to be connected to a wire. So, I sat down and outweighed the two most important options, Basal IQ from Tandem or no tubing from Omnipod.
No tubing won the vote.
After filling out the lead form, I communicated with an Insulet rep via email, which if you know me is huge. I don’t talk to people. I’m a digital marketer, key word, digital. After getting all my details, the next step was receiving a text from the sales rep.
OMG. This is awesome.
Emails and text messages, oh I can work with this.
RX Denied
Then the hiccups started. The first one was that my endo would not sign the RX for the insulin pump.
At first, I was extremely pissed. I strongly believe that as a patient, I have 100% rights to choose the insulin delivery method that works for me. As long as you are educated on all the different options. I understand that a lot of patients aren’t educated on what all the pumps do, but when you write about this stuff all the time, I know the options pretty well.
I have not seen my endo since August because my last appointment was cancelled due to a snow storm. He is booked up solid, so it took another 2 months before I could see him again. He wanted to wait until my appointment next week before he signed the RX, because he wanted to talk to me about it.
But, here’s the problem, I wanted the order put in to my insurance before the New Year and before the deductible came back.
I called the office and let them know how I feel, which I will go in depth in with another post.
I received a phone call from my endo directly at 7:15 PM on a Friday night. He said that he was told that I was not happy that he declined to sign the RX. We talked it over and basically he said that he tries to follow all of the AACE (American Association of Clinical Endocrinologists) guidelines. I understood where he was coming from as well, so we came to an agreement.
Problem Solved
He would sign it on December 31, but I had to promise that I come every 90 days to ensure that we are following the guidelines and that if I’m going to make changes to my basal rates or usage of the pump that I just keep him up to date on it.
Deal. Done.
On Monday, December 31, I received notifications that my order was processing.
Omnipod was quick. Very quick. I am hoping their customer service is this quick.
My shipment was delivered to my endo office because they require me to go through training first before I use the Omnipod. I called them to let them know that I will be picking up the box because, well I’m a blogger, I need to do an unboxing video, duh.
My appointment is not until January 15, so that’s when my training is. Make sure you sign up for the newsletter below to stay up to date with my Omnipod usage.
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Hmm Chris in Indiana Omnipod is a prescription item. Which makes it extremely easy to get usually. I hope you like the Omnipod, I have never felt bad about having a tube attached to me and the pump (expect for door handles). I wish you well and I hope I hear how you like the Omnipod, a buddy of mine swears by hers.