Pump crap

I had a really off-day with my Omnipod for some reason. All of the following happened when I was in a hurry to get out the door (of course). It all started when my Omnipod insulin pump alarmed to let me know it was expiring and needed to be changed. So, I began the process for shutting it down and firing up a new one. There was one problem... I couldn't get the pump off. The adhesive was so stuck that it was taking layers of skin off of my arm. I began to think that the adhesive had melted into my skin from being out in the heat a lot the previous 3 days. The areas where the skin came off are now scabbed over and ugly.

I gave up on trying to get that one off. I figured I'd dig out my adhesive remover (Uni-Solve) later and work on it. I proceeded with firing up the next pod. I was trying to put it on my lower back, but it wasn't sticking. Why aren't you sticking to me, pod, I asked. Oh yes... I put on my Vaseline body oil right after my shower. My skin was like a moisturized oil slick. Crap. So I took it off, what little amount was actually sticking to me, alcohol-wiped the area, and tried to put it back on. No dice. It won't stick now. So I tried to see if it would stick to my stomach. For some reason I apparently thought the skin was "different" there. Again, no go. There was no amount of tape or anything else that was going to rescue this one.

I tried to pull the insulin back out of it to put in a new pod, but I bent the needle head. Grrr. So I tried to use the new needle in the new pod packaging to pull the insulin back out of the now-defective pod. But the insulin wouldn't come out. So I threw out the pod and loaded up the new one with a new batch of insulin. As it was priming itself, BEEEEEEEPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPPP. It's alarming. Something's wrong, who knows what.

I pick up the phone and call Insulet Corp-Product Support. I reported the alarm and they will ship me a new one. They were very nice when I called. So, on to a new pump (#3 for the day). I slowly performed each step to get it on, so as not to cause another alarm or break anything. I held my breath as it primed...and primed...and primed. I waited for the friendly beep-beep it makes when it's ready to be put on. And this time it was successful. Exhale.

All of this took an extra 26 minutes. I was running late to begin with and was in a foul mood and this just made me more mad. But in the end, I relaxed and reminded myself to have positive thoughts to bring on positive activity in my day. It was a good reminder that sometimes things happen and you can't get upset about it. So what if I ran late- nobody died as a result (lol). And now at the end of the day, getting that mad just seems silly.