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Friday 9 October 2015

どうもありがとう, Mr. Roboto

robot
ˈrəʊbɒt/
noun
  1. 1.
    a machine capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically, especially one programmable by a computer.
    "half of all American robots are making cars or trucks"
    synonyms:automatonandroidmachinegolem
  2. 2.
    another term for crawler (in the computing sense)


640G - Part Two - It Thinks


"It Thinks" is the slogan that came out with the 640G. I would believe it of my little Mr. Roboto (Note: not my 640g's name...its actually still unnamed as of yet. I just can't think of anything good enough for it).

When you've had a little while to play around with the pump, its obvious the design was made with the user in mind.


Normal, every day functions are laid out on the opening screen, in easy to see positioning. It means that if you need to quickly bolus or change your basal rate, you never have to navigate away from the home screen. With my previous MiniMed, I accessed the menu fairly frequently, but now I access it only to change my set, or if I have an endo/educator appointment coming up and need to start logging my activities before a pump download.




Bolus take you to a bolus menu, where you can input your BG (if you havent used the meter that sends through your BGs automatically). If you select basal you can set up a temp basal or select from a pre-saved temp basal that you have already created. I set up some temp basals of a pre-determined strength  & time length when I first set up the pump that I could quickly swap to if needed, based on activity that I would do throughout the day. It might be easier for kids because they could be taught to swap to a pre-determined basal rate at sleepovers, etc. without actually having to set it up themselves. You could also set these up as weekday or weekend, etc. and quickly swap between them if needed.



Bolusing remains much the same, but you can now choose what types of bolus you want active. I have never actually used a square wave bolus, and haven't the foggiest what it does, so I only have dual and normal bolus types active.

Suspend delivery is now the very first item in your pump menu. Whats even more exciting is that now, when I bolus, 'stop bolus' is displayed prominently on the screen as the insulin ticks in, and is already selected. So if I need to stop my bolus (which oddly, I do often) mid-delivery, all I have to do is click the middle button and it stops. Easy peasy.

I can also bolus off the meter that goes with my pump. It does not have the wizard built into it, but my current rate is 1 unit to 10gm of carb, so I actually use it to bolus quite a lot so I don't have to grope myself in public at food time. Its much more discreet.

I am actually using the new bayer meter, because I feel like its calibrated better than the previous contour meter. It feels more accurate. It sends to your pump straight away, unless of course yu don't want it to, in which case you can hit the cancel button. Your Diabetes health team will never be any the wiser to the horrible number you just stopped from sending.

It has a strip port light at night time. It works, but not as well as my previous IQ. The light that comes out is very faint and orange, so its not the best for trying to see if you've squeezed enough blood out. Probably the only let-down of the new meter. I think they were going for a soft glow that won't wake anyone else up, but screw everyone else if I've got a reason to check my BGs in the middle of the night.

It does allow you to double-dip, which is great because I often underestimate how much blood has actually come out of my finger, and need to add more, which I can now do and not have to waste a strip in the process.

It also works as the download USB for carelink. Cheering, because I have lost all my carelink USBs now.

My 640G tells me now when I have run out of insulin. I used to always go for about 2 hours or so without insulin on my MiniMed because I would see, and promptly clear, the low reservoir warning, and then it would run out and not tell me. Now it tells me when I have zero units left so I can add more insulin straight away. Alternatively, you can set a 'set change' reminder under the reminders section of the menu so it will remind you.

The 640G was designed (in my opinion) to be more functional for its intended and actual use. It is now waterproof. Whilst I still don't intend to take it swimming, it is better in Brisbane heat. Sweat from Brisbane humidity killed my MiniMed over Christmas last year. I also think it will serve me better when I go on my honeymoon in Europe next year, because I won't have to worry so much if I land in the drink in Venice (which in all likely hood will happen) or get caught in London rain.

The clip now functions as the battery opener. The clip also slides off and on by pressing a small 'button' instead of having to lock it in place with a coin or similar.



I'm pretty excited to take my little Roboto travelling with me. There's not much more I can think of to make it the perfect companion. I've signed up to one of the cheap CGM yearly deals so I will have that helping me as well.

Now just to name it.

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Reasons Why I'm Hypo: I had breakfast half an hour later than normal.



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