The First Week With The Revel

I’ve now had a week to play around with my new Revel pump and I thought I’d write a post about my likes and dislikes of the system so far.

First of all, the main thing I love is the CGM being integrated. No more need to have two devices hooked to me. Granted, I know that they will not be the only pump company on the market for long (thank you, Animas!) to have this feature, but having had it for the past week, I have to say, it is heaven to have just one device. And yes, I know that even with having a CGM is a blessing, so I am not trying to cut down or say that having a separate CGM device is not worth it – it totally is, but having it integrated is awesome.

Now, one thing that the system does not have that the OmniPod and Animas Ping has is remote bolus from the meter. This is a good feature for parents or ladies who wear dresses or men who hide their pumps in places out of sight and don’t want to take it out to bolus. But for me, I was so used to having the “traditional” pump when I had the Disetronic H-Tron Plus, that I guess old habits die hard. Even with the OmniPod and Ping, I would hold the remote in my hand while it delivered a bolus just to make sure it was delivering. And even with the Ping, at times I would just bolus from the pump because it was what I was used to. So having to bolus from the Revel isn’t that big of a deal to me. But I do see where it could be an issue for some.

But in speaking of bolusing, it does have on of the best bolus calculation + delivery systems I have used. I like that when I check my bg with my meter, it is “beamed” over to the pump, and from there you just press “act”, enter your carbs, press “act” again, it does it’s calculations for you to review, and you press “act” to deliver the suggested bolus. What’s different here between the Ping in particular is that with the Ping, it gives you the suggested bolus amount, but you still have to dial in the bolus to match the suggested amount. With the Revel, it’s already there, you just have to confirm it. Then, when it’s being delivered, it shows you as it counts up to the bolus amount. Granted, it delivers slowly, but I found out while I was on the Ping that I did better with a slower delivery. I’m assuming it helps the insulin not pool beneath the skin as much.

One feature that the pump has over the Guardian CGM is that when you are low, instead of just flashing on the screen “Low BG”, it shows you the glucose level. I would have liked to have that feature on the Guardian while I was using it. But, that’s neither here nor there. Either way, you still have to escape out of the screen, otherwise it alarms constantly to let you know until you acknowledge it.

Which brings me to my main gripe about the system – both the Guardian and the Revel. Unlike the Dexcom, when it alarms, it gives you a few minutes to be able to dismiss it. With this system, it seems to alarm every 30 seconds until you dismiss it. Which I’m sure this is a good feature for some, but for me, it seems to always be right as I’m sitting down with BabyK to feed him or rock him to sleep. And it just so happens to be in the pocket that’s inaccessible at the time, so it vibrates and vibrates and vibrates until eventually it does it’s own “baby cry” (you know, the one where when the baby thinks you’re ignoring it’s initial cries so it amps it up a bit and screams bloody murder at you to get your attention? yeah, that one…) and you have to dismiss it. That is the one reason why when I go to church, I will be putting the alarms on silent for those two hours. Can you imagine? Like Kerri’s “disco boob” encounter, I’d be having a “disco boob” or “disco hip” move of my own during prayer or something.

The system setup is pretty well the same. You have the cartridge, tubing and site. And, for the most part, these are no different than any other system, accept they have their own connections verses the standard Luer Lock connection of the Accu-chek Spirit and Animas systems. But one advantage they do have is their cartridge. The trainer told me that with the way theirs is made, if you were to be stranded without supplies and need to give a shot, the cartridge acts sort of like a vial of insulin and it self-sealed at the top. So, if you have a syringe with you, you can actually draw the insulin you need out into the syringe and just give yourself a shot for what you need until you can fix whatever you need to with your pump (whether it’s gone bezerk or if your battery has died, that kind of thing). That’s pretty cool if you ask me!

All in all, I do like the system a lot. I’m not going to say that I’m in love with it completely, but I do admire lots of the functions it has. I will have to say though that even though Medtronic is supposedly coming out with a better, more accurate sensor that lasts longer and all of that jazz, they still may be one step behind the ball game when the Animas Vibe is allowed here in the US. Why? Waterproof capabilities! That will be the biggest clincher that Animas will have over Minimed from what I can tell. So I hope they come up with a pump that’s waterproof along with a better, longer lasting sensor with the next “edition” of the Minimed Paradigm.