Holy cow! Good work, Kerri!!
And can I ask why you still use the super long tubing? I know you did during pregnancy because of the belly (which was a great tip, BTW! Helped me with mine!).

Tell me about it! The waste just seems ridiculous doesn't it.

Haha. I am the same way. I've even been known to disconnect the reservoir from the tubing, rewind and reprime, then reconnect the tubing. The thought of losing those 16 units makes me crazy.

Sarah, I use the long tubing as well. When I sleep and exercise (primarily cycling), the tubing is less in my way because it's not always being pulled or yanked.

Schwing!

Not saying you SHOULD, but you COULD re-attach the needle and the blue plunger thing to the resevoir and suck the insulin out of the tube and put it into either a bottle with insulin in it (don't know if you'd want to mix) or an empty bottle and re-use it.

Not saying you SHOULD, and not saying I EVER did that when I was insurance-less. . .but you COULD.

I'm right there with you. I pay $401 a month for insulin. It's outrageous. I hoard as much as I can and I use every single drop!

One unit! Don't blame you for saving every bit. I want to cry when a Pod comes off or we swap out the MiniMed's insulin early. Glad I don't have to pay out of pocket for 2 dkids.

Not a pumper, but I definitely suck the last little bits out of my pens with a syringe (there are at least 10 units left that they won't squeeze out) and inject them. I also used the lick the spoon when my mom made cookie dough. It's basically the same thing, right?

Why waste the tube insulin! Do you actually change your hose when you change your site?!? I am much too lazy for all that.

Why does it cost so much to keep us alive? :(

I also use the 42" tubing all the time. It works well when I have a gown on at night and I wear a belt around my waist when I sleep. Also, when I hide it under my dress I can pull it out without having to hike up my dress too high...putting it back is the hard part. LOL

Not going to lie, I occasionally have been known to draw the insulin back out of the tubing before I change sets...

Awesome! I don't like wasting insulin either....too precious a commodity.

Agree that 42" tubing is the way to go. You can throw it on the bed and have a little space to change instead of being crammed up against the mattress. I also wear it just below my knee using a leg thing with my dress pants, so the extra inches help, and no one knows it's there unless I hike up my pant leg in public :). That being said, I'm not overly happy about wasting the 13 or so units it takes to prime...

Yeah, I used to suck the insulin out of my tubing when I changed infusion sets. Not saying you should, BUT it never hurt me!

Lindsay, why do you pay $401 for insulin per month? Do you have insurance? What kind of insulin do you use? I feel like there's gotta be a way we can figure out how to stop you from getting gouged like that.

I have exactly the same pump as you down the color, but yours looks much nicer. All my silver edges are wearing down to the black underneath...

I'm surprised they don't see touch up paint at the Animas e-store!

I don't get it. A vial of Humalog costs $20 over the counter in Taiwan--free if you work there or are a citizen ( I lived there for 2 yrs as a alien-resident); I don't understand why the exact same vial of insulin is so much cheaper in another "first world" country. In Germany I paid $40 per vial, no insurance. At Walgreens in Wisconsin I paid $110. Exactly the same vial of insulin.

I think the quantity of pictures on my phone of my pump with 1 or 2 units left is second only to pictures of my Dexcom graphs :)

I wish insulin never expired in the fridge I would hoard it like crazy for when my daughter grows up and may have trouble with insurance coverage.

while I know there are some questions about acquiring medication from across borders, I'll note that when I was in Vancouver, BC recently, a package of 5x 300ml Humalog pen cartridges was $50, and 5x300ml Lantus disposable pens were $120.

The same Humalog is $320 list price, and $260 with pharmacy plan discounts here in the US. You may pay less with insurance, but those are the cash prices.

I'm not sure I'd order from a mail-order pharmacy (which, btw, is selling that $50 Humalog for $200 - a significant break from the US price, and 300% profit margin over the Canadian retail price), but if you happen to be in Canada, and wander into a Walgreens/CVS/whatever, they'll sell you ultra-cheap insulin at retail without an Rx, or asking for any personal info - just wander back to the pharmacy, ask for what you want, and it's a cash/credit card transaction like you were buying a candy bar.

Hypothetically, of course.

Yup, those Canadian prices are correct. That is where we get the insulin.

I use a Medtronic pump and always get every last drop from my old reservoir... after removing and disconnecting the tubing, I take the screw-on plunger and pull out the rubber stopper before using a syringe to suck up those last few units (always at least 10, even when the pump reads 'empty') I also use a bottle opener to carefully work off the metal cap from my bottles of Novolog so that I can extend a syringe all the way to the bottom - then simply tilt the bottle and suck up the insulin. Usually that runs at least 20 units. It all adds up!