While at a diabetes event Q and I approached the tables of several of the vendors. I’m already familiar with many of the products we don’t use, but many of them are new to her.

We first walked up to the OmniPod table and as the rep started to tell us about it she informed him that she already uses it and that she currently had it on her back. But we wanted to grab a demo pod from the table.

The next table was the local hospital and she was very disappointed that the guy in the blue bear suit was not giving out small stuffed blue bears like last year because she was on the playground and didn’t get one. She did grab some little first aid kits and a coloring book.

The next table was Novolog and I just happen to have known our local rep my entire life. They showed her how the insulin pen works and Q told them that for school demos we use an orange. They gave us their little demo cube so that we wouldn’t have to use produce in the future. Score!

The next table was the Animas table (I think). The woman started telling her what an insulin pump does and she cut her off saying that she already knows because she has one, but wanted to see what theirs was like.

When the woman opened the insertion set, Q’s eyes got big as the needle was cocked into position. (I know that’s probably not the correct terminology, but we don’t use a pump with an insertion set. And one of the MAJOR pluses of the OmniPod is that you NEVER see the needle.)

Q said, “You’re not going to do that on me are you?!”

Thankfully the answer was no.

The rep did whatever it is you do to insert it and there was a loud POP as the needle went in. Yikes. I’ve never actually seen the insertion of other pumps, but it kind of confirmed our choice.

What wowed Q was that the insertion sets came in pretty colors and that the part that is attached is smaller than the pod. However she was not keen on the tubing or having to wear the pump itself all the time.

Q, being the verteran diabetic and pump user, asked the million dollar deal breaker question.

If you watch her Six Things and her Dream Diabetes Device videos, you can see that she has product innovation in mind–both in terms of form and function.

She asks the rep, “How often do you have to change it?”

The rep says, “Every three days just like the one you have.”

To which Q responds, “Well, I wouldn’t even think about it until it will last at least a week. But I probably wouldn’t change unless it could last a whole month. Can you let us know when that happens?”

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