I thought I would share this here just in case anyone else was told something wrong during their training. It is not exactly that was I told was wrong, it is just that there is an easier way to do something!
I have been playing around with using the combo bolus feature (extended bolus for you non-Animas users). Getting interested in the TAGgers group (see my post on Total Available Glucose) has me playing with the combo bolus feature more than I had been.
If you select “Combo Bolus” on the bolus menu of the Ping, you enter the number of units, the duration you want those units and the percent that you want extended. When I had my training, I was told to first go to “ezCarb” on the bolus menu and enter the amount of carbs I planned to eat, and then click “show result” to find out the amount of insulin calculated for those carbs. What I was told to do next was cancel out of the “ezCarb” section and then to go to “Combo Bolus” to enter the insulin, time and ratio that I wanted. I thought that seemed kind of stupid to have all these automatic calculations for me on the pump and then I have to calculate on one screen and then remember the calculation to enter on another screen.
I have been trying to use TAG and have been playing with using the combo bolus. The other day, I selected the ezCarb menu to calculate the units of insulin I needed. I went to move the cursor down to the bottom of the screen to cancel out before going to the combo bolus. I did not realize that the cursor landed on the line that says “Type Normal.,” and more specifically, the cursor landed on “Normal.” I accidentally clicked on “Normal”, and that “Normal” changed to “Combo.” When you change “Normal” to “Combo” by using the up arrow, you then go to the line above where it says “Go” and that will take you to the “Combo Bolus” menu with the recommended units of insulin for the amount of carbs you are going to eat. You can change the units there if you want and also your time and ratios, then select go to get your combo bolus!
The trainer I went to was at a diabetes center near here and trained on different pumps besides Animas. I understand they can’t necessarily know every single feature on the different pumps that they train on. Also, the training is meant to be a start and not necessarily some in-depth training about everything on your pump. But if you are going to touch on the Combo Bolus feature, you should at least know how it works! I just wanted to post this just in case someone else was told the same thing as me. And sometimes if you think there should be an easier way to do something, there might be!