"The kids can get up when they want,
eat when they want, run around or
take it easy—it is like having two
healthy kids again."

 

The Poulins take a big family trip to Disneyworld every year. But when their two children, Tommy (age 7) and Maddie (age 6), were diagnosed with diabetes, parents Annette and Tom found it was like having babies again. “Instead of packing a diaper bag, we were packing a diabetes bag,” Annette remembers. Old photos of the kids eating Mickey Mouse ice creams were heart-wrenching. “I kept thinking, ‘Now my kids can’t do what they want, because they’re on the needle.’ It broke my heart.” Then their doctor told them about the OmniPod. The Poulins love the ease, the insertion, the flexibility. But mostly they love having a normal life again. “That’s what the OmniPod has done for us.”

 

 

Our family lives in a nice small town in Rhode Island, in a house by a brook, which we thought would be peaceful until we had two little ones. I’m now a stay-at-home mom, and my husband Tom is vice president of a commercial construction company. Our children Maddie and Tommy are 6 and 7 years old, in kindergarten and 2nd grade this year. They’re your typical on-the-go kids. Tommy loves karate; he’s very disciplined. His sister Maddie loves dance. She takes jazz and hip-hop classes. Our big family event every year is a trip to Disneyworld in Florida.

Tommy was diagnosed with diabetes two days before he turned 5. He actually spent his 5th birthday in the hospital. Maddie was diagnosed 8 months later. Even though their 8-year-old cousin had recently been diagnosed, their diabetes came as a huge shock; you never think it will happen to you. Our nurse started to cry, because Maddie was the third child in our close family to whom she had to give the bad news.

The diabetes definitely turned our whole family life around. When our kids had had their infant vaccinations Tom had to take them in, because I couldn’t tolerate looking at the needles. Now I knew I had to bite the bullet. It was really hard. Plus, we had to get up for breakfast at a certain time, eat scheduled snacks—every bite of food was rigidly planned. At least Maddie was already on this schedule when she got diagnosed.

The doctors said we could still go to Disneyworld. But it was like starting all over again with little babies; instead of packing a diaper bag, we were packing a diabetes bag with loads of essentials. I looked back at pictures from earlier trips where the kids were eating their Mickey Mouse ice creams, and I kept thinking, “Now my kids can’t do what they want, because they’re on the needle.” It broke my heart.

We were just starting to consider insulin pumps when we were at a family party and all the kids were dancing. All of a sudden, my niece’s pump fell, and the battery pack went flying. There she was on the dance floor with this tubing hanging off her. When I saw that, I knew I just wasn’t ready to put tubing on my kids.

Then our doctor at the Joslin Diabetes Center told us about this new wireless system. I was so psyched to learn that we could get the flexibility of pumping without the invasive tubing. It was just a no-brainer!

When our OmniPod Systems arrived, our diabetes educator came to our house to show us how to use them. The first time we put the Pods on the kids, the insertion click alarmed them a little. But later they realized that was it—there would be no more shots. And the System was so easy to use that even a then-1st grader could do it.

Tommy already played Game Boy and other video games, so we just showed him what to do with the OmniPod PDM. He went to school the very next day and was showing the nurse how to use it. He remembered everything! Now he boluses himself, and we can finally go out to dinner again, because we can leave the kids with their Grandma, and we just tell Tommy how to deliver Maddie’s bolus while we’re out. Maddie is just learning how to read, but we’re already showing her how to hit “confirm” on some commands.

I can’t tell you what a relief it is not to have to give our kids shots. With the OmniPod’s automated insertion, it’s so easy to change out the Pods. The kids say it doesn’t hurt at all. And they have no issues with wearing the Pods on their bodies—none at all. Tommy likes to wear his on his upper buttocks, and Maddie likes hers on her tummy.

Everyone at school has been so supportive. Our kids brought in their “diabetic teddy bears,” each wearing a Pod, to show the other kids how it works. We also gave them each a pouch to be responsible for carrying their own PDM—one with Pokemon and one with a princess design. The other kids wanted pouches, too!

The kids are feeling so good being on the OmniPod. Their glucose control is much better. If either of them needs a correction, we just push buttons on the PDM. We’ve adjusted basal rates during the night, especially for Tommy so he doesn’t dip too low. He’s very active, so that was a problem for us before.

I can’t believe we were even looking at other pumps. Tommy actually has seizures, so with a traditional pump, we would’ve had to worry about the tubing popping out. And I watch my niece struggling to take everything off in order to go swimming, for example. None of that is an issue with the OmniPod.

The integrated blood glucose meter is a big help as well. It’s less for us to carry around, and it does the calculations for you. With the other pumps, you have to take a glucose reading with a separate meter, and then figure out the insulin dosing in your head. All that “homework” was scary, because I needed a calculator to figure it out; I was petrified I might make mistakes. But the OmniPod makes all that super-easy.

You know, the diabetes was life-altering in a negative way, but the OmniPod has been life-altering in a positive way. We now have the ability to handle the kids’ highs and lows immediately. We can relax more. We can be flexible. The OmniPod has given our family a normal life again.

We just got back from our annual Disney trip, and the difference was like day and night! The kids could get up when they wanted, eat when they wanted, run around the park or take it easy—it was almost like having two healthy kids at Disneyworld again. That’s what the OmniPod has done for us.