When we received our first T-Slim X2 Insulin pump, we were a little shocked that there was no case. Like a phone, it comes bare without protection or even a way to hold it on your person. Unlike a phone, we have tubing involved, that of course, we don’t want yanking around or worse, yanking the site off the body, if the pump were to fall let’s say out of a pocket.
A case is a non-negotiable, and with that, a belt clip is as well. To be honest, most cases are simply a glorified belt clip, until now.
Some cases do not have a rotating belt clip. We’ve experienced that. Gabe and Kai, our two Type 1 Diabetic sons, insist on the rotation.
We are a very active family and tend to engage in activities where our bodies are in unique positions. We rock climb, hike and go caving. While their personal preference is for their pump to be held, and clipped on in a horizontal position, there are times they absolutely need the option to rotate it for the easiest and most convenient access. Checking insulin onboard, bolusing, and turning off insulin, are all critical things that we want to be done efficiently and effectively on the fly if necessary.
As a family, we were caving one time where we all had to belly crawl through a small tunnel. Both young men needed to see their screens from quite the odd positions, if you can imagine. It would’ve been much harder in that situation to unclip and draw the pump up to their face. There simply wasn’t very much room to move our arms. The rotation served them well.
It’s also valuable to be able to lock the case in the desired position while being able to unlock it and change positions when necessary.
Looking beyond activity, inactivity creates the need for rotation as well. Asleep in the middle of the night, we want to keep movement to a minimum. Rotation to get a visual without disconnecting the clip can mean the difference between going right back to sleep or now being wide awake.
T1D sleep is important and a valuable commodity.
Rotation with screen protection for the win!