After looking at the instructions for my Medtronic MiniMed infusion sets, I came across some things that I found quite amusing.  I hope you do too.

Warnings

"Remove the needle guard before inserting the infusion set." – Um, really?  Maybe that’s why I…. never mind. 

"The soft cannula must always be completely inserted to receive the full amount of medication." – So I can get a partial amount  [dose] if it’s not inserted?

"If the infusion site becomes inflamed, replace the new set, and use a new site until the first site has healed." – Really, so I shouldn’t stick it directly back into the site where I just had a gusher?

"For Paradigm users, do not use the infusion set if the tubing connector needle had been damaged." – Don’t they know it’s a personal challenge to unbend the needle so as to not waste the set.

"If infusing insulin, carefully monitor your blood glucose levels when disconnecting and after reconnecting." – Um, what else am I going to infuse?

On a more serious note, the very last paragraph says, "If infusing insulin, do not change the infusion set just before bedtime unless you can check your blood glucose 1-3 hours after insertion."  I would venture to say that 99 out of 100 times I will shower, change my infusion set and go to bed in that order.  It’s kind of a ritual every 3 days and always at the same time – at night.  I would also guess that many people are not following this guideline.

Medtronic, thank you for the laughs; It’s not often that you put a smile on my face, but this certainly did.

For more information from Medtronic about infusion site management, click here.