A friend of mine emailed a few days ago to tell me she got her first pump. She was scared and excited at the same time.

I felt like she told me she had gotten engaged -- I had so much happiness and joy for her. It reminded me of the day my own pump arrived. I was in the middle of a deadline at work, but I still ripped into the box and tore into everything. I put Toohey on my hip almost immediately. It would be several days before I had my training, but I immersed myself in pump life immediately. Although I had had reservations about being attached to a contraption for 24 hours a day, those fears went out the window as soon as I was hooked up. I just knew this was going to be better.

A month or so after I started pumping, I had a checkup with the endo. I met with my former CDE, who was also serving as a pump trainer for me (I did initial training through my local CDE since my endo's office was nearly an hour from my house). She wanted to know what I liked about pumping.

"It's always here," I said. "I can't tell you how many times I'd go home for lunch or out to eat and leave my pen behind. Instead of going back for it or not eating, I'd just deal with taking the insulin later."

K nodded in agreement. I told her how I had initially wanted to get an Omnipod, but was glad I didn't; if I was prone to leaving my insulin pen behind, I figured I'd be just as likely to leave the Omnipod's PDA behind (although that PDA still looks awfully cool to me).

For me, life is so much easier with a pump. And I knew it would be when I started on my quest. My joy and happiness for my friend and her new pump comes from that knowledge.