Five Years Seems Overly Optimistic

You may recall that the end of July was when I received my leg pumps for lymphedema. I have been using them every day. It takes an hour, hooked up to that contraption. Getting my legs unwrapped and wrapped again adds another half hour. But I have a routine. It's not unpleasant. Actually kind of relaxing and massage-y. Just time consuming.

Anyhoo... I've only had the leg pumps for about six weeks. And a couple of weeks ago, I BROKE part of the contraption!!! Which is supposed to last me for five years, before insurance will pay for another. And even with insurance, this one cost me $1,172.01.

I didn't recall doing anything wrong. But one morning, the last hose would clip on. No matter how much I wiggled it, or pressed harder to click in into place, it wouldn't fit.  Here I was, my legs all zipped up in the canvas-y fabric, eight other hoses clicked in, and I couldn't proceed. I looked closer at the controller/pumper.

Two of these things are not like the others. I took this picture a couple days later. At the time, all the ports had hoses plugged in except the lower left, which is meant to be empty. So I was only looking at the lower right port. I hadn't been using this contraption long enough to know what I should be looking at. Before, I just snapped the hoses into place, and didn't have to think.

Finally, I looked into the end of the hose connector, and saw something that seemed different. I realized that the little cap thingy was stuck inside the connector. I used the point of an ink pen to pop it loose. Then I set it into the port. There's a little groove that has to line up at top. And a little notch in the connector that must fit, to click the hose into place.

That's the underside of the cap. Those white areas are where I think glue was put on at the factory, to stick it into place. I just flipped it over and set it on, then the hose connected. But when I took it loose later, that cap popped off again. The closer I inspected, I found a raised area. It's like when you buy a model car, and snap the pieces off the plastic holder they come attached to, and sometimes there's a raised nub. This raised nub had kept the glue from holding, because the entire cap was not flush.

You can see the other circles on the underside. The white one at the bottom is where there was a raised section. I filed it down with a raspy sandpapery nail file. The other white areas on the rim are just from where the factory glue was put. I didn't do any filing except that lower circle. Got it almost down to the surface.

I got some Elmer's School Glue at 10Box. I put it on with a toothpick, over those white areas. I held it with pressure for two minutes. Then I left it alone for 24 hours. Now my hose clicks on like a charm. The cap stays in place when I remove  the hose.

I'm a regular MacGyver!

I guess I need to be. This pump still has 4 years and 10.5 months to go.