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Posts from the ‘Robot Life’ Category

Aug 3

3 Comments

That Clip, Though.

I’ve been using the t:slim pump for the better part of a year now, and over the last few months (here’s a handy disclosure that you should read for context on my relationship with Tandem), I’ve appreciated the new set of options that the t:slim has brought into my diabetes life.

… man, that sounds a little formal.  I’m too pregnant for formality at the moment.  (My feet have officially given up on being feet and refuse any covering other than socks or flip flops, and my son is moving visibly as I type, making sitting close to my desk a challenge. Eff formality.)  The reasons for the t:slim being a badass addition to my diabetes management RIGHT THIS SECOND are that I can take a bolus in a matter of seconds without scrolling through fifty different screens, I can edit my basal or insulin:carb needs with a few beeps, and the 300 unit reservoir is going to come in handy these last few weeks of pregnancy.

One challenge I’ve historically had with the t:slim pump, however, is the clip that is shipped out with it.  For me, the clip was a little bulkier than I preferred and also not as secure as I needed.  I wanted streamlined and secure, and as my pregnant body expands and clothing options like “pockets” and “waistbands” have been shoved into the distance.  I need my pump clip to be able to hang on by a thread.

This one works great, though:

I love this clip. #tslim #diabetes #insulinpump

A photo posted by Kerri Sparling (@sixuntilme) on

A friend suggested this clip to me and gave me one of theirs, but since trying it out, I’ve keep a spare or two on hand because it seriously solves all of my pump clip troubles.  The tape is very secure and I’ve had the same pump clip stay successfully stuck for the last six months.  I have no relationship with the company who makes the clip, and this is not an affiliate link or anything like that, but if you want to try out a pump clip for your t:slim (or any other pump) that is subtle, streamlined, and strong, this Nite Ize Hip Clip is worth a shot.

Hey! An informative post! Who saw that coming? Not me. Bring on the cat gifs.

cat filing his nails

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Jul 21

8 Comments

“Do You Like It?”

“Excuse me … your, um, arm?  What’s that on your arm?”

Ninety-five percent of the time, I don’t care if people ask about my insulin pump or CGM.  More power to them for being bold enough to embrace the awkwardness and actually ask, instead of assuming.  (And even in the 5% moments of “argh – stop looking, don’t ask,” it usually ends up being a moment of discussion and disclosure I’m grateful for.  I should be more open to discussing diabetes in a public setting.  Hang on a second … let me start a blog real quick.)

“On my arm?  That’s my insulin pump.  I have diabetes.”

I was in line at Starbucks, grabbing an iced coffee (under the gestational lock and key of decaf for just a few more weeks), escaping the blazing summer temperatures for a few minutes before heading back to work.  I was wearing a skirt and a tank top, with my infusion set connected to the back of my right arm.  My body – thanks to third trimester expansion, has run out of subtle places to stash my insulin pump, so it was casually clipped to the strap of my tank top.

Kind of noticeable, but in a “who cares” sort of way.  It’s hot outside.  And I’m wicked pregnant.  And I have no waist anymore.  You can see my insulin pump?  Good for you.  You can probably see my belly button, too.

“No kidding.  Diabetes?  Is it because of the pregnancy?”

“No, I’ve had diabetes way longer than this pregnancy.  I was diagnosed when I was seven.”

The guy paused for a second, his eyes lingering on the infusion set on my arm.  “So you do that thing instead of shots?”

“Yep.”

“Do you like it?”

That question always throws me a little.  Do I like it?  The pump?  I do like the pump.  I like not taking injections.  I like not whipping out syringes at the dinner table and exposing my skin.  I like taking wee ickle bits of insulin to correct minor highs.  I like running temp basals to beat back hypos.  I like people wondering what it might be instead of assuming it’s a medical device.

“I do like it.  It works for me.”  I paused, already envious of the coffee in his hand.  “I like coffee more, though.”

He laughed and finished paying for his coffee.  “Can’t blame you for that.  Good luck with the baby, and try to stay cool in this weather,” he said.

I don’t like diabetes.  That’s for damn sure.  That shit is exhausting and I’m burnt out on the demands it places on my life.  But the pump?  Yes, I do like it.  It’s  a streamlined delivery mechanism for a hormone I wish my body would just cave and start making again.  It handles diabetes so I can go back to trying to put my socks on without tipping over.

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Jul 20

9 Comments

Enjoy the Silence. Or Not So Much.

[Disclosure about my relationship with Dexcom]

During the first trimester of this pregnancy, lows were intense and weirdly symptomatic; a nice contrast from the hypoglycemia unawareness that’s crept in over the last five or six years.  (I ended up stashing a jar of jellybeans in the dining room hutch, only to have to move it into direct line of sight in the kitchen in efforts to keep up with the persistent low blood sugars of those first few weeks.)  As this pregnancy has moved forward, the lows have become slightly more predictable and the hypo-unawareness has returned, making the Dexcom BEEPS! and BLARGHS! more necessary.

Until that week when I noticed, “Hey, the alarms have been quieter.”  And then I realized, “Hey, the alarms aren’t working.”  Because overnight, my G4 receiver had been rendered mute.

When I received the Dexcom recall notice several months ago, it was very early February, and I was still using the G5 transmitter.  At the time, the only people who knew I was pregnant were my family and my medical team, but I knew, and I was stalking blood sugars with vigor (and a side of panic).  My endocrinologist, not a fan of the data output from the G5 application, asked if I would consider using the G4 for the remainder of my pregnancy.  Wanting her to check the “compliant” box on my chart (there’s a first time for everything), I switched back to the G4 the following week and have been on it since.

And for months, my G4 receiver was fine.  Alarmed all the damn time, vibrating and buzzing from my bedside table or my purse and alerting me to the changing needs of my baby-hosting body.  And then, all of a sudden, the speaker went full garbage, not working at all.  Only a vibration came from the receiver, making my phone* the best laid plan for alerting me audibly.

It wasn’t until I woke up one morning and saw the empty raisin box and the discarded juice box that I realized the night before wasn’t very comfortable.  And that I didn’t wake up because of alarms, but instead because of aggressive baby kicks.  I couldn’t ride out the rest of this pregnancy without replacing the receiver, because I was NOT waking up even with the phone alarms.  I needed high octane, receiver-in-a-glass-with-some-coins sort of jolting.  I needed to connect the alarms to Siah, encouraging her to walk across my face when I was low.  Or similar.

I needed the receiver to actually WORK PROPERLY.

So I went to the website – Dexcom has a special page set up for this particular issue.  There’s also a special hotline number to call: (844) 607-8398.  After a quick exchange with the woman on the phone, she asked me to confirm that my alarms weren’t working by doing the following:

  • press the center button on your receiver to access the Main Menu
  • scroll down to Profiles
  • select Profiles
  • scroll down to Try It
  • select Try It
  • scroll down to 55 Fixed Low
  • select 55 Fixed Low
  • verify that you receive vibrations first (vibratory portion of alarm), followed by beeps (audible portion of alarm).

And once we confirmed the alarm absence, a new receiver was scheduled to be shipped out.  Should be arriving in the next few days, in time for me to finish up this pregnancy as a G4 user (to make my doctor happy) and hopefully by staying in my threshold lines (to make my fetus happy).

If your G4 receiver suddenly craps out, sound-wise, call the hotline number and have a new one sent out.  Alarms that won’t alarm are alarming.

(* I follow myself on the Dexcom Follow app, along with one other person.  Yes, redundant.  In response to the dead receiver speaker, I changed the alarm settings on my phone so that I’d be alerted for highs and lows.  This worked, in theory, except when my phone was on silent or in the other room.)

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Jun 10

6 Comments

Free Shower.

Internet LOLZ suggest I title this post “Free Shower Be Like …” but I refuse to do that.  My dad, and every English teacher I’ve ever had, would throw things at my head.

Instead, I’ll just assert that diabetes-device free showers are totally akin to this:

AKA the happy dance of airy weightlessness, scrubbing skin unadorned with medical devices.  It’s brief, but beautiful.

(unrelated but entirely related:  all of these gifs are terrific)

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Jun 7

10 Comments

Blame the Hormones.

I’m still angry that the UHC/Medtronic issue hasn’t been resolved.  There is/was a ton of discussion about how this is not a decision that takes patient needs and preferences into account but instead seems to cater to what’s best for business needs. “Resolved” would be a reversal of this decision and reinstating the patient/doctor team’s right to decide which therapy is best.  I am very curious to see what the financial disclosure looked like for this partnership. I’m unnerved that the slippery slope is being greased by apathy. Where’s our raised voice?

Sometimes I feel like I don’t have enough skin in this particular game because I don’t have United Healthcare as my insurer and I also have a business relationship with Tandem, but at the same time, I have a full pancreas in the game because I have diabetes. I don’t want insurance companies telling me what’s best for my diabetes; I want that decision made between me and my doctor.

What to do?  I’m unsure.  I know I can share my story about personal diabetes preferences directly influencing health outcomes (hey, like using an insulin pump that fits my current needs in order to achieve an excellent A1C and so-far healthy pregnancy?)  I know I can talk about how access matters, because without it, my life gets ugly fast (she says with the security of three months worth of insulin tucked safely into the butter compartment of her fridge).  But I feel like my frustrations are in a holding pattern of waiting for someone else to do something or suggest something, watching as time slips by and people become more meh about decisions about our health being made by people who don’t live intimately with diabetes.

I deserve the right to choose.  Whether we’re talking about the insulin I take or the pump I use or the meter I rely on, these choices play directly into my health and well-being both physically and emotionally.  I didn’t chose diabetes but I deserve the right to chose how I manage this disease.

I’m still angry about this.  Frustrated.  Confused about what to do next.  And swimming in a sea of hormones that makes me unable to keep my mouth shut and my blog quiet.  What comes next, unfortunately, still remains a mystery to me.

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