This past weekend, I was in Omaha (pronounced in my head as “OMAHA!!!!” almost every time), Nebraska for a TCOYD conference, joining in as speaker for the event. One of the topics in OMAHA!!!! that we talked about was the integration of medical devices, sharing anecdotal stories about life with out diabetes-related robot parts. Panel moderator Dr. Jeremy Pettus shared…
Hypoglycemic Blues.
Blood Sugars, Dexcom, Diabetes Advocacy, Diabetes Videos, Real Life Diabetes, Robot LifeI’m not a fan of traveling by air (major understatement) and my flight-related anxiety has ebbed and flowed over the last few years. Actually, it’s been way more flow than ebb, because traveling by plane has a direct and predictable influence on my blood sugars, in that the anxiety of air travel causes my blood sugar to rise with the…
It’s not just a matter of slapping on a new sensor, queuing it up, and making use of the data once it’s available on the graph. Wearing a Dexcom sensor has now become this intricate pseudo-science of site rotation, skin maintenance, and scheduling, thanks to the dreaded Dexcom rash. My first skin irritation from the Dexcom sensor popped up in…
EVERYWHERE.
Dexcom, Diabetes Advocacy, Diabetes Community, Diabetic Mommy, Pumping Insulin, Robot Life“How long have you been on the pump?” He stood next to his car, holding the gas pump to his tank, filling up his car while I was putting my debit card into the console near my car. “I’m sorry?” “Insulin pump. How long for you? I just got mine a few weeks ago.” “Oh, I’m sorry! I thought you…
I don’t know how to write out the theme for JAWS, but mentally insert that [here] because apparently there was a shark sighting in the wee early morning hours of my basal profile. Totally looks like we’re gonna need a bigger boat. You might also like: Pre-Bolusing for Snacks. Free Shower. Ketchup and Mustard. BOLUS: Beware Of Loose, Unsupervised Snacks.
This morning, in the shower, I heard the Dexcom start to wail. Actually, I heard Birdy mimicking the Dexcom low alarm from the bathroom floor, where she was hanging out and coloring with crayons while I took a shower (Chris was away and in a meeting all day, so I was solo-parenting). “Beeeep, beeeeeep,” she sang in a tuneless sort…
It’s been almost a year since the first itchy, blistering rashes showed up underneath my Dexcom sensors, but by taking a very peculiar set of precautions, the rashes are all but gone. Thanks to the use of the J&J Toughpad underneath my Dexcom sensors, I’m able to go a full seven (plus!) days without reacting rashly. So yay! for no…
“I’m going to draw a picture of Grandpa.” “Okay, so where do you start?” She put her finger to her lips, pondering. “How about … a head! With two eyes! And a nose with nostrils. And some cheeks.” Birdy pressed her pen against the paper, painstakingly drawing a circle for the head, and then two eyes, and a nose. Her…
BEEEEEEP! BEEEEEP! wails the Dexcom. Birdy, who is coloring at the kitchen table, yells back, “BEEEEEP! BEEEEEEP! Mawm, your Dexcom is making the beep sound again,” and she absently points her red crayon towards the bottle of glucose tabs on the table nearby. For the most part, I can rely on the Dexcom to be accurate when it’s throwing out…
Oodles going on today. Here’s the rundown: Dexcom: Dexcom and I had a very nice day yesterday. My sugars held surprisingly steady (surprising because I tend to ping all over the place) ALL DAY LONG. I didn’t pop out of range once during the workday. I’m potentially chalking this up to techno-joy at the moment, though, because my A1c plummeted…
I have to be completely honest here: The Dexcom scared the hell out of me. It sat on the kitchen table for a few days and stayed hidden in the FedEx box. I wasn’t quite ready to look at it and I was even less ready to saddle myself with another medical device. But a couple of Officially Scary low…