Some one on the insulin pumpers list posted today emphasizing that while there isn’t a cure, diabetics are living longer. the post pointed out that before 1920, Type 1 was a death sentence.
I can relate and probably more intimately. My father and I were diagnosed in the same birth year.
He was sent home with urine test strips amd told not to eat sugar. His pilot’s license was revoked.
I have choices and technology he didn’t have, 25 years later. There are oral meds, injectables, and the insulin pump to choose from.
And now there is CGMS.
So far I have remained active and able to do what I want. At this stage, my father was housebond, on oxygen, with congestive heart failure.
iA big positive difference.
Blog
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Beyond We’re Alive
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Traveling
I’m off to Monroe (Louisiana) to an agility trial in a few minutes. Bad thing about traveling with dogs, the truck is completely filled with their stuff and there isn’t much room for my stuff.
They have an exercise pen and matt for the trial site, and an extra set of cages for the hotel — that DOES make life easier, food, bowls, water, etc. Three dogs takes up a lot of room in a small truck.
I’m traveling with the Dexcom for the first time. I am going to leave manuals, etc. at home as they have 24/7 support AND have the manual on line, and I have that available to me.
I’m also taking Fitness4Diabetics on the road for the first time too. My workouts will be curtailed to some extend, but then I’ve been known to put in over 15,000 steps at a trial.
Next week I’m going on a road trip by myself, so this will be a good rehearsal.
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Dexcom – Removed first sensor and put in a new one
Last night, after I got out of the hot tub, the sensor was reading disconnected. I had already planned to switch sensors, as the back part of the adhesive was coming loose. I wanted a new sensor in, stable and working before I drove to Monroe, Louisiana, and I wanted to have it going smoothly for at least the first day of dog agility.
Next time, I’ll know better, I bet I could have gotten the sensor to go a full two weeks. The majority of the adhesive was down good and solid.
This time I did feel the sensor needle go in and out. But I do believe I have a good install — I don’t feel anything once I got everything in place — including the sensor.
So far, I am exceptionally pleased with the Dexcom sensor. As I get more comfortable with it, I’ll start pushing the envelope more and see if I can get my A1C and my weight down.
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Dexcom — one week
I put the Dexcom sensor in last Friday afternoon. I swear that it gets more accurate every day. I am still showering and hot tubbing without a problem.
Yesterday, the system caught three lows. Once in the morning when I went shopping. I thought about eating something, but I wasn’t low enough yet, so I just stopped shopping and was fine.
Same thing happened in the afternoon. I was on the treadmill and was heading for the low (alarm went off), so I just got off the treadmill and let things stabilize. Same thing happened in the evening.
I can see that the system could help me lose weight — at least I have a choice now.
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Dexcom – 6 days
Reset everything again — and seriously, this sucker gets more stable as time goes on. Numbers are very close to the meter, trends make sense, etc. I still finger stick as normal and dose as normal, but it is nice to see what is going on.
Also got in the hot tub again last night AND the shower yesterday morning and not only missed only one data point or two, but the system was stable then.
Still very pleased.
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Dexcom
Came home from dog class, covered in dirt, sweat, sun block and bug spray. Shed the clothing (leaving the receiver in my skirt) and dumped it into the hamper and hopped into the hot tub.
Completely bypassed the shower covers.
Oh well, I thought, probably have to replace it — and that’s after thinking I’d popped out the sensor in the humidity, but had popped out a set instead.
WOW! Got out of the hot tub, dried off, pulled out the transmitter and it was dry and STILL working — after retrieving the receiver from the hamper.
Are the numbers 100% accurate? Are the meters? Of course not (and those of you who still think they are, do two fingers sticks in a row and measure with your meter. Heck, measure the blood twice from the SAME finger stick.
Does the graph of the meter match what is happening in my body? Yeah, it think so. It peaks when I eat, it falls when I exercise or take insulin.
Am I going to use Dexcom every day? I don’t know — it depends on if I can afford it and if I need it. I’m certainly going to use it the next few weeks while life is weird, especially since I’m driving so much.
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Lousy night
Dexcom is still working well.
Weight is going well.
Exercise with Fitness for Diabetics is going well.
However … apparently it hit the whole city — no storm, but the power kept going out. It would go out, then back on for a few minutes than out again.
First, that’s a huge problem with the CPAP, because all of a sudden I don’t get any air and I start strangling. Needless to say, the mask comes off.
I did grab my emergency battery and use it.
However, I need a cool room to sleep and the humidifier on the cpap, neither of which was happening.
I’m hoping to finish the major project I was whining about this week. Hopefully tomorrow.
Dog classes have been completely rescheduled — those of you who read the real news would have seen we had major flooding in north Texas which flooded the agility barn. Not a major problem since our school is the only school that has been able to hold classes on a regular basis.
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Diabetes Mine: The Other iPort
I’ve actually TRIED the iPort — and still have a partial box. I’ll save them in case I have surgery again but they aren’t worth the hassle. You’ll find more about them if you check my archives.
The other iPort stands for injection port, a little extended-wear doohickey that attaches to your skin for easy injecting, without the need for repeated skin punctures.
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Dexcom – Morning of Day 3
Yesterday was interesting — numbers were really off — missing a lot of night time data but the trends definitely matched what was going on. Things settled back down in the late afternoon.
I think I saved the cost of an insertion set last night. Dexcom woke me up about 4:00 am saying I was low. I was at 101 according to my blood glucose monitor and extremely groggy. I couldn’t wake up enough to really do anything about it but got up, moved around and I think that was enough to fix this. Same thing happened about 6:30.
In the past, I think I would have woke up enough to pull the set and roll over and go back to sleep until things got fixed. I do that two or three times a month.
Yes, I’m still happy with it.
I got brave and took a shower with out a shower cover, and haven’t lost communications yet.
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Scott Verplank came in 7th in the US Open
Scott Verplank is my athletic hero — he was even before I knew he was a diabetic and an pumper — he is a graduate of my school district (next high school over), grew up at the golf course down the street, etc. He is having a fabulous year, placing in the top 10 at several tournaments and winning the Nelson this year.
Former Oklahoma State golf standout Scott Verplank finishes tied for seventh behind Cabrera. Verplank closed with a 2-over-par 72 and ended at 10-over 290 for the tournament. He earned a little more than $194,000.