You can see when my Lantus kicked in. And when I finally corrected for those pesky low alarms
Sometimes you do everything like normal, and diabetes responds in kind. I wish those days happened more frequently.
A Rare Good Day
Odin
An Ironic Lack of Control
With Scientific Sessions behind me, I can now start to work off the days of sleep I’ve missed out on. Because the convention center was over 3 miles away from my hotel, I did not have the luxury of the cathartic walk to and from the day’s adventures. This meant I had to add the stress of rush hour traffic after the day was over to the stress of cab drivers with a wide range of behavior patterns. I did what I could but between exhaustion and stress, I had my work cut out for me each day.
I did my best to venture out into the city and its neighboring areas for sights and bites, most notably Butcher and the Burger, but it became more difficult to embrace my already lacking sense of adventure given the previously mentioned exhaustion and stress.
One other contributing factor to my immediate desire for rest and relaxation was my lack of blood glucose management. I tried to apply lessons learned from my previous convention center marathons at Sessions in San Diego and Philadelphia, but I think I was a little too proactive in my efforts.
Finding My Way
And this is why I haven’t been posting Dexcom pictures lately
I tend to think of my over-sharing of Dexcom photos as a form of accountability. By being open about my highs and lows I think it helps keep a degree of focus about my diabetes management. That was part of the reason for starting the Daily Dexcom Tumblr – to show genuine ups and downs of this disease, as told by Dexcom graphs (and potentially pretentious image filters). But what happens when I start to second-guess my decision to share? What happens when I hold back?
Floating in the Unknown
I will say up front that this story has a happy ending. I received my re-up of test strips, insulin pen needles, and insulin when I got home from work and immediately tested my blood glucose after relying on my Dexcom, and only my Dexcom for the entire day. For what it’s worth, my Dexcom was only 3 mg/dL off from my meter when I tested it after a day flying blind.
My concerns are still the same with all of this. My Dexcom is only as accurate as my meter is only as accurate is the technology is capable of calculating. Hardcore diabetes advocates know the FDA’s mandated accuracy for meters is nothing close to acceptable for the people that are directly impacted by these liberal data ranges. The result is a flimsy, but necessary, measure of trust that this technology will live up to the standards and can withstand the tremendous burden placed upon its metaphorical shoulders: keeping me alive.
Diabetes Blog Week 2013 – Memories
Things They Don’t Tell You At Diagnosis
Your wardrobe will forever be impacted an influenced by your diabetes management. This particularly comes in to play for me when I’m trying on new shirts, and I have to consider Dexcom sensor exposure.
Is that a Dexcom sensor on your arm or are you just…oh, yes, that is a Dexcom sensor on your arm
I’m not ashamed of or trying to hide my diabetes, but I need to be aware of what is visible and what might get caught in the crossfire by my carelessness.
Tales From Odin’s Beard: Build Quality
It took me 5 solid minutes to get the receiver to hold still long enough for this picture
It’s incredible, despite the many, many benefits of Dexcom’s G4, that the build quality of the receiver is so poor.
What you’re looking at is the slide cover for the USB port on the side of the G4 receiver. I suppose the idea is that you would want to keep the port covered until it’s being used – a philosophy opposite that of most cell phones. While I’m not necessarily for or against this design, I wish Dexcom would have a stronger commitment to its design with some stronger plastic.
See the little metal bit in the slide? That’s not supposed to be visible. There’s supposed to be a bit of plastic covering the metal slide-y bit across the entire length of the side. You can see on the left that there’s still a little plastic left, and that’s the only thing keeping the slide in place. I’m going to see how much longer it lasts but at this point I know I’m on borrowed time.
A Consequence of Hypoglycemia. 