So in my first post I referenced the super awesome continuous glucose monitor that I got to try for a week. It was, basically, super FUCKING awesome. I had to add "fucking" in there to really express how awesome this thing was. I had the Dexcom 7 system which meant I had a separate device that I had to keep track of on top of my pump and since it wasn't tethered to me it took me awhile to get over the crippling fear that I would lose it and owe them thousands of dollars. Even considering all that, it was still super FUCKING awesome.
I got hooked up to it at my doctor's office by the sales rep guy (who put up with my incessant babbling quite well, I think) and he told me all of the things that I could have figured out myself because I tend to read manuals and I'm good at simple electronic devices to begin with but I was so excited to have it I didn't really mind.
Then I got to go home with it! I put it in my pocket and went home and babbled incessantly to my roommate about how SUPER AWESOME it was. Here's the condensed version of my babbling for your benefit (I don't think she really appreciated how non-linear I was out of excitement and general ADD.)
1. This thing has my blood sugar on it! ALL THE TIME! WITH NO DELAY! Holy crap that's amazing. If you're not diabetic, you cannot possibly understand how amazing that is but I could look down at any moment and be like "oh, my blood sugar is great!" or more often "shit, it's dropping...oh no, it's leveled off...HOW DID THAT HAPPEN." (I'm sorry there are so many yell-y words in this post, it's just so awesome)
2. The sensor lasts for 7 days. SEVEN. That's way more days than any other system by at least 2 and sometimes 4!
3. I only had to calibrate it every 12 hours...but I could calibrate it more (and I most definitely did). It's so CONVENIENT and UNOBTRUSIVE! It isn't like my dog "Hey, Hey! I'm alive! Hey! Attend to me! Omg you haven't paid attention to me in 20 seconds" It's more like the cat "Yo, I'm cool...just give me a pet and I'll be on my way." That part was one of the super awesome features of awesomeness.
So I spent most of the week constantly look at the numbers and then testing my blood sugar to compare the numbers and then being astounded by how close the numbers were and then calibrating it again because, hey, why not?
Then at the end of the week the little machine was like "Change Sensor" and I was all "*sadface*" about it. I no longer had my little numbers and graphs to look at. I felt like I had a pancreas again for a little bit (albeit an extremely NEEDY one so maybe not a pancreas but a pretty good approximation if you forget about the fact that I had to interact with the machinery for the effeect...) and then they took it away again! Right this second I have no idea what my blood sugar is. I tested it less than 10 minutes ago but who KNOWS what it's doing now? It could be 70...or 345 and I have no idea. I certainly can't sit around testing my blood sugar every ten minutes. That week's trial was such a tease.
I NEED this thing. Not just want, but NEED. I could be the PERFECT diabetic if I had it. PERFECT I TELL YOU! No more eye aneurysms or weird foot tingling when I wear heels. I wouldn't have to pee in a jug for 24 hours sometimes so they could test my proteins because I wouldn't have any proteins to worry about.
Not once in the week that I had the device did I sit in a ball on the couch with my boyfriend's water (because heaven forbid I go get my OWN water) making zombie noises waiting for my 500mg/dl blood sugar to come down to a reasonable level for me to get some work done. I'm pretty sure I average 110 for the whole week....or at least 150. Certainly not more than that. I should ask the rep if he can tell me what my average was...
Anyway. Now I am sad. I have no continuous monitor and I feel this sense of impending diabetic doom pretty much all day long because nothing is telling me when my blood sugar is rising or falling except my extremely confused and irrational body that thinks falling from 400 to 231 is a good reason to tell me I'm low and should eat an entire row of ritz crackers with nutella. Stupid body. I want the sensor back and unless my insurance company approves it, I can't afford to have it.
Insurance companies are a bitch. (Please give me the Dexcom, BCBS, I will love you forever and give you cookies and they totally wont be sugar free cause I hate sugar free ones..... Please?)
(Sorry for the extreme manic-ness of this post. I'm sick and nervous about the insurance thing because I want it so badly and I'm the only diabetic in the world whose blood sugar DROPS when they're sick. WTF is with that?)
No comments:
Post a Comment