MY NEW BOYFRIEND

There is a new "man" in my life...and yes, my husband knows about him. His name is "Dexter". Joe went into the clinic yesterday to start our month long Dexcom Continuous Glucometer trial. When gazing at Dexter in the office, I had a beautiful feeling wash over me. He is small in stature, but his data supply runs deep, he is relatively painless with numbing cream and he can be told to "be quiet" with a push of one button. In less than 4 hours I was 100% in LOVE with Dexter and all the precious, quick information he provides me with.

Pre-post EDUMACATION: For any of you are not familiar with diabetes, let me start by saying most people with diabetes monitor their blood sugars by testing their blood, via a finger prick and a glucometer, between 4 and 12 times a day. This still provides a very incomplete picture of what your blood sugar is doing, since there can be hours of gaps between readings. So, for a "more complete" picture Continuous Glucometers can be used. They are sensors that you stick into your body and wear all the time. They give you a near-continuous (every few minutes) picture of what your blood sugar is doing. Some models also give you trend arrows, so that if you’re climbing or falling quickly, an alarm will go off — it’s a great way to prevent a high or low before it happens.

We had decided to give the Dexcom a try after chasing Joe and his lows for years. He is an extremely active boy. He also had an episode this past winter where he had a severe low where he passed out after playing hockey in our backyard...see My Life Through a Snow Globe.

OK back to my long...passionate night with Dexter: Keep in mind this is a night, post-hockey game and a dinner out at Moe's. With that said, not a typical night at all - thank God.


Dexter has had me up most of the night...but I am not angry with Dexter; I am thankful for what he has done.

• 1:30am: Dexter started alarming for a HIGH, I went into Joe's room and did a blood sugar check...yep, 300s...ok, bolus, set my alarm for 3:30am, and back to bed.

• 3am: An hour and a half later, Dexter is alarming...me trying to focus on the annoying beep in my sleep induced state, figuring out it is Dexter beckoning me to come to him. I go back to Joe's room... Dexter's receiver is stating that Joe's blood sugar is 45...alrighty then, I did a blood sugar check to make sure Dexter was telling me the truth, and sure enough Dexter would not tell a lie. So, 4 glucose tabs for Joe.

• 4am: At this point Dexter's titillating information has me up for the day. I went back into check the receiver at 4am and Joe is a steady 130. NICE.

• 5:30am Dexter calls again...Joe is 55...OK...more sugar

In the throws of blood sugar checking, insulin bolusing and sugar pushing...my LOVE for Dexter has grown. I am obviously hoping Dexter's and my affair isn't so hot and heavy every night, but what a great learning experience. Dexter is deep and caring, a guardian of my most precious son, Joe. I will charge him every 3 days, or so, to keep him lively and I will protect him from water so that he doesn't fry from this day forward, until Joe or Insurance coverage do us part.