Friday, April 9, 2010

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.


17 comments:

Susanne said...

Yeah for Dexter!!!!

Alexis Black said...

Amazing! What is not to love about Dexter? Sorry about your night, but so glad you got to spend it with at least two of the most precious men in your life!

Jen said...

Fantastic! I love Dexcom and it is the reason why animas and omnipod were in the running for pumps for us. I am SO excited to CGM's improve and I honestly cannot wait to trial one for Addison. I have heard great things...I think you picked out a really rockin' new boyfriend!

Meri said...

A girl can't have enough love. CGM's are a miracle for sure! Congrats on the successful night. :)

Donna said...

That is one SEXY boyfriend you have there, my dear! Nothing sexier than a little guy who keeps your kiddo alive!
I am so excited to start my love affair with my new boyfriend today... I still need to name him... hopefully it will come to me soon! :o)

Unknown said...

Well I couldn't use Dexie...Tracy has that one, plus I wanted him to sound "manly". :o)

Good luck today dear friend. I cannot wait to hear all about it.

(((Hugs))) to you...I hope your "boyfriend" is as HOT as mine. xoxo

Marc said...

Does Dexter have a sister?!?!?!? I could use a girlfriend with skills like that!

Unknown said...

Dexie? or Comy? hehe. It is really fabulous and spot on. Joe has had a rough day of BGs, and Dexter has been working overtime with the lability. Ah...now to figure out how to really make it work. I get him ALL to myself this w/e. YAY...I don't have to share him with the school nurse.

Sarah said...

I'd be interested in hearing how/if it helps at school. We gave the MM CGM a shot, but it just didn't work for Isaac yet as it fell out twice during our trial. Maybe when he's a bit bigger. Glad you're enjoying the new equipment.

Unknown said...

Sarah...we trialed the MM when Joe was 4 and hated it. The site got infected and we found that it did not correlate well. Dexter, so far, is good to go, but I need to figure out how to "filter" so much data.

AjsMommy82 said...

Sounds like the perfect man! Wonder how my hubby would feel about me getting a boy toy! :)
Glad you LOVE it, can't wait until we get one for Alivia!

Wendy said...

I love the way you wrote this it was so great! I cant wait until we get one for Avery!!

Hallie Addington said...

Sign me up! I'm going to try my new boyfriend out first. Then of he doesn't work out, I can kick him to the curb. :) excited for you!!!

Wendy said...

KEEP THEM COMING!!!!!! 3 months ago, I was FLAT OUT ANTI-CGM after our experience last year. I've been slowly submerging myself in success stories hoping to get back into the saddle one day....I NEED THESE STORIES!!!!!

Anonymous said...

I remember the first nights of DexCom. I got to the point I wanted to throw it out the window because I was supposed to get more sleep not less. But the information is has provided has been tremendous. Over seven months we have seen a decrease in Caleb's A1C of .6. But overall, I'm just less stressed because we aren't playing roulette 12 times a day with just fingersticks. In general we just know more and I don't want to throw Dexie out the window at all. I'm so glad he's an extra man in our house. :)

connie said...

haha!! I love your sense of humor :) I look forward to the day when I can get my girls to try out a CGM. I hope it will help to lessen my "worry-factor" and give me some peace of mind.

Thank you for commenting on my blog and giving me such a warm welcome, all of you D-mommas have been so kind!

Unknown said...

hopefully, these devices will get smaller and smaller and be available to everyone, very very soon. Maggie uses the MM cgm and it won't stay in when she's exercising and sweaty :( Switching to a new pump system at this point is out of her comfort zone. :(