Dropped the Sensor

I have had several good weeks of getting 6 days out of the Guardian sensors. I put the sensor in on Monday and take it out on Sunday morning.

I have had some issues with the left side of my stomach, as I mentioned previously. There was the bleed out incident, the didn't go all the way in incident, the shaving reaction incident and this week I had new incident.

I was prepared and ready to insert the sensor. I pushed the button and snap, the plunger of the insertion tool went down and the insertion needle stopped at the skin.

What is up with this?

I looked down and tried to push the sensor in, but the needle would not penetrate the skin. I pulled the insertion tool away from my skin and the tool slipped out of my hand and fell to the floor. The tool bounced off the floor and then insertion tool fell flat, but the sensor needle was stuck vertically in the carpet with the sensor raised slightly above height of the carpet.

Well, there goes another $15.00 for a wasted sensor. I don't think it would be a good idea to try and stick in me know. If it was dull to begin with, it is duller now and it is contaminated.

I started over with a new sensor. I pushed the button and snap, it sensor went in. Not a lick of trouble. I pulled the tape off and pulled the insertion needle out. No bleeding, yee! ha!

I have been waiting a little longer then the five minutes suggested in the users guide, before I start the sensor. It seems to start better and with fewer problems when there is more time between insertion and CGM start.

I brushed my teeth, shaved, put on after shave, took my vitamins and then I started the sensor.

I saw the five green flashes of the LED on the transmitter and the CGM recognized the sensor. After the two hour interval to take the first BG, I am back to the world of continuous glucose monitoring.

A Week Off from the CGM

Couple of days before I insert a new sensor, I shave the area where I plan to insert it. I have been staying with my belly as an insertion site. I start with the right side and then switch to the left when it is time to put in a new sensor and repeat every seven days. I use a sensor for six days if I can and then take a day off and put in a new sensor on Mondays.

shortly after my last shave I had a terrible reaction. The skin became very red and irritated, it started to itch. When I started to prep for an insertion the alcohol wipe sent me through the roof. OK, time to leave this one alone.

I decided to take a week off from the CMG and give my skin a rest.

It took me only a day to fall back into my routine of sticking my finger six to eight times a day. I found myself reaching for my belt to pull the CGM off the clip and check by BG. To bad, it wasn't there. If I want to know I have to stick myself. I can wait.

During this week away from the CGM, it seemed that I went low more then I normally did with the CGM. There was more guess work between meals on knowing where my BG was.

My skin was making a come back. The irritation had subsided, but I didn't want to inflame the skin a second time, so I was not going to shave when I went to insert the sensor. I would insert it and tape over the stubble that had started to reappear.

The sensor went in. The tape went on and no irritation occurred.

Not Ready!

Oh the disappointment.

The motorcycle was not ready for the Saturday pickup. There was a problem with the headlight installation. It was taking much longer then expected.

Then the bike will need to be put together. A map for the fuel injection and engine timing systems would be loaded into the computer. The bike will need to be detailed, so no finger prints from the mechanics are left on the bike.

Then it will be ready for delivery. The dealer thinks it will all be done by Tuesday mid day.

OK, I will just have to wait. I guess it is pretty cold outside, so I wont be riding anyway.

It

It is Red.

It glows golden red in the sunlight. It has a big engine and ABS breaks. It seats two and has a loud muffler. It has three golden red bags for storage.

It will be ready for me to pick it up on Saturday.

Too bad there is snow on the ground. Too bad it is 13 degrees outside. Too bad I can't ride it.

It will have to be delivered to our house.

I need to find a place to park it in the garage. What can I move around to make room for it? What can I take out of the garage to make room for it?

Who's car should I park it next too. Who is least likely to scratch it?

It is pictured at the bottom of this blog page. The picture does not do it justice.

It will be ready on Saturday.

First Quarter 2008, Checkup

Ring, Ring,

Ring, Ring,

Hello.

This is the Doctors office reminding you of your appointment tomorrow at 3:00.

OK. Bye.

I didn’t know I had an appointment. It is not on my calendar. I know I thought about adding it, but I obviously didn’t put it on my calendar. Worse, I was suppose to go in a week early and give blood for labs. I didn’t do that either.

OK, I need a new plan.

Take off from work early today and go give blood. Go to the Doctors tomorrow and beg for forgiveness on not getting the labs done on time. Try to impress the Doctor with my recent trip around the world. Maybe he will allow the oversight.

While standing in line to wait my turn to give blood, the Nurse asks. Have you been fasting? Uh, no, I answer. OK she responded. Just make sure the Doctor knows that you were not fasting. OK, I respond.

The next day I arrive at the Doctors. I have printed out the last two months of my CGM statistics from the Medtronic Carelink website.

The Doctor comes in and asks how I have been. Good, I say. You know my glucose may be off a bit, as I have spent the last two weeks traveling around the world. Did we down load your meter? The Doctor asks. No, I have these charts. I respond.

We look at the charts. The Doctor asks how I like the CGM. I love it. I used it all the time during my travels around the world. I respond. No response from the Doctor. He doesn’t seem impressed.

Let’s look at you labs. He said. OK, get the excuses ready. Before I can say anything, the Doctor said my A1C was 7. That is what it was last quarter.

Wow, I am thinking. The lab work was done in less then a day. Looks like I don’t need an excuse.

The Doctor comments that my regiment must be pretty good, as my travels did not impact my A1C. However, your bad cholesterol is higher then last time. You need to watch what you eat and get more exercise. Is the advice I am given. It must have been those croissants, I think to myself.

Oh and a 7 on you’re A1C is barely passable, so you need to focus on your glucose management a little bit more. The Doctor tells me. I knew that comment was coming.

Would I be interested in using Symlin in a pen? He asks. Yes. I would. OK, lets get you talking to an educator.

I get with the educator and I get a prescription for a Symlin pen. I now have one less syringe to carry around.

Hypoglycemic Episode

After dinner TRW and I sat down to watch TV. We had a light dinner, Salad, Hamburgers without the buns and some sweet potato baked fries. I did my usual 10 units of Symlin and 4 units of Humulin R.

As we watched TV, I became very tired. It was hard to keep my eyes open, probably from all of my recent travels. As I am struggling to keep my eyes open, I am thinking I am so tired. I will just sit here and melt into the chair. I close my eyes and I can feel my body relax and I can hear my breathing slow as I fade away.

My hands feel numb, so I flex my fingers. I am so tired I don’t pay much attention to my hands, I drift off to sleep.

TRW is talking to me. I am so tired I can’t pay attention to her.

I see TRW through a fog. She is talking to me, but I don’t know what she is saying. I hear buzzing in my ears. She is leading me up stairs. She is asking me to check my BG, but I am having a hard time doing what she is asking. I am having a hard time understanding what she is asking. Why am I upstairs in the kitchen? I can’t think. I can’t make my body do what I think it should be doing. Some how I have done a BG test and the number is 46. What does that mean? I should know what it means. I can’t make myself think.

TRW gives me something to eat with loads of sugar. I am sitting at the kitchen table now. I don’t know how I got here. The buzzing in my ears is starting to subside. The tingling in my hands had stopped. My tongue is tingling. Thoughts are beginning to form in my head. TRW is looking at me like she looks very scared. What is going on?

TRW said something was wrong. I didn’t look good. She could tell that something was really wrong. I don’t remember I said. How did I get into the kitchen? What happened in the TV show?

TRW asks me where is my CGM? Why didn’t an alarm go off? I took my sensor off as it was finished. I had gotten my six days out of it. I am waiting for Monday to put in a new sensor. We could have used it tonight, she said. Why am I all sweaty? I ask.

Let’s go to bed, TRW suggest. We crawl in bed and I instantly go to sleep.

In the morning I check the memory of my BG tester. 46. Wow that is low. I don’t think I have ever been that low. I was in serious trouble. I was having a hypoglycemic episode and I didn’t know it.

TRW woke and we talked about what happened. This was the first time she had seen this kind of behavior from me. She realized that she possibly saved my life and kept me from ending up in a Hospital. Next time she said she would give me juice instead of food. It would help me to recover faster. She was glad that she saw what happens during a time of extremely low blood glucose.

She was scared. She said.

I didn’t know what was going on. I said.

Everyone is alright and we can learn from this experience.

The Return Flight

I leave the hotel at 7:00AM by taxi. I am headed to the airport and I notice that little is open this early in the morning. The Hotel didn’t have their breakfast ready, so I couldn’t pick up a cup of coffee. My flight does not leave until 11:00AM, but you never know if traffic will flow or if it will stop. I expect it will take us an hour to get to the airport and the Concierge suggested I give myself an hour to get to the Airport.

I arrive at the airport at 7:20AM. The taxi driver can’t find a place to pull over and let me out. He stops in the middle of a 4 lane road and lets me out. I have to cross 2 lanes of taxi and bus traffic to get to the safety of the curb, before I can enter the airport.

A cup of coffee would be good to have, but nothing is open at 7:30AM. The ticket counter is open, so I get my ticket and check my one bag. I go through security and Good Morning to the eight security folks that have a cup of coffee in their hands. I wonder where they found their cups of coffee. I make my way through immigrations and I head to the frequent flyer lounge. Maybe the lounge will have some coffee available to drink.

I am the first person in the lounge this morning. I find an espresso machine tucked behind a small wall on the far side of the lounge. There are four buttons with different types of coffee. I push the Café Americano button and out squirts an espresso shot, so I add some hot water and some milk to make a full cup of coffee. It is passable for a cup of coffee and I can choke it down along with a croissant. The thought crosses my mind that the croissant is going to send my BG sky high.

I sit down to wait for my flight. The lounge has free wireless access, so I do some e-mail and work on a few things. Another cup of coffee would keep me going. I head over to the machine and this time I push the cappuccino button and out squirts a shot of espresso. I am beginning to see a pattern with this machine. I mix up a cup of almost American coffee and I head back to my computer.

The lounge is getting busy, more folks are coming in.

It is time to head to my gate. I get on the plain and settle in for the twelve our flight.

There are more movies to watch and fewer magazines to read. I have read through most of the magazines I brought with me. I looked at the new shop in the airport, but all I could find were French language magazines. Unfortunately I could only look at the pictures, so I didn’t pick up any new reading material.

I went to sleep on this flight. I slept about six hours this time. The travels and meetings and time changes are catching up to me.

We land in Dallas and I transfer flights. I arrive in Denver two hours later. Again I sleep for about an hour.

It takes me an hour to drive home from the Denver airport. After all of the sleep on the plains I am still tired.

I can’t wait to get into my own bed. I want to wake to a cup of my own coffee. I will be good to see and talk to the family and the dogs, and of course TRW.

It is good to be home.