When we said good bye to Dexie a little over a year ago, I would of never thought that we would have her back so soon. I thought we would stay with Mini for a while. But when I saw the reviews and other d-moms crooning about the new Dexcom G4 I decided that we had to switch. I am so glad we did!
We have had Dexie back for 2 weeks now and what a difference!! I am amazed at Dexie G4. First of all she is accurate. When I say accurate I mean within 10-15 points accurate. Really accurate. We never had that with Mini. Mini was always in her error range but nothing close to being as accurate as Dexie.
What thrills me the most is that it is even accurate with low blood sugars. For us, that is golded. The older version of Dexie was horribly inaccurate when it came to low blood sugars. It was a big part of the reason we switched to Mini. Mini has a Low predict alert and for Lovebug who has problems with lows it was a godsend.
I also have to say that I LOVE the fact that I can carry Dexie with me and let Lovebug play and not have to have it with her all the time. I can take some responsibility off of her. It is wonderful to that I can lie Dexie on my nightstand and look at her with Lovebug sleeping upstairs. It sure makes sleeping a whole lot easier!!
I can't say that Mini is a bad CGM, we like her and Princess still uses her, but I just find that Dexie G4 is more accurate. It's also nice that you don't have to charge the transmitter at the time you change the sensor. The longest I ever got out of a sensor with Mini was 6 days. We just got 14 days out of our first new sensor with Dexie. She was still accurate after 14 days and I am pretty sure we could have gone longer! I just decided that we should change it. I am going to let this one go as long as I can.
So If I had to recommend one CGM over the other it would be the Dexcom G4. But if Medtronic changed their transmitters to last a few more days and put a non re-chargeable battery in the transmitter I would love to see the new Enlite sensor that the have but so far it is unavailable to us. I know that it's available oversees and I can't wait to be able to try it for Princess.
Our Story of raising two sweet girls with Type 1 Diabetes
Showing posts with label Medtronic Guardian CGM. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Medtronic Guardian CGM. Show all posts
Thursday, May 9, 2013
Wednesday, April 4, 2012
Why do I blog?
I saw this blog post prompt on Wego HAWMC and thought it was a great idea for today.
When I started this blog, about 4 years ago it had nothing to do with diabetes. It was just fun for me to write about my life experiences being a wife and mother. Then when Lovebug was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes in April 2009 I stopped blogging for a while. About 8 months into our journey with diabetes I ran across a couple other D-Mom's blogs and was so touched that I thought I would start sharing my thoughts on "paper".
I never really thought people would start reading it, well other then my family and friends. But then a couple D-mom's found me and that was then end of that! I quickly realized sharing our story of raising a child with Type 1 Diabetes I could help other moms and families out there and that is the biggest reason that I blog. I want to share out story with other parents and families going through the same thing. I want to let them know that they are not alone in this, like I thought that I was the first 6 months after Lovebug's diagnosis. I had very limited people I knew that had children with Type 1 and felt very alone in taking care of Lovebug.
As I have blogged I have also become passionate about new technology in diabetes care and advocating for my girls. Especially when it comes to FDA approval of new technology as well as diabetes care in school. These are two issues that are near and dear to my heart.
Technology helps my girls a lot. Lovebug can not recognize her low blood sugars and wears a CGM to alert me, her teachers and herself. I see improvement someday's when she will come to me and tells me that she feels low and actually is. Most times she says she feels low and is in fact high and not low. What is frustrating is there is technology out there that would help her even more, a new sensor that makes the CGM insertion less painful. But the Enlite Sensor is not approved here in the States. It is approved everywhere else but not here. Hopefully it will be available soon, here in the States.
Same thing goes with the Medtronic Veo, a pump that has a low glucose suspend feature that can suspend the basal rate if a low is being predicted with the CGM. It is wonderful technology but the pump is tied up somewhere in Washington waiting approval from the FDA.
Anyway, I will get off my soapbox now!
Back to why I blog.
Last year Lovebug started preschool and we got our first taste of what school would be like. Lovebug started kindergarten this year and it has gone really well. Better then I had imagined that it could go. We are very blessed to have her at a wonderful school filled with staff that doesn't just take care of her well but actually care about her and loves her. What more could a mom want! Unfortunately it is a private school, and it cost money so whether or not she will attend next year is up in the air right now. I wish that money wasn't an issue but it is. It shouldn't be when talking about the best care and school for my daughter.
I see so many of my fellow D-moms struggle with the school about the care of their d-kid. It's frustrating. I wish that we could just send out kids where we thought best, no matter the cost or what district we live in. I know I am getting a bit political now but this is when I think it would be a great idea for my child's tax dollars to follow here where ever she goes, private or public school. Maybe it would make (some) school's straighten up and get their heads out of their you know what and actually start caring about the kids again.
When we had a second child diagnosed almost a year ago, it became even more important to me. While there are increasing numbers of families with one child with Type 1 Diabetes it is less common to have two children. (unless there is a family history, of which we have none) It became even more important to me to reach out to those families. My blogging has decreased over the past year mainly because of the time spent taking care of the two of them. When they are only ages 6 and 4 there is a lot of work to be done by mom and dad!
Having been on this diabetes journey for 3 years now with Lovebug and almost a year with Princess, it has just made me more passionate about blogging and reaching other parents. Even if I don't get the change to blog every day. :)
Thursday, September 8, 2011
The One about the transmitter, the charger and the baby monitor
A couple weeks ago we started having issues with Princess's CGM. We had been having problems here and there but they came to an exasperating high two weeks ago.
One night it just quit working. We got "weak signal" and then "lost sensor". I would start it back up and again we would get "weak signal" then "lost sensor". I didn't think too much of it, shut it off and figured I would make it through one night without. No biggie.
Then it happened again the next night. Again, annoying but no big deal. I shut the sensor off all night and just turned it back on in the morning. Now it was starting to do the same thing during the day. We would get the "weak signal" alarm and then the "lost sensor". I called Medtronic to let them know what was going on and see if they had any solutions that I had not already tried. They thought it might be the transmitter (we have had issues with the transmitter before) and it was still under warranty so they sent a new one.
I was ecstatic when it came! I was ready to have the CGM fully working after 5 days of on and off signals. I charged the transmitter for 8 hours like they said, put a new sensor in Princess's arm and waited for the two hour warm up to get it going. Well, that never happened. It never even gave me a chance to enter a bg to start the sensor up. It went directly to "weak signal" and "lost sensor". I admit at this point I was starting to get angry. After 5 nights of not much sleep I was tired and it showed in my attitude. I really just wanted it to WORK!! I was frustrated and discouraged.
We have never had issues like this with Lovebug's Dexie and she has been using it for over a year. We had a couple bad sensors but NOTHING like this. I decided to wait another 24 hours and try it again. We did get signals on and off during the day, so that was helpful, I guess. In the mean time I did everything I could think of to get the CGM to work. We changed the tape that we were using to hold the transmitter on. I tried having her sleep with the pump out of her pump pouch so it was closer to the transmitter. I re-read the entire manual on inserting and using the CGM. I thought maybe something would catch my eye and I was just doing something wrong that I hadnt' been doing before. Honestly, we had had really good luck with the CGM up until now and I hadn't changed anything until the sensor started getting all these weak signals and lost sensors.
I ended up calling my fellow D-Mama, Misty and talked to her about the sensor and see if she had any ideas of why it wasn't working after getting a new transmitter. It looked like I was doing everything right. I was at a lost, until she started talking about the charger for the transmitter. What she was saying made sense. Maybe the transmitter wasn't getting charged enough and the charger was the faulty piece of equipment. I went with that and called Medtronic (again) to explain what was going on. Their customer service was great, as usual, and they had a new charger to us the next day.
So, we took the transmitter off Princess's arm and let it charge for another 8 hours after we received the new charger. I was confident this would work and we would have a working sensor again that night. I even put a new senor in just to make sure that is wasn't the sensor for some reason. I wanted to take every precaution I could to make sure it worked. I hooked her all up and waited for the warm up period to be done and NOTHING!!! Weak signal and lost sensor yet again. I was so frustrated. Seriously, I just wanted to sleep at night without worrying so much!! It had been over a week at this point. Again I shut the sensor off for the night and started it back up in the morning.
The next morning was worse, at first anyway. I started the sensor up and it immediately went to lost sensor. What the heck is going on??? I shut the sensor off, turned it back on and linked the sensor back up. This time it at least went to warm up period. We were on our way up north to my in-laws house for the day and I was NOT happy the CGM wasn't working. Much to my surprise, on the way up (in less then two hours) I got a "meter bg" signal. Holy smokes!! It actually wanted a start up bg!! Woo Hoo! The CGM worked perfectly all day! No weak signals and it was accurate.
We got home and put the girls to bed. Then guess what? That damn weak signal and lost sensor was back, AGAIN!!! At this point I was a livid and I don't get upset very easily but the darn thing had been working all day! What in the world was going on??
Once again I was on the phone to Medtronic's helpline and they were even at a lost. They ran over a long checklist of things and I had done all of them. The only thing they could say was that we weren't using the stomach area for her sensor like they suggest. (even though the sensor does work on other area's of the body, it's because all the clinical trial information was from use in the stomach) As a last resort they thought it might be the pump (or receiver) and decided to replace the pump with a new one but did tell me that was their last option. After that they had done everything they could do on their end. I understood. They had been great and I knew they were trying everything they could to get the CGM to work properly. Because I called on a Holiday weekend and the next day was Labor day I wouldn't receive the new pump until Tuesday. I was okay with that, but seriously just praying the new pump was going to fix the problem.
Monday night, like the crazy woman I am, tried yet again to get the CGM to work. It was still working on and off during the day and I was hopeful that maybe I would do some small thing different and we would get a working CGM. Yeah, no luck. Within 10 minutes of putting Princess to bed we had a lost sensor, again. (now here comes the good part!)
As I was sitting next to her bed, more discouraged then ever, I remembered something the customer service rep had said the night before. She had asked if we used a baby monitor in the house. I said yes, of course, so we could here the CGM alarm at night. She asked when we started using it and I said that we purchased a new on right before we got Princess's pump back in May. Apparently they can interfere with the signals, on occasion. I knew it wasn't the monitor since it the CGM had been working just fine up until now.
I got to thinking, as I was looking at the baby monitor. We have the most problems at night so maybe something upstairs was interfering with it. Or something one of the neighbors were using, just at night? Really a lot of things were running through my mind about what was interfering with it. Not that I was sure that was it, I did kinda think it was the pump.
Anyway, I decided to try changing the channel on the baby monitor just to see if by some crazy chance it would work. (sense they had said something about the baby monitor the night before) I linked the sensor again and waited up there to see if it would work. I wasn't very hopeful but after 5 minutes I got the "Meter BG" and checked her bg and entered the number. Then I waited. I waited to get the weak signal and lost sensor, It never happened!!!! The damn thing was WORKING!! I cautiously went down stairs and waited to hear the CGM alarm for the weak signal. 30 minutes passed. I checked it, still working. 1 hour passed and still working. 2 hours, still working. Are you kidding me?? I have gone (almost) two weeks at this point and after all this the solution was a easy as changing the channel on the baby monitor?! Oh my word!! I couldn't decide if I wanted to pull my hair out, beat my head against the wall for not thinking of it sooner or be excited about it! Could it really had been that simple? Oh yes, It was that simple.
The CGM worked great, all night, and her new pump came that next morning. I almost didn't switch them over and called Medtronic back to tell them that it wasn't the pump after all. After thinking about it all day I decided to just keep the new pump, just in case there was something wonky about it and that contributed to the problem. Might as well cover all of our bases!
Funny thing was, the same day we got the new pump and after I had discovered that it was the baby monitor interfering after all, my friend and fellow D Mama, Misty sent me a message wondering if it might be the baby monitor? I laughed out loud when I read that! I had to call her and tell her. I told her she must be psychic!
I am happy to say that the CGM as been working great for the past 3 days! Better be anyway now that we have a new transmitter, charger and pump! I have to add that through it all Medtronic's customer service was amazing and I was very impressed. They seriously went above and beyond to help me find a solution to the problem never questioning me or what I was doing or giving me a hard time about anything. They were wonderful and I am so grateful. It made the whole process just a little easier knowing they were honestly doing all they could.
One night it just quit working. We got "weak signal" and then "lost sensor". I would start it back up and again we would get "weak signal" then "lost sensor". I didn't think too much of it, shut it off and figured I would make it through one night without. No biggie.
Then it happened again the next night. Again, annoying but no big deal. I shut the sensor off all night and just turned it back on in the morning. Now it was starting to do the same thing during the day. We would get the "weak signal" alarm and then the "lost sensor". I called Medtronic to let them know what was going on and see if they had any solutions that I had not already tried. They thought it might be the transmitter (we have had issues with the transmitter before) and it was still under warranty so they sent a new one.
I was ecstatic when it came! I was ready to have the CGM fully working after 5 days of on and off signals. I charged the transmitter for 8 hours like they said, put a new sensor in Princess's arm and waited for the two hour warm up to get it going. Well, that never happened. It never even gave me a chance to enter a bg to start the sensor up. It went directly to "weak signal" and "lost sensor". I admit at this point I was starting to get angry. After 5 nights of not much sleep I was tired and it showed in my attitude. I really just wanted it to WORK!! I was frustrated and discouraged.
We have never had issues like this with Lovebug's Dexie and she has been using it for over a year. We had a couple bad sensors but NOTHING like this. I decided to wait another 24 hours and try it again. We did get signals on and off during the day, so that was helpful, I guess. In the mean time I did everything I could think of to get the CGM to work. We changed the tape that we were using to hold the transmitter on. I tried having her sleep with the pump out of her pump pouch so it was closer to the transmitter. I re-read the entire manual on inserting and using the CGM. I thought maybe something would catch my eye and I was just doing something wrong that I hadnt' been doing before. Honestly, we had had really good luck with the CGM up until now and I hadn't changed anything until the sensor started getting all these weak signals and lost sensors.
I ended up calling my fellow D-Mama, Misty and talked to her about the sensor and see if she had any ideas of why it wasn't working after getting a new transmitter. It looked like I was doing everything right. I was at a lost, until she started talking about the charger for the transmitter. What she was saying made sense. Maybe the transmitter wasn't getting charged enough and the charger was the faulty piece of equipment. I went with that and called Medtronic (again) to explain what was going on. Their customer service was great, as usual, and they had a new charger to us the next day.
So, we took the transmitter off Princess's arm and let it charge for another 8 hours after we received the new charger. I was confident this would work and we would have a working sensor again that night. I even put a new senor in just to make sure that is wasn't the sensor for some reason. I wanted to take every precaution I could to make sure it worked. I hooked her all up and waited for the warm up period to be done and NOTHING!!! Weak signal and lost sensor yet again. I was so frustrated. Seriously, I just wanted to sleep at night without worrying so much!! It had been over a week at this point. Again I shut the sensor off for the night and started it back up in the morning.
The next morning was worse, at first anyway. I started the sensor up and it immediately went to lost sensor. What the heck is going on??? I shut the sensor off, turned it back on and linked the sensor back up. This time it at least went to warm up period. We were on our way up north to my in-laws house for the day and I was NOT happy the CGM wasn't working. Much to my surprise, on the way up (in less then two hours) I got a "meter bg" signal. Holy smokes!! It actually wanted a start up bg!! Woo Hoo! The CGM worked perfectly all day! No weak signals and it was accurate.
We got home and put the girls to bed. Then guess what? That damn weak signal and lost sensor was back, AGAIN!!! At this point I was a livid and I don't get upset very easily but the darn thing had been working all day! What in the world was going on??
Once again I was on the phone to Medtronic's helpline and they were even at a lost. They ran over a long checklist of things and I had done all of them. The only thing they could say was that we weren't using the stomach area for her sensor like they suggest. (even though the sensor does work on other area's of the body, it's because all the clinical trial information was from use in the stomach) As a last resort they thought it might be the pump (or receiver) and decided to replace the pump with a new one but did tell me that was their last option. After that they had done everything they could do on their end. I understood. They had been great and I knew they were trying everything they could to get the CGM to work properly. Because I called on a Holiday weekend and the next day was Labor day I wouldn't receive the new pump until Tuesday. I was okay with that, but seriously just praying the new pump was going to fix the problem.
Monday night, like the crazy woman I am, tried yet again to get the CGM to work. It was still working on and off during the day and I was hopeful that maybe I would do some small thing different and we would get a working CGM. Yeah, no luck. Within 10 minutes of putting Princess to bed we had a lost sensor, again. (now here comes the good part!)
As I was sitting next to her bed, more discouraged then ever, I remembered something the customer service rep had said the night before. She had asked if we used a baby monitor in the house. I said yes, of course, so we could here the CGM alarm at night. She asked when we started using it and I said that we purchased a new on right before we got Princess's pump back in May. Apparently they can interfere with the signals, on occasion. I knew it wasn't the monitor since it the CGM had been working just fine up until now.
I got to thinking, as I was looking at the baby monitor. We have the most problems at night so maybe something upstairs was interfering with it. Or something one of the neighbors were using, just at night? Really a lot of things were running through my mind about what was interfering with it. Not that I was sure that was it, I did kinda think it was the pump.
Anyway, I decided to try changing the channel on the baby monitor just to see if by some crazy chance it would work. (sense they had said something about the baby monitor the night before) I linked the sensor again and waited up there to see if it would work. I wasn't very hopeful but after 5 minutes I got the "Meter BG" and checked her bg and entered the number. Then I waited. I waited to get the weak signal and lost sensor, It never happened!!!! The damn thing was WORKING!! I cautiously went down stairs and waited to hear the CGM alarm for the weak signal. 30 minutes passed. I checked it, still working. 1 hour passed and still working. 2 hours, still working. Are you kidding me?? I have gone (almost) two weeks at this point and after all this the solution was a easy as changing the channel on the baby monitor?! Oh my word!! I couldn't decide if I wanted to pull my hair out, beat my head against the wall for not thinking of it sooner or be excited about it! Could it really had been that simple? Oh yes, It was that simple.
The CGM worked great, all night, and her new pump came that next morning. I almost didn't switch them over and called Medtronic back to tell them that it wasn't the pump after all. After thinking about it all day I decided to just keep the new pump, just in case there was something wonky about it and that contributed to the problem. Might as well cover all of our bases!
Funny thing was, the same day we got the new pump and after I had discovered that it was the baby monitor interfering after all, my friend and fellow D Mama, Misty sent me a message wondering if it might be the baby monitor? I laughed out loud when I read that! I had to call her and tell her. I told her she must be psychic!
I am happy to say that the CGM as been working great for the past 3 days! Better be anyway now that we have a new transmitter, charger and pump! I have to add that through it all Medtronic's customer service was amazing and I was very impressed. They seriously went above and beyond to help me find a solution to the problem never questioning me or what I was doing or giving me a hard time about anything. They were wonderful and I am so grateful. It made the whole process just a little easier knowing they were honestly doing all they could.
Thursday, August 11, 2011
Holy Leaking Insulin Batman!
Last Sunday night I went up stairs to check the girls, as I normally do before I go to bed. I walked in and check Princess first (as normal, I do them in a certain order so I don't forget to check one or the other!)
As I went to take her pump out of her pump pouch to check the CGM I noticed the pump was wet. My initial thought was, great, she leaked out of her pull-up already. (her blood sugar had been high at bedtime) Then when I went to smell to check if that's what it was. I did not smell pee-pee. It was insulin.
What the heck!? Maybe that was why her blood sugars had been high all day? But why hadnt' I noticed it during the rest of the day? So strange... I decided to go ahead and check Lovebug (after checking Princess) and then unhooked Princess's pump from her and took it downstairs to inspect it more.
I check the outside of the pump out, it didn't seem to be visibly leaking insulin from anywhere but it REEKED of insulin. I took the reservoir out to look and it and I noticed condensation on the reservoir. The inside of it where the piston pushes the reservoir up. Yep, that should NOT be there. I called the Medtronic helpline to see what they thought I should do. (besides the obvious, change the reservoir out) The guy I talked to was very helpful and concerned. He told me he would replace a few of our reservoirs and wanted to send us a new insulin pump. I told him it was working fine at this point. I didn't see any reason to replace it when it was working fine. He told me if the pump started acting funny in any way or we had another leaking reservoir to call back and they would send us a replacement pump. I agreed I would call back and was a bit relieved we didn't need to go back to shots for a while until we received a new pump. The man was very helpful and with it being my first experience with the Medtronic Helpline, I was more then impressed!
Everything was fine and dandy until the next night. Monday night her CGM keept alarming when the CGM screen clearly said that she was okay. At one point it said LOW PREDICTED and she had double arrows up on the CGM screen. I was up almost every hour that night clearing alarms and checking her blood sugar just to be on the safe side. I'm so glad she was sleeping BUT it was tough on me poking her over 10 times that night. By the time 6am rolled around I just disconnected the pump and took it downstairs. I was going crazy. I decided to check the reservoir again and sure enough, more leakage. Wonderful.
I decided at this point that I wanted a new pump. Something had to be wrong with it. Since they said to call back, I did. The lady I talked to that time was less then helpful. She just told me to change the reservoir out and call back if it happened again. Didn't offer a new pump or anything. I was NOT impressed with this lady AT all. I tried explaining to her that this HAD happened before but she was clearly not listening. I got off the phone and was very discouraged.
Later that morning I put a call into our Medtronic Rep. I explained to her what had happened over the past couple days and asked if I should be pushing for a new pump at this point or just wait and see. She told me that I needed a new pump. It is Medtronic's policy that if at anytime you are not confident that your pump is working properly, they will replace it. (within the warranty) She did not want me using that other one if insulin had possibly leaked into it. Even if it was delivering insulin fine at that point, if insulin leaked into it, it could stop working properly at any time. She was very concerned the second person I talked to at Medtronic gave me the "run around" as she put it.
My rep ended up calling Medtronic herself and I ended up on a 3 way call with someone from Medronic, myself and my rep. The lady from Medtronic was very apologetic and they had a new pump on it's way. They also replaced ALL of my reservoirs I had on hand. I'm pretty sure the lady apologized a dozen times but I was just happy someone was taking care of it. I was very impressed with Medtronic and with my rep. She saved the day!
The pump arrived by 10am the next day and all has been well with the new one. Kudos to Medtronic for following through and to my rep for going the extra mile. :)
Wednesday, July 27, 2011
DexCom and Guardian: Our Comparison
Nablopomo ~Day 27
Yesterday I wrote about our experience with the Medtronic Revel and what we like and don't like about it. I thought today I would go ahead and talk about the two CGM's we have around our house; The DexCom and Medtronic Guardian.
Lovebug has been using the DexCom for a little over a year now. We love it. Honestly, I would be LOST with out it. I feel much more comfortable when Lovebug is wearing Dexie, which is 99% of the time! I don't like to have her not hooked up to it. It's like my security blanket, especially when she is at school or when someone is watching her. I don't worry about them having to recognize how she acts when she is low. Sometimes she doesn't act any different. I have tested her before when she is 36 and is acting completely normal. Then she has been 72 and having a complete meltdown. You just never know with Lovebug. Lovebug doesn't recognize her lows and the DexCom is a HUGE help with that. I am positive we have saved her from a trip to the hospital or worse because of her Dexie (our nickname for "her".) While we have had a few band sensors here and there our overall experience has been great.
Princess uses the Medtronic Guardian, compassionately known as Mini around our home. Mini is very reliable and we love her too. What we love most is the fact there is no separate unit to carry around like there is with the DexCom. The CGM is integrated into the pump and that makes things a lot easier. Especially with Princess who is very petite and skinny. One of the downsides to the DexCom is having to carry the receiver with you everywhere. So Lovebug always looks like she is a bit bulky under her clothing. Drives me crazy but at the same time I really couldn't live with out it. It's a bit of a sleep and worry saver around here.
On the bright side Animas has a pump out called the Vibe with a integrated CGM using DexCom's technology. But like everything else out there that is great and cutting edge technology in the world of diabetes care, it's not available in the states yet. It's only in Europe. Darn FDA. I can not wait to get my hands on that pump! I am hoping that it will be available in the states in the next couple years. Earlier would be better because then we could do an upgrade and try it for a while before Lovebug's pump warranty is up and we get to purchase another one.
Yesterday I wrote about our experience with the Medtronic Revel and what we like and don't like about it. I thought today I would go ahead and talk about the two CGM's we have around our house; The DexCom and Medtronic Guardian.
Lovebug has been using the DexCom for a little over a year now. We love it. Honestly, I would be LOST with out it. I feel much more comfortable when Lovebug is wearing Dexie, which is 99% of the time! I don't like to have her not hooked up to it. It's like my security blanket, especially when she is at school or when someone is watching her. I don't worry about them having to recognize how she acts when she is low. Sometimes she doesn't act any different. I have tested her before when she is 36 and is acting completely normal. Then she has been 72 and having a complete meltdown. You just never know with Lovebug. Lovebug doesn't recognize her lows and the DexCom is a HUGE help with that. I am positive we have saved her from a trip to the hospital or worse because of her Dexie (our nickname for "her".) While we have had a few band sensors here and there our overall experience has been great.
Princess uses the Medtronic Guardian, compassionately known as Mini around our home. Mini is very reliable and we love her too. What we love most is the fact there is no separate unit to carry around like there is with the DexCom. The CGM is integrated into the pump and that makes things a lot easier. Especially with Princess who is very petite and skinny. One of the downsides to the DexCom is having to carry the receiver with you everywhere. So Lovebug always looks like she is a bit bulky under her clothing. Drives me crazy but at the same time I really couldn't live with out it. It's a bit of a sleep and worry saver around here.
On the bright side Animas has a pump out called the Vibe with a integrated CGM using DexCom's technology. But like everything else out there that is great and cutting edge technology in the world of diabetes care, it's not available in the states yet. It's only in Europe. Darn FDA. I can not wait to get my hands on that pump! I am hoping that it will be available in the states in the next couple years. Earlier would be better because then we could do an upgrade and try it for a while before Lovebug's pump warranty is up and we get to purchase another one.
To be honest, I prefer the DexCom over the Guardian. Not because one is superior to the other because in my opinion the both do a great job and are very accurate. The DexCom is so much simpler to use and the transmitter isn't as bulky as the Guardian's.
The DexCom insertion is easier. The insertion tool is a all in one combo and very easy to use, you never touch or get close to the insertion needle since it is enclosed. The Guardian is a little complicated at first, but you get used to it pretty quickly. I HATE having to pull out the insertion needle. It drives me crazy and still creeps me out just a bit. There are a lot more steps. Now to the Guardian's defense Medtronic has a smaller sensor out in Europe called the Enlite Sensor and according to my Medtronic rep there is one that is what I call an all in one package like the DexCom. Now I don't know if that is how the Enlite Sensor works or not but at least it is smaller and there is no need to wear a huge adhesive patch over it like we do now. It would be an added bonus if the insertion "tool" as I call it was all in one like the DexCom.
The other thing I like about the DexCom is that the sensor is approved for 7 days and the Guardian is only approved for 3 days of wear.(here in the states anyway) In Europe where they have the Enlite Sensor and in Canada and Europe where they can also get the Medtronic Veo, (another pump that I would love to get my hands on!) the sensor is approved for 6 days of wear.
When the DexCom receiver is out of range of the transmitter (meaning they aren't close enough to collect any data) it only takes up to 5 minutes to get a signal and a reading from the receiver. With the Guardian, if you get away from the sensor for too long (like when swimming) you get a Weak Signal and then eventually what they call a Lost Sensor. Rather then just getting the pump and sensor back in range of each other you have to tell the pump to locate the sensor again and then it takes about 10-15 minutes before it can find a signal and then you have to enter a BG. I really wish this feature was a little more user friendly. I have been told ours should only take 5 minutes yet is still doesn't work that way for us. I'm probably doing some small thing wrong and one of these days I will figure out what the small thing is!
Overall my experience with both of them has been great. Like I said before, my only reason for preferring the DexCom over the Guardian is the ease of use and smaller transmitter. With that said Medtronic does have those available, just not in the states. Really they are both excellent CGM's and I would recommend both of them. Just depends on which pump you are using and rather you prefer to have the CGM integrated or not and that, to me, is a very personal preference that you have to consider when you choose a pump. That is why my girls have two different pumps. It's not because I prefer one pump over the other. (or one company over another). It's because I did what was best for each kid when the decision had to be made about which pump to choose and I don't second guess myself for a minute.
We didn't know that a CGM would be so valuable to Lovebug or we may have gone another route. We loved the fact that Animas had the remote and (at the time) could deliver smaller doses then the Medtronic. Those were good fits for us (and Lovebug) and still are, despite the fact that she has to wear her pump and CGM receiver around her waist.
Just like I wouldn't change the fact that I knew I wanted to CGM for Princess right away and I also knew that her carrying around a separate receiver would just not work for her. Like I said before, she is just too petite and too skinny. So I did my research, I asked a lot of questions and made my choice for her and I wouldn't change a thing.
The other thing I like about the DexCom is that the sensor is approved for 7 days and the Guardian is only approved for 3 days of wear.(here in the states anyway) In Europe where they have the Enlite Sensor and in Canada and Europe where they can also get the Medtronic Veo, (another pump that I would love to get my hands on!) the sensor is approved for 6 days of wear.
When the DexCom receiver is out of range of the transmitter (meaning they aren't close enough to collect any data) it only takes up to 5 minutes to get a signal and a reading from the receiver. With the Guardian, if you get away from the sensor for too long (like when swimming) you get a Weak Signal and then eventually what they call a Lost Sensor. Rather then just getting the pump and sensor back in range of each other you have to tell the pump to locate the sensor again and then it takes about 10-15 minutes before it can find a signal and then you have to enter a BG. I really wish this feature was a little more user friendly. I have been told ours should only take 5 minutes yet is still doesn't work that way for us. I'm probably doing some small thing wrong and one of these days I will figure out what the small thing is!
Overall my experience with both of them has been great. Like I said before, my only reason for preferring the DexCom over the Guardian is the ease of use and smaller transmitter. With that said Medtronic does have those available, just not in the states. Really they are both excellent CGM's and I would recommend both of them. Just depends on which pump you are using and rather you prefer to have the CGM integrated or not and that, to me, is a very personal preference that you have to consider when you choose a pump. That is why my girls have two different pumps. It's not because I prefer one pump over the other. (or one company over another). It's because I did what was best for each kid when the decision had to be made about which pump to choose and I don't second guess myself for a minute.
We didn't know that a CGM would be so valuable to Lovebug or we may have gone another route. We loved the fact that Animas had the remote and (at the time) could deliver smaller doses then the Medtronic. Those were good fits for us (and Lovebug) and still are, despite the fact that she has to wear her pump and CGM receiver around her waist.
Just like I wouldn't change the fact that I knew I wanted to CGM for Princess right away and I also knew that her carrying around a separate receiver would just not work for her. Like I said before, she is just too petite and too skinny. So I did my research, I asked a lot of questions and made my choice for her and I wouldn't change a thing.
Tuesday, July 26, 2011
Our Revel
Nablopomo ~ Day 26
When I sat down to blog for today, I had a post in mind that I was going to write then I realized that today is the 26th. The 26th was Princess pump start day. The 26th will be one of those dates that forever sticks with me, right along with the 1st, and the 10th. Want to know something crazy? Lovebug was diagnosed on April 1st and her Pump start was on September 10th. Then Princess was diagnosed on April 10th and had her pump start on May 26th. If I hadn't begged for a different date, Princess pump start would have been on June 1st. (that was the date that was originally scheduled.) Kinda crazy, huh? :)
Pump start day was two months ago now. Yikes, has it only been two months?? Goodness, it seems a lot longer then that. Pretty sure the days since Princess was diagnosed have dragged on...good thing it's summer and it's making summer feel longer!
I am getting used to Princess's pump and loving it. I'm not an expert on it yet, I know there are more tricks to learn, but I am getting the hang of it. The pump continues to amaze me. It's not because I don't like Lovebug's pump, it's that I am finding there are many features on the Revel that I just like better then on Lovebug's Ping. (that is also the joy of having the girls on two different pumps. I am getting to know both of them inside and out.
I love the Bolus button, it makes it SO much quicker to bolus and easier for friends and family to operate it since there aren't as many buttons to push. I think the resevoir set up is a easier too. I love that there are fewer steps to fill the resevoir, even though it took me a few try's to get used to it and in the process, squirted myself with insulin. (the smell of insulin is really not that pleasant) I like that the resevior has cap similar to a bottle of insulin. It makes it easier to draw insulin into the resevoir and to take it out with a syringe if needed. I also love that the pump saves the amount of insulin you use to fill the cannula. It's just one small step that makes the whole site change process go quicker.
Of course there is the Square Wave Bolus feature that I talked about here. (that I just LOVE) I also find that changing the battery out is a bit easier too. You don't have to do a complete rewind and prime with the Revel like you do with the Revel. Although when the battery goes on the Revel, it goes quick. With the Ping I know I usually have 6-8 hours before I have to change the battery.
We really do love our Revel. Of course there isn't the remote bolusing like there is with the Ping (which I really love) But I also I feel like I just traded the remote for the integrated CGM. Which for Princess is perfect. She is so small I couldn't see her carrying around her pump and CGM reciever. Way to much for my little pumping Princess.
There are a few things I don't like about the CGM but I will save a comparison of the DexCom and Guardian for another post. Don't want to do a information overload on you! :) Needless to say, we are very happy with our little Revel.
When I sat down to blog for today, I had a post in mind that I was going to write then I realized that today is the 26th. The 26th was Princess pump start day. The 26th will be one of those dates that forever sticks with me, right along with the 1st, and the 10th. Want to know something crazy? Lovebug was diagnosed on April 1st and her Pump start was on September 10th. Then Princess was diagnosed on April 10th and had her pump start on May 26th. If I hadn't begged for a different date, Princess pump start would have been on June 1st. (that was the date that was originally scheduled.) Kinda crazy, huh? :)
Pump start day was two months ago now. Yikes, has it only been two months?? Goodness, it seems a lot longer then that. Pretty sure the days since Princess was diagnosed have dragged on...good thing it's summer and it's making summer feel longer!
I am getting used to Princess's pump and loving it. I'm not an expert on it yet, I know there are more tricks to learn, but I am getting the hang of it. The pump continues to amaze me. It's not because I don't like Lovebug's pump, it's that I am finding there are many features on the Revel that I just like better then on Lovebug's Ping. (that is also the joy of having the girls on two different pumps. I am getting to know both of them inside and out.
I love the Bolus button, it makes it SO much quicker to bolus and easier for friends and family to operate it since there aren't as many buttons to push. I think the resevoir set up is a easier too. I love that there are fewer steps to fill the resevoir, even though it took me a few try's to get used to it and in the process, squirted myself with insulin. (the smell of insulin is really not that pleasant) I like that the resevior has cap similar to a bottle of insulin. It makes it easier to draw insulin into the resevoir and to take it out with a syringe if needed. I also love that the pump saves the amount of insulin you use to fill the cannula. It's just one small step that makes the whole site change process go quicker.
Of course there is the Square Wave Bolus feature that I talked about here. (that I just LOVE) I also find that changing the battery out is a bit easier too. You don't have to do a complete rewind and prime with the Revel like you do with the Revel. Although when the battery goes on the Revel, it goes quick. With the Ping I know I usually have 6-8 hours before I have to change the battery.
We really do love our Revel. Of course there isn't the remote bolusing like there is with the Ping (which I really love) But I also I feel like I just traded the remote for the integrated CGM. Which for Princess is perfect. She is so small I couldn't see her carrying around her pump and CGM reciever. Way to much for my little pumping Princess.
There are a few things I don't like about the CGM but I will save a comparison of the DexCom and Guardian for another post. Don't want to do a information overload on you! :) Needless to say, we are very happy with our little Revel.
Tuesday, July 19, 2011
Combo Bolus Squared
Nablopomo ~ Day 19
When I first decided to go with two different pumps for the girls, I thought I might be taking on too much. Maybe I had lost my mind? Well, I am pretty sure I lost it a couple years ago when Lovebug was diagnosed but I was thinking pretty clearly when I choose to go a different route for Princess then I had for Lovebug.
So, when it came time to choose a pump for Princess, I was immediately drawn to the Medtronic Revel with the integrated CGM. I knew the CGM would befit her and if I could avoid her having to carry two devices around her waist like her sister, then I was going to go for it. Of course I had some reservations about Medtronic's Guardian. The size and the insertion are a lot different then the DexCom and I was a little uncomforable at first. I decided to call our endo and see if there was a trial like with the DexCom. Thankfully there was and after a few days, I was hooked. I knew we were going the right route with Princess and her pump.
Needless to say, there are A LOT of things that I LOVE about the Medtronic Revel. One of my favorite is what they call the Square Wave Bolus. At first I was a little "scared" to use it, but I was like that with the Combo Bolus on the Lovebug's Ping. Are you wondering what the heck a Square Wave Bolus is? Well here you go:
Square Wave Bolus: delivers a bolus evenly over a period of time (30 minutes up to 8 hours). This bolus can be used for insulin delivery when you have eaten a long meal with extended snacking (commonly called grazing!) It can also be useful for delayed food digestion or (my favorite) meals high in fat (hello Pizza!) A Square Wave bolus can be useful if a normal bolus drops your blood sugar too rapidly.
Can I hear a WOO HOO! I LOVE this bolus! It works GREAT with ice cream, pasta and pizza. (for Princess anyway) All the foods with fat or slow adsorbing carbs. It has worked SO well for Princess that I found myself wishing that Lovebug's pump had that feature.
Cue the "aha moment"! One day I was thinking about the Combo Bolus and how it works on the Ping. Remembering that you can give a certain percentage of insulin upfront and a certain percentage of the bolus of a period of time. Then it hit me...I bet I could do a Square Wave bolus using the Combo Bolus on the Ping. How, you ask? Well let me explain.
Remember that a Square Wave gives you your entire bolus over a set amount of time. It drags it out, so to speak. Well, I figured with the Combo Bolus if I gave 0% up front and 100% over a certain period of time, wouldn't that be the same as a Square Wave Bolus on the Medtronic? A couple weeks ago I got brave and tried it when we had pizza for dinner. And you know what? IT WORKED!!! Lovebug didn't have a delayed spike from the pizza!! She stayed nice and steady! I was super excited!! (yes, I have used it numerous times since then and It's still working!)
Another common problem we have with Lovebug is that she will be low before a meal, we will wait to bolus her until after she is done eating (yes, we typically bolus before meals, for both of the girls) and then a couple hours later we check her (or Dexie is beeping at us) and her blood sugar is HIGH. Then we do the big, "oops" I forgot, yet again! Ugh, I hate it when I forget and she suffers for it!!
So another conclusion I came to was, why not use a Squared Combo Bolus (as I call it) for Lovebug when she is low before a meal? (I am talking between 60 and 80 here) I can still bolus her (because she isn't getting any insulin up front) and then by the time her blood sugar is back up and her food is starting to kick in, the insulin is starting to trickle into her system. Hence no low blood sugar and no rebound spikes from the low either. And guess what? I tried it and IT WORKED!! It works wonderfully!
Needless to say, I am VERY happy! These two little "discoveries" were a God send to me. It has made managing Lovebug's crazy numbers a little easier. Anything to make this disease a little easier to handle makes for one (a little) happier mama!!
When I first decided to go with two different pumps for the girls, I thought I might be taking on too much. Maybe I had lost my mind? Well, I am pretty sure I lost it a couple years ago when Lovebug was diagnosed but I was thinking pretty clearly when I choose to go a different route for Princess then I had for Lovebug.
So, when it came time to choose a pump for Princess, I was immediately drawn to the Medtronic Revel with the integrated CGM. I knew the CGM would befit her and if I could avoid her having to carry two devices around her waist like her sister, then I was going to go for it. Of course I had some reservations about Medtronic's Guardian. The size and the insertion are a lot different then the DexCom and I was a little uncomforable at first. I decided to call our endo and see if there was a trial like with the DexCom. Thankfully there was and after a few days, I was hooked. I knew we were going the right route with Princess and her pump.
Needless to say, there are A LOT of things that I LOVE about the Medtronic Revel. One of my favorite is what they call the Square Wave Bolus. At first I was a little "scared" to use it, but I was like that with the Combo Bolus on the Lovebug's Ping. Are you wondering what the heck a Square Wave Bolus is? Well here you go:
Square Wave Bolus: delivers a bolus evenly over a period of time (30 minutes up to 8 hours). This bolus can be used for insulin delivery when you have eaten a long meal with extended snacking (commonly called grazing!) It can also be useful for delayed food digestion or (my favorite) meals high in fat (hello Pizza!) A Square Wave bolus can be useful if a normal bolus drops your blood sugar too rapidly.
Can I hear a WOO HOO! I LOVE this bolus! It works GREAT with ice cream, pasta and pizza. (for Princess anyway) All the foods with fat or slow adsorbing carbs. It has worked SO well for Princess that I found myself wishing that Lovebug's pump had that feature.
Cue the "aha moment"! One day I was thinking about the Combo Bolus and how it works on the Ping. Remembering that you can give a certain percentage of insulin upfront and a certain percentage of the bolus of a period of time. Then it hit me...I bet I could do a Square Wave bolus using the Combo Bolus on the Ping. How, you ask? Well let me explain.
Remember that a Square Wave gives you your entire bolus over a set amount of time. It drags it out, so to speak. Well, I figured with the Combo Bolus if I gave 0% up front and 100% over a certain period of time, wouldn't that be the same as a Square Wave Bolus on the Medtronic? A couple weeks ago I got brave and tried it when we had pizza for dinner. And you know what? IT WORKED!!! Lovebug didn't have a delayed spike from the pizza!! She stayed nice and steady! I was super excited!! (yes, I have used it numerous times since then and It's still working!)
Another common problem we have with Lovebug is that she will be low before a meal, we will wait to bolus her until after she is done eating (yes, we typically bolus before meals, for both of the girls) and then a couple hours later we check her (or Dexie is beeping at us) and her blood sugar is HIGH. Then we do the big, "oops" I forgot, yet again! Ugh, I hate it when I forget and she suffers for it!!
So another conclusion I came to was, why not use a Squared Combo Bolus (as I call it) for Lovebug when she is low before a meal? (I am talking between 60 and 80 here) I can still bolus her (because she isn't getting any insulin up front) and then by the time her blood sugar is back up and her food is starting to kick in, the insulin is starting to trickle into her system. Hence no low blood sugar and no rebound spikes from the low either. And guess what? I tried it and IT WORKED!! It works wonderfully!
Needless to say, I am VERY happy! These two little "discoveries" were a God send to me. It has made managing Lovebug's crazy numbers a little easier. Anything to make this disease a little easier to handle makes for one (a little) happier mama!!
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Mini - The Purple Pump
I know that Princess was only diagnosed 6 weeks ago, and while it seems like it was just yesterday it also seems like we have been dealing with this for a while now. Oh, wait....we HAVE been, for the past 2 YEARS! I think that may feel like we had to wait FOREVER to get Princess on her pump.
Today we FINALLY got it in our hands! Princess's precious purple pump! Whom we have lovingly named Mini - Princess's idea, not mine! Mini has been sitting at the endo's office since last Friday patently waiting for us. Well, more for Princess, but a little for me too!
We went to see one of our favorite people at our endo office, Miss Sally. The girls just adore her and that makes the trips to the endo office just a little more bearable. Since we got a Medtronic Revel instead of another Animas Ping we decided to do some training, since some of the "lingo" is a little different between the two pump companies.
It training really well. I figured most of it out pretty quickly. I'm sure it helps since I have "experience" with insulin pumps already! (one of the positives to having a second diagnosis, I guess) Princess was super excited when she saw Mini.
When it came time to put her first site in, I knew what to do and I had Princess come over. I told her we were going to put her site in her arm. OH MY GOODNESS! I have never had quite as much drama from her at that moment as I did when I asked her if we could put her site in her arm. She REFUSED! She INSISTED on a belly site. I wasn't sure a belly site would work, poor kid doesn't have much "fat" on her! She is so tiny.
I asked Miss Sally if it looked like she could do a tummy site. She looked at Princess and said it would be okay. So, we put a tummy site in! I inserted it and she didn't flinch and no tears!! She sure is my brave girl!!
Princess really is doing remarkably well with all of this. Even though she doesn't like shots, she sure is on board with the pump and site changes! I wish she was more comfortable with her sensor changes for her CGM but I am hoping she will get used to it. She cries A LOT for those and yesterday was the first time I had inserted a sensor. It broke my heart to see her big crocodile tears. I know that we don't HAVE to have the CGM but it does put my mind at ease. I feel like I can breathe just a little now. I feel like I have been holding my breathe since her diagnosis. Huge sigh of relief.
For the next week we will be pumping with saline instead of insulin, so we can get some experience using the pump. Makes me a little less nervous to be starting insulin next week. I feel like I will have a good handle on the pump by then. So we are pumping with Saline until next Thursday when we go live with insulin! I am pretty excited (in a bittersweet kind of way) and Princess is too.
Today we FINALLY got it in our hands! Princess's precious purple pump! Whom we have lovingly named Mini - Princess's idea, not mine! Mini has been sitting at the endo's office since last Friday patently waiting for us. Well, more for Princess, but a little for me too!
 |
| Mini - The Purple Pump |
It training really well. I figured most of it out pretty quickly. I'm sure it helps since I have "experience" with insulin pumps already! (one of the positives to having a second diagnosis, I guess) Princess was super excited when she saw Mini.
When it came time to put her first site in, I knew what to do and I had Princess come over. I told her we were going to put her site in her arm. OH MY GOODNESS! I have never had quite as much drama from her at that moment as I did when I asked her if we could put her site in her arm. She REFUSED! She INSISTED on a belly site. I wasn't sure a belly site would work, poor kid doesn't have much "fat" on her! She is so tiny.
I asked Miss Sally if it looked like she could do a tummy site. She looked at Princess and said it would be okay. So, we put a tummy site in! I inserted it and she didn't flinch and no tears!! She sure is my brave girl!!
 |
| Princess is VERY proud of her tummy site! |
For the next week we will be pumping with saline instead of insulin, so we can get some experience using the pump. Makes me a little less nervous to be starting insulin next week. I feel like I will have a good handle on the pump by then. So we are pumping with Saline until next Thursday when we go live with insulin! I am pretty excited (in a bittersweet kind of way) and Princess is too.
Sunday, May 15, 2011
Moving Forward
It has been a month since Princess was diagnosed. It has been a HUGE change in our lives. I never would have thought that I would be taking care of TWO children with Type 1 diabetes. I thought having one was hard! Nope, two is much harder.
I feel like I have a handle on the diabetes though. I know what I am doing this time around, and that helps. It annoys the heck out of me that I can't "tweek" anything because Princess is still on MDI. (Mulitple Daily Injections) The smallest dose of insulin I can give her is .5 units. I need smaller doses! So, most of the time Princess has higher blood sugar numbers. Her I:C ratio is 1:40 right now (which I think we need to change but I'm not going to mess with it until we have the insulin pump). So in order to dose her for food she has to have at least 20 carbs, even though if I give her 10 carbs it raises her blood sugar. Needless to say I'm sure her A1C will be nice and high at her 1st follow up appointment in June.
For the most part we are muttering through getting used to all this. It has its good and bad days, as you would expect. Just ours seem to be doubled. Or if one kiddo is having a good day the other one isn't. It is a never ending battle, times two!
On top of all of this I had a hard decision to make. We had to decide about which insulin pump was right for Princess. It was a tough one! I'm sure most would assume that we would just put Princess on the same insulin pump the Lovebug is on, but that isn't the case. While we LOVE the Animas Ping I simply do not like that Lovebug has to carry her CGM (Dexie) around with her too. It drives me crazy and was a major factor in hesitating to put Lovebug on a CGM. Of course once we did a trial with it, we immediately saw the benefits and were hooked. If it wasn't for the wonderful benefits the CGM allows us, Lovebug simply would not have one.
So, we took a serious look at the Medtronic Revel. It has a CGM integrated into the pump. I was hesitant at first but the more I learned about the pump and after talked to friends, I was convienced this was the right pump for Princess.
I did have my doubts about the CGM and senors that accompany the Revel. The sensor/transmitter is much larger and I was afraid it would be a bit much on Princess's small frame. I called my endo office and decided to do a trial with the Guardian System (as Medtronic calls it) I have been nothing but impressed! Which takes a lot! Especially because I am a HUGE DexCom fan. There are features on the Guardian which I really like, and a few that I don't. Probably more because I am used to the DexCom.
One particular function that took some getting used to was the alarms. You can set the high and low alarms on the Guardian (just like DexCom) but you can't shut one or the other off like you can on the DexCom. They are simply either on or off. I do like the predictive alarms, especially for the lows. We only had the predictive low happen twice but both times Princess was still in the 120's when the CGM alarmed. Therefore she never actually went low, like she might have had we just had the alarm telling us that she is already low.
I find the information gleemed from the Guardian is much more useful then the DexCom's graphs when you download the information from the DexCom. The Guardian has it marked on the graph when you bolus. The screen is also shaded from 6pm to 6am so you can immediately tell where the "over night" numbers were at.
We really had a great experience with it and we are very excited to be getting our own! Our endo already ordered the Revel pump and CGM for Princess and it has already arrived! We will be doing our pump training this coming week as well as starting our saline trial so we can get used to the new pump. Princess is very excited (as well as Mom and Dad!!) to be done with shots! She keeps asking me when she will be done with shots and now we are counting down the days! Then the week after we will be live with insulin! It is all a little bittersweet for us but we are still happy to be moving to this "next stage". It will be a good one for the whole family.
I feel like I have a handle on the diabetes though. I know what I am doing this time around, and that helps. It annoys the heck out of me that I can't "tweek" anything because Princess is still on MDI. (Mulitple Daily Injections) The smallest dose of insulin I can give her is .5 units. I need smaller doses! So, most of the time Princess has higher blood sugar numbers. Her I:C ratio is 1:40 right now (which I think we need to change but I'm not going to mess with it until we have the insulin pump). So in order to dose her for food she has to have at least 20 carbs, even though if I give her 10 carbs it raises her blood sugar. Needless to say I'm sure her A1C will be nice and high at her 1st follow up appointment in June.
For the most part we are muttering through getting used to all this. It has its good and bad days, as you would expect. Just ours seem to be doubled. Or if one kiddo is having a good day the other one isn't. It is a never ending battle, times two!
On top of all of this I had a hard decision to make. We had to decide about which insulin pump was right for Princess. It was a tough one! I'm sure most would assume that we would just put Princess on the same insulin pump the Lovebug is on, but that isn't the case. While we LOVE the Animas Ping I simply do not like that Lovebug has to carry her CGM (Dexie) around with her too. It drives me crazy and was a major factor in hesitating to put Lovebug on a CGM. Of course once we did a trial with it, we immediately saw the benefits and were hooked. If it wasn't for the wonderful benefits the CGM allows us, Lovebug simply would not have one.
So, we took a serious look at the Medtronic Revel. It has a CGM integrated into the pump. I was hesitant at first but the more I learned about the pump and after talked to friends, I was convienced this was the right pump for Princess.
I did have my doubts about the CGM and senors that accompany the Revel. The sensor/transmitter is much larger and I was afraid it would be a bit much on Princess's small frame. I called my endo office and decided to do a trial with the Guardian System (as Medtronic calls it) I have been nothing but impressed! Which takes a lot! Especially because I am a HUGE DexCom fan. There are features on the Guardian which I really like, and a few that I don't. Probably more because I am used to the DexCom.
One particular function that took some getting used to was the alarms. You can set the high and low alarms on the Guardian (just like DexCom) but you can't shut one or the other off like you can on the DexCom. They are simply either on or off. I do like the predictive alarms, especially for the lows. We only had the predictive low happen twice but both times Princess was still in the 120's when the CGM alarmed. Therefore she never actually went low, like she might have had we just had the alarm telling us that she is already low.
I find the information gleemed from the Guardian is much more useful then the DexCom's graphs when you download the information from the DexCom. The Guardian has it marked on the graph when you bolus. The screen is also shaded from 6pm to 6am so you can immediately tell where the "over night" numbers were at.
We really had a great experience with it and we are very excited to be getting our own! Our endo already ordered the Revel pump and CGM for Princess and it has already arrived! We will be doing our pump training this coming week as well as starting our saline trial so we can get used to the new pump. Princess is very excited (as well as Mom and Dad!!) to be done with shots! She keeps asking me when she will be done with shots and now we are counting down the days! Then the week after we will be live with insulin! It is all a little bittersweet for us but we are still happy to be moving to this "next stage". It will be a good one for the whole family.
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