Upgrading Myself

Enough about my foot.  :P

I have been looking into upgrading my bionic pancreas, a.k.a. my pump, lately. As I may or may not have grumbled, I have a love-hate relationship with my current CGM (continuous glucose monitoring). I love that it continuously tests my blood glucose, but I hate that it's a second device, I keep losing it, it likes to fall out of my pocket, it can be wildly inaccurate, it doesn't work with my regular old glucometer or with my pump...and it's a second device that I have to carry around with me, sometimes in my purse where it doesn't read and often on my belt like I'm Batgirl or something.

It's like this, only not cool.

 



 

The company that makes my insulin pump called me about a month ago to "see how I was doing" and "let me know that I may be eligible for an upgrade." I interpret that as, Hey, we want more of your money, but whatever. They asked how my HbA1c was and if I was familiar with "continuous blood glucose testing," to which I replied that I'd been using it for almost two years and my HbA1c was fine, thank you. Then I am told that their new pump is all in one and does both the pump stuff and the CGM stuff. This isn't exactly news to me since my doctor told me it was coming years ago, but I let them send me some info on it. Basically, it's my current pump with more bells and whistles. Yay.

But my doctor has a love-love affair with the Dexcom company and its products. He thinks it's more accurate. He isn't a big fan of my current pump. And for the past few years I've let him lead and influence me in this, because frankly he knows more than I do about them and has researched them, and he's, y'know, my doctor.

Well, I'm gonna put my foot down this time. I want one of these and have already started working with my pump rep to get it.

And I even like the color.

Is it as accurate? Maybe, maybe not. I still have to finger stick. It doesn't continuously monitor my blood sugar as often as my current CGM does. But it's one less thing I have to carry through airport security when I go to Chicago in June, it's something that I am familiar with, it can predict up to thirty minutes in advance a high or low blood sugar...and the biggest thing of all, it's likely covered by my insurance whereas Dexcom is NOT.

We'll see if it's worth it.