I didn't recognize the name or the number on the caller ID this morning and I'm usually hesitant to answer in those situations, but it was a local number so I picked it up. Interesting call to answer, it turned out. It was the patient representative for Dexcom, whom I haven't spoken to in likely nearly a year.
She was calling to see how things were going with Dex.
"Well, I can't afford the sensors anymore, so I'm not using it," I told her.
"Have you checked with your insurance to see if they cover it or is it a co-pay issue?" Jackie asked.
"It's a co-pay issue," I said.
"Oh that's too bad. Because I know you really got a lot of use out of it when you were wearing it."
"Yeah, I did."
"Well, you know, I could always give you some sensors here and there if you want."
"Thanks Jackie. I'll keep that in mind."
The truth is, I'm sort of waiting to see what my A1C is before trying to justify buying the sensors again. I see my endo in the next couple weeks and I haven't worn Dex for the majority of the time between my last appointment and now. This was not an intentional experiment, but I am very interested to see what my A1C is without Dex compared to with Dex.
I suspect my A1C will have gone up. Hopefully not too much, but I won't be surprised either way. I'm certainly not holding out for anything lower than it was last time. And really, I could reach a lower A1C goal by testing more often if I'm not going to use Dex.
And as long as we're telling the truth, I've sort of enjoyed not having to worry about calibrating, and the sensor and carrying around this extra thing all the time. I have felt much lighter, though that might not be such a good thing depending on what my A1C is.
I've sort of talked this to death, but I'm really looking forward to seeing what Dexcom and Animas come up with in the next year. Hopefully, it's something. I'm definitely switching to Animas when my Medtronic warranty is up, so if they could come up with some integrated device I would definitely use it -- and continue to feel much lighter.
