To me, it is equal parts hilarious, disturbing and normal that I can and do get excited about new diabetes tools. I waited on pins and needles for Dexcom to show up a year ago. And now I'm nearly beside myself that Dexcom Plus has shown up!

I upgraded last week (and thanks to my flexible spending account pre-loaded debit card had absolutely no trouble spending my deductible in the second week of January) and waited fairly patiently for FedEx. I even purposefully didn't insert a new sensor after taking out the last one at my ortho's office last week (x-rays) hoping that I'd have the new contraption in my hands before the end of the week. (No such luck, though.)

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In a word, last night was crazy. And I think I have a problem. OK that's more than one word.

So I've been getting about 10-12 days out of my Dexcom sensors (woot!) and decided to order another box after I opened my last sensor. Big mistake because that sensor went bad after less than 12 hours. So while I had ordered the next box, there was a holiday thrown in the mix and I wound up without sensors for about a week. (Next time I'll reorder when I have two left.)

So I was readjusting to life after a four-day holiday weekend and to finally having Dexcom back. Last night Dexcom apparently screamed at me more than once. The Mr. said it alarmed three times. I only remember the time I looked at it and it said I was 50 mg/dL. And then I remember thinking this exact thought: There's no way I'm 50. I'm not 50. I don't feel 50. Stupid sensor.

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If you expect to hear it, then should it really be that bad?

Yes and no. 

Today's endo appointment wasn't as bad as I thought it would be in terms of feeling like I was getting raked over the coals. First, the good news: the thyroid nodule hasn't grown and I don't need to follow up on it until March 2012. Like K said when they first discovered it, I've probably had it forever. And nodules are apparently pretty common.

So the bad news: cholesterol is up, thyroid out of whack for the first time in ages, A1C up. Everything is up except my mood.

I think I generally take this kind of news in stride during the appointment. It's typically hours later when I realize what I went through. And that's when I start kicking myself and hating diabetes and thinking about how nice it would be to not have to think about all this stuff all the time.

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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."

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As I stood in the bathroom Friday night, I had to count on my fingers. The math was too much for me any other way. Tuesday, Wednesday... one, two, three. I had to count twice because I didn't believe that I had gotten 11 days out of my Dexcom sensor.

I was still getting mostly good readings, but Friday things had started to get a little farther off than I like and I had put extra tape on the peeling sensor to keep it on as long as I could.

I was beyond thrilled with how things had gone over the last 11 days. I had not often gone over 200 and when I did I knew why. And my lows were kept at bay. I really felt like I was getting out of Dex what I should have been getting out of it all along. I had this goal in front of me to lower my A1C and I felt like Dex was helping me achieve that goal.

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I’m going back to Dex. While I’m mostly OK with not wearing the Dexcom CGMS, I think I miss it a little.
 

Poor Dex has been collecting dust in a cabinet since February when I inserted my last sensor. Yes, my insurance company had finally decided to pay for the sensors, but I hadn’t reached my deductible yet and couldn’t afford the $500.
 

I’ve been thinking a lot about going back to Dexcom since my last endo appointment when I found out my A1C was 7.5 and I nearly fell out of my chair from shock. I’m meeting my endo again in 8 weeks and in addition to an improved A1C I’d like to be able to show her some charts and graphs from Dex.
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