Last Fall I participated in a Diabetic study associated with the Barbara Davis Center in Colorado. As part of the study I was required to wear a Dexcom Continuous Glucose Monitor and once the study was over, I could keep the Dexcom. The study lasted about four months and concluded the day before Thanksgiving. I wore the CGM through the Thanksgiving holiday weekend and I was very pleased with how it performed and the ability to observe my glucose readings every 5 minutes.
Following the conclusion of the study I had only one sensor left. The sensor is the sticky pad that attaches to your skin and a fine metal wire is inserted into the skin. One of the nurses from the study helped me fill out the paperwork to my insurance company requesting coverage for the sensors. The sensors are very expensive and are about $60 U.S. dollars without insurance. That’s sixty dollars per sensor. I was advised that it could take several months to get an answer back from the insurance company. I really wanted to try the Dexcom again, since this would be the first time on my own. But with only one sensor remaining until I heard back from the insurance company I wanted to make sure I made the best use of it. I figured the best time to try it would be the week of Christmas. With lots of Christmas food and candies to tempt me, what better time to be wearing a continuous glucose meter.
On Christmas Eve (2009) I inserted the last sensor into my skin. And it hurt. Worse than the other times I had worn it during the study. An hour after inserting the sensor the Dexcom gave me an error: that the sensor failed. I was ticked because it was the only sensor I had. I left it in over-night figuring maybe it was getting a good reading yet from my skin and better luck in the morning.
The next day (Christmas), I started up the Dexcom to begin its calibrations. About 30-minutes later I got the sensor failed warning again. Figuring I had a bad sensor I removed the sensor from my stomach and was surprised to see that the little metal wire was not attached. After searching the floor near where I removed the sensor and not finding the lead, the only conclusion I could come to was that it broke off in my skin. My family wanted me to go to the emergency room. But there was no way I was going to spend my Christmas in the hospital. I searched the web to see if there was any Diabetic information out there about this same scenario. There was little information. And stories from people who did experience this did not have any solutions or advice on what to do. One person did say that it should come out on it’s own like a splinter. But I couldn’t find any official medical advice.
A week later I had my 3-month checkup with my Diabetic doctor and I told him what happened. He checked the site and didn’t see any indication that there was anything under the skin. His conclusion was that it was a defective sensor that was missing the wire.
The following week the site started to feel itchy. I also felt something there when I rubbed my finger over it. Looking in the mirror I could see what looked like a splinter. The sensor lead was there and was working its way to the surface of the skin. I was able to grab part of it with tweezers. It was only a fraction of the piece. It must have broken into a couple of pieces under the skin. So it’s slowly been working its way up and out. I’m still not sure if it’s all out yet.
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)