About the featured image: This drone was built by Wellesley students back in 2016. We learned about it in class yesterday and today, as this post goes live, I will be on a large field with the rest of my class, performing a Drone Flying Test. Isn’t that amazing?
A lot happened in the last week. I am most excited about a little something that genuinely has the power to completely change my life. I don’t know if I have ever written about this before, but I am a diabetic. I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes almost 12 years ago, ironically on Halloween night. For about 8 years now I have used an insulin pump called Omnipod to treat my condition.
One thing I have always known I could improve, however, was my blood testing habits. I simply was not testing my BG (blood glucose) often enough. So when my Endocrinologist (Diabetes doctor) mentioned the possibility of getting a CGM (continuous glucose monitor) for the hundredth time, I finally gave in. Now, I had my reasons to resist it until now, but the Dexcom brand has just recently become the first FDA approved CGM, which means I can trust the CGM readings when treating my blood levels. This is life-changing. So I gave in. After months of dealing with insurance, I finally received a Starter’s Pack last Thursday. On Friday, I cleared hours of my schedule to figure out how to put it on. This is the result:
I don’t know if you can tell, but I am wearing both of these medical devices on my upper arms. I have done nothing to try to hide them, possibly because I am so excited to have the Dexcom. I closed the store where I work on Monday, and my co-workers were shocked by how many comments I received about the devices. I am very comfortable with the topic, of course. I would not be writing this post about it otherwise. But the number of comments I received still shocked me. I will say that the best comments come from kids, who ask me things like ‘are you half robot?’. Adorable.
One thing I did not know until I received the package was that I cannot take Acetaminophen when I am on the Dexcom. Or rather, I would not be able to trust the results during the time that Acetaminophen is active in my body. In case you don’t know, Acetaminophen is found in most cold medicine. Also in case you didn’t know, I have been battling a cold since last week. Thankfully, I was not on the Dexcom for the worst days of my sickness, but I did stop taking Dayquil and Nyquil at the end of the week. Maybe that’s why my symptoms are not going away.
There are many things that bring up my BG, two of which are illnesses and stress. This week has been heavy with both. You know about my cold, but I don’t think I have told you much about the stress. I realised last week that we are fast approaching the first Midterm round. After a year of the UK system, this whole midterm thing seems really out of control. I have so much going on: midterm paper on midterm paper on midterm paper on midterm exam (maybe one more, I am blanking right now). That together with a few funky personal happenings and everything going on at work have been quite stressful. Yet, here I was just happy to have a constant source of my BG readings and treat them appropriately. It was amazing. On a related note, I am likely going to write one of my midterm papers on the CGM. I love it when my life gives me school inspiration.
Regarding the videos I promised on my last blog, I swear I am working on them! Those just take way longer than the usual posts. I am hoping I will post one next week. Until then ~