138 JULY/AUGUST 2017 diabetic livingTHAT’S life!
Well, now I think I know how
humans felt when they invented
the wheel. You little beauty!!!
Continuous glucose monitoring
(CGM) hasn’t just changed the
way I manage type 1 diabetes,
it’s also come hand-in-hand
with a new confidence that 50
slaps in the face couldn’t have told me was on its
way – until I actually jumped in and gave it a try.
To top it off with whipped cream
and a cherry, now the Federal
Government is making CGM
accessible to kids who really need it.
Just to give some background in
case you don’t understand how a
CGM device works, I have a sensor
stuck to my butt. (All the ads show
them on the tummy but the trade
secret from me is that the butt is
the best... no buts.) It doesn’t ever
get in the way or feel like it’s on at
all. Mine sits below the belt and on
my side, though each to their own on placement.
The sensor reads glucose through the body’s
tissue and a little bit of tinsel that sits under the
skin. It sends a constant message to my phone and
plots my levels as a graph. Now here’s the clanger- it sends alarms to my phone as I approach a low
or high reading; I set those parameters myself.
Better still, I can set it up so care partners are
notified by text if my glucose level drops too low.
Case in point: after going to bed early one night,
I had Gwenllian (my Welsh princess) wake me up
with a glass of juice and a smile saying “Drink
it you muppet, your sugar’s low”. Anyone who’s
had a hypo in their sleep knows it’s something
best avoided. Thanks Gwen and CGM.
As for my bolstered confidence, the family and
I went for a biking weekend in the mountains not
long ago. I can’t tell you how good it feels to pedal
into the unknown with no more than a glance at
the phone occasionally to let you know exactly
how you are travelling diabetes-management-wise.
Geez, a six-km climb with
a three-year-old hanging on to
the bike is plenty enough to make
your levels plummet. Do you know
why it wasn’t a concern? Because
I saw it coming. After a glance at
the phone to check my CGM status,
I made a preemptive strike into
the lunch stash with just the right
level of enthusiasm. Greta, the
three-year-old, got a gummy bear
too. Win win, I reckon.
As many may know, the Turnbull
Government has just chipped in over $50 million
to make this incredible technology available to
kids who live with diabetes and are hypo-unaware.
In my opinion that’s nearly all of them. I certainly
didn’t see hypos coming on plenty of occasions
when I was a youngster. And just imagine all the
mums and dads who may get half a night’s sleep
for the first time in recent memory knowing little
Suzie is being watched by technology that, when
I was diagnosed, seemed as likely as a Dick Tracy
phone in a watch. Oh that’s right, they exist too. ■Everyone’s favourite chippie Rob Palmer is riding off on
exciting adventures, thanks to a new diabetes helper
Postcards
from the
SHED
CARE
PARTNERS^
are notified
by text if my
glucose level
drops
PHOTOGRAPHYDAVID THOMSON (ROB’S PHOTO), GETTY IMAGESPedal into
the unknown