Back to G5

Late last Thursday afternoon, as I pulled my car up at a local reserve to take the dog for a walk, the life of my final Dexcom G6 sensor came to an end.

I absolutely loved my time using Dexcom G6. Not having to prick my fingers after ten and a half years of living with diabetes was nothing short of amazing. It’s a reality that I haven’t quite shaken myself of every morning when my G5 pings me for a calibration, and I have to reluctantly delay my coffee to wash my hands and prick my finger.

The one thing I truly missed was having blood glucose readings on my insulin pump. I truly love not being tethered to my phone, particularly for things like runs or lounging around the house. Of course, this would have been rectified had I chosen to update my t:slim to Basal IQ. This would bring low glucose suspend functionality to my pump, with the promise of a fully automated system hopefully not too far away.

That was even harder to walk away from, than G6 itself.

The update to Basal IQ was really, really tempting. I think CGM/Flash is definitely something that is worth spending some of my money on, and something that I know I want to live with. However, I just couldn’t justify spending that much money on the G6 when I have other priorities in my life right now and there are cheaper options available. Plus, there’d be no going back if I changed my mind on the update.

I do think the subscription plan and price reduction from G5 is a step in the right direction from distributor AMSL Diabetes – to the extent that this was genuinely something I could consider. However, the $400 bond does add a further barrier and cost to the subscription plan, which could surely be replaced by a credit check.

At the end of the day, I knew this is where I would find myself when I was weighing up my decision to commit to another four years on the t:slim earlier this year. I have absolutely no regrets with that decision, because the Tandem/Dexcom G5 is still the system that works best for me and burdens me the least.

So for the foreseeable future, I’m back using my rebatteried Dexcom G5. Given that G6 is yet to be listed on the NDSS, I’d expect that G5 won’t be going anywhere for at least 12 months.

I’m super grateful to AMSL for the opportunity to trial the G6.

Hopefully this is a ‘not now,’ rather than a ‘not ever.’

Full disclosure: AMSL Diabetes provided me with a three month trial of the Dexcom G6 Continuous Glucose Monitoring system. I previously wrote about the system as part of my now ended sponsorship agreement here. This post does not form part of that agreement and is, as always, my own.

For the Long Haul.

Hello, November. We meet again.

That one month of the year where my social media feeds turn blue and light up with diabetes awareness.

Much like Halloween, Diabetes Awareness Month isn’t really a thing here in Australia. Aside from marking World Diabetes Day on the 14th of November, our National Diabetes Week takes place in July. Even though I’m just about ready to hang up the Christmas lights and put my feet up for the Summer, it will undoubtedly be hard not to feel obligated to join in and reconnect with the DOC.

One of the first things I was told when I was diagnosed was that I’d have diabetes for the rest of my life. And that it would be a pretty normal life, because it was manageable.

But the one thing that nobody ever told me, and the one thing that nobody ever readied me for, was the fact that diabetes is for the long haul.

Nobody ever stressed to me the monotony of doing those same tasks day in and day out, forever. Whoops, I mean until the cure arrives in five years time. Those annoying little tasks that I know I should do, but really don’t want to. Just like the thought of brushing my teeth at night when all I really want to do is turn the lights off and go to bed. Sure, there are shiny new toys that occasionally pep things up, but the gloss eventually fades.

Nobody ever told me how much mental energy I’d have to devote to this thing. How every single thing I want to do today revolves around numbers and insulin and goodness knows what else. Sometimes, when the going gets tough, it might distract away from the energy I have to put towards the other aspects of my life.

Nobody ever told me that I’d still be explaining diabetes all these years later, to those same people who asked me those same questions eleven years ago. Being your own advocate is exhausting.

Nobody ever prepared me for the fact that there’s never really a finish line. I mean, sure, there are diaversaries. There are decades. There is cake. There are victories. Like a great A1C, or news of an all clear diabetes screening for another year.

But nobody ever prepared me for just how ordinary and unremarkable these things would feel after I’d marked them over and over again. When all I have to look forward to is doing it all over again on the long road ahead.

Happy diabetes awareness month.