Animas Vibe & Dexcom G4 Platinum – Part 1

Has it been more than four months since I’ve blogged? Really? Lots and lots has happened. Won’t bore you with everything, but it’s been a massive year.

A very brief update:

Sold my house. Bought another much smaller one about 10k further south. The house is up on a hill and faces north-north east, so it’s lovely and breezy.

Sold my car, bought another one. Gone is the big 2.7l 6cyl petrol guzzler SUV, which I loved, but it only loved petrol stations. Hello Toyota Prius Hybrid – one way to tread more lightly with so much less petrol.

I moved house at the end of October and it took a bit to settle in. Downsizing is never easy. Moving is never easy. Thanks to my ex who helped me, it was a bit more painless than it would have been without his help.

Discovered I may have Celiac – something that often goes with Type 1 Diabetes – 5 x more often than in the general population. Or I may have a generic gluten sensitivity or allergy. I may have had it for years, but the second I was settled into my new home and told myself I could finally breathe after an extremely stressful year, very pronounced symptoms reared their heads. Typical for me that I do well under pressure but fall apart afterwards. I’ll blog more about the gluten thing soon.

So without writing a novel, on Thursday I’m going to say hello to my new best friends – both newly released: the Animas Vibe Insulin Pump and the Dexcom G4 Platinum Continuous Glucose Monitor (CGM).

Can I tell you how excited I am? I’ve been wanting a CGM for at least 5 years. After much research, nothing but Dexcom would do, so I had a long wait until Dexcom-anything hit Australia. The big bonus is that the Dexcom G4 hooks into my favourite new model of insulin pump brand, the Animas Vibe.

The wait is almost over!

So, Thursday’s the day with the super-amazing Belinda from Animas and a lovely local CDE Christine. Between the three of us, I know it’s going to be a fun, educational and purposeful time. Not that I haven’t already read everything I could get my hands on, but I know there’s a huge amount to learn and especially to experience for the first time.

The biggest advantages for me will be that (1) I will be able to tweak my overnight basal, (2) get a warning when my blood glucose goes too high or too low, and (3) most importantly see blood glucose trends.

Trends are difficult to get unless you want to test your blood glucose every 5 minutes. Even if you test every hour, what’s your blood glucose doing during that hour? Trends can be invaluable for tweaking insulin and consequently for better blood glucose control.

It’s going to be an awesome experience! Stay tuned!