She's a Keeper

Yes, we've decided to keep Sweetpea!

Ha! Just kidding! I'm not talking about my most favorite girl on Earth.

No.... I'm talking about Dexie!

(Our Dexie is a girl, in case you were wondering.)



The DAY BEFORE we left for vacation (how's that for good timing?!?), something special arrived at our door!



Here is Sweetpea opening the box.... (forgive the pictures - taken on my phone and a little blurry)



FINALLY!

We were all incredibly THRILLED to get Dexie out of her box and charge up for use! Sweetpea was every bit as excited about Dexie as we were! She kept saying, "We get to keep her. We don't have give her back. She's OURS now!" Yes indeedy!




It was awesome to be able to take Dexie on vacation with us. I never know what swimming is going to do to her bg. Sometimes the activity keeps her at a great number. Sometimes being unhooked while in the water makes her high. Sometimes she's low later due to a delayed activity low. You just never know! But with Dexie at our side, we felt more comfortable.



Dexie (the receiver that you see in the pics) can not get wet. What we did was put her in a plastic bag while we were at the pool or the beach. Then whenever Sweetpea took a break and was close by, Dexie would pick up her bg.



We spent 10 days in Florida. At the pool. At the beach. HOT sun. Disney. Sweaty, sweaty, sweaty.



And Dexie held fast. Not ONE tiny problem with the adhesive coming off.





Sweetpea is showing you how she wears Dexie in this picture. For now, what we do is she wears another pouch facing backward. Dexie goes there. All she has to do is back up to me and I can pull Dexie out and check to see what she says. Sweetpea does not mind wearing two pouches at all. That was one of my big concerns. But it's been a non issue. Also, like when we were at Disney, I will carry Dexie in my purse if we are going to be close together all the time. That way she gets a break from wearing the receiver but I still get the information!



Here is Dexie showing off this evening. I'm not sure why this picture is sideways - it was not like that when it uploaded. Whatever. You get the idea.





I love seeing that arrow going sideways. That means she's steady. The 86 is her current bg. That big spike that you see is from dinner. Notice the time - 9pm. Had we not had Dexie and been able to see that she was steady, we might have treated her to get her closer to 100 for bedtime. But seeing that she was steady, we waited a little while to see what she was going do. It's been a wonderful tool to help us keep an eye on things. It helps us to not over or under treat.



We are doing a Dexie change tonight and as I got out the supplies, I realized how much I like them! They come all together in one nice little pack! Yea for simplicity! Yea for very few pieces! Love it!





I tried to take a pic of Sweetpea's bum tonight when I took off the old sensor to show what it looked like after wearing Dexie for a week. It didn't turn out and I didn't want to take a full bum shot - she IS a big girl now, you know.



Here's what I saw.... A very tiny red dot. NO BLOOD. Not a drop. Faint markings where the adhesive was. That's it. Dexie sites look better than pump sites when they come off. You could hardly even tell she had something there.



This is a picture of the sensor once it was taken off. That thing that's sticking up is what's in her rear end telling us her bg! It looks really long - which it is. But it's very, very thin. Thinner than the pump cannula, I think. And a little more flexible.

I took this off her rump just like a band aid - without her even flinching. And that's a big deal for us! Sweetpea likes to have all her "insertions" done at night while she's asleep so she does not have to worry about it hurting. This is the girl who cried and fought every single shot for 5 months. She fusses about taking off real band aids - and often chooses not even to wear one. She refuses to get a cut wet in the bathtub. Only recently has she gotten "cool" with having her nails clipped. Even the littlest things can cause a big dramatic scene. So - for her to not even flinch is a BIG DEAL!

We LOVE Dexie! We already rely on her a great deal. She helps us decide if and how much is needed to correct blood sugars - both high and low. She gives us a sense of security. It's like someone else is watching out for Sweetpea. And she's saved us from some nasty lows.


As you may know, Sweetpea does not usually recognize her lows. Today we went to the mall to enjoy the A/C and hang out with friends. We had just finished lunch and stop at the pet store and were heading to the play land when Sweetpea told me, "Mom - Dexie beeped". I figured she was high. It was only an hour tops after lunch.


Nope. Low.


Good Grief. I pulled out the tester in the middle of Gap and tested her bg. 64. Dexie said 72. And she was falling fast because we set Dexie to alarm once she's below 90.


I would not have checked her - for a LONG while. She did not feel it. Not at all.


Scary. But crisis averted. We caught that before she got too low.


Usually, Dexie will catch it before it even gets THAT low. We also have her set to alarm any time Sweetpea has double arrows down - meaning that she's falling pretty fast. Specifically, it means that she's falling faster than 3 mg/dL min. Yikes! That's info that I want to know!


So.... we are totally, completely, over the moon in LOVE with Dexie!


Even Sweetpea loves her!


I hesitated to try a cgm because I was afraid of putting another site on her already small body and I hated for her to have to wear another device. Both of those concerns, while valid, have become non issues. I'm so glad that we were able to try it and then to get our own!


A big THANK YOU to the folks at Dexcom for allowing us to trial a cgm and for helping speed along our paperwork so that we were not only able to get our own Dexie - we were able to get her in time for her to go on vacation with us!


To read more about the Dexcom Seven Plus CGM, you can read my previous post about it, A Very Welcome Houseguest, or check out the Dexcom website. The website is great and has an awesome tutorial that shows you step by step how to insert the system. I watched it and was good to go. Honestly. It's easy peasy lemon squeezy! You can also watch the Seven Plus being inserted into a very cute little superhero over at My Life With the Superhero and the Princess!

As always, I don't know if the Dexcom Seven Plus will work for you. All I know is what works for us. And it works for us! Personally, we are hooked.


Dexie is DEFINITELY a keeper!

(Musical Accompaniment: I Can't Help Falling in Love with You by Andrea Bocelli)