Techie's

A few weeks ago, I heard tell about a new Glucometer that was hitting the market by Telcare.  And the abilities it promised appealed to my techie loving mother’s heart:

Abilities like:

Upload BG’s to an online database

Create charts of BG’s to track trends that are printable…can you imagine how much that will impress your doctor at your next visit?

Having user created accounts so doctor/provider can access the database and monitor patients BG, if the patient grants access.

Texting my phone when a BG is uploaded

I was intrigued and began researching.  For some reason logging is a battle with my son.  It doesn’t seem like it would be that hard, but he will even pretend to write his numbers down and NOT.  Right now, while everything is so new and his life has changed in so many ways…this battle isn’t worth it to me, not if we can purchase this technology to stop the battle…not to mention it will save his overworked school nurse from having to scan and email me his numbers every day…and it will make testing/logging in Disney World so much easier.

If you sign a year contract, the meter is $100.00 and the strips are $35.95 for 50, this is before insurance reimburses me. (I am currently paying $128.00 as a COPAY on 300 strips).  This is a huge cost savings to me and my insurance company.

There were a few glitches in the process, but Telcare has been in personal contact with me to work them out and I feel assured that this is definitely not the norm.  They are a very new company, just opened for business this month.  There are bound to be some growing pains with that.

So yesterday, I did it.  I took the plunge and I ordered the glucometer and 200 strips.  It will all be here on Monday and we are so excited.

Last night I downloaded the free App for my iPhone.  Using this app, I can add Seth’s insulin amounts/times to his logs as well as his carb amounts and meal times to the logs.  I wish that were an option on the meter, but I can hope that will evolve and come to be in time.

So…once I’ve had a chance to play with it. I’ll let you know my thoughts, good or bad.

In other techie news:

We had our 1 month follow up visit with the doctor this week.  The doctor and I both believe that we are entering the honeymoon phase and have backed off on Seth’s Lantus dose and adjusted his Carb Ratio to stop him from running as low as he has.  We are seeing some improvement…but what really excited me is that SHE brought up the idea of Seth switching to a pump.  Said now that she has gotten to know me (over the course of all of our daily phone calls) and seen our documentation and my involvement that she believes I will stick with this and that we are a good candidate for the pump and she sees no reason to wait a year!  I told her I was wondering about making the transition this summer since I am off work and Seth is out of school, seems like a good time to do it since we would be spending so much time together and she agreed!!!

So, Seth and I are reading information and watching videos on:

The Omnipod

and Medtronic

Those are the two pumps she is familiar and trained on.  The Omnipod is a pod delivery system so there is no tubing running from the pump to the insertion site.  The Medtronic does have tubing, but it also has a built in Continuous Glucose Monitoring System, so there are pro’s and con’s to both.  We are doing our research and have information requests into both companies.  Seth is a little nervous about it because when he asked the doctor how it felt to insert the cannula, the doctor said, like an IV.  Well, if you read our hospital post you know the IV did not go well for Seth.  I am hoping we can test each ones insertion out for him to see.  Most kids say it doesn’t hurt any worse than the Lantus shot (which is a little painful because the insulin crystallizes under the skin so that it is a slow release)…but Seth has to experience things to believe it.

So that is what we have been up to…you?

~B