[Diabetes-talk] Guidance on talking glucose monitor

[eileen scrivani]

Hi Tamera & All:

Yes, I totally agree.

Kelly has been very good about getting meters replaced, but there is still 
room for improvement on the Prodigy Voice.  I too used the Accu Check for a 
very long time -- while it did have its problems, it was in my experience a 
work-horse and my A1C's never came back with shocking results.  With the 
Accu Check my A1C's were always in line with what I was expecting. 
Unfortunately, near the end of the Accu Check's life it became erratic and 
no matter how many times the company sent me replacements it always broke 
down quickly.  Both my husband & I are totally blind, so I too have no 
sighted assistance and must be sure about the results my meter is giving.

Don't get me wrong, I am happy to have the PV, but again, it is the only 
show in town and is better than having NO meter at all.  Any diabetic who is 
totally blind has "NO" choice in the matter.  DDI should be given credit for 
making the effort of producing an accessible glucose meter, but to say that 
the PV is "top rated" by blind diabetics, in my opinion, just doesn't have 
much meaning because again its the only meter that we have any access to. 
If there were more accessible meters to compare against each other, than to 
say it's top-rated would have some meaning.  .  I don't want to see the 
Prodigy just disappear; I want to see improvements/upgrades made to it.  It 
is imperative that we have multiple choices for talking meters.  For those 
who want meter development & design to first be presented to the DAN board, 
I find this just a tad bit too controlling.  Are we going to reject any/all 
new accessible meters that hit the market because companies did not first 
run the development of a meter by the NFB's DAN?  So long as any company 
developing accessible glucose meters is getting input from the consumer base 
that's what's important.

Through Cheryl, I got in touch with Tina Rockwell of ADS and am waiting for 
the Solo meter.  Once I get comfortable with the new Solo meter, I'll write 
back with my experiences.  Tina from ADS was very open to hearing feed-back 
on how I like the Solo and I'll talk with her in another week or two. 
Currently the manual is not on CD, but can be downloaded from there web 
site.  If I understood correctly, they are working on getting the manual on 
a CD as well.

When writing, it is often difficult for us all to express our exact meanings 
and sometimes comments might come off as personal attacks.  This is usually, 
not my way of dealing with people.  I will stand up for myself when/where I 
feel the need.  Often on this list, I have felt that I've been accused of 
doing some kind of covert espionage for the ACB because once upon a time I 
had subscribed to their diabetics email list and had the nerve to pose the 
question of why we can't all try to work together on certain issues.  I 
suspect that this has never been forgotten and will not be let go easily --  
Hmm.  Not sure what to think here.

Good day to all and hope to talk to you later.

Eileen