[Diabetes-Talk] My first experience with the Dexcom G6.

Mon Jul 2 22:56:59 UTC 2018

Hi again!
Okay, my curiosity got the better of me this afternoon and I went into the
calibration area on the app. Wow is it better than the G5. It pops up with
the usual edit box and there is a save button at the top of the screen. Then
it comes up and says, confirm and it repeats the number you entered and you
have a confirm button. None of the stupid ghost save cancel stuff. So far
I'm really liking the G6 app a lot. Well, other than that first sign in
page. 
I will keep all of you updated on how it behaves. I haven't been swimming
yet but it's survived fine through one shower. <grin>
Veronica

"Guide Dogs, First Hand", Veronica Elsea's classic album is now available on
iTunes, along with other music from her and from the Guide Dog Glee Club. 
To learn more, visit:
http://www.laurelcreekmusic.com
                Veronica Elsea, Owner
Laurel Creek Music Designs
Santa Cruz, California
Phone: 831-429-6407

-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-Talk [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Eileen Scrivani via Diabetes-Talk
Sent: Monday, July 02, 2018 10:27 AM
To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind
Cc: Eileen Scrivani
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-Talk] My first experience with the Dexcom G6.

Hi Veronica,

Very interesting to read about how you made out with and your experience
with operating the new G6 CGM. Thanks for taking time to write this up.

Eileen

From: Veronica Elsea via Diabetes-Talk 
Sent: Monday, July 2, 2018 1:00 PM
To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind' 
Cc: Veronica Elsea 
Subject: [Diabetes-Talk] My first experience with the Dexcom G6.

Hi everyone!
Oh boy! What a day it turned out to be. 
First, the general process. When everything works, it's easy. But man the
inserter is big! It feels like a computer mouse shape but there's like this
big horn sticking up. Beats me why. But the tape part is really easy. It's
on a flat bottom and when you peel off the backing, you get to just peel
straight and slap a flat thing on your body. No more wrinkled tape. Yay!
Once you stick it to your body. You break off a little piece from the
inserter, quite obvious, then push an obvious button. You hear a really big
clunk and then the giant mouse just pulls away. What you're left with is
thinner than the G5 sensor, but maybe a tiny bit longer. The transmitter
feels totally different from the G5 one. You just snap it into the sensor.
That's the hardware.
You do have to get a new app, called Dexcom G6. The first thing that happens
in the app is that you have to enter your account information. I have to
say, the user name password screen was a mess for me. I eventually figured
out that I came up in the password field but I don't think those edit boxes
were properly labeled or something. Once past that, the app behaved quite
nicely.
The app does automatically import the settings from the G5 app, which was
nice. Before you pair the transmitter, you get to enter the famous code for
the sensor. The sensor comes in a hard plastic package with paper that you
peel off to open it. If you set the package down so it's resting on the
paper, you can use Seeing AI or a sighted person to read the code through
the plastic. When the sensor is out of the package, in theory you can tell
the app to take a photo and get the number that way. I had a lot of trouble
doing this because the target area is really really small. I couldn't seem
to line things up and the thing kept timing out on me. So I ended up
entering the number manually. I did get the transmitter to scan with the
camera though. Well, the first time I did it. <grin> 
After the sensor is inserted, you have a start sensor button. The cool thing
is that it now tells you how much time you have left in the warm up phase.
Then when it finishes the two-hour warm up, you get a notification that it's
done, you hit an okay button and off you go. 
The app screen looks a little different than the G5. No more menu. You just
have a settings button right there. So far I haven't run into any unlabeled
buttons.
And now for my reality. When I inserted my sensor, umm, the button didn't go
down and the inserter jammed. So there I was, sitting with this giant thing
sticking out from my belly wondering what to do. I tried to call Dexcom but
their phone lines were overloaded. So I forced it off and busted the sensor.
I had to pull it off and start over. That was fun in the app because it was
sitting on "pairing transmitter" and the only way I got it to give that up
was to fool it into thinking I was going to pair a new one. On the second
try, I was more frazzled and had more trouble getting the camera lined up on
the transmitter box. So I got the number off the back and entered it
manually. Sheesh! The second sensor behaved well and inserted easily, as it
was supposed to do. 
At the end of the warm up time, it started and I decided to see how it
compared to a finger stick. Oops! My meter said 240 and the Dexcom said 179.
Not even close! The short version is that it seemed like it took the sensor
about 4 hours to completely sort itself out in my body. By this morning, the
difference between the meter and my Dexcom is only 9 per cent. I ended up
spending a total of 2 hours on the phone with Dexcom and they're replacing
my first sensor. Good thing since I only got three. If the number had been
off this morning, we would have replaced this one too but it seems okay now.

I did learn one interesting thing during all my phone time though. If you
call tech support and tell them you're blind, they'll send you tape
overlays, with the hole in the middle already cut out that can go over the
main tape to help hold it on. These are not commercially available so you
have to ask tech support for them. 
I haven't yet gone into the calibration screen to see what that looks like
yet. The receiver is a bit bigger than the one for the G5. It has one button
that feels like a home button on our phones. It definitely comes with a wall
wart so probably needs charging. I haven't actually tried to play with mine
yet because yesterday was so taken up with getting started. And in the midst
of all of that, I had to change a pod too. 
But the tech support people were really good and told me that these kinds of
problems were definitely not their intent. Duh! And I've already heard the
urgent soon alarm. It's more annoying than the actual urgent low! It seems
to hit when I'm in the sixties. It says urgent low soon. You may be at 55
within 20 minutes. So I'll see if it makes any difference for me. 
But I sure hope my start was just a fluke. The sensor is comfortable to wear
and I'll let you know how the tape holds out.
I'll probably do the occasional finger stick just so I can decide whether or
not I completely trust this for dosing decisions. Stay tuned.
Veronica

"Guide Dogs, First Hand", Veronica Elsea's classic album is now available on
iTunes, along with other music from her and from the Guide Dog Glee Club. 
To learn more, visit:
http://www.laurelcreekmusic.com
                Veronica Elsea, Owner
Laurel Creek Music Designs
Santa Cruz, California
Phone: 831-429-6407

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