Saturday, January 08, 2011

Sensors 10 and 11

Sensor 10 on my left arm performed well in the first week, excellently in the second week, just as well in the third. The adhesive started getting bad and I think the sensor may even have come out of my arm before going back in at the very end of that week, and then I band-aided it on and started it for a fourth week. It continued to perform very well but it got itchy so I pulled it tonight, not quite at 24 days. I think it was probably high time as the area is swollen.

Then I took a bath and scrubbed, scrubbed, scrubbed, and then I had my mother help me put in sensor 11. I chose to put it in the left side of my abdomen. It was the first I put there- I was concerned about some scar tissue I have there, but I was thinking that it really isn't very much scar tissue- neither of the scars on my side there are as large as a thumbprint- so I could easily put the sensor someplace else on the abdomen. Then when I was actually trying to pick the site, and after I'd put the adhesive on but the needle wasn't in, I started to feel panicked about how little fat is there. I mean seriously, there's nothing to pinch there that I can't flex. But we went ahead and inserted the sensor, it didn't hurt really, I told the receiver to start sensor, and in 20 minutes I had a failed sensor. I tried telling it I put in a new sensor and this time it took 35 minutes for the sensor to be declared a failure.

I decided to wait until morning and try it again, and if it fails again, to call Dexcom and demand a replacement. I mean, how is this for irony- it's one of the few sensors I've worn in the recommended position and it's the quickest failure of the lot! But then, maybe it will work later.

2 comments:

Unknown said...

We've only been playing with this toy for a few weeks, but so far, using her belly just doesn't produce the same excellent results.

Hope the next one is just as fantastic!

Unknown said...

Jonah...will you be able to just get it into subcutaneous tissue there? I was worried right when I read where you were gonna put it b/c I know that there isn't much to you (in a physical sense)...I don't think it will work well if it is submerged in muscle.