Fear is….
Tonight without CGM for the first time since 2005 thanks to piss-poor customer service from Dexcom and a greedy insurance company. Insurance refused to replace until transmitter low bat "warning" on Dex G4. Warning only gave 39 hours before total transmitter failure, not one week. Dex dropped the ball and did not submit paperwork for a full day. Now weekend. Both Dex and Insurance closed until Monday. Might as well be an eternity with total hypo unawareness. Hell of a reward for spending the last decade in low-paying diabetes eduction--can't even afford what I need to stay alive...
posted by Wil | 11:12 PM
5 Comments:
Gah!! Suck suck suck suck suck. It's ridiculous that the options are: run purposefully high (which will eventually kill you) or risk a low (which will also kill you). When did death or death become an appropriate choice??
Thanks for everything you do online. You've answered my questions, made me laugh, made me think, and encouraged me to do better.
Here's hoping your night is uneventful.
I am in the same boat: first low battery warning last Sunday, called Dexcom the next morning, but the person "that handles transmitters" wasn't there and was supposed to call me back, which didn't happen. Finally called again Wednesday and stupid me said it was fine to use normal (3-day) shipping. Transmitter died the next day, 96 hours after the first warning (on the upside this is after 14 months using it). Now it is sitting in a Fedex distribution center 20 minutes from my house and I won't get it until Monday. I hate the feeling of flying blind with only occasional glimpses of where I am at.
I have to let myself run higher because I can't afford CGM. I've been hypo unawares for a couple years now, and am unpredictable at times too boot. It was the price I had to pay for having a healthy baby while being type 1. Quite scary sometimes. Being Diabetic fucking sucks.
The low transmitter battery warning is a joke. Ours didn't give enough time to get a new one either. At least our daughter does feel (most) of her lows. Still, I hate being without it. Sorry you are having to deal with this, Wil.
Sigh. I've said repeatedly that trying to manage one's bloodsugar is maybe only half the battle of managing diabetes, the other half is trying to get your hands on what you need to do the first half.
My transmitter crapped out over Christmas break. I called Dexcom on December 29. They say no problem. They talk to insurance. Insurance wants paperwork. Dexcom sends them last year's paperwork. Insurance denies due to "records are over a year old, out of date and illegible". Because I've been using a CGM, I don't have the appropriate number of lows under 50 anymore to qualify as a new CGM patient. Doctor is out of town for 4 months, substitute doc is uncomfortable writing appeal letter to insurance with updated records and an explanation about lack of lows due to useful technology.
I either now need to carefully plan some lows under 50, scattered across a week or two so its not looking like one bad day, or make peace with life without my beloved CGM. Both options stink.
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