installing the Libre

by Jackie Patti

So I have my shiny new Libre. I read the manual and see how to insert the sensor. And I hesitate.

Problem #1: What if I screw up? I mean, I screw up with bG testing strips sometimes, no big deal. But this thing cost $50 rather than $0.50! I need to think this through carefully.

Problem #2: I want to blog about this and need pictures. The thing goes in one arm and you insert it with the other, so I need a third arm to take pictures. So I need to coordinate with someone else.

So, it wound up taking a few days to get the thing in my arm.

Image credit: sensor in my arm Steve Fredette

summer dinner in February

by Jackie Patti

No recipes or anything, just a picture I found lovely.

It was mid-February and there was a ridiculously wrm day that started me thinking of summer. So I thought of having a "summer" dinner.

I had some leftover red cabbage cole slaw in the fridge.

I mixed up some tuna salad.

Then, diced a tomato.

Then opened a jar of bread and butter pickles I'd put up a couple years ago (I had a LOT of cukes that year!)

And soon it will be summer for real and I'll be eating like this all the time.

Image credit: summer dinner in February by Jackie Patti

I got a Libre!

by Jackie Patti

Diabetic geeks have been following the progression of the technology of continuous glucose monitoring systems (CGMS) for some time. They have been commercially available for some time, but prohibitively expensive and rarely covered by insurance.

A CGMS allows you to insert a very shallow needle that just stays there and provides glucose readings. These are not blood glucose (bG) readings like we get from standard bG meters, but readings of the glucose in interstitial fluid, the liquid between cells.

That's why I was so excited to see Jenny, author of Blood Sugar 101: What They Don't Tell You About Diabetes, post that she had gotten a Freestyle Libre to play with back in November, before they were even on the market. I've been following along excitedly with her experience since.

I'm a T2 and a geek; I wanted one!

Image credit: Freestyle Libre system © 2018 Abbott Laboratories. All rights reserved.