diabetes – Page 81 – Hugging the Cactus

It all started when I realized my Dexcom CGM wasn’t holding a charge. It went from needing a charge twice a week to practically every day. I knew this wasn’t right, so during the first week of July, I found myself reaching out to Dexcom support to see how I could go about getting it replaced.

Three months later, I finally have my new Dexcom G5 CGM.

Of course, it shouldn’t have taken most of July, all of August, and part of September for me to get my new CGM. But it did, and resulted in my mother spending hours on the phone with Dexcom and our insurance provider on my behalf as well as countless communications exchanged between me and my endocrinologist’s office.

What was with the holdup? There were a few factors at play here, which is why I thought it was important to share this ordeal with you all. That way, if you or a loved one encounter an issue like this in the future, maybe you can learn from my mistakes and get your CGM sooner rather than later.

At last, my new (pink!) Dexcom has arrived.

Factor #1: The CGM was out of warranty. Normally, I would’ve had it replaced much faster if my Dexcom drama happened within one year of initially receiving the device. But I’d been using the same receiver (the handheld component of the CGM that displays blood sugars in real time) for like…four years. That was issue number one because Dexcom can’t do anything about products that have an expired warranty. Now, I know to get in touch with them every year to get a new receiver and to ensure that I’ll always have one that can be replaced.

Factor #2: My medical supply providers have changed recently. This one’s a bit out of my control, but a couple years ago, Neighborhood Diabetes was divested and sold to Liberty Medical. This meant I wouldn’t receive my sensors or any other CGM supplies from Neighborhood, like I had for a few years. So from then until now, I was getting my sensors from Express Scripts, which also ships my insulin to my home. But for other reasons, my mom and I discovered back in August that we would need to use Better Living Now to supply my Dexcom sensors. Getting confused yet? Yeah, this all went over my head, too. I’m extremely lucky that my mom helped me out and solved this confusing insurance situation.

Factor #3: Communication was poor. And I have to take some blame here, because I should’ve been checking the inbox that my endocrinologist’s office uses to communicate with me. I missed a couple of messages sent by a nurse at the office, and when I did finally see them, I was in a rush to reply and didn’t read his messages as thoroughly as I should have. This resulted in, I’m sure, frustration on both ends as we tried to explain what was going on to one another. There’s a reason why people say that communication is key, and I bet we would’ve had answers a little sooner if we had been on top of things.

That’s the story, in a nutshell and without getting too much into the insurance side of things. I’m just relieved that I finally have my new CGM, and it works great. It’s pretty cool to see my blood sugars displayed on my iPhone, too, using the Dexcom app. And I’m pretty grateful that I have an awesome mother who really came through for me, as well as an endocrinology team that was willing to bear with me through all this Dexcom drama.

I couldn’t be more excited to start this new – and mildly daunting – venture in blogging. While I’m no stranger to sharing my diabetes story with others online, it’s a bit more intimidating to craft my own blog and show a more personal side of myself.

In fact, if you had told me 10 years ago that I would be a diabetes blogger who’s connected with T1Ds all across the country, I would have looked at you like you were absolutely insane. I was already accustomed to a life with diabetes in my teenage years, but that didn’t mean I was willing to talk about it. I shunned the notion of attending diabetes camp or meeting other peers with T1D. I figured that the only other T1Ds I needed in my life were my mom and my aunt – their support was enough for me.

This point of view changed, though, just before I started my freshman year at college. Suddenly, I was all too aware of the fact that I’d be forced to take full responsibility of my diabetes care and management for the first time in my life. College meant a true taste of independence, and with that came accountability for my health. This realization made me accept that perhaps I should welcome some additional support into my life.

That’s when the College Diabetes Network entered the picture. A quick search online brought me to this incredible nonprofit. After learning that a chapter existed at my school, I made it my goal to give it a try and go to a meeting. Little did I know that over the course of the next three years, I would become the president of this chapter and register it as a student organization on campus.

Hi. That’s me, attending my first CDN Retreat and basking in the endless amounts of diet coke available there.

My involvement with the CDN has provided me with many opportunities. I’ve attended conferences and gained internship experiences due to my connection to the CDN. I’ve met dozens of people like me all across the country – individuals looking for peer support as we navigate the tricky world of diabetes, college, the real world, and young adulthood. Hearing stories both similar to and different from my own never fails to make an impact on me, and the inspiration I draw from others gives me the courage to make my voice heard within and outside the diabetes community.

In fact, my openness over sharing my diabetes resulted in my blog’s title: Hugging the Cactus. Anyone who knows me knows that I wear an OmniPod insulin pump and a Dexcom CGM. As I rotate sites around my body, this means that I sometimes wear them in plain sight. On a particular evening, I was wearing one on the back of each arm. I had made a trip to the restroom at a restaurant and was walking back to my table when a not-so-shy waiter asked me, politely, “What are those things on your arms?”

“Oh, it’s my insulin pump and my glucose monitor. I have type one diabetes and these help me manage it,” I explained, in a patient tone.

“Oh, I’m sorry – that’s terrible,” the waiter replied. Remorse appeared in his expression.

“Please don’t apologize,” I said to him, reassuringly. “I’ve had diabetes most of my life. I accept it and I’m grateful for these devices. They make it much easier to take care of myself.”

“That’s pretty cool, you know,” he said, his face changing. He smiled at me. “It’s like your hugging the cactus. Accepting the bad for what it is and embracing it.”

I remember flashing him a giant smile and laughing as I said, “I like that. That’s exactly what it is.” He wished me a good evening, which I reciprocated, before parting ways. I cemented the phrase “hugging the cactus” into my memory that night, because it sums up my perspective on life with diabetes perfectly.

And this is why I’m here: to share my stories with others, as well as to hear your stories. It’s my humble hope to positively impact the life of someone who deals with diabetes, directly or indirectly. Whether we share the same feelings or completely different ones regarding diabetes, I think it’s wonderful to be part of the diabetes community and share in the strength, knowledge, and sense of belonging found within it.