Living Well With Diabetes

First day on the road and already there’s a casualty in my equipment. Well, possibly a casualty. I’ll have to keep an eye on it. More on that later.

Today’s ride was 65 miles or so from home to the KOA in Perry, Utah (about 3 miles south of Brigham City). From here, I’m heading generally northwest, paralleling I-84 towards Boise, Idaho. From there I’m cutting across Oregon. My target there is Wilsonville, about 30 minutes south of Portland, where my friends Jane and Dick run a company called iSense. Here’s a map of my route to Wilsonville:

(Click on the map to see a larger version.)

I’ll be dropping in at iSense to say hi and park my bike, even if just for a minute, in the bike rack they installed outside their facility. If it were just your average everyday bike rack, I wouldn’t bother. But, this isn’t just any old bike rack. Above the rack there’s a plaque that reads “Reserved for Peter Hoogenboom.” Who wouldn’t want to ride to Wilsonville and park in it? You can read more about this bike rack and why it has my name attached to it my my posting Visiting Friends in Portland, Oregon.

So, now, about that casualty. It’s my Dexcom continuous glucose monitor. It requires that I calibrate it at least once every 12 hours with a standard glucose test meter. I had inserted a new sensor just before leaving Salt Lake City this morning. Two hours later, it asked for it’s initial two glucose readings (it always asks for two readings on the initial calibration after a new sensor insertion). No problem. Around lunchtime today, I tested again and provided it with another calibration reading (I find it gives me better readings the more often I calibrate). This time, the Dexcom couldn’t retrieve a reading from the test meter. They both seem to recognize each other’s presense, but the Dexcom can’t retrieve the meter’s readings. It sits there draining the battery trying to get something and eventually gives up with an alert. I’ve found, however, that if I insert the plug into the Dexcom gently, it will work. I think I’ll keep that in mind, but I suspect I’m looking at an intermittent failure that is probably only going to get worse. If it does, I’ll be shipping the Dexcom and all its peripheral equipment (charger, extra sensors, test meter) home.