The Minimed Continuous Glucose Sensor

Warning: Picture Blog and lots of details! 
I have been meaning to update my blog since last Thursday…obviously I’ve been too busy to sit here and type all of this and update, so here goes! (while i have a couple minutes at least) Last thursday, I went back on the Sensor. I was using the inserter wrong so that is what caused the bleeding around the site! The inserter has to be on its “toes” and when the needle goes in and its still stuck to the inserter, its like this little dip motion, not straight out or straight over. My mom took this pictures, and thought i’d put them up here to see the process.

theres the inserter, and my stomach, where i’m trying to press the button) 

I was scared and hesitant, so heres another angle, while i was thinking that i really needed to press that white button or i’d just be standing there all afternoon. hehe 

and this is me taking the needle out while holding the two sides of the site, and then making sure the tape was down.

So that worked well, and then i gave it 5 minutes for the skin to get used to having something there. I then attached the transmitter, the white thing, which is actually pretty small.
theres the site! with the needle still in!

And then i waited the two-hour period where the sensor starts…and entered my BG, which was low again, it was like 80! So yeah, that read dot you see is the mark from the last sensor i had in last week. (it’s still healing).

I had a couple problems with the sensor over the weekend, however. About 1 day and 18 hours later, its giving me a “Cal Error” or calibration error after i had entered my BG (you do that every 12 hours) or up to 4 times a day. I was like, this thing is only almost 2 days old, it shouldn’t be bad! phshhhh sure enough, after another Cal Error, it says “Bad Sensor.” I thought to myself, “noooo! not now!” So i called the Minimed 24 hour helpline, (they are really nice!) and talked to someone for like a half hour trying to fix my sensor and see what was going on, if the sensor was really bad, if i had to replace it, or if i could restart it, and find the old one, and not have to change the whole sensor. I didn’t change the sensor and about 2 hours later, it asked me for my BG. So i put it in, and all was good for about 4 hours…after dinner, while we were all watching a movie on the couch, it starts beeping again! “Cal Error” “Cal Error” –”Bad Sensor” !!!!!? i was like “ahhhhhh” and getting really frustrated at this point. I called Minimed, yet again, and they said to take the sensor out, since there was barely any signal, and it was the 2nd time i had to tried this. So to re-use it would pretty much be pointless. I took it out, (yay!) and went to sleep at 1am. and was sooo tired on Sunday! ughhh.

I just changed my insulin pump site and may put the sensor on my hip or lower back this time, and see if that gives the sensor more than a day to work. So we’ll see! My numbers were great on Friday and Saturday though, i’ll tell you that, the graph was almost a straight line, it was so cool to look at!

Jill, 4/03/07 at 1:43am
nice pictures! i hadn’t seen what the sensor looked like before so that was cool. BIG needle, though. yikes!! 

Kerri, 4/03/07 at 1:58 AM
Great photos here, Mollie. (And I had to laugh because your chewed fingernails remind me SO much of my own. Without fail, your hands could pass for mine!)

I’ve been reading about your experience with the CGMS with interest - keep the updates coming!

– Kerri.

Laura, 4/03/07 at 2:15am
interesting. i know i wont be doing that for awhile atleast till I get insurance.

‘Desha, 4/03/07, 5:59pm
So how do you like the pump? It doesn’t have any tubes or anything connected to it? That looks like that pod thing I had seen in a magazine. I’m on Exubera, the inhalant insulin, and I really like it, though my endo thinks I should go to the pump. I’m too scared to be hooked up to something like that. Uck! 

Vicki, 4/05/07, at 12:58 pm
i don’t think i could ever use a sensor. the needle is huge. the more i use regular pump infusion sets the scarier it is. i’ve been pumper for almost 2 years but i seem to be getting worse!

 weldone for you being brave … luv vic x

Bernard Farrell, 4/12/07 at 2:26 pm
Great pictures.
If you’re interested, I posted a similar set for the Dexcom on my blog at: http://www.bernardfarrell.com/blog/2007/04/changing-dexcom-sensor-photo-lesson.htm 

Naomi k, 4/21/07 at 4:40AM
hey babe i decided to leave a message on here but if you could write back to my myspace i’d like that! i loved those pictures. my pump trainer is coming over monday night at 6 to get me all set up with mine…i can’t wait!
question, how often do you wear yours? i know some people wear it for three days then take a break, what have you been doing?
ILOVEMOLLIE! 

Gina, 4/18/07 at 12:27PM
that is smaller than i thought. thanks for sharing these pictures. 

Nicole, 7/14/07 at 5:11 PM
Hi Molli, great blog! Have you considered using your upper arm for a site? We had terrible luck with the stomach/buttocks but have had wonderful results with the upper arm area. If you are interested I have posted some pics of the upper arm site on my blog. Best of luck, once you get things working it is wonderful.
~Nicole~ 

Michelle, 7/14/07 at 7:06 PM
Are you covering the sensor and transmitter at all after insertion? We use paper tape over the end of the sensor and tegaderm over the entire thing. It keeps it from moving around.