Getting My CGM On

Lately I’ve been thinking about regularly using my CGM as I don’t want to waste my CGM transmitter and sensors as they only have a limited shelf life. Now seems as good a time as ever as I’ve been constantly testing and forgetting my BGL five minutes later. 

I had planned on getting my CGM on last night so I had time to calibrate it. Naturally, I forgot. Instead, my brain decided to remind me this morning just as I was about to leave for work.

The last few times I inserted my CGM was with my educator but I always got it somewhat right, so I was finally confident enough going about it myself. Nonetheless, I was slightly nervous doing it by my myself for the first time. I definitely didn’t want to waste my $80 sensor by stuffing up or missing a step. So there I went…

Cleaned my skin with alcohol swab.

Stuck the sensor on my arm.

Remove safety guard.

(Now the hardest part for me cos I’m a chicken with needles going in)

Two (very slow and long) clicks in, which I’m sure made the pain worse as I felt the needle going in.

Two clicks back out.

So far so good, I think.

Now what? I knew I had to get the ginormous inserter out, but no matter what I did, it would “jiggle out”.

Cue panic.

Search on YouTube for help. Maybe I missed a step?

I went back to a tutorial video I had come across where she does a demo on inserting a sensor. Watching the video, I still wasn’t sure where I had gone wrong and finally decided to wake my partner up to see if he could figure it out. He came with me to my last appointment to watch how it gets inserted so maybe he remembered something.

After a bit of jiggling and pulling he said “I’ll just get the screwdriver and we can pry it out”. I was mortified! While he went to find something to pry it out with, I went back to the bathroom to try it myself again and ran into my sister. “Just wear it like that to work, I’m sure you’ll be fine,” she joked. I was on the verge of tears and watched the video again for the millionth time.

AHA! There was a little bit to squeeze before I could jiggle the inserter out. Sure enough, once I squeezed the right spot, it fell out. SUCCESS!

Inserted transmitter.

All looks good.

Breathe a sigh of relief and off I went to work, which took twice as long as I ended up leaving later than usual and got caught in peak hour traffic. But at least I’m all CGM’ed up!

Makes sense if you have diabetes.