I’ve been traveling now for almost 4 weeks through Europe with a side trip to Japan. This is combination work, tagging along where the husband has work and pure pleasure. Pinkie (my Dexcom G5) and I have been through 4 pat downs and I haven’t found one agent who’s seen Dexcom before. I know Dexcom is in Europe, but it appears not widely used.

As for my side trip to Tokyo, I used to work there three decades ago. I was an English-language copywriter for a huge Japanese advertising agency. And, I was the only Western woman in this company of 6,000 employees. But that’s a whole ‘nother story. Still five Japanese women are dear friends and it’s always a joy when I see them, and revisit what often feels like a second home.

This little Stickie around my sensor/transmitter was an impulse purchase in Harajuku, a very fashionable, hipster neighborhood of Tokyo. When I spied this stickie on the rack, with the opening that perfectly fit, I had to have it.

I asked the young woman who owns the shop if I could put the stickie on my skin. She drew in her breath (very Japanese) and said it was meant for bicycles and cars, for flat surfaces, probably not skin. But she was tickled by the idea, which begot a chat about how much she wants to come to New York and how grateful she was I graced her shop with my presence (also very Japanese.)

My stickie has now been guarding my Dexcom since I returned from Tokyo to Holland and she shows no sign of abandoning her charge. And I’m very grateful for the partnership because I’m wearing Dexcom for the very first time on my arm.

Putting my sensor/transmitter on my arm was a beastly one-handed task. Only after I did it, did I realize I should have googled “Putting Dexcom on your arm” first.  Sure enough,  some wonderful DOC people have made videos showing you just how to do it. Including the fact that if you wear it vertically, not horizontally as I’m doing, it’s a hell of a lot easier to place and wear.

We’ll see how long my G5 and her protector last. But already I find wearing Dexcom on my arm, rather than stomach, she was accurate from the moment I put her on (on my stomach she needs 24-30 hours to calibrate) and so far she’s given me an extra day and we’re still going.  And while you do have to be mindful not to knock into things, like closet doors and knapsack straps, it’s pleasantly easy to forget you’re wearing her at all.

Just between you and me, my stickie has starred on my Facebook page and doesn’t mind at all being in the limelight. I just hope she doesn’t get a big head!

While this UnitedHealthcare/Medtronic travesty (see post below) has been going on, I’ve been traveling. Two events have taken me to Europe and Japan. The first was my brother in law’s birthday/retirement party in The Netherlands. The second is an invitation to speak in Munich in a few weeks to a global gathering of Roche pharma executives.

I met the husband in Prague to begin the journey. In between being in Europe and returning to Europe, I managed to stow away in my husband’s luggage to accompany him to Tokyo, where he has business and both of us lived thirty years ago.

And while I’m not going to go into any details, I thought it fun to post a few photos. There are more photos and more details about this trip on my Facebook page.

I will say the photo standing behind a jeweler’s table on the Charles Bridge in Prague was because while trying to remember to pack all my meds, syringes, lancets and meter, I forgot my wedding ring! Silver maker, Renata, a lovely and gifted Czech artist, solved the problem! 😉

Hope everyone is having a happy spring.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

If you’ve heard about UnitedHealthcare (UHC) limiting members to only Medtronic insulin pumps beginning July 1 and feel this is wrong, please go to ‘We are DPAC‘ (Diabetes Patient Advocacy Coalition) and say so.

UHC members will no longer have an in-network choice among insulin pump providers. UHC has chosen Medtronic as their preferred, in-network durable medical equipment provider of insulin pumps.

The Diabetes Online Community is rallying its social media power and our collective voice to like David, bring down Goliath – this time in the guise of UnitedHealthcare.

Whether you are a UHC member, or even use an insulin pump, which I do not, you should care. Because this is the trend in healthcare. Health insurance companies, not patients and physicians,  are deciding what our therapies, treatment and devices will be.

I’ve written about this before. The strategy is short-term savings for which we will all pay dearly in the longer-term – financially, in productivity loss and loss of health.

Kelly Close, founder of CloseConcerns, wrote in diaTribe details of this stunning move, and while she notes Medtronic as an innovative company, she also points out that exclusive payer-manufacturer agreements hinder smaller, more nimble companies from bringing us new breakthroughs. And, taking away patients’ choice to personalized therapy and devices is a threat to everyone’s personal health.

Wanting to unify our muscle to overturn UHC’s decision, Close and the diaTribe Foundation team put together a quick phone call with numerous diabetes advocates. The call was to solicit opinions, recommendations and connections how to go forward making patients’ needs and desires known to  payers.

The diaTribe team also drafted an advocacy letter to be sent to payers that incorporates the knowledge gathered on the call.  Please read the letter – it asks for your feedback so we stand strong as a single voice.

Our collective muscle shows how influential we are as an activist community. Quickly after this announcement social media lit up with dozens of advocates posting, including Melissa Lee’s immediate and passionate response on ASweetLife. Mike Hoskins’ thorough review of the situation on DiabetesMine.

Also insulin pump manufacturers like Tandem responded:

“Having diabetes isn’t a choice. How people manage it should be,” said Kim Blickenstaff, president and CEO of Tandem Diabetes Care. “Insulin pumps are not a one-size fits all solution. Selecting which pump is the best fit for a person to manage their therapy needs should be a decision made between a person and their healthcare provider.”

The DPAC, as mentioned above asking for your story, was created by diabetes online activists to specifically keep policy makers’ attention on people with diabetes . They are asking now for your story so we can make UHC more aware of what their denial to one’s choice of insulin pumps means to patients – and overturn this decision.

I wrote this as my story on DPAC:

 ‘I have had type 1 diabetes 44 years since the age of 18. I have seen diabetes drugs and devices blossom so that people can have the best individualized therapy helping patients enormously to manage their diabetes. And now, it is all going away. Standardized treatment is becoming the norm.

How can we have moved so far forward to now only be going backward?

When I was first diagnosed in 1972 there were no home glucose meters. For a dozen years I would go to a lab twice a year to get my blood sugar checked. Today I have minor complications due to poor glucose control my first years with diabetes. Not due to my behavior, but the lack of tools available.

Now we have numerous glucose meters. Yet programs like Competitive Bidding are limiting choice to patients. And meters available through the Competitive Bidding program are untested and often have lower levels of accuracy and other issues.

Continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), above all devices, most take the guesswork out of managing one’s blood sugar. Yet if you are over 65, you have no access through Medicare. And, people with type 1 diabetes over 60, are the most vulnerable population for hypoglycemia unawareness.

Personally, I have had to urge my endocrinologist to fight for me to get access to a basal insulin that lasts 24 hours in my body, Toujeo. Lantus never did.

I have had to have my endo fight for me to get access to a faster rapid acting insulin, Apidra.

Many friends with diabetes have shared similar stories with me. I recently wrote about it on the Huffington Post. One friend was denied access to a CGM by her insurer who told her she didn’t have diabetes because her A1C was under 7%. But if she could get it up to 9% they’d consider covering a CGM!

We, as people with diabetes, are increasingly at risk for preserving and protecting our health, as our and our physician’s therapy choices are being taken away.

It is unconscionable that the very institution that is supposed to protect our health – health insurance companies – to whom we pay increasingly higher premiums and co-pays, is day by day causing our health to erode.

Patients, physicians, diabetes organizations and industry MUST collectively make sure this practice of restricting medicines and devices is overturned – and does not continue.’

Please, join us in the Diabetes Online Community to protect your health and those of your loved ones. Here’s how:

1. Tell your story at DPAC
2. Tweet this UHC issue on #diabetesaccessmatters
3. Read and provide feedback on diaTribe’s letter
4. Share this post with others you know with diabetes

Thank you,

Riva Greenberg, Diabetes Advocate, Huffington Post Columnist