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!