Tape I use (except when I forget) to keep my Dexcom sensor on. Comes in a roll. You can order online, sorry, I’ve forgotten what it’s called or who makes it.

Restarting a sensor is easy. When you start your sensor session keep the code of that sensor written down somewhere because you will need it do this easy restart.

(This is the more complicated way if you’ve not kept your code. It’s the second method offered, the first one is what I describe below.)

Easy restart in 5 steps

Let sensor expire
Restart it choosing “no code.” Let it run 15 minutes
Stop the sensor session (It will tell you you can’t restart but it’s not true)
Restart the sensor with the code option
Sensor will begin its 2 hour warm up and you’re good to go

What to watch out for? Twice it’s happened to me. While my sensor is on its second round, it falls off. Usually I’m changing my shirt and that knocks it off or some such thing. The point is that the tape has loosened to the degree that the slightest movement will knock it off your body. I don’t usually find I need to use additional tape on my first 10 days but I stupidly forget I absolutely need to do so entering the second 10 day period.

If you call Dexcom they’ll give you 10 clear, tape covers cut to cover over the sensor’s adhesive. I bought the medical tape I use a long time ago on the internet, but I’m sure you can google it and find out what many of us use. If you’re reading this and you use a tape you like, please share.

As for sharing I want to thank my fellow T1D bloggers for putting this information out there, (up there in this blog) because this is how I first discovered a 10 day G6 Dexcom session can become 20.

I’ve only restarted my sensor twice, since discovering this, and not tried restarting it for a third round so I can’t tell you whether or not you’ll be successful. But, hey, if you get that far, you can always give it a try.

Abbott produces the very popular FreeStyle Libre flash glucose monitor. It’s largely like a continuous glucose monitor yet distinct from Dexcom it doesn’t have alarms, it lasts 14 days and you get your numbers by waving a small reader over the device.

This new collaboration will progress data sharing between the FreeStyle mobile app and Sanofi’s cloud connected apps and future smart insulin pens.

The expectation of course is that this data sharing, when available (don’t know currently) will enable people using the devices and their doctors to make better management decisions particularly around insulin dosing.

Yet another example of looking at the clouds to make everyday life here on the ground easier living with diabetes.

For more information, click here.

If you’re in NYC this Thursday Sept 5, join advocates of T1International gathering for a vigil for those who have died due to the high cost of insulin, and holding a peaceful protest. I spent yesterday, my birthday, helping to paint slogans on signs for the movement.

Since 1996, the list price of insulin has increased by over 1200% in the United States. Eli Lilly’s Humalog insulin increased in price by 585% between 2001 and 2015 alone.

“People with type 1 diabetes are tired of watching our people die from debilitating insulin prices while pharmaceutical companies like Eli Lilly rake in billions in profit,” said T1International’s New York Chapter Leader Lauren Lehrer. “The emotional and financial weight of affording our care is ever-present in our lives and the lives of our families. Our vigil is a call to hold insulin manufacturers accountable for price-gouging patients. Eli Lilly, Novo Nordisk, and Sanofi business practices are killing and maiming us. We gather to say no more.”

Now that I’m on Medicare, after four months of partial insulin coverage you fall into the donut hole, meaning the majority of the cost of insulin is on you. It’s incredible at 66 after 47 years with type 1 diabetes I’m forced to think which friend in Canada I will visit to bring insulin over the border.

This fight about the high cost of insulin (unaffordable for too many without health insurance) is gaining momentum predominantly from the grassroots efforts of those of us who live with diabetes.

So wielding a white paintbrush yesterday seemed like a perfect way to spend my birth day.