Barry and Bronwyn's Story

My husband has no arms and short legs and when he got diagnosed with diabetes, type 2, it was not our usual doctor. After the doctor telling us he needed to prick his finger to test his sugar levels – ummm – no fingers. We were then told to prick his toes – he only has 6 toes, 3 on each foot, and we were to test quite a few times a day, I can’t remember how many times it was now but it was a lot. We got a testing kit and got sent on our way. It must have been a Friday cause the following weekend was a weekend from hell. The skin on his toes is so thick 9 times out of 10 the needle bent, so I couldn’t get any blood. By the time we finally got one test done it was time to do the next test. After 10 years of marriage with heaps of downs and ups it is still by far our worse time.

On the Monday morning I rang and doctors and they were going to get back to me – ummm, they didn’t. I then tracked down the Diabetes society. I don’t remember who I talked to but the relief, someone who was willing to listen and help. I remember they said we could get blood from his knees however he doesn’t have any knees either ☹ The lovely lady then had to go away and investigate however she rang me back really quickly and told me we could get it out of his ear – he has those 😊 😊 I don’t remember which phone call it was but the lovely lady told me about CGM’s and to apply for it through the doctors to get funding from Pharmac.

I don’t remember how I got the form but I know I filled all that I could and only the doctors bit was left. It was a nightmare nagging the doctors to complete it, but finally I got a really helpful nurse. If I remember correctly the doctors clinic paid for the reader and we paid for the sensor that usually goes on the arm. We didn’t want to wait for Pharmac’s response, which turned out to be negative. He was turned down for funding ☹

The nurse and us had quite a discussion about where the sensor had to go, we couldn’t find anything that could give any suggestions. In the end we decided on his hip and it works really well and doesn’t get in the way.

The CGM is wonderful cause my husband can monitor it himself now that it has an app, before it was just the reader, and he has associated how he is feeling with what his levels may be. It’s given the power and control back to him – where it should be.

Being able to print off the graphs for us to look over and for the doctor has been brilliant. It showed us that he was waking in the early hours of the morning cause he was having a low.

He is only just a diabetic and his blood sugar levels are generally good so we don’t use the CGM all the time – maybe about once every 6 months, but we wouldn’t be without it.

CGM’s are excellent for able bodied people who need them but for someone without arms it is a life saver.

I hope that has given a different perspective of CGM’s for you.

Regards

Barry and Bronwyn