I apologize if this isn’t the right topic area to post my questions, but here goes. It is likely that I am going to need to start radiation therapy in a couple weeks. The radiotherapy will be five days a week for something like 12-16 weeks.
I checked manual for both my t:flex pump and my G5. The pump book says clearly to remove it and leave it outside the treatment room. Easy enough with quick-disconnect infusion sets.
But the G5 manual says disconnect only for MRI, PET, CT, and diathermy. It is silent for radiation therapy. Obviously, it will get really pricey, not to mention damned inconvenient, if I have to remove the sensor & transmitter every day and do a new sensor insertion with the two-hour wait for calibration. For this morning’s sensor change, I tried to take the transmitter out of the old sensor with it still attached using the plastic “key”. No luck. I’m too squishy. Maybe one of the American Ninja Warrior types is hard enough to do it, but not me.
Checked with my medical oncologist and radiation oncologist - no experience with CGM. Asked my endo, no experience with radiation therapy and CGM.
Does anybody know what the protocol is as far as whether I will need to remove the transmitter? And, secondly, if it does, does anybody know how I can remove the transmitter and leave the sensor in?
And even more removed from the topic, has anyone ever put Tegaderm down first and then pushed the sensor insertion needle through it? Does that work well (keeping the adhesive attached, etc.)?
Regarding Tegaderm, I use a similar product Opsite. In the past when I didn’t cut a window into the patch, every 3rd or 4th sensor wouldn’t penetrate satisfactorily.
I now cut a small window in the patch - slightly smaller than a quarter - so the sensor has direct access to skin. I also put Skin Tac on top of the Opsite patch, and commonly can get 4-6 weeks out of a sensor.
With your use of Opsite, after you cut the hole in it, am I correct that you use an alcohol wipe or similar on your skin, then apply the Opsite, and use the alcohol wipe again on the Opsite to make sure there aren’t any creepy-crawleys where the sensor gets poked in?
Not needed - Opsite is multi layer so after initial alcohol wipe of skin, the process remains sterile. I have used Opsite directly on skin after alcohol wipe and then applied sensor through Opsite without any issues and then another layer of Opsite with cutout for transmitter on top of that. For me it was really overkill and so past 8 months or so I just alcohol wipe well shaven skin, apply sensor directly to skin and then Opsite with cutout for transmitter over that. The Opsite “donut” is about 3/8 - 1/4 inch larger all the way around than the Dexcom adhesive. I never run my sensors more than 2 weeks as the numbers start getting a little funky after that which I believe may be due to my very low BMI.
I have used Tegaderm for several years now. I place the sheet on my belly and then place the sensor right through the Tegaderm. I don’t cut a hole at all and I don’t use any other adhesive with it (I do use SkinTac with my OmniPod, but not Dex). The Tegaderm and Dexcom tape look brand new when the sensor begins to fail and I replace it with another, which is typically well beyond 21 days.
@Rob5, the best of luck to you as you move through the radiotherapy process. I’ll keep you in my thoughts and prayers.
Edited to add: I have removed the transmitter by hand by prying open the bottom “wings” of the sensor and then pushing it back in place when I put it back. I’ve only done it a few times, but it worked okay for me. I didn’t use the “key”, so I don’t know how that part would work. I’ll see if I can find you a video on how to do it by hand.
Here’s a video with using the “key” …
At the 2:52 mark she’ll show you another way, which is how I do it, separating the wings apart
You are right, it is virtually impossible to remove a G5 transmitter from the body using the key. Just an exercise in frustration. Do it the easy way. First on your receiver main menu>stop sensor. Second take a test strip and insert it in the small open cavity next to the wings that hold the sensor in place. Start at the top and twist the test strip enough to spread the top wing that holds in the sensor and lift sensor up a bit when wing is spread. Repeat on bottom wing and you will see that transmitter pops right out very easily.
When you are ready to put sensor back in just put it in place and push it in firmly to snap back in under the wings. The 2 cavities for the strips are the cavities above and below the word Dexco…
Do it once and you will not believe how easy it is to do. I have also used the same method with a dental pick instead of a test strip, but either works fine. After you snap transmitter back in, make sure you have a steady (Non Blinking) bluetooth signal on your receiver and then main menu>Start sensor and 2 hours later you are fully back in business.
I use that key to take the sensor off without issues.
The trick is to only use the pointed in, and slide it from the center towards that end. Do this on one side, then on the other.
Trying to use the key to take it off like it shows, that is a pain.
The G5 unpairing with phone, as the phone paired with my car, was my early experience when I switched from G4. It may have been a transient event, or perhaps the car had (has) an earlier version of BT (see video below).
A further explanation could be that different versions of Bluetooth are installed in different devices and cars, and perhaps I was in an older model car that used an earlier version of Bluetooth
Any of our new medical devices will be operating off BlueTooth Low Energy, or BTLE. My old omnipod and dex still operate off of RF, not BT. hehehe, I read the blue tooth specs the other day. They are very long. I cannot recommend them for summer reading. Instead, I recommend the book, “China Rx.”
I’m in radiation treatment in my abdomen area for the next month, every weekday. The techs at the radiation center said it shouldn’t affect either my pump or my G5 (interestingly enough, both techs are on a pump with G5or G6). But, to be sure, I remove my pump and, thanks to advice from this forum, I pop the transmitter out of the sensor and then snap it back in when it’s done. Obviously, it would be extremely costly to replace the sensor every day for 28 days.
Which brings me to a question: I believe my G5 is more flaky than usual. For example, when I calibrate it, the CGM-to-meter difference is high. My best guess is that this is because the system believes it is the first day for the sensor, when it is typically more erratic than afterwards. Can folks here lend opinions about this hypothesis? Or give me any other explanations?
Thanks for any insights.
And huge thanks to CJ114 for the how-to for removing/replacing the transmitter.
There are always a lot of possibilities, guesses, hindsight explanations etc. for a flaky G5 and therefore not one explanation that fits all events. Your guess, however, seems somewhat out of ordinary thinking because by removing and replacing the transmitter daily, the sensor in the meantime has “soaked” and adapted to your body for several days. If possible, you will probably only want to calibrate to a finger twice a day, preferably at the same time of day. Excessive calibrations is one cause of flaky G5’s.
If you are an eating creature of habit, a change of diet due to your treatments could also cause greater fluctuations as well as a change in hydration habits. If you want to test for what is causing your events, test only one variable at a time because otherwise when you tame your flaky results, you will not know for sure what was the cause.
If it were me, I would put my sensor on the back of my arm and not pull out the transmitter daily. Radiation safety is good and I don’t think you have to worry about radiation in areas that are not targeted.
And then if by chance my transmitter failed (and I don’t think it will!), I would never tell Dexcom that I had worn it during radiation treatment.
