#dblogweek Day Five: Diabetes Life Hacks

Yes, I am still here! Yes, this is still another scheduled post. Do not fear, though tomorrow's and Sunday's posts will be written the day the post is written. *the crowd gasps loudly* Today is going to be fun because I get to talk about all the little weird things I've figured out to do to make doing normal stuff easier when it comes to diabetes. So let's get onto the weirdness!

The Prompt:

Share the (non-medical) tips and tricks that help you in the day-to-day management of diabetes. Tell us everything from clothing modifications, serving size/carb counting tricks to the tried and true Dexcom-in-a-glass trick or the “secret” to turning on a Medtronic pump’s backlight when not on the home-screen. Please remember to give non-medical advice only!

Ah yes I am well known for doing weird things to adapt my diabetes to normal life. I put my Dexcom in a glass. I'm sure you've seen 5000 different photos of my Dexcom in/ near its favorite Jack Daniels glass. I also wear running shorts that would not be allowed out of the house otherwise under dresses, so I can actually clip my pump to something. (I cannot for the love of all things good clip it to my bra. It just doesn't happen, so running shorts are the alternative.) Once I tied a bandana around my thigh so I could clip my pump somewhere for a chorus concert. Sexy. I know.

It's a two-in-one photo! The Dexcom-in-a-glass trick and a fashionable case!

I'm not sure if I'm just completely out of the loop, but I found out at camp last year from the Medtronic Rep that was in the Pump Palace (the cabin where pumpers change their sites) that when using the Animas Inset or Medtronic Mio infusion sets that the easiest thing to do when changing your site is to rewind your pump, attach the new cartridge to the tubing in the unused infusion site, put that cartridge in, then prime it before you put your site in. You can then put your site in and you don't have to unattach your pump from the site after that. It was so stupidly logical that I can't believe I had never thought about doing that before. It saves time and makes it so much easier to put in your site.

And if you want a fashionable way to protect your Dexcom from abuse, you can use a Vera Bradley Zip ID Case to put it in. All you need to do to make your Dexcom fit is to turn the case inside out and cut out the little card divider that holds your ID card in place in the wallet. I learned about this from Sara's post on Moments of Wonderful. This little tutorial has been keeping my Dexcom pretty ever since I found it.

Moral of the Story: My Dexcom is more fashionable than I will ever be.

If you want to learn my tips and tricks to make diabetes a little cuter or easier to deal with, check out all of the posts here!