So, yeah, techmology (to quote Ali G) is righteous.

After some calibration bumps in the road (machine keep beeping me every 2 hours Friday night/Sat morn for some finger-prick tests), I was off and running as a Diabetech. Saturday morning, I woke up, took my junk, ate my breakfast with a cup of freshly, frenchly-pressed coffee and watched as my post-meal BG level climbed up to the 160s, then began a downward descent as the insulin took hold. Now, I didn’t do any finger-prick comparisons to confirm the Navigator’s accuracy. But I watched as my mid-morning snack halted my lowering BG and kept the levels level until lunchtime came ’round. I repeated the process from the AM: drugs, food, eye on the device. Very nice. And, come the end of the day, it seems my BG remains fairly stable. Of course I had to go fuck it up Saturday night with a home-grown minty mojito which shot the ol’ BG up into the stratosphere (but I knew that going into it).

Today’s experimentation included an accuracy check (compared to finger-prick test results, which themselves aren’t thaaat accurate), but it’s what I gots to work with. And the result is (drum roll, please): not very. To be fair, the Navigator’s documentation (Appendix B) gives the clinical results of the device’s accuracy compared with finger-prick testing and in detecting high and low results. They’re much less accurate than I would have anticipated (my results show reporting deviations of up to 30 mg/dl) but again, the included documentation advises you to confirm any reading with a finger-prick test. The Navigator has finger-prick testing functionality and it will integrate your finger-prick test results in the statistical and graphical reporting features it provides. That’s nice. It seems that the reason for the inaccuracy is that the monitor measures BG levels using interstitial fluid and not my fresh, warm, delicious, and sweet diabetic blood. IF glucose levels lag behind by about 15 minutes. So this reinforces my interest in continuous glucose monitoring as a tool for trend (and statistical) awareness and not obsessing over the numbers reported (something my endocrinologist made me promise not to do before he prescribed the device – apparently, that tends to happen).

Finally, the adhesive that the Navigator uses to keep the sensor and transmitter in place does not like being tortured by humidity. No, sir.

Now – time to experiment! What kind of magic will this (and that) Boulevard ZŌN work upon me? It will be tough, but I will use my body for the furthering of diabeertic science.