Giveaway: Leaf and Love Lemonade

Enter for your chance to win 1 of 5 lemonade prizes from Leaf & Love Organic Lemonade!

My guest on episode 6 of the Juicebox Podcast (out today) is fellow D-Mom and entrepreneur, Sara Williams-Curran. I spoke to Sara about her daughter's type 1 diabetes diagnosis, how her desire to have her daughter drink a juice box without needing insulin led to starting a company and much, much more.

After we recorded the show I asked Sara if she would like to give away some of her lemonade on Arden's Day and she very kindly agreed!

There are multiple ways to enter this giveaway and some methods even allow entries once a day. The more times you enter, the more chances you'll have to win!

Prizes include:

(1) Case of 32 Leaf and Love Organic Lemonade Juice boxes
(4) 8 packs of Leaf and Love Organic Lemonade Juice Boxes
(1) Autographed copy of my book, Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal: Confessions of a Stay-At-Home Dad

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Listeners of episode 6 of the Juicebox Podcast will be given a coupon code that will take $4.00 off a Leaf and Love 32 pack purchase on Amazon.com. Code Valid until April 5, 2015. Listen now

Rules: US residents only. Five winners will be picked at random. First name drawn will win a case of 32 Leaf and Love Lemonade jukeboxes and the next four names chosen will win an 8 pack. And the last name drawn wins a copy of Life Is Short, Laundry Is Eternal. 6 total winner. Winners will provide a mailing address that will be given by me to the owners of Leaf and Love for shipping (book winners info stays with me). Arden's Day and Leaf and Love will not retain your personal information. Winners have 3 days from notification to provide shipping information or a new winner will be drawn. Prizes do not have cash value, no purchase necessary. 

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Dexcom Share2 Unboxing Photos

High resolution images of the new Dexcom Share2 Receiver

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My first-look review will be available early next week...

Find out about the affordable upgrade offers from Dexcom...

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Wall Street Journal: Smartwatch App Helps Track Glucose

Not sure if you remember the recent Wall Street Journal article about Apple watch apps and Dexcom because it was behind WSJ's pay content protection (meaning you had to subscribe to read the entire article). I reached out to the author of the article and asked if I could have the text so those without a subscription could read it. She very kindly sent it to me. A huge thank you to Kate Linebaugh from the WSJ for supporting the diabetes community!

Dexcom Monitor Produces a Graph on Apple Watch

from the WSJ: Kate Linebaugh

DexCom Inc. is designing an app that will display readings from its diabetes glucose monitor on Apple Inc. ’s smartwatch, giving the watch an early foothold in the health-care market at a time when regulatory treatment of such systems has eased.

DexCom’s glucose monitor tracks a person’s blood-sugar levels continuously. The company has shown a picture of the app, which converts that data into a simple graph that is just a glance at the wrist away. It says the app is expected to be ready when the Apple Watch is launched in April.

Apple declined to comment. The company hasn’t accepted any apps for the coming watch yet but has provided guidelines and code to developers for creating apps for it. The latest iPhone operating system increased its health and fitness offerings.

Image from diaTribe's twitter feed - follow them @diaTribeNews

The Food and Drug Administration had been closely scrutinizing such applications. But the agency loosened its oversight in late January, months after a group of software engineers, many of whose children have Type 1 diabetes, developed a system for monitoring diabetes patients’ blood sugar over the Internet. The system was distributed without first getting regulatory approval.

The group’s effort challenged the slow pace of innovation and regulatory approval in the field. It also highlighted the growing role that Silicon Valley companies and software developers hope to have in monitoring and maintaining people’s health.

Some 29 million Americans have diabetes. Between 5% and 10% of them have Type 1, an autoimmune condition in which the body is unable to convert glucose into energy. People with Type 1 diabetes rely on taking insulin and regular monitoring to make sure their blood sugar doesn’t go dangerously high or low, both of which can cause life-threatening conditions.

The DexCom monitor uses a hair’s-width sensor under the skin to measure blood glucose levels every five minutes.

Previously, the FDA considered glucose monitors and any associated software to be Class III medical devices, meaning they received the highest level of regulatory scrutiny. But the spread of NightScout, the system developed by the group of software engineers, and DexCom’s submission of a separate iPhone app for review prompted the FDA to change course last month.

DexCom’s monitors will remain Class III devices, but software that helps display the data they produce on mobile devices or smartwatches now only needs to be registered with the FDA and doesn’t require prior marketing approval.

The FDA has been reassessing its health-apps policies. “We felt that the risks that the app imposed weren’t as high,” said Alberto Gutierrez, director of the FDA’s Office of In Vitro Diagnostics and Radiological Health.

The issue came to a head last year when the group of software engineers, working on their own time, developed NightScout, which met a critical need. The software takes data from a glucose monitor made by DexCom, mainly for Type 1 diabetes patients, and uploads it to the Internet. That allows parents—and caregivers—to keep track of their children’ blood sugar from afar via their cellphones, tablets and Pebble watches.

NightScout spread quickly to thousands of users who found each other on Facebook and Twitter . By bypassing the FDA, the system’s creators skipped a process that had snarled or deterred formal development of similar products by medical-device companies.

Last fall, the group did take the invention to the FDA. The agency’s new rules give NightScout a pathway to regulatory compliance, according to FDA officials.

DexCom still needs to make sure its Apple Watch app complies with FDA rules. But thanks to the rule change, it doesn’t need to get approval before bringing the app to market.

Steve Pacelli, DexCom’s head of strategy, said the regulatory nod for the iPhone app came in January, much faster than the company expected.

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I've Never Been Hit in the Face with a Shovel

This story takes place a few days after Arden's diagnosis in the summer of 2006...

If you've ever read our diagnosis story you know that Arden was diagnosed during a family vacation, just a few weeks after her second birthday. 

With the exception of one day, Arden spent that 'vacation' sick and waiting for us to figure out that she needed medical attention or in the hospital - she was released on a Friday, the day before we were scheduled to make the long drive home.

This was a day full of firsts for us. It was the first time that we gave Arden an injection in a restaurant, first time Kelly hung over the front seat to test a BG, first time I worried about driving with Arden and the first time I cried standing next to my car. It was also the first time I thought my son had cancer (he didn't and doesn't - keep reading).

It was a few hours after we ate at a roadside restaurant, the people at the hospital said we should retest after meals and so I drove as Kelly contorted herself and performed a finger stick from the front seat. The meter revealed that Arden required insulin. Of course we didn't know what the hell we were doing and had packed the insulin in the back of our SUV, I pulled onto the median and got out of the car to retrieve it.

I closed my door and watched Arden in her car seat as the dome light faded to black. Traffic was racing by us with such force and volume that I felt unsafe, this was;t something I would have done prior to diabetes. It was so dark and I couldn't see where I was walking, my eyes began to fill up with tears as I made my way to the rear hatch. A moment later was the first time that I drew a syringe outdoors, or in the dark for that matter. I had to lean over my son Cole to get to Arden's thigh because her door was on the traffic side of my car. I remember that feeling wrong to do.

Life seemed about as unfair as I could imagine as I plunged the needle into Arden...

I rubbed her leg and then turned my attention to Cole as I wondered what all of this must feel like to him. I smiled and put my hand on his face in an attempt to make everything feel okay, that's when I felt the bumps on his neck. I asked him to turn his head and saw that he had large bumps, that to my untrained eye looked like enlarged lymph nodes. The lumps were on both sides and ran down his neck from his ear to his chest. I though in an instant that he had cancer. Keep in mind that I had no reason to think that, it was just what popped into my head, "Lymph nodes > enlarged > cancer > Arden has diabetes > Cole has cancer".

I've never been hit in the face with a shovel but I bet I could describe the sensation with a grand amount of accuracy. The last thing that I felt that night was my hope leave my body. Every sense that I possessed shut off. I couldn't hear, think, smell, I stopped worrying about the traffic whizzing by - I was bereft in every way that we count ourselves as human beings. It's a good thing too because the ride home would have been unbearable if my senses were intact.

The next morning we took Cole to the doctor, he of course did not have cancer and we were told that it isn't uncommon for the lymph system to become enlarged during an infection.

With hindsight I can see that this moment was among the first in a long line of lessons that Arden's diabetes has taught me. Before this moment I thought of myself as someone who didn't panic, I believed myself to be cool under pressure. As it turns out, I had never been under this level of pressure. I know for certain that I wouldn't respond like that today because the person I have become, or perhaps I should say, the person diabetes has forced me to become - doesn't break so easily and doesn't give up so quickly. Diabetes takes far more than it gives but the stuff it gives is valuable - it's one of my goal to pass that message onto Arden and to all of you.

more posts on Arden's Day

Dexcom Share2 begins shipping next week - All the details within!

Dexcom Share2: What is it? How do you get one? When will it ship?

What is it?

The Share2 is a Dexcom G4 Platinum receiver with bluetooth capabilities. You may hear it referred to as the Dexcom Share2, G4 Platinum with Share or Bill (I made that last one up).

With bluetooth built in, the Share2 receiver will be able to send your Dexcom sensor information directly to an iPhone or iPod touch. Why do you care about that? I''ll tell you...

After you install the new Dexcom Share app from the Apple app store onto an iPhone or Touch that will remain with the Dexcom wearer, the information being sent to that device will be magically transported to Dexcom's cloud server where it can be redistributed (if you want) to loved ones, caregivers, parents and if you heard my recent podcast interview with NASCAR driver Ryan Reed... even your pit crew chief - as long as they have an iPhone or touch with the Dexcom Follow app installed.

If you are more of a visual learner... check out this handy diagram I borrowed from Dexcom.com

How do I get it?

If you previously purchased the original Dexcom Share cradle you will be upgraded to the Dexcom Share2 for free. 

If you:

• Purchased G4 PLATINUM Receiver after January 1, 2015 — FREE upgrade to Dexcom G4 PLATINUM Receiver with Share
• Purchased G4 PLATINUM Receiver between March 1, 2014 and December 31, 2014 — Eligible to upgrade to Dexcom G4 PLATINUM Receiver with Share for $199
• Purchased G4 PLATINUM Receiver before March 1, 2014 — Insurance or cash pay prices will apply

Upgrade offers are good through April 30, 2015 - Orders can be placed beginning March 2, 2015 at 1-888-738-3646 or on Dexcom.com

When will it ship?

Dexcom is anticipating shipment to begin on March 2, 2015. It's posted on their website so I'd say that's pretty much a certainty even though they use the word 'anticipated' - I'd bet that just CYA. I'd be comfortable betting that it'll ship in three days from today on March 2nd.

Other stuff you may be wondering...

• Dexcom G4 PLATINUM Receiver with Share is approved for both adults and children as young as 2 years old.
• Your supply of sensors and current transmitter work with the Share2.
• If you are currently using the Share cradle, your Share app will need to be upgraded.
• The Follow app remains unchanged.
• Other than previous statements from Dexcom that it is being worked on and expected to be available soon, No word about when Android compatibility with be available.
• The Dexcom cloud service is free.
• Share2 does not need to be plugged into an electrical source, totally portable.
• Previous statements from Dexcom indicate that running the Share and Follow apps won't drain your iPhone/Touch batteries significantly. 
• Existing Cradle owners will be contacted by email but must call Dexcom to initiate upgrade process.
• (updated info) No preorders. Ordering begins March 2, 2015 

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