An Interesting Week
As the week winds down we’re wondering if when looked back upon five years from now will this week be seen as transition point. All week we’ve been following the social media and mainstream media firestorm over the technical issues Dexcom had with their sharing platform. Judging from the various Facebook posts and the visceral reaction from angry patients, parents, caregivers and some nutty conspiracy theorists one just might think there was something wrong with the PRODUCT Dexcom makes. When instead the problem lies inside a bank of computers otherwise known as the cloud.
Lost in this firestorm is all the FREE publicity Dexcom is getting. Lost in this firestorm is how a whole new group of people are being exposed to CGM. Lost in this firestorm is how everyone now accepts CGM as THE STANDARD FOR GLUCOSE MEASUREMENT. Lost in this firestorm is the problem facing Abbott who still is waiting for the FDA to approve the Libre2 and how the Libre DOES NOT ALLOW FOR SHARING.
It is somewhat astonishing how important the ability to share data from this device has become. Several parents we’ve spoken with have noted how much easier their life has become now that they can see how their Type 1 child is doing. Yes, they do note that sometimes seeing the data does create anxiety but given that this technology can save their child’s life this occasional anxiety will be tolerated. Many parents expressed how this device and its sharing of data has liberated or freed them from a state of constant panic.
As we noted the other day it would be great if all this way cool whiz bang technology worked 100% of the time. It would be wonderful if the internet never crashed, there was no such thing as hackers or systems that get overloaded. As nice as this would be it is also EXTRODINARLIY unrealistic. CGM sensors, insulin pumps and any connected device are medical devices which can and do fail or malfunction. This is the nature of the beast and will NOT change.
Still we can’t help but believe this week marks a major turning point for not just Dexcom but CGM. We have long known that CGM was becoming the standard for glucose measurement yet thanks to this event the world now knows this. And that is truly astonishing.
