Yesterday morning the FedEx man knocked on the door with my brand new Dexcom Seven Plus Continuous Glucose Monitoring System. I almost kissed him. And no, I don't know if he was handsome... I was too busy lusting after the shiny box he was holding for me. I've been researching and reading lots of other reviews of the Seven Plus model, (Bernard's and Kerri's are helpful!) and had high hopes that it would be better than the original Seven model.
I've been wearing my Dexcom Seven Plus for 24 hours now and these are my first impressions:
1. The reception between the sensor and the receiver is WAY better. With the original model I lost reception OFTEN at night when my body was nestled under the covers. With the receiver on my night stand I had a constant connection all night long.
2. The screen is better lit, clearer, and much easier to read.
3. There are more added features such as adding health levels, food, exercise, alcohol, etc to the data system.
4. The alarms are LOUD. Last night at 3 am I was awoken with a beep letting me know I was 64 mg/dl and dropping.... which is EXACTLY why I need to be wearing this machine. I was sound asleep with no symptoms, and the Dexcom woke me up way before I was unable to help myself. My husband especially likes this. I think he prefers hearing obnoxious beeps, to passed out on the floor wife.
5. I noticed in the shower this morning that the adhesive was already starting to come up a little bit around the edges... so I grabbed some leftover Tegaderm covers I had from the last time I wore the Dexcom and plastered it securely over the site. This usually helps me get a few extra days out of each sensor. With the old model, I thought it might have gotten in the way of the reception, but it is unclear. It is definitely not interfering with the new model.
Overall, I LOOOOOOOVE it. I think it is an improvement. I hope they continue to design the newer models to have a smaller receiver. And some type of quick set insertion device would be nice too. The manual needle stuff still wigs me out, even after 23 years! :)
Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone!!
