TGIF!  There are some great things going on around the diabetes community so I wanted to take a few minutes to highlight some of them. 

• I haven’t used injections in over 7 years but I did for 25 years before pumping insulin so I know what it’s like.  There is a great tool out there for the many insulin pen users but of course is not available here in the US yet.  Timesulin is a timer-enabled replacement cap that fits onto an insulin pen that tracks when the last injection was administered.  Pretty helpful huh?  They issued a press release on March 11, 2014 describing their campaign to crowdfund the $35,000 required for necessary FDA approvals among other things for this product to be successful in the US.  The will be accepting donations until April 20^th – please consider donating to this very valuable cause.

• Sometimes I may feel like I’m near Medicare age, but I’m not.  Yet.  So I don’t really have to think about Medicare yet.  Or do I?  From what I hear, it can be a whole different beast than private health insurance.   Especially for people with diabetes, this can be a major problem.  Take the fact that they do not cover continuous glucose monitors at all.  What?!  In 2014?  I kid you not.  And while I’m not planning on Medicare for some time yet, there are plenty of people who are dealing with this issue now.   Our friends Sue and Laddie over at Test Guess and Go, have introduced a new campaign to promote the need to get bill H.R. 3710: Medicare CGM Coverage Act passed in Congress.  Please take a few minutes to look over this post from Sue and take the actions she is suggesting.  If the people who are most impacted by rules like this form Medicare do not speak up, who will?

• So many of us bitch and complain about how the FDA goes about approving diabetes devices in the US.  Yes, I’m guilty of that.  And sometimes there may seem like there is not much we can do about it.  But thanks to people like Bennet, we know that there is something we can do.  We have until April 7^th to comment on the FDA’s proposal on glucose meter guidance.  That is one topic that could drive me mad if I let it – meter accuracy.  Please check out the guide here from Bennet that explains what we need to do to make our comments heard.

• I found out about this new product from Jacquie over at Typical Type 1 and just received my order last week.  I’m not sure when I began the habit, but I usually lick my finger after a BG test.  While I don’t typically care much what others think of me, I do realize that could come across or even be somewhat unsanitary.  So when I read that there was a disposable absorbent sheet that I could wipe my fingers on, I was intrigued.  While there is nothing especially fancy about them, they serve a great purpose pretty conveniently.  I’d recommend checking out Diabetic Dabs for yourself.  I even got the heart shaped ones!

I feel like times like these are when our advocacy efforts matter the most.  If we put all of our voices together, we can really make a difference.  For all of us.

I hope you all have a great weekend!  🙂