Diana
10-09-2008, 06:10 PM
We have been using the Navigator for about 2 months now. I really like it although it has been a rather bumpy road.
Our first Navigator had awesome range. It rarely lost the connection even 2 rooms away. Once it even gave us a few readings when it was in the car on the driveway and Oliver was inside the house. It was easy to calibrate and once we figured out the taping set up that worked for us was easy to wear.
BUT - it really wasn't very accurate. It was usually off by 20 or so, and the CM and BG readings would start to diverge by huge amounts as Oliver's BG rose, sometimes when the CM reading was as low as 130. And the results would get worse by the day. Abbott eventually sent us a whole new system - either conceding that something seemed off or just desperately trying to get me to quit calling them every day :p
So, the new Navigator is a little different. It is cranky. It doesn't like to be too far away. It is very fussy about calibrations - sometimes changing it's mind as I'm in the process of doing the BG to calibrate. It routinely rejects calibrations. But, let me tell you, this sucker is ACCURATE (once I manage to get it calibrated!) And it's been accurate across all 5 days. The readings do start to diverge above 180 or so, but not nearly as much as before. I'll take the cranky, fussy Navigator if this is the result I get.
The only thing I'm nervous about is that we changed the box of sensors at the same time we started the second Navigator. Our next box of sensors is the same lot number as the first one - so if it was a sensor problem rather than a system problem, we might have issues again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
We go to the endo on Monday. I'm really curious to see his A1c. I'm actually expecting it to be quite a bit higher. We've wiped out almost all the lows, and only sort of conquered the highs BUT we are catching and acting on the highs sooner - at least with the second Navigator - so I don't really know how things are going to fall out.
Diana
Our first Navigator had awesome range. It rarely lost the connection even 2 rooms away. Once it even gave us a few readings when it was in the car on the driveway and Oliver was inside the house. It was easy to calibrate and once we figured out the taping set up that worked for us was easy to wear.
BUT - it really wasn't very accurate. It was usually off by 20 or so, and the CM and BG readings would start to diverge by huge amounts as Oliver's BG rose, sometimes when the CM reading was as low as 130. And the results would get worse by the day. Abbott eventually sent us a whole new system - either conceding that something seemed off or just desperately trying to get me to quit calling them every day :p
So, the new Navigator is a little different. It is cranky. It doesn't like to be too far away. It is very fussy about calibrations - sometimes changing it's mind as I'm in the process of doing the BG to calibrate. It routinely rejects calibrations. But, let me tell you, this sucker is ACCURATE (once I manage to get it calibrated!) And it's been accurate across all 5 days. The readings do start to diverge above 180 or so, but not nearly as much as before. I'll take the cranky, fussy Navigator if this is the result I get.
The only thing I'm nervous about is that we changed the box of sensors at the same time we started the second Navigator. Our next box of sensors is the same lot number as the first one - so if it was a sensor problem rather than a system problem, we might have issues again. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.
We go to the endo on Monday. I'm really curious to see his A1c. I'm actually expecting it to be quite a bit higher. We've wiped out almost all the lows, and only sort of conquered the highs BUT we are catching and acting on the highs sooner - at least with the second Navigator - so I don't really know how things are going to fall out.
Diana