New to Dexcom and the Share App - ex doesn't want to keep App - any advice

Hi Everyone! I'm new here, and glad to be part of the community. My 10, almost 11 year old son is T1 and was dx at 14 months. We just got approved for the Dexcom G5 and he began wearing it on Friday. I wanted to be able to see his numbers all the time and monitor when he's at school, on the bus, etc. I hooked up an old phone line and installed the App. Wow!!! What an awesome thing this is!!!

Here's the issue. I share custody with his dad and dad wants to stop using the phone because son has too much freedom with the phone. I suggested cutting everything off of the phone except the Dexcom app. He does not see the need for he and I to be able to monitor him with the App. He says that the nurse can monitor him during the day, looking at the receiver and when he is with us, we can look at the receiver and see how he's doing.

I'm just curious as to your thoughts on a parent being able to monitor through an app, and the pros and cons. I can't see his numbers today, because Dad took the phone away. It's been so nice the last two days being able to watch him. Dad is also very controlling and I think it is more about the fact that I was the one that got the Dexcom pushed through, I was the one that got him the phone so he could have the app. Just not sure the battle I'm facing if I push for our son to keep his phone so we can each monitor him on the App, and this technology is so new to me, I'd love to hear from you all.

Thank you !

J

 

Good luck! Wish I had some advice. I can't imagine the difficulty of navigating all these decisions when you have that extra wrinkle to deal with. We find Share indispensable but our son is a toddler with no nurse on staff to monitor him. Our constant monitoring of the numbers is the added layer of security needed to keep him in daycare.

 

If "trust with phone use for medical purposes" is the only issue, perhaps you could enable the notifications feature on the iPhone to show the Dexcom App only (it takes a little fiddling to do this), and then put a passcode on the phone itself that only you know. This should allow your son to view his current glucose level by swiping the notifications tab on the lock screen, while simultaneously being unable to use the phone for anything else. The iOS platform is about to undergo a radical change in how notifications are displayed which may break this (or enable it further, perhaps), so look for that in a few weeks.

We've found it handy to be able to send and receive texts from our child and/or the nurse while at school, and have made it crystal clear to our child that the phone is a medical device ONLY. So far, so good, on that front.

I can't speak to the quality of your school medical protocols, but I'd venture to say that your ex is placing a little too much trust in the aptitude of your school system, and perhaps not enough in his son, and is allowing for a remote risk that something may happen that an extra pair of eyes could have averted. IMHO It's always a good policy to assume everyone, including trained professionals, are complete idiots until proven otherwise.

 

With divorced parents, you usually have to take the route of "my house, my rules, your house, your rules". Its very hard to make or require the other parent to do something on their parenting time. When he is with you, you can enable the phone and then when he is with dad, you'll just have to wait it out until he is back with you. I know that sounds harsh but courts and Dr's will not even get involved unless the A1C is BEYOND high and medical neglect is obvious. If your son has his receiver, he can look at that and the nurse will have the numbers during school also. Pick your battles. You've gone years without seeing his numbers at school and everything has been fine. He will still have access to his receiver and numbers. Good luck.

 

We don't follow with the share. Both of mine wear their cgms and monitor with the receiver. They are 13 though, so old enough to pay attention and do not need or want me texting them each time they are out of range.