{"id":47140,"date":"2017-05-23T10:26:58","date_gmt":"2017-05-23T14:26:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=47140"},"modified":"2017-05-23T12:48:42","modified_gmt":"2017-05-23T16:48:42","slug":"if-anyone-can-take-diabetes-tech-to-the-next-level-its-apple","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=47140","title":{"rendered":"If Anyone Can Take Diabetes Tech to the Next Level, It’s Apple"},"content":{"rendered":"

As a diabetes mom of\u00a0nearly 20 years, I’m like a walking museum of diabetes technology. Our first meter, the Lifescan, was bulky, expensive, took a \u201changing drop of blood\u201d and nearly a full minute to count down. Our first pump, the Minimed 507, was amazing to us at the time. But today? It\u2019s a relic. It clicked around the clock. I remember hearing a father talk about walking his daughter down the aisle at her wedding. He said \u00a0he listened to the click of her pump the whole way down, and then, as he put her hand in her husband\u2019s and walked away, he thought, \u201cthe clicking reminder is passed now.\u201d Back then, A1c tests were drawn, and we waited days to hear the results. No on-the-spot tweaks based on lab results back then. And logging? We actually used paper log books. Yes, I\u2019m here talking to you from the olden days, but hugely excited about CNBC’s news<\/a> that Tim Cook was spotted at the\u00a0Apple<\/a> campus\u00a0test-driving a glucose monitor connected to his Apple Watch.<\/p>\n

Oh, how far we’ve come.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“As\u00a0CNBC reported last month<\/a>, Apple has a team in Palo Alto working on the “holy grail” for diabetes: Non-invasive and continuous glucose monitoring. The current glucose trackers on the market rely on tiny sensors penetrating the skin. Sources said the company is already conducting feasibility trials in the Bay Area.”<\/p>\n

Now I’m thinking back to my daughter\u2019s diabetes in 1997. I\u2019d just scored my first \u201cdream job\u201d and I\u2019d be heading off to ski and do other adventurous things for work!\u00a0<\/em>I\u2019d be in remote places where even finding a pay phone was a challenge. In order to travel and be reachable in case there was an issue with my daughter\u2019s diabetes,\u00a0I had to get phone numbers of hotels and resorts so my husband could leave me messages. Sometimes it would be hours before I\u2019d get those hand-written messages.<\/p>\n

Then came the heady rush of uber cool technology: I got a beeper. Then, the sitter, or my spouse, or a friend could page me when they needed me \u2013 I mean, how cool was that? I remember feeling so free and modern. Selfish me loves tennis and I used to play in a league. Instead of having to leave the phone number of the tennis club with the school nurse every time I went off to play a match, I could just have her page me (I\u2019d leave the beeper at the front desk with specific instructions NOT to come get me unless the special emergency code we had worked out showed on it.) The school nurse could also could page me glucose readings throughout day if there was concern. I thought, how could things get better?<\/p>\n

Of course, you know the answer to that. Cell phones. Faster meters. CGMs. Dexcom’s Share technology<\/a>. Smarter Pumps. And now even Apple cares about diabetes.<\/p>\n

It makes me reflect when I hear newer parents fret about how hard it all is. Don\u2019t get me wrong: diabetes is<\/em> hard \u2013 and we need even more advancements. But as a mom who came from when we practically had to send up smoke signals to get information about our kids while they were at school, sports, or off playing, it\u2019s an amazing new world. And it\u2019s so much easier.<\/p>\n

I love that Apple is pondering what we need and I\u2019m hoping they improve life with diabetes the same way they\u2019ve furthered how we buy, store, and listen to music, how we talk on the phone, how we get news alerts, and how we connect in every way.<\/p>\n

So as Apple considers our needs and tries out some possible tools, here are my diabetes mom suggestions for the next steps: for things that will feel as super cool and transformative as that pager did way back when.<\/p>\n