Tuesday, April 16, 2024

mediquipped

pulse oximeter, CGM (constant glucose monitor), CGM manual

CGM up close

It was a disappointment to pick up the CGM, which seems a little backward and wonky. It requires initial calibration during its first two hours of use, then calibration every 12 hours after that. At the 15-day mark, you have to get another monitor to attach to your arm, and I guess the calibration has to happen again. I don't recall hearing about any of this with the monitors you get in the US, but maybe clever US marketing covered these troublesome details up. I'll read slowly through the user's manual and learn the machine's ins and outs.

As you see, I also got a pulse oximeter, so I can measure my pulse-ox. I doubt I'll use it often, but at those moments when I'm breathing harder than usual, it might come in handy.

One of the shop staffers spoke broken English, and he insisted on English the entire time. I tried to get him to switch to Korean, but then I thought that it might be better for him to keep speaking in English. While his English could definitely have used some help, he got his points across just fine. His English seemed only a little worse than my Korean.



2 comments:

John Mac said...

Damn, that CGM sounds like a real pain in the ass. I'm not sure how the calibration works, but if I did the calibration, I'd have a hard time trusting the accuracy. Good luck!

Your story of the clerk wanting to speak in English gave me a smile. I tried to speak a little Korean (just the basic stuff) when I lived there but was often not understood because of my poor pronunciation. Swan is always prodding me to learn some basic Tagalog, but other than a few words and phrases, I just can't muster the effort. After all, I moved here because English is the common language. Sometimes in the bars I'll order my next drink in Korean. Blank stares in response. Then I'll order in Spanish. Despite being a colony of Spain for 500 years, almost no one here speaks Spanish. Anyway, I revert to English and we all have a laugh. But now Swan has taught me to say, "isa pa" (one more), so I've got that covered.

Daniel said...

Have always wanted to get a CGM to goad me into following my stated diet. Any news on what is spiking your post-prandial blood sugar?