Come Play!

My friend Scott Johnson won Insulindependence.org’s Athletic Achievement award and I think that says a lot. Scott is into athletics for all the right reasons; joy, sportsmanship, camaraderie, and health. Scott wants everyone he meets to join the basketball game and play for the simple fun of playing. I hadn’t played basketball since the 70s, Scott made me feel welcome on the court. Same with a young kid who was standing there watching the game, Scott handed him the ball and invited the kid onto the game. That is why, for me, he is a role model. Athletics isn’t about self aggrandizement, it isn’t about winning, to Scott it is about joining with others and playing.

play |plā| verb
1 engage in activity for enjoyment and recreation rather than a serious or practical purpose:
2 take part in (a sport):

I am proud of Scott. 

( I am proud of Kerri the Dancing Check too.)

This is not to say I have anything against serious sports. I was screaming like the lunatic I am, when Charlie Kimball’s team won the Indycar race at Mid Ohio. Team. Racing is a team sport with all kinds of different skills contributing to a common effort to make the team's car get there first.

Today, I would love you to join me in some play. I want you to be part of a team, one that needs a lot of players who are willing to do something a little outside their individual and collective “box.” Join the StripSafely Tweet In.

1. Go to the StripSafely Twitter Page, 
2. Find your Elected officials, Listed by State. (Maybe include the Congressional leadership too)
3. Click the Tweet about Meeting Link.

That will send a Tweet asking the representative asking them to send a staffer to the September 9 Diabetes Technology Society meeting. That is easy and it isn’t asking a lot from Congress, just being aware of our need for accuracy.

Some feel that politics is a dirty partisan game, I know others have felt that way. They found that speaking up from principal was not only empowering but could be fun too. Maybe our voice can help reduce  partisanship by not playing that game. Just be real.

Let's make this fun! Tweet the 'stock' message then improvise some of your own tweets, share why accurate diabetes testing matters to you. Be nice, be a good sport, no trash talking, join with others and play. Maybe as a team we can all win the race to more accurate glucose testing.

Lets make this a team effort about joy, sportsmanship, camaraderie, and health. 

Congress & Pump Hacking, Who Didn't See This Coming

So it begins:

Aug 15, 2011: Eshoo, Markey Ask GAO to Study Safety, Reliability of Wireless Healthcare Tech
Senior Committee members Anna G. Eshoo (D-CA) and Edward J. Markey (D-MA) sent a letter to the Government Accountability Office (GAO) early this week calling on them to look into whether the new devices are "safe, reliable and secure. " The issue stems from a hack shown at the popular Las Vegas conference where researcher Jerome Radcliffe -- diagnosed with Diabetes 11 years ago -- demonstrated how he could tweak the dosage levels on his pump remotely.

Dear Congresswoman Eshoo and Congressman Markley

I read the press release about your letter concerning wireless health technology. I have a personal interest in insulin pumps. I am a social media writer and participant in the diabetes community online as I am the father of two teenage type 1 diabetics who lives depend on insulin pumps. I know that diabetes management is a balancing act. Insulin and activity balance with food to maintain blood sugar. It is never a perfect balance of risks but it is what families living with diabetes strive to manage.

I hope that in your efforts to publicize your letter you are aware of the relative risks involved with insulin pumping. The community of families living with type 1 diabetes has been shocked with the deaths of a number of adolescents in the past year form hypoglycemia, excessively low blood sugar. You may know the condition better as insulin shock and it can result even when people believe that have balanced all the inputs just right. 

Insulin absorption is affected by a number of variables. Physical activity can present diabetics with increased insulin efficiency as well as changes when in insulin impacts blood sugar. It is possible that healthy, active kids see blood sugars fall overnight as a result of daytime physical exertion. In those cases reducing or stoping the delivery of insulin, even normal amounts that have previously been fine, can help prevent dangerous low blood sugars.

The US Government has tightened regulation of insulin pumps to the point where innovations that are available around the world are not available for use here. Continuos glucose monitoring systems (CGM) integrated with pump systems are sold in Europe. These insulin pump systems are made by US companies. The more advanced systems can shut off insulin to people having a low glucose episode. This innovation, while made in the USA, is not available for sale here, yet it is available around the world. 

These devices have the potential to save lives. They give people living with diabetes in Europe more choices to consider with their physicians than we have in the US. Sadly the FDA does not even have guidelines for considering how to approve low glucose suspend.

Let me be clear. I am not suggesting that wireless security is unimportant. The devices should be secure. Device makers should be allowed to bring more secure devices to market without a significant regulatory delay.

I am urging you to reflect on the life saving capabilities of innovations like CGM integration and low glucose suspend with the security risk. To date there has been no reported case of any health impact from the possibility of hacking an insulin pump. Zero. 

There have been and continue to be tragic cases of severe hypoglycemia that cost young American lives. The particularly sad loss of adolescents with type 1 diabetes highlights  where LGS may have prevented the unfortunate loss of life. Unlike pump hacking, the lives of American children are been lost to hypoglycemia. Pump hacking, considered outside of the balance of risks facing insulin dependent diabetics, may increase the regulatory delay of life saving technology reaching American families.

The cumbersome FDA regulatory process for inulin pumps slows innovation to US families. Your letter uses the word proliferation. Typically politicians use the word with a negative context. We need a wider rapid adoption of life saving innovation to help keep American teens alive not the proliferation of government studies that prevent US patients from using the innovations of American companies to live healthy lives. 

How can you as senior members of the House Energy and Commerce Committee speed up not only the safety of devices but the availability of life saving tools?