Have any of you wonderful, knowledgeable people had to have surgery? Did you keep your Dexcom in? I am having shoulder surgery next week and would like to keep my sensor in place so they will lnow what my BS are.
Thanks
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There is no reason they should need to remove your Dexcom unless it is in the area they are doing surgery on. There are a number of members who had open and willing care givers and who gave their reciever to the anesthesia person and who used that information during the surgery to keep them safe. The only reason I have heard the need to remove the Dexcom would be for imaging like MRI.
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I have had surgery while keeping my dexcom on without any difficulty.
I would just be aware that if you require pain meds post-op, you remember that you cannot take Tylenol while on the Dex, so beware of what you might be prescribed (i.e Percocet which has Tylenol in it), bc then you will not have accuracy with your cgm. (I just say this from experience).
All the very best of luck with your surgery and recovery!!
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Like @daisymae, I have had numerous surgeries with my Dexcom on. Try to keep the sensor on the opposite side of your body from the surgery, and avoid your arms (blood pressure cuff and whatnot). Take the time to teach your gasser how to see/spot trends in your BG and turn the alarms to buzz (there are SO many alarms in the OR - sheesh!), and I brought a plastic bag to put my receiver in while in the OR.
Good luck on your surgery!
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This was true for G4/G5, but I think no longer issue for G6.
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I had surgery and didn’t remove the Dexcom. I didn’t have the chance to remove it because I was unconscious when brought in. No harm done to the Dexcom, and I don’t think the neurosurgeon noticed it.
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I’d say you are a lot safer with that Dexcom on!!! In 2016 I had major shoulder surgery (over 3 hours) and I didn’t have my Dexcom or a Libre yet. The anesthesiologist said usually he just would check blood sugars at the start of surgery and that was it. I asked him if he could do a check half way through because I had a tendency to drop during surgery (I had just had a minor surgery the week before). This was at a teaching hospital too. Needless to say I was surprised they only would check once in such a long surgery.
I would make sure to show the anesthesiologist how it works, they can tape the reader to your body so it’s not lost. By the way, they literally marked the shoulder I was to have surgery on to make sure no mix ups were made.
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Holy moly, Doc!! I am sorry that happened!
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2 surgeries and kept Dexcom in both times. They put the receiver in bag so they could check my sugars during surgery. They appreciated having the technology so they knew “how” my sugars were doing!! Good luck and a fast recovery to you.
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Need advice from those with surgery experience. I have an outpatient procedure tomorrow, I’ll be “out” for it and my wife will not be allowed in to the surgery center. I had planned on giving the doc/anesthetist my G6 PDM, but when I went to get it, it was no where to be found (Really stumped on that!). The way I’ve come up with to provide them BG info, is give them my iPhone and they open to the Lock Screen, swipe right, and see the Sugarmate, Dexcom, and Omnipod widgets with BG and IOB there. Is there another way (web based on their equipment) that doesn’t make them d/l and install the Dexcom Follower app or other?
Guess I’ll be needing to find or replace the G6 PDM…
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It may be harder than that. If your G6 receiver is not already paired with the current G6 transmitter, I think there’s no way to connect it to the existing sensor session. You’d have to start a new sensor session with the G6 receiver, and then let the phone app join.
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@bkh I’ll have to look that up too. The more I think about, the more using the widgets on the Lock Screen seems to make sense. Need to refresh my RAM how long the screen will stay on for or if you have to tap it recurringly…the longer I go without using the “features” the more I forget how to work them…
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Are you sure? I can change the transmitter ID on my phone app and have it join a session I have already started on the receiver.
So shouldn’t it work doing it the other way? Having the receiver join a session that is already started on the phone?
I know for sure about the phone picking up an existing receiver session, I have done it that way a million times. I can try it the other way to see, but curious if anyone has tried it the other way.
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@TomH why not for the duration of the surgery turn the lockscreen off on your phone and place it in a clear zip top baggy so the gasser can access the sugarmate app as needed (he probably won’t). It will however allow your followers to continue following your bags thru the surgery. I have done this method through a variety of outpatient and major surgeries in the last 10 years with great success. A 3 minute tutorial with the gasser and minimizing the alarm volumes at the gasser’s request is usually a win win for everyone.
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I agree that it’s completely straightforward to have a phone join an existing sensor session.
I vaguely recall that the problem I ran into when I tried to add the receiver to a running session is that the receiver software doesn’t get to the “enter a new transmitter ID” step until after forcing you to stop the current sensor session. I was unable to find an independent “just change the transmitter id” data entry path. The phone software is better in that regard. My receiver firmware is 5.1.1.022 and SW# SW11269; maybe there’s a newer version that is better?
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Ya, I can totally believe it. The Dexcom app is updated regularly, the code on the receiver is ancient.
Next transmitter swap, if I remember, I will try it and see what happens.
The weak link there is me remembering to try it, and me remembering what thread to post it on! 
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You don’t need to unlock your phone to see it. If the Dexcom widget is on your phone, your Dex number is visible with a swipe to the right without unlocking it.
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