I knew this day was coming, I'd been expecting it for months, but seeing the notification land in my inbox telling me I'd soon be moving from the Dexcom G6 to the G7 still made my heart sink a little. And honestly, I thought I had more time, I was advised it would be the end of the year.
It probably sounds dramatic to anyone outside the diabetes community, but when you rely on something for your health every single minute of every single day, change feels really scary.
I've Been Here Before
This isn't actually the first time I've felt like this. When I was told I had to move from the Dexcom G5 to the G6, I remember feeling exactly the same way.
I didn't want to switch and I definitely didn't trust it. Every diabetes group seemed to be full of people talking about problems, failures and inaccurate readings. I questioned why something that seemed to work perfectly well needed replacing. Why fix something that's not broken?
Fast forward a few years and I absolutely love my G6. It's become one of my essential diabetes tools I barely think about anymore because it just works for me (most the time). So I'm trying to remind myself that maybe history will probably repeat itself.
But I Do Understand People's Concerns
If you've spent any time in diabetes Facebook groups or online diabetes communities, you'll have probably seen the conversations around the G7. Some people absolutely love it and others have really struggled with the change.
As with most diabetes technology, people are often far more likely to post when something has gone wrong than when everything is working perfectly, so it can be difficult to know what the overall picture really looks like.
What I'm hoping is that because Dexcom is now actively phasing out the G6, they've had time to improve many of the issues that people experienced when the G7 was first released.
New technology almost always goes through teething problems. I just wish those teething problems didn't happen while people are relying on it to make literal life or death decisions.
What This Means for Organising Chaos
I've actually known for a long time that the G6 would eventually be discontinued. When I designed the brand new Organising Chaos diabetic device patch collections, I already knew this day was coming.
But I couldn't bring myself to stop creating G6 patches. There are still so many Diabuddies, including me, wearing the G6 every single day and it didn't feel right to suddenly pretend it no longer existed.
I also plan my collections a long way in advance. Some of the designs I've created are already allocated to future Patch Edit releases, so I can't simply swap everything overnight.
So Here's My Plan
Rather than quietly letting the G6 disappear and letting stock go to waste, I'd much rather celebrate it while it's still here and let people decorate it whilst they still can.
Over the coming weeks I'll be:
• Offering a discount across my current G6 patch collection
• Introducing a more affordable untracked shipping option to the USA, where many people have already stocked up on G6 sensors and will continue using them for quite some time
• Bringing forward the release of some standalone G6 patch designs
I'd much rather these designs end up decorating your sensors than sitting on my shelves.
Here's to New Chapters...
Am I excited about switching? Not particularly.
Am I hopeful I'll end up loving the G7 as much as I eventually loved the G6? Absolutely.
And I am as excited to decorate my G7 as I am about my G6.
