This is not about a Dexcom G4 review, but it is about a Dexcom.

Well, it finally happened–we laundered our Dexcom Seven Plus. It seemed inevitable. A past weekend, we took the kids out to the pool and being careful to pull all the gear off my 9yr old type 1 before hitting the water. Tossing cloths and gear into the towel bag, out-of-sight-out-of-mind.

Of course, when we get out of the pool the Dexcom stayed in the bag with the now-wet towels and swimsuits…and once home, into the wash the whole bag’s contents went. About half-way through the spin cycle, as I sat down for a data pull from the Dexcom it dawns on me where the unit probably ended up…is there any hope for it to work even if disassembled and thoroughly dried, I ponder? Do things fry once wet? UGH! Racing to the machine, there sits the Seven Plus at the bottom with the towels. Dread. I try a key press. No response. Sadness.

Being somewhat techy and properly equipped (Dexcom using a non-standard screw head) I immediately disassembled it completely. In the garage, after several tank fulls of compressed air, I was pretty confident that the majority of the standing water was gone. Next, for thoroughness, the board spent a couple hours under some dry heat (a halogen light @ ~4″) to evaporate any remaining moisture. When reasonable time had passed, I reattached the battery to see if it survived…Click. And nothing, just a blank screen. Then it occurred to me, the battery may have fully discharged in the moisture. When I attached the charger cable, everything came to life just as it should! WOO HOO!!! Three hours to the completion of the sensor calibration cycle. All is well.

What a relief. Total time to restored operation: 2h 30m + 3 for calibration.

Just to let you guys people know, they do survive a washing, though I imagine a trip through the drier too would not be ideal for the battery. I know some people promote heating them in a baggie of dry rice, but I fear that this is just too slow.