This is just an introduction to ME, what my interests are and why I am using GitHub
My interests are Computers, Science Fiction and more recently Diabetes (because I am T1D - Type 1 Diabetic)
Although I am interested in programming, but my actual skills have always been at a higher level. I was chosen and trained to be a "Systems Engineer" in the Royal Navy in 1980. This means that i would look at a system (mainly Weapons Systems) as a whole, and determine how they worked (in general terms), if there was anything wrong with them and what might improve how they worked. Unfortunately, this often put me at the "Sharp End" projects, far removed from the users in skillsets but also a bit too far away from the developers. I was often used as a "go between" for Users and Developers, because in those days (I am OLD), there weren't so many ways to communicate as there are now.
I left the Navy in 1994, but those skills have stayed with me and allowed me to help many people. One of the skills that i DO posses is the skill to communicate. I can write well (if long winded sometimes) and i can often see what could really help people, when developers cannot always see this.
Since becoming a Type 1 Diabetic i have been searching for ways to improve my situation. My first "IN" to the more techy side of diabetes was when i got a FreeStyle Libre sensor to trial. Unfortunately it was only ONE sensor, but by then i was hooked. I self-funded at about £120 a month for about 18 months, until they became available on the NHS. Luckily for me I was approved for NHS funding in 2018, so i decided to take the next step. In January 2019 i ordered a MiaoMiao transmitter. It arrived in March, (due to a delay caused by Chinese New Year). I had it up and running on xDrip thanks to a very good YouTube video that, by then, i had watched about 60 times!
Then came the long haul of understanding how xDrip works! This is something that I think is still a shortcoming of the program. Maybe i am just not aware of them, but there needs to be some YouTube Videos made of how to setup and how to use each of the features in xDrip+. I know that there are other ways of learning and that somewhere on GitHub there is other information (I hope), but YouTube is the place that people turn to nowadays when they want to learn stuff.
Now i have been given permission to receive a Pump, because i think that i have done everything else to improve my HbA1c levels and that the only way to "get flatter" is by the use of a pump. Diet change and excercise, along with analysing data has got rid of a lot of the peaks and troughs in my daily readings, but the only way to reduce my Max and Min now is through microbolusing. Whereas i can do this well at weekends when i can keep a constant eye on my readings, it is not possible during the week when i am at work. A Pump would mkae this a lot easier. I spent a LOT of time looking at pumps and looking at Videos on YouTube of people who HAVE pumps (and why). One really stood out from the rest for me and that is the Tandem T-Slim: X2, used in conjunction with the Dexcom G6 CGM. I looked for a long time at the Omnipod pump, and I know someone personally who has one. However, he is what i call a "Flat Liner", in that his readings rarely vary by more than 1mmol per day. Therefore his control is pretty much on the money already. My readings are only down to 1mmol "once in a Blue Moon", and sit nearer to a Standard Deviation of about 3mmol. The X2 has a feature called Basal IQ, which is some software that is a Hybrid Loop using the data from the G6 sensor. Basal IQ stops Hypo Low situations. This interests me greatly. Later in the year, or maybe early 2020, they will be releasing Control IQ, which is a more advanced algorithym which takes into account food and excercise and will control Highs, Lows and generally keep you on track.
Along with this Readme, i am adding a list of Projects i am currently looking into. I have made a few purchases lately of Raspberry Pi, Ardunio and ESP32 along with a box of sensors. I have started a programming course in Arduino IDe for ESP32. In addition, i want to learn Python and microPython.
I am hoping that all of this, along with software like Node-Red, will allow me to realise some of my projects.
Best Regards Tigs62