The first new experience on the SCRAM monitor was sleeping the first night while wearing the device. I have to admit it wasn’t nearly as horrendous as I had envisioned. I was able to lay on my side as long as I had the comforter wedged between my knees and ankles. It sort of pillowed the device. It was also easy to lay on my back. This was probably the most comfortable position and I didn’t really even feel the anklet at all. I wasn’t awakened by the device at all during the night from the audible noise/vibration that occurs every 30 minutes and I am very much a light sleeper.
I did have more trouble today with swelling and I wasn’t active much at all (I work primarily from my home office). As you can see in the photo the mark on my ankle is pretty funky. It’s not bruised or overly sore yet so I’m going to give it another day or two to adjust to the change of simply having to wear it. If it gets worse, bruises or becomes painful I will call the leasing company for the anklet. The paperwork they gave me yesterday did advise to notify them in that event.
I also experienced a few episodes today in the area where the sensor is up against my skin of mild burning. I don’t know what that was about, but it happened randomly a couple of times today. I was able to turn the device around on my ankle early in the day before the day’s swelling occurred and there was no redness or obvious irritation, so I think I’ll chock that up to my skin getting used to the monitor for now. I turned it back around in the original place. I find wearing the larger portion on the outside is more comfortable. That damn clip opposite the sensor box is what’s making my ankle sensitive.
I was able to shower tonight and since the swelling wasn’t as bad, I could (but barely) flip the sensor to my inner ankle and wash and shave that side. I flipped it back around. The problem occurred when I exited the shower. In the time it took me to shower, the daily swelling and flipping it around was about all it could take and it was now swollen beyond being able to towel dry myself. I used the hairdryer on the cool setting again as best I could. This really worries me. How can I really sufficiently dry the area where the sensor is if I can’t move it from my skin?! I don’t want an infection or a tampering alert.
I will be working on a list of products I’m using that should be safe while wearing this device. I will reiterate how disappointed I am that neither the courts that require these devices or the companies that lease these devices do not have an approved list of products. That to me feels an awful lot like setup for failure. Furthermore, when the device was installed yesterday I asked the tech about several products. While he was very nice and extremely professional, his only response was along the lines of ‘you really need to ask the ladies in the office, I’m just the guy that installs the device’. Not helpful at all.
The only paperwork I received was an agreement you must sign stating you will not use or possess any products with alcohol. This too seems ridiculous. So I’m actually expected to throw away all of my products that cost money that I can use in 90 days time when this monitor is removed? In addition to this, the company that reads the data daily from your anklet’s upload claims they can distinguish between environmental alcohol and injested alcohol. The company that manufactures the device claims their equipment has a near nil fail rate. If both of those items are true I cannot wrap my head around why they cannot allow folks to use environmental products that contain alcohol such as deodorant. If it’s obvious it’s not consumed drinking, what’s the problem? I’m not exactly out here getting blasted drinking hair conditioner. It too seems like an excuse for when their device fails to recognize the difference between the two that they can simply defer to ‘well, you agreed to not use ANYTHING that contained alcohol’.
When I did speak to the ladies in the office prior to the device being installed I was specifically told if I did use products with certain types of environmental alcohol that they may not even register and if they did they would be able to tell it was not an actual drinking event. While that’s technically a violation she acted as if it wasn’t a big deal and wouldn’t be reported to my P.O. I was also asked to call in and report if I had used something by accident or something that I believed may cause an issue so that they could note my account. According to online FAQs via the manufacturer I was assured I could even kiss and be intimate with someone who had been drinking. So it appears whatever you try, do so at your own risk. You were warned. I suppose the bottom line is while I wish to be compliant and really just want to get this over with, I’m also going to just use common sense around their veiled assurances.
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