This event is a chance for the best and brightest to showcase their work, and for thousands of doctors, nurses, educators, nutritionists, and other care providers to further their education. They receive "continuing education" credits for attending certain sessions.

There is also an enormous hallway full of diabetes-related posters, many so scientific in nature that they're incomprehensible to the average patient. But these posters are displayed and judged every year, and are apparently a great source of inspiration and pride for the medical community.

With the sheer volume of content being covered here this weekend, "it's like trying to drink from a fire hose," as one researcher put it. The good news is that with all this work in feverish full swing, it does seem likely that we are on the verge of some giantic step forward in diabetes management and care, if not a cure, in the not-too-distant future.

The ADA's stated mission is "to prevent and cure diabetes, and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes." Yet one thing I have learned from my investigations into the diabetes community is that the ADA is more focused on care and self-management of this disease, whereas the JDRF (Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation) is intently honed in on finding a cure.

Now diabetes is also very big business. There are over 150 companies exhibiting here with flashy booths that include everything from live singers to free smoothies to cooking demonstrations, crepes made to order, and giveaways of pens, wallets, coffee cups, flashlights, and even your very own doctor's white lab jacket (from Johnson & Johnson). None of this is unusual for an industry trade show, of course. It's just a little jarring to realize that all this fanfare is about the disease that I struggle with every day... the disease that I'd give away if I could... the disease that is such a lucrative industry for many.

What is heartening is the new products on the horizon to better our daily lives. In particular, three continuous monitoring products, not yet approved by the FDA, look promising:

• DexCom was also showing off its new Continuous Monitor, featuring a long-term implantable sensor half the size of a triple-A battery, which is placed subcutaneously in the abdominal wall, where it measures glucose levels every 30 seconds and transmits the data wirelessly to a small receiver. This one is very cool because, although "invasive," the piece that's implanted on the body is tiny. I'm wondering if I can get my insurance to pony up for this one as soon as it clears the FDA.
• Texas-based Calisto Medical premiered its "Gluco Watch Redux" product, the non-invasive, armband-style continuous monitor Glucoband. First-round clinical trials are successfully complete, and the Glucoband is being touted as safe, convenient (self calibrating), cost-effective (no disposable accessories required), and multi-functional (with embedded microprocessor, flash memory, computer interface and time-clock). With its new Bioelectric Impedance Spectroscopy (BEIS) technology, based on "bio-electromagnetic resonance," the company is hoping to avoid the user-unfriendly pitfalls that hampered the GlucoWatch.
• Abbott Diabetes Care (which acquired Therasense) was demoing its new FreeStyle Navigator, which utilizes TheraSense's patented Wired Enzyme technology to measure glucose levels in your interstitial fluid every 60 seconds and transmit the results to a wireless pager-sized receiver. This one includes alarms if you're headed for a low or high, shows graphs of your levels throughout the week or day, and lets you easily download a ton of useful information for your doctor or CDE to use in helping you make improvements. The downside is just that this is an "invasive" monitor, attached via an infusion site like that of a pump. And the box itself is bigger than some pumps, so I wonder how many pump wearers would be willing to hook themselves up to a second device.

• Lantus in a PEN! That's right, long-acting Lantus insulin from Aventis is now available in a the OptiClik(TM) injection pen, which is chunkier than most rapid-acting insulin (bolus) pens, but nonetheless extremely convenient. The device uses standard pen needles as well, so no special equipment needed. Again, let's start petitioning our health plans to cover this one!

• The new Accu-Check "Spirit" pump that sports three levels of menus depending on how many bells and whistles the wearer cares to use. For the very tech-savvy, data can be dowloaded directly to a Trio PDA, so you can truly "converge" your devices: you can view this data in various chart forms, and easily download it to your doctor or care team. The other neat thing this pump does is provide a "flip screen" option, so that you can literally turn the screen display over 180 degrees if you wish to switch the pump to the other side of your body or view it from your waistline just by tipping it upwards.

In all, just being around the incredible diabetes "buzz" has been highly motivating! So much to learn, and so much to look forward to on the life-improvement front. Now for us patients, lots will depend on how quickly health plans will opt to cover these neat new tools and treatments.