Friday, June 10, 2011

In Which I Reveal Confidential Medical Information

So, went to the endo yesterday. Reminded him that I was his favorite patient. He laughed and admitted that I was "one of his favorites". I bet he says that to eveyone who insists on favoritism.

Demanded stem cells. No dice.

Asked about a pump and a CGM. He said he was a fan of pumps for some people, but my control is good on the MDI's, so unless I REALLY REALLY wanted it....he didn't see a reason, and you know what? Shots are fine with me. They really are. The CGM, however, I do REALLY, REALLY want.

He said if I had more days where I woke up super low (like I did right after Easter) then he would definitely fight for me to get one. He also said he would only do Dexcom, not Medtronic. I told him that was great with me. So...do I give myself more insulin to have scary scary daytime lows and get a CGM? NO. Even the thought scares me, and I would never put myself at risk that way. But do you see what the insurance companies have reduced me to????

Speaking of insurance, I found out today that my deductible went up by $1000 (from 3k to 4k) on June 1st with no warning whatsoever. The fact that my daughter's ER visit in April would have COVERED that doesn't seem to phase them. I. AM. BITTER. I'm still going to call and whine at them on Monday, even though I will probably get lost in voicemail hell. (*please say your ID number* *sorry, I didn't quite catch that*)

OK, lab stuff - A1c - 6.3. I'm OK with that, although frankly, I like it to hover at 6 or below. My doctor was thrilled. My husband told me that if I didn't like it, then I had "something to work on for next time." I wanted to punch him in the face. But I didn't. Because he was on the phone. Also I love him dearly.

LDL - still really really bad, and at 196. HDL is up to 57, so that's good. Doc and I had the following conversation:

So, I'm going to put you on blah-blah-statin.

This in instead of the simvastatin?

You're already ON cholesterol meds? And these are your numbers?

Um, yeah. But I forget to take them half the time. That could be the problem. (GREAT with shots, terrible with pills.)

OK, I'm going to up the dose, and even if you miss a few, you should still see some benefit. I'll call it into Walgreens. Put your pills by your toothbrush or something.

All right.

I hate high cholesterol. I kind of think it's a fake problem, because bringing down cholesterol isn't necessarily reducing the number of heart attacks. (Also, my father in law just had a triple bypass and his cholesterol was perfect. My dad's had high cholesterol all his life but at 77, nary a twinge of chest pain.) But I digress, and I will take my pills like a good little girl. I was kind of hoping to go off them, though - I don't like the long term side effects reported. Guess THAT didn't happen.

And it was at that trip to Walgreens, where I decided to pick up my refill of test strips along with my new horse pills, that I was asked to pay over $200 for said strips since the deductible wasn't met yet. I asked them to hold them for me while I railed on my insurance company for a few days. They're cool with that. I'm still going to have to pay it, though - I can feel it in my bones.

Thyroid, CMP, everything else was "fine." Still waiting for the lab results in the mail so I can obsess over them and see what "fine" means. Hopefully I'll get them, I did ask the tech 3 times to send them, but that didn't work last time.

Ok, then - off to check my sugars, then swear at my monitor, wash my hands, and check my sugars again. Last night I shaved 50 points off doing that. How did so much "sugar" get onto my hands? I don't know - it's a mystery.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Linky Goodness

Some thoughts to process -

HUGE fan of #7 on this article.

Also, I found this article very happy making and hope inducing.

Happy reading!