Ah, my precious. I have been trained, I have been stabbed, and now I can tell you at any given time what's going on with my blood sugar. I can be cool and post pictures of my Dexcom. (But I won't, not just yet). (I can't find my camera, and I'm lazy).
I went low that afternoon. My Precious buzzed and booped. Ooh, the first buzz. What does it mean. Under 80! Meter says no. Under 55! DEXCOM NO-LIKEY UNDER 55! Meter said 68, so I treated. I kind of love peppermint bark, btw.
Then I had a lovely dinner and watched my sugars climb. It almost hit that high threshold, but not quite. I was fascinated, and I think I am easily amused. However, going to bed at 175, I decided to take a half unit of insulin. My correction value has been changing, and I decided that half would probably get me to around 140-120, which is all well and good. (Sometimes 1 unit drops me 80, sometimes 50. Consistency, thy name isn't diabetes.)
ALL NIGHT LONG. (Cue the Lionel Richie soundtrack).
Buzz. Buzz. BUZZ. LOW!!! UNDER 80!!! LOW!! UNDER 80!!! 3 times it did this, and I checked my meter. 97. 102. 96. Please be quiet, my precious. I'm fine. I'm sleeping.
LOW!!! UNDER 55!!!! At that point, I just grabbed a candy and popped it, figuring I probably was low, and maybe it would make precious be quiet. LOW! UNDER 80!
My husband "Did something beep? What's going on?"
Sorry, babe. Diabetes apparently is a loud disease.
And on it went, until I was coherent enough in the morning to change the low alert from 80 to 70.
I have been longing to know what my blood sugars do during the night. Spot checking isn't really helpful. Why would I go to bed at 90 and wake up at 140? When did that rise happen? Right in the morning, or have I been rollercoasting all night? Going to bed at 160? Waking at 160? Did I really do NOTHING at night? So I was longing for that lovely graph, that lovely telling of what my body was going through while I was unconscious. Apparently, I have to be conscious to see it. It stayed pretty consistent...ly low. And it did start to rise around 7:30 in the a.m. So that's good to know.
It seems to be more accurate if I'm above 100. Otherwise, my precious runs a little lower than the meter. It's in my abdomen right now. I will try my arm as the next site, see how that goes.
And despite the buzzing, I love it. I love it very much.
Thursday, January 5, 2012
Tuesday, January 3, 2012
Insurance Makes Me Laugh (it's either that or cry)
It's time to renew my 3 month supply of Novolog. Every time this happens, my insurance wants to remind me that Humalog is cheaper. Did you hear me, patient x? CHEAPER!!
(Also, they keep sending me letters telling me to check my A1C. I think the fact that they've paid formost all of my A1C's should stop these letters. It doesn't.)
So, today I got a letter about the relative cheapness of Humalog. And a friendly little lecture about why most patients choose the lower cost option. Smart patients. Financially savvy patients. Patients who care about their health and their pocketbook.
Behold.
(Click to embiggen.)
I guess 0% of their patients are smart and savvy. I could be the first.
(Also, they keep sending me letters telling me to check my A1C. I think the fact that they've paid for
So, today I got a letter about the relative cheapness of Humalog. And a friendly little lecture about why most patients choose the lower cost option. Smart patients. Financially savvy patients. Patients who care about their health and their pocketbook.
Behold.
(Click to embiggen.)
I guess 0% of their patients are smart and savvy. I could be the first.
Tuesday, December 27, 2011
One More Thing
Get training on the Dexcom on Jan. 4. Hee hee.
I forgot to mention last time that my doctor has contnued to use me as a guinea pig. He put me on some heartburn medication to see if a ppi (proton pump inhibitor) response would help me. He says there is data that a ppi response can stimulate beta cells.
It took a week or so, but now I am having more lows than usual. He may be right. It's kind of exciting. I definitely need to lower my bolus rate a tad. So we'll see about that. In the meantime, "my precious" (dexcom) will help notify me of those lows.
I forgot to mention last time that my doctor has contnued to use me as a guinea pig. He put me on some heartburn medication to see if a ppi (proton pump inhibitor) response would help me. He says there is data that a ppi response can stimulate beta cells.
It took a week or so, but now I am having more lows than usual. He may be right. It's kind of exciting. I definitely need to lower my bolus rate a tad. So we'll see about that. In the meantime, "my precious" (dexcom) will help notify me of those lows.
Thursday, December 22, 2011
Fun times at the endo. Plus CAPS. LOTS OF CAPS.
So, I went to the endocrinologist last week. He still loves me, thinks my attitude of "I want more beta cells and I don't care what I have to do to get them" is great. My a1c is still 6.3.
It's a nice rhyming number. (A1C! 6.3! There's a cheer in there somewhere.)
My LDL is also down to the 150's, so that's better, but we're still treating it. HDL still high, so that's good.
He also did some kind of sensitivity test, and my cardiac risk is low. I'm not sure what the test is called, because they DIDN'T SEND ME A COPY OF MY RESULTS, even though I ask every time.
I swear that nurse/tech/whatever her title is doesn't like me. I also left without a follow up appointment. It was weird.
"OK, I think I need to make an appointment for 3 or 6 months out."
"He didn't say. When you get your lab work then he'll tell you."
"It's never worked like that before. Can I just make an appointment now?"
"No."
OK, I'll leave now.
So, the real question I had for my doc was regarding my Dexcom. CGM. The Golden Ticket. WHY didn't I get one last time? Denied? What can I do now?
"Huh, I never heard back. Let me check on that."
Then he said he could trial me for a week, but they one they have cost him $800 out of his own pocket, and it wasn't charged, and I would have to BRING IT BACK because it cost him so much money, and I would have to be careful, and the nurse that usually educates on it isn't here, and it was pretty clear he didn't want to hand it over.
And...as it turns out, they never sent the request. That could be why I didn't get one. If my insurance or the Dexcom people don't know I want one, they don't magically send one out randomly. Funny how that works. So this time I stayed there until the request was faxed.
Then I went to lunch with my husband, after being scolded for wanting follow up care.
At lunch the Dexcom people called me. YES. They aren't in-network, but they know people who are, they will be calling me in the next couple of days.
Yada yada yada.....a bunch of phone calls and nagging of my doctor's office later.....IT'S HERE. TODAY. I AM JUMPING UP AND DOWN.
Did I mention that my deductible is met and it didn't cost me anything? 2 weeks later, that would have been quite the different story.
Did I also mention I don't have a clue as to what I'm doing? I guess I will be calling tomorrow to go meet with the nurse to have her show me what to do. While there, I'm going to schedule a follow up appt. You know, if they let me.
"Cause I've got a Golden Ticket...."
It's a nice rhyming number. (A1C! 6.3! There's a cheer in there somewhere.)
My LDL is also down to the 150's, so that's better, but we're still treating it. HDL still high, so that's good.
He also did some kind of sensitivity test, and my cardiac risk is low. I'm not sure what the test is called, because they DIDN'T SEND ME A COPY OF MY RESULTS, even though I ask every time.
I swear that nurse/tech/whatever her title is doesn't like me. I also left without a follow up appointment. It was weird.
"OK, I think I need to make an appointment for 3 or 6 months out."
"He didn't say. When you get your lab work then he'll tell you."
"It's never worked like that before. Can I just make an appointment now?"
"No."
OK, I'll leave now.
So, the real question I had for my doc was regarding my Dexcom. CGM. The Golden Ticket. WHY didn't I get one last time? Denied? What can I do now?
"Huh, I never heard back. Let me check on that."
Then he said he could trial me for a week, but they one they have cost him $800 out of his own pocket, and it wasn't charged, and I would have to BRING IT BACK because it cost him so much money, and I would have to be careful, and the nurse that usually educates on it isn't here, and it was pretty clear he didn't want to hand it over.
And...as it turns out, they never sent the request. That could be why I didn't get one. If my insurance or the Dexcom people don't know I want one, they don't magically send one out randomly. Funny how that works. So this time I stayed there until the request was faxed.
Then I went to lunch with my husband, after being scolded for wanting follow up care.
At lunch the Dexcom people called me. YES. They aren't in-network, but they know people who are, they will be calling me in the next couple of days.
Yada yada yada.....a bunch of phone calls and nagging of my doctor's office later.....IT'S HERE. TODAY. I AM JUMPING UP AND DOWN.
Did I mention that my deductible is met and it didn't cost me anything? 2 weeks later, that would have been quite the different story.
Did I also mention I don't have a clue as to what I'm doing? I guess I will be calling tomorrow to go meet with the nurse to have her show me what to do. While there, I'm going to schedule a follow up appt. You know, if they let me.
"Cause I've got a Golden Ticket...."
Saturday, December 3, 2011
How Was Your Thanksgiving?
Diabetes can make Thanksgiving challenging. Which is surprising, you know, because it makes everything else SO EASY.
Anyway, this year we went over to a friend's house, which was lovely, because then I didn't have to clean. I still had to cook some stuffing, but that's OK, because it's one thing I can cook, and it's divine. Really.
Well, I bolused and ate the main meal. (and by "bolused" I mean "guessed completely" because I wasn't about to ask people exactly how much sugar they put in their yams and apples. Turns out: a lot).
An hour later they brought out the pie. Often I skip the desserts completely, because the GUESSING! Oh, the GUESSING, which leads to the SWINGING, which leads to the MIGRAINES, and leads to ALL CAPS, and my husband has to put up with my WHINING. But this is Thanksgiving and pie is required. The end. Well, I checked my sugars and saw slightly over 200. Oy. I guess the mealtime bolus was what we call "not great."
A GOOD diabetic would have waited until her sugars came down, or politely declined. A BAD diabetic would have just bolused more and attacked the pumpkin chiffon pie.
And as I ate piles of sugar with a starting bg of 204, I thought "May God have mercy on my kidneys." And He did. Because an hour later, I was 103, and the sugars stayed stable the rest of the day. But for the record, I have never taken more insulin in one day than I did this year on turkey day for one meal.
Pie. It's what helps. Who knew? How was your day?
Anyway, this year we went over to a friend's house, which was lovely, because then I didn't have to clean. I still had to cook some stuffing, but that's OK, because it's one thing I can cook, and it's divine. Really.
Well, I bolused and ate the main meal. (and by "bolused" I mean "guessed completely" because I wasn't about to ask people exactly how much sugar they put in their yams and apples. Turns out: a lot).
An hour later they brought out the pie. Often I skip the desserts completely, because the GUESSING! Oh, the GUESSING, which leads to the SWINGING, which leads to the MIGRAINES, and leads to ALL CAPS, and my husband has to put up with my WHINING. But this is Thanksgiving and pie is required. The end. Well, I checked my sugars and saw slightly over 200. Oy. I guess the mealtime bolus was what we call "not great."
A GOOD diabetic would have waited until her sugars came down, or politely declined. A BAD diabetic would have just bolused more and attacked the pumpkin chiffon pie.
And as I ate piles of sugar with a starting bg of 204, I thought "May God have mercy on my kidneys." And He did. Because an hour later, I was 103, and the sugars stayed stable the rest of the day. But for the record, I have never taken more insulin in one day than I did this year on turkey day for one meal.
Pie. It's what helps. Who knew? How was your day?
Thursday, November 3, 2011
November!
It is National Diabetes Month.
It is also the month of Thanksgiving, thereby making it National Gratitude Month.
So --- I should be grateful for my diabetes.
Um. not quite there yet. If it saves me in a war, then we will talk. If it gets me a job that in turn pays for the insanely expensive medicine and equipment, I'm good. If I get paid lots of money for telling people how awesome it is, well, then, gratitude will pour forth. At the moment, I'm not quite there yet.
(Seriously, it did save this guy in a war. He was in Vietnam, and he went into DKA, and when the VietCong came upon his unit, they thought he was dead and didn't kill him. That's how he was diagnosed. I'm not even kidding about that - he spoke at a diabetic conference about it.)
But apparently, we are all supposed to wear blue every Friday in November to promote National Diabetes Month. I'm cool with that.
Somebody needs to explain this to me.
HOW is wearing blue going to raise money/awareness for anything? I mean, it's not like I answer the door to the UPS guy, and he's all "Wow, what's with the blue shirt, and I'm all "It's for diabetes" and he's all "I'm going to donate RIGHT NOW." I don't foresee conversations like that happening. Maybe I'm just being pessimistic. Because that could TOTALLY happen. Maybe if I was wearing a pin or something?
It's not like blue is that rare a color. But then, if you picked a rare color, nobody would wear it (everybody wear chartreuse to celebrate!). Also, I think it's the color for autism awareness. But I like blue, so I'll wear it on Fridays, and it'll be for a PURPOSE.
It's also National Epilepsy Month. For that one, we are supposed to wear purple. I guess we'll all just look like a giant bruise this month. Groovy.
It is also the month of Thanksgiving, thereby making it National Gratitude Month.
So --- I should be grateful for my diabetes.
Um. not quite there yet. If it saves me in a war, then we will talk. If it gets me a job that in turn pays for the insanely expensive medicine and equipment, I'm good. If I get paid lots of money for telling people how awesome it is, well, then, gratitude will pour forth. At the moment, I'm not quite there yet.
(Seriously, it did save this guy in a war. He was in Vietnam, and he went into DKA, and when the VietCong came upon his unit, they thought he was dead and didn't kill him. That's how he was diagnosed. I'm not even kidding about that - he spoke at a diabetic conference about it.)
But apparently, we are all supposed to wear blue every Friday in November to promote National Diabetes Month. I'm cool with that.
Somebody needs to explain this to me.
HOW is wearing blue going to raise money/awareness for anything? I mean, it's not like I answer the door to the UPS guy, and he's all "Wow, what's with the blue shirt, and I'm all "It's for diabetes" and he's all "I'm going to donate RIGHT NOW." I don't foresee conversations like that happening. Maybe I'm just being pessimistic. Because that could TOTALLY happen. Maybe if I was wearing a pin or something?
It's not like blue is that rare a color. But then, if you picked a rare color, nobody would wear it (everybody wear chartreuse to celebrate!). Also, I think it's the color for autism awareness. But I like blue, so I'll wear it on Fridays, and it'll be for a PURPOSE.
It's also National Epilepsy Month. For that one, we are supposed to wear purple. I guess we'll all just look like a giant bruise this month. Groovy.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
What do you mean I can't quit? That's just RUDE.
Ah, the lows. The waking up at 33. The going from 123 to 38 in half an hour, with no visible reason. (Brushing my teeth couldn't have dropped my sugars THAT much, right?) The 220 in the middle of the night, only to be corrected and then drop back to 38.
These things: They are not fun. (Hello, captain obvious.)
Dear Diabetes: I quit.
Dear Heidi: I don't mean to be rude, but Nope. You can't. Carry on. I'll be here.
Everything else I can quit! I've quit a couple of jobs in my life, and if I wanted to, I could quit my marriage, my kids, my church, my hair stylist - I could drop my dog off at the humane society, I could put my house up for sale, or I could walk away from it and ignore the mortgage, I can quit pretty much anything I want to, and the consequences would range from minor to truly life-altering. (I mean, if I quit my hairstylist, I would look baaaaad.) But none of them would be fatal. I don't want to quit any of those things, and I won't, but I love that the OPTION is there. I CHOOSE to stay in my house, my marriage, my religion, and keep that stupid dog, and I like that I know that's why I'm doing it. I like options.
Diabetes gives me very few options. Oh sure, there are some. Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi, for one. (And why anyone even MAKES Diet Pepsi, I have yet to understand.) Pumps vs. pens vs. needles. Humalog vs. Novolog. Sooooo many ways to treat. But in reality, these are fake options. The only real option is to PAY ATTENTION or DIE. Yippee-kie-ay.
No quitting. Ever. Not even if you whine.
So anyway, I forced my way into my endo's office to show off my highs and lows, and he switched me from Lantus to Levemir, and lowered the dose a tad. He ordered me a Dexcom, which he says is the "greatest thing for a diabetic since insulin." I WANT IT. I WANT IT A LOT. I know I would obsess over it constantly, but I've noticed that obsessing is encouraged with this disease. It also makes you crazy, but hey, sanity is overrated.
I may end up in the loony bin, but my a1c will be awesome.
We are waiting to see what the insurance says, since, you know, I've never passed out or spent quality time in the ER from my lows or anything, so I might not be the best candidate. You don't get the really GOOD diabetes treatment options until your disease is out of control. Good control is punished, and yet, it's clearly the best option.
I will stop saying options. It's sounding weird to me now. You know how words do that when you say them a lot? Options.....ooooooptiiionnns.....
For some reason, 38 is the number I've been seeing so much. Maybe the universe is using diabetes to send me a message and give me the lottery numbers or something. After all, if you can't explain the numbers, it must be a message from the cosmos, right? Every time I get a reading I don't get, (205? But I thought I was going LOW!) I'm going to take it as a numerology message. Ok, no. No, I'm not.
Also, I've been known to mildly swear at waitresses when they "Is Diet Pepsi OK?" Hell No, No it's not. Sorry about that yesterday, lady. It was a bad day.
These things: They are not fun. (Hello, captain obvious.)
Dear Diabetes: I quit.
Dear Heidi: I don't mean to be rude, but Nope. You can't. Carry on. I'll be here.
Everything else I can quit! I've quit a couple of jobs in my life, and if I wanted to, I could quit my marriage, my kids, my church, my hair stylist - I could drop my dog off at the humane society, I could put my house up for sale, or I could walk away from it and ignore the mortgage, I can quit pretty much anything I want to, and the consequences would range from minor to truly life-altering. (I mean, if I quit my hairstylist, I would look baaaaad.) But none of them would be fatal. I don't want to quit any of those things, and I won't, but I love that the OPTION is there. I CHOOSE to stay in my house, my marriage, my religion, and keep that stupid dog, and I like that I know that's why I'm doing it. I like options.
Diabetes gives me very few options. Oh sure, there are some. Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi, for one. (And why anyone even MAKES Diet Pepsi, I have yet to understand.) Pumps vs. pens vs. needles. Humalog vs. Novolog. Sooooo many ways to treat. But in reality, these are fake options. The only real option is to PAY ATTENTION or DIE. Yippee-kie-ay.
No quitting. Ever. Not even if you whine.
So anyway, I forced my way into my endo's office to show off my highs and lows, and he switched me from Lantus to Levemir, and lowered the dose a tad. He ordered me a Dexcom, which he says is the "greatest thing for a diabetic since insulin." I WANT IT. I WANT IT A LOT. I know I would obsess over it constantly, but I've noticed that obsessing is encouraged with this disease. It also makes you crazy, but hey, sanity is overrated.
I may end up in the loony bin, but my a1c will be awesome.
We are waiting to see what the insurance says, since, you know, I've never passed out or spent quality time in the ER from my lows or anything, so I might not be the best candidate. You don't get the really GOOD diabetes treatment options until your disease is out of control. Good control is punished, and yet, it's clearly the best option.
I will stop saying options. It's sounding weird to me now. You know how words do that when you say them a lot? Options.....ooooooptiiionnns.....
For some reason, 38 is the number I've been seeing so much. Maybe the universe is using diabetes to send me a message and give me the lottery numbers or something. After all, if you can't explain the numbers, it must be a message from the cosmos, right? Every time I get a reading I don't get, (205? But I thought I was going LOW!) I'm going to take it as a numerology message. Ok, no. No, I'm not.
Also, I've been known to mildly swear at waitresses when they "Is Diet Pepsi OK?" Hell No, No it's not. Sorry about that yesterday, lady. It was a bad day.
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