Time Flies

As I am sitting here thinking about a lot of things, like, how long we have been married, how long we have been living in this house, how long we have had Tucker, etc, those are all fairly long-term things - 4 years plus!

Then I start thinking about some of the smaller things that might seem like they have been around a lot longer than they really have been, like, having my pump. It has already been one month since I have been "plugged in," and I really do like it. I am looking forward to having my new doctor actually weigh in on my numbers and getting me into tighter control. I still feel as though my numbers (blood sugars) are still on the higher end of where they should be. But that is the thing with diabetes - there is always room for improvement somewhere, doing something. From the amount of times you test your blood sugars in a day, to how correctly you monitor your food/carb intake, all the way down to the granular level of how often you change your lancet in your poker. (ahem).

But really - I have gotten so used to my pump now, that the fact that I don't have to give multiple shots a day ( I was giving at least 5 shots a day with two types of insulin). Shorten that to, well, no daily shots, and just a site change once every three-four days, I will gladly take that!

Right Here...Right Now

Current Events:

loving: my dog. Aren't dogs/puppies the greatest?!

reading: Pure Fiction by Julie Highmore, for funzies

waiting for: this coming Friday night - pedi girl's night with a friend :)

excited about: Getting our finances in order (wow, that sounded very adultsy of me...)

trying to: be able to move into our "dream house" faster than originally "estimated"

working on: Getting through my book stack of physical books so I can transfer to reading on my Kindle!


enjoying: the juicy Harry and David pears from my dad! Thanks dad!

using: Craigslist - to post things of mine to sell!


wearing: flats with no socks. In the winter. In Minnesota (inside only, folks).

planning: changing Endos (diabetic doctors) soon...

singing: Country songs lately...

needing: A diabetic doctor who is willing to work with me, be personable and relatable (very hard thing to find, apparently)

learning: more things about my insulin pump and the best way to manage my diabetes.

listening to: Tucker snoring beside me, and Derick playing the Sim City beta.


wishing: our fridge worked - Wednesday cannot come soon enough!


doing: reviewing my list of blogs I follow and am weeding through it - deleting and looking for new ones to add. Any suggestions? Whose/what types do you follow?!

dreaming of: buying or building our new house. We have upped our goal of being out of our townhouse since we are cramped for space!


So this is me currently
What about you?
What are you currently up to?

Bookworm Bloggin'

Just a quick update to let you know which books I have just finished reading:

'Tis by Frank McCourt

This was another memoir from Frank McCourt. I wasn't going to read this one because the first one was so depressing and oddly written, but I saw it at a Goodwill for 50 cents and I figured, why not. If I don't like it - I can put it in my SwapStack!

I did end up liking this one a bit better than the first memoir he wrote. I liked hearing more about his story once he came over to America. So, now I can say that I have read it, and it will be going into my SwapStack for someone else to enjoy (and P.S., my SwapStack is getting bigger and bigger by the minute...I ran out of room in my one (literal) stack of books under the desk. I might need to clear it out soon...maybe go visit a little free public library soon!

The Honk and Holler Opening Soon by Billie Letts


This is the first book I have read by Billie Letts. And oddly enough, I did not realize that she is the author who also wrote Where The Heart Is (as well as the screenplay) until I was finished with the book and looking more closely at the cover of the book! Guess I didn't really 'judge this book by the cover' as much as some of the other books I have read!

This book was a nice, quick read. It reads closely to what I now know to be her first book, Where The Heart Is. I read the discussion questions at the end of the book as well - questions to the author and her answers. Apparently she writes a lot of the same types of characters and scenarios, so, chances are, if you liked Where The Heart Is, or the Honk And Holler Opening Soon, you may want to grab her other two books she has written and read those too! I enjoyed this one for the quick read that it was - it kept me turning the pages and wanted to read to the end when I had about 40 pages left last night, but not a Keeper book for me - to the SwapStack - side pile. haha

The next book I plucked from my stack is:
Pure Fiction by Julie Highmore

I started reading this on the bus this morning and it was a little odd jumping into this book. It started out oddly to me. Maybe that is a European thing - the author is European and has sprinkled the book with things from the land abroad. We shall see.

One more book closer to me going electronic to my Kindle! I think my next electronic purchase might have to be a Kindle Fire. One of the first books that I read on my Kindle was a Cake Wrecks book - and it would have been much more entertaining to see some of those god-awful cakes in color! Oh Derick....a big Birthday present hint for you to get me this year!! Haha!

Happy Reading, friends!
What books/magazines are you reading right now?
LD

The Not-So-Sweet-Side of Diabetes

Things with diabetes are rarely all roses, but so far through most of my diabetic life, I have had good luck and pretty good control of my diabetes. When I was little, I had great parents who helped me manage the disease by helping me test my blood sugar and giving me shots until I could do it myself. I had a great Endo doctor (props to Dr. Mike Ainslie), and I had a great outlet called Camp Needlepoint.

Guys, being an adult is hard. And that is not limited to normal-people life, but also to diabetic life. Finding a good/decent/normal-expectation-having doctor has proven to be impossible. I honestly do not think that I am being too picky. I mean, this is my LIFE and my HEALTH here that we're talking about. I should not have to put up with people telling me (and yes, all these things happened to me since leaving my pediatric endo doc):

• my doctor telling me that diabetics should not ever get pregnant
• expecting my blood sugars to be under 100 at all times
• not even interested in looking at my blood sugar readings after just being on the pump
• the nurses of the doctor assuring me that they had called in my prescriptions, just for me to go to the pharmacy and find out they had not (this has happened with the same doctor's nursing staff two out of three prescription requests)
• the doctor not knowing how to button-press on a pump to show me how to add a second basil rate for the first time
• the doctor not knowing anything about how the pump actually works, but pushes them like a woman in labor anyway
• nursing staff not taking my blood pressure or weight after the initial visit to the office (not that I really minded the weight part not being taken...) ugh.
• showing up 10 minutes early for a doctor appointment, waiting in the waiting room for about 5 minutes, placed in an exam room and waiting in there alone for about 45 mins+
• having the doctor come into the exam room, apologize for the delay, blaming it on "a needy patient across the hall taking a lot of his time." (um excuse me, what now?! You never, ever, EVER tell another patient that)
• Having a new doctor, still in the introductory stages of the doctor-client relationship, and you feel just like a student sitting in for a biology lecture on your own body - here are the cold, hard facts. This is how it is...deal with it (type of speech from the doc)

That is the short list that I could come up with from things at the top of my mind. It gets plain frustrating and old. I am sick of having to entrust my health and well-being and, hello - new pump-hood, to a person who spent their lifetime in school learning about the body and its issues, but not being able to apply their personality/warmth to their practice of seeing patients in any way, shape or form. And do NOT judge me mr/mrs doctor when you, yourself do NOT have the disease. learning about something and experiencing something and living with it every day it not even close to the same thing. Do not tell me you know how I feel. do not tell me that I can't. 

On another note, I had my CGM (continuous glucose monitor) training and install yesterday with my awesome trainer. I will be honest, I was more nervous about this part than I was about the pump. I think mostly I was nervous because not a lot of people that I know have and use a sensor. But the pump, on the other hand, a lot of people I know use and love theirs, and I have had experience looking at and helping campers with their pumps. 

This is an example of all the things I had attached to me. I started out with only the pump (Paradigm) and Infusion set (the two are obviously connected and work together). Then I added the MiniLink Transmittor and CGM. Note: this is NOT me in the photo (wishful thinking)- nor my pump. Mine is awesomely blue, not boring and clear.

So, I went in, not expecting to be a huge fan of the device. I had to insert the sensor almost right away when I got into our room - to let it acclimate to my interstitial fluid to start getting readings. But after I inserted, it bled a little. not a fan of that happening. And the thing is so sensitive - everything about it - from the way you get it set up in the inserter, to how you need to position it and hold it, to how you hook it all together...then there is the whole signal thing. it was funny - I was at the Medtronic headquarters for my training, and the pump and the sensor lost connection in the building due to all of the electronics they have going on in the building! Now there's irony for you - the company that created these things, and they don't work together in the building!

So, in the age of awesome electronics and the ever-decreasing size of electronic items, don't you think they could have created the sensor and the transmitter on a smaller scale?! I do!! This thing was bigger than I liked - about the length of a chapstick and about twice the width. 

Once you insert the sensor and hook up the transmittor, you can/should place a piece of medial tape/bandaging over the entire thing so you don't "disturb the precious..." as I liked to call it - but seriously, so you don't bump it and screw up the transfer transmissions. (are you taking notes yet? You'll need them for the test later)

I thought that having this device would eliminate the need for testing my bloodsugar, but I was sadly mistaken. With this sensor, you actually need to test MORE, and on a more regimented timeline to sync and calibrate the sensor/transmittor. ugh. no bueno.

So, I went through all of the training, and wow, guys, this thing is complex. Like, I need to take a class in just the different types of alarms this thing can/will throw out at you (and as I found out later that night, it decides to throw them out at you any old time from 2am-5:10am). 

So, it hurt when I inserted it, it bled when I inserted it, and it is complicated to use and maintain. Not great for me wanting to continue in my quest with this device. 

I went to bed that night and could not sleep. Partly because it hurt when I laid on or close to it, so I was confined to one or two sleeping positions. Secondly, the stupid thing kept making my pump beep alerts at me between the hours of 2am and 5:10 am (when the last alarm went off). Not a fan. If you know me, you know that I enjoy myself some sleep time!

I went to work that next day with the thing on/in and made it through. I only looked at the readings about three times during the day. They differed from what I was when I tested my bloodsugar (which is normal for them to differ). But by the time I got home yesterday, I was like, okay, it is starting to hurt more, and I am not a fan of not sleeping at night, so this sucker's coming OUT tonight!!

I didn't have any real idea as to how the best way was to remove this thing from my body, so I looked it up on Medtronic's website and found the module on how to insert a new one/remove the old one. I am glad I looked at it because it told you, in steps, how to remove it. But MAN did that sucker hurt! And more blood upon removal. yay...

So, There you have it - tried the sensor for just over 24 hours and was not a fan. I might go back to it later and try it again, but until some of the bugs get worked out, or they make it a little easier to keep track of, then I might reconsider. As I was telling Derick last night, "once you [Medtronic] start testing this thing on humans, get back to me..."

So, that is all the news so far on my Pancreas Addendum update!

-LD