Two weeks ago today, I saw an endocrinologist for the first time since February. I like her and saw her again today.
She asked me a question that hadn't been asked in a really long time — what happens if you aren't on the pump? I told her I didn't know.
They, the CDE and the Endocrinologist wanted me to try a new type of diabetes drug. They suggested with Victoza or Januvia. I chose Victoza since I've had bad days with drugs stuck in my body too long.
I saw a lot of lows, even the first week on Victoza and this week has been worse. I made a series of mistakes with my insulin pump which should have put me in the hospital with a high blood sugar and I came out of it with a blood sugar of 180.
So I turned off my pump, but still used it to track my blood sugar. My blood sugar slowly climbed but not the way it should have, so I made an appointment to see the endo again.
Frustrations
Office didn't remember I had been there two weeks ago.
Couldn't download my pump and it was because I was on a temp basal.
The worse part was that the CDE and Endo couldn't comprehend that I didn't just want to ditch the pump and a years worth of supplies when patients couldn't get any. But there is no legal way to transfer those supplies and I don't just want to throw them out.
So right now, I'm using a 50% of previous basal, watching my blood sugars and doing Victoza. And I'm quite sure that CVS/Caremark is dragging their feet on filling the Victoza so they don't have to give it to me at $65 for the first 3 months.
My endo of 15 years retired in January. I saw a doctor he liked in March as a meet and greet. In April I got notice that his practice was shutting down but that he was opening a new office in a month.
Long story short, I saw a doctor at his practice. I like her but she is pregnant and so won’t be available. He wasn’t available because he isn’t in my insurance network.
She was great and added Victoza. So far I like but it scares me a bit. There is a possibility I could go on it alone, which I wouldn’t mind.
This post was sponsored by Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, Inc. Personal opinions and thoughts are my own.
Long term readers of my blog will remember that my father and I were both diagnosed with diabetes when we were 42. Shortly after his diabetes diagnosis, he was diagnosed with congestive heart failure. I have been lucky, because I remain heart healthy. I believe partly due to statin medications.
I have been on various forms of statins for the past twenty years. Before being put on a statin, my cholesterol numbers were high and nothing I did, including lose weight, helped. I was very concerned since high cholesterol is linked to heart disease.
Last year, I started having pain in my muscles and my medical team suspected it may be a side effect of my statin. Sure enough, after I stopped the statin, the pain was relieved. It eventually went away, but to my dismay, my cholesterol numbers rose again. The good news is that I am now on a different statin, at a lower dose. The pain hasn’t come back, and my numbers are back in a healthy range. If you are struggling with side effects from taking a statin, it is important to talk to your doctor as there may be other options available to you.
As a result of my experiences, I am proud to support a new educational campaign called Take Cholesterol to Heart to help people understand their treatment options for high cholesterol and motivate them to speak up if they are thinking about stopping their statin. Take Cholesterol to Heart provides great tools and strategies to help people “master the cholesterol conversation” with their doctor. As you may know, there are multiple statin medicines, so it’s important to talk regularly with your doctor about your treatment plan, including a statin, that is right for you.
My experience shows that sometimes just a small change can make a difference.
Regis Philbin, TV legend and heart disease survivor, joined Take Cholesterol to Heart to share his experience having a conversation with his doctor about high cholesterol and finding the right statin for him. Check out his story in this short video:
If you or someone you love takes a statin, please visit TakeCholesteroltoHeart.com for a number of helpful resources, including a doctor/patient discussion guide, a quiz on statins and tips for caregivers
Disclosure: This post was sponsored by Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, Inc. and should not be construed to constitute medical advice. My personal story and opinions are my own. I am not a medical professional and am not qualified to give medical advice. Please talk with your doctor about your individual medical situation.
* Harris Poll conducted ACTION: The Statin Survey (Understanding Patient Adherence and Concerns with Statins, and Medication Discussions with Physicians) online on behalf of Kowa Pharmaceuticals America, Inc., within the United States from July 7- August 4, 2017, among 5,014 U.S. adults aged 45 or older, who have been diagnosed with high cholesterol, and have ever used a statin to treat high cholesterol. This online survey is not based on a probability sample and therefore no estimate of theoretical sampling error can be calculated. For complete survey methodology, including weighting variables, please contact Erin Bittner at W2O Group, 212-301-7226.
Last Saturday I went blind. This is the first time my dry eye affected both eyes. Usually I put a patch on on the affected eye and get on with my life. I was literally blind. Extremely photo sensitive and my vision is still not 100% a week later, so I will be seeing the cornea specialist.
I wanted to see a friend who is in Austin for a convention but that isn’t working out
However, I am planning to go to a dog show in 2 weeks there
First, the plans worked well going and during the stay. I had a bit too much medical stuff, but that’s okay. Better too much than too little.
The first disaster was that Summer got bit or stung by something. Just after we showed (and took a 4th place out of 6), we were waiting for our picture, and she started biting at something. Then she started acting super fearful, then she started rolling in the dirt, and finally, she won’t put a paw down and was chewing on it.
Thought: stung by a wasp, just like my mom and I in the last month. I had no ill effects, mom has a cellulitis hole in her arm and has medication and seen a doctor. I’m also worried about an allergic reaction. My first thought was to get her to a vet, and carried her to the car. I barely made it between the hills and her weight. I also grabbed Dulce and in that time period I decided it was time to leave. Well, I already had told the president of the board I’m on, I thought I was going home – but that thought was already in my head. I was thinking of getting our picture with the judge and then leaving but was committed to selling concessions on Wednesday. So instead of waiting for the judge, I headed down the mountain. I did always have the option of going back.
Planning success – I know that the truck battery can’t handle a lot of closing and opening of the doors, so I have a Radio Shack battery that will start up my car. It’s super cool, very small, cost about $75 and easy to use. Got the truck started with that.
I had the nearest vet search in my browser, and had Summer where I could see her with the rear view mirror. She chewed on the paw and that was it. I did stop and get an inflatable collar for her. Love those.
I get to a Motel 6, about 6 hours from Aldie, and I check in. I start putting together my CPAP machine and the cushion is missing. Can’t use it. This is the first time I’ve tried to sleep without CPAP therapy in over 20 years. Stopping and sleeping in a motel is out for the rest of the trip.
I did get some sleep, got back in the truck and drove.
Every time I got sleepy, I pulled over and napped. I stopped frequently for dog walks. I took good breaks for meals. Having a sit down, someone brings me something and I think about something else break.
I got home around 2:00 am Wednesday.
Summary: I had too much of everything. Not necessarily bad. I can handle over a week away from home.
Check the CPAP equipment before checking into a hotel. I could have done the nap / break / dog walk thing another day and saved the motel bill. I would have rather than done the trip the way I wanted.
Got another couple of hours of driving. Taking a little bit of a break. Yesterday was interesting, my insulin pump alarm went off saying I needed a new battery. Of course this is something I can get any truckstop but it wasn’t something I had specifically packed but it is something that I keep in my purse all the time I just didn’t know where because I have changed bags.
It took a few minutes of thinking and searching but I found one and I’m all good. Sometime today I should change insulin and insertion set but everything I need for that is here in the front seat.
The Motel 6 I stayed at last night worked well. I was able to park the car in front of the door so it just took a few minutes to unpack and then repack in the morning.
Looking forward to being with beagle friends this week.
I’m on my way to Aldie Virginia. I have been involved with beagles for over 30 years. I have always wanted to go to Institute Farm and do something with my beagles.
My first Beagles were hunting dogs. I never hunted with them but I always wanted to. I have hunted once with one of the hunting Beagles and we both enjoyed it.
I did Obedience with Peppermint Patty and went to several national specialty’s with her. I was also shopping for a dog when I went to those Specialities but never found exactly what I wanted.
I did agility with Marcy and we went to the DFW specialty mostly because it was in the area.
After the hunting beagles I had a rescue which I did agility with. Search the specialties usually in the fall and the start of the school year I did not do specialties with her.
I got involved with the beagle rescue fund and since our major fund raiser is at the specialty I started going to again when I retired from teaching face-to-face. Two years ago at Purina Farms and last year at Ocala Florida. I really enjoy helping with the auction and selling concessions to raise money for rescue. I also like to support Agility that’s the topic for another post.
Macy is my first confirmation beagle. Though she doesn’t quite conform since she’s on the small side and on the fuzzy side. She’s cute but she wasn’t a very good agility dog either. In fact the only thing she’s good at is being very cute. Which is enough.
Dulce is my second conformation beagle, who also doesn’t conform. She does filled her inches but doesn’t have any. She’s decided to worry about everything especially my blood sugar and in fact she so worried she can’t do Agility. Which is sad because I really love Agility.
Summer is my latest beagle. So far she does conform although she’s blue. She has eight points confirmed by the AKC and five more pending. That means she has both her majors and 13 points. She’s been in training for Agility since the spring and she frequently forgets how to do individual obstacles or even how to do the sequence.
So I’m going to Aldie with one beagle who is entered in Agility but is probably going to be too worried to do anything. I’m going to Aldie with a second beagle who is entered in Agility but it’s more likely to forget how to do it. That same bagel does have a chance to do well in Conformation and is entered in sweepstakes and regular conformation.
I’m going so that I can help raise funds for rescue, Support Agility, maybe just maybe bring home a ribbon but mostly To have a good time with people who love beagles as much as I do.
So what is this have to do with Diabetes?Traveling is difficult with Diabetes: you have to take things that you can’t get it at Walgreens or Costco or Walmart. You have to travel with temperature sensitive medication with insulin pump supplies and glucose sensors and all the stuff that goes with it.
Plus I have to sleep with a CPAP machine so we just added to medium size boxes to what other people travel with. It’s a three-day drive from Dallas to Virginia. Two days in agility and three days of conformation. My Ford Escape is stuffed.
I finished one day of driving and started the second so far I have everything I need: medications, CPAP machine, and supplies.
This morning and was going through memories and realized that I was diagnosed with diabetes 15 years ago this month.
We had a flexible staff development day. I had done the training in the summer so had the day off and insurance had just rolled around. Since teaching and until this year my insurance went from September 1 to August 31.
Had scheduled a mammogram and a blood glucose test. The test was first and I remember getting really angry in the middle of it. Really angry.
To the point I wanted to slap people.
It got a bit better during the weekend but the rage was back on Monday morning. I got to work and it was even worse. So I called the front office and asked for a sub and called the doctors office. They were trying to call me because my results were red flagged. Went right in, and was given. Didn’t help.
Horrible week as my primary care physician was out of town. Missed the entire week of school as they immediately scheduled me for two days of diabetes education.
I went on insulin since meds didn’t do anything for me and insulin did.
I had used a prescription company that packaged the drugs in advance and initially deal with the PBM and all issues. It cost more, but I could also take advantage of some of the savings plans. It was worth it until they stopped communicating.
Now I package my own medications. My goal right now is to have all my pills accounted for before my big Virginia trip. I’m about half way there now.
PillSuite is great. You get a pill sorter, a little machine to heat seal the packages and the packages. When you get done, you get a packet of pills. So far, I haven’t had trouble with the packages coming unsealed, and it makes for a neat tidy package.
I have been having problems with UPS deliveries for years. This week was the absolute worse.
In an attempt to get my diabetes devices and supplies, UPS has screwed up numerous times and I have used numerous solutions. This is especially true with Next Day Air shipments.
I would say that only half of the time do Next Day Air shipments actually arrive before noon. This was a problem several years ago when I was trying to get a new insulin pump delivered to my school. They either miss the time entirely or they deliver to the wrong person. Even signature required, they don’t care who signs it, they just want a signature.
UPS has even screwed up delivering to an attended mail depot! One of the cases of delivery to the wrong place.
I’ve decided that the only solution is to have every single page held at the UPS office and going to pick it up myself. Very inconvenient.
Here is what brought it to a head. Last Saturday, I was receiving a CGMS transmitter, Next Day Air.
Got up before 9:00 am, started watching the tracking, and the UPS truck would come within a few houses, and then go off somewhere else. It was stuck in one spot for several hours (must have been lunch). I called customer service as 1:00 pm, interacted with UPS customer service at about the same time and they assured me it would arrive by 7:00 pm (6 hours late) even though they couldn’t get ahold of the facility. Finally at 6:30, I call customer service again with 30 minutes of wait time, and he can’t find anyone at the facility. While I’m on the line with him, the package gets marked “First Delivery Attempt”.
Oh, the driver hasn’t been by the house.
I’ve tried to get ahold of someone at UPS about it ever since with no success – because the driver lied about the delivery attempt.
We won’t even talk about the delivery from Nordstrom that was marked damaged and then was never seen again.