Living with Diabetes

Author: kathleen

  • Adhesive is better

    I really do believe the adhesive is better. My first set stayed on better than the old Insets. I’ve just done my first change — and am now on my second set. I do believe that it doesn’t hurt as bad going in, though most of the time, the Insets are pretty good.

  • Mom

    She took my advice and went to a doctor’s office. She got one that she hadn’t seen before and got scripts for test strips and for an oral med. She will get her A1C back next week and currently has an appointment for Feb 3. A bit far out in my opinion.

    I’m having her write what she eats down.

  • Now the bad news

    My mother had some blood work up done last week and her blood sugar – non fasting was 400.

    She went to a neighbor’s and tested it today and it was over 200.

    She is in a typical high blood sugar mental state — in denial, etc. I told her that this was not an emergency room visit, but an immediate, go see the doctor now, especially since it’s Thursday at noon. I told her don’t wait for the doctor to call but go to the office and see the first available doctor.

    I also told her that I wanted them to bring her blood sugar down immediately, and then see about diet and exercise.

    I’m betting money that her doctor is going to be too conservative for my taste.

    I also told her I wanted her to have an immediate A1C.

    Of course, now I have a double whammy in my medical history. But at least she’s 70.

  • Good news first

    Medco shipped my Protonix. It has been SO aggravating — they want me to switch to Nexxium that does me no good and is besides just recycled Prilosec.

    They have been giving doctor and I a hard time for the past year. This time they shipped a new script with vary a squeak!

  • Weirdness

    So I wake up at 2:15 feeling kind of weird. Sick to my stomach even, though I blamed waking up on Maggie — but I think she got out of bed because I woke up.

    Went to the restroom and then tested my blood sugar. 102 at 2:15 is not a good blood sugar for me, have never seen it that low. Sat and thought for a bit and then finally decided to get up and eat my breakfast (last one for the year from Diet Gourmet).

    Now I’m up at 8:44 and my blood sugar is 90.

    I guess that will teach me to walk on the treadmill for 35 minutes and then almost immediately go to a TOUGH dog class.

  • Numbers suck

    But they were sucking before. So I think it’s a change in weight (and not for the good), change in activity level, again not for the good.

    However, I suspect I really need the longer cannela.

    Did a bit too much today — I didn’t have to do cardio, but got in a full 35 minute session anyway and then ended up doing a Master’s dog agility class — there was a last minute opening(s), and since we’re off for two weeks.

    Hoping to get in an extra class with Maggie tomorrow and praying for no rain past noon so Macy can play.

  • First Inset II

    I’ve put in the first Inset too — no changes in how to “install”. The insertion itself seemed quieter and easier but I’ll know better after I’ve used several sets. The bandage part and the connector seem larger, but not excessively so. There is more white to put an IV3000 around if you feel the need.

    So far nothing to object to — still don’t have to look at the needle which is good for me.

  • I love Diabetes In Control

    They sent me a WHOLE box of Inset IIs to try. I signed up for that about a month ago. i will say that I have loved every product I’ve tried — okay, a sample size of 3.

    But the part I love about this, is that it is a whole box. I’ve always said you have to try three of anything and probably a whole box of a set — I found that out the hard way, I tried the Simple Choice — order a full box and had to return them after about 5 as each time I used them the needle seemed bigger to me.

    Yeah, I have needle phobia bad.

  • Flickr Badge

    www.flickr.com

    This is a Flickr badge showing public photos from kathweaver. Make your own badge here.

  • Insulin pump story

    I’ll start off by admitting I’m not a fan of Minimed, and doing a search on Minimed on this site will explain why.

    It’s odd on how people get polarized but as I often say — we are attached to our pumps.

    The Seattle Times: Search Results

    The pump, about the size of a cellphone, had a safety feature designed to stop the insulin flow in emergencies like this. But the feature wasn’t on. The pump had been shipped to Lane with the option turned off, and the device’s instructional video devoted only 15 seconds to it, saying nothing about why the feature should be used.

    I don’t blame Mini-med on this. I do blame her CDE and the endo that prescribed the pump, especially when you see later on in the article:

    On Oct. 25, 2000, a Wednesday, Sylvia met with Emily Holing, a diabetes educator at the UW clinic. Holing hooked up Sylvia’s pump and showed her how to use it.

    This same afternoon, Holing documented two episodes of hypoglycemia for Sylvia, 15 minutes apart. Each time Sylvia needed to drink orange juice.

    Sylvia had pizza that evening, then drove home. She wouldn’t be heard from for three days.

    Friends and family tried calling Sylvia on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, leaving 17 messages. Sylvia’s twin sister lived three hours away. On Saturday she traveled to Sylvia’s and, with another relative, went inside. They found Sylvia on her bed, unconscious, lying in vomit. Her insulin pump was attached and running.

    I wasn’t there, I’m not a medical practitioner, but it sounds like that they were probably having problems because she still had her old basal insulin in her system. Thats why I don’t like basal insulins (slow acting, Lantus, NPH, what have you). You don’t have control of them once you take them.

    But I blame the CDE for not making sure that she had a support system in place AND the patient for not having a support system in place. There should have been someone very close to her until they knew she knew how to operate the pump.

    The only way I’d blame Minimed is if they were responsible for the pump training. And I checked — the Animas pumps apparently ship with this feature off too — mine was and it isn’t something I ever think about. I “knew” it was there, but never really thought about it. I have mine on now, but it’s set to turn off after 24 hours.