Living with Diabetes

Author: kathleen

  • @ExpressScripts phone call worked

    Friday my plate was too full, and I got a call from Express Scripts telling me that their formulary had changed.

    Okay, I've gotten two letters each from the following:

    •     my school district
    •     the state

    I lost count of how many letters I got from Express Scripts, but each time, I got two. 

    Next time this happens I'll keep them.  I am sure it has been more than 10, less than 20.

    For the past three months, everytime I go to the website to do anything with Express Scirpts a pop up comes up and tells me that formulary changed.

    There is supposed to be a checkbox to click to make it go away and it hasn't worked.

    Something in my brain snapped with that phone call.  I called it back and I got the same freaking message, so I actually took time out of my day.

    The idiot who took my call didn't seem to get my complaint:

    "Okay people, I got it, you've told me countless times, next time, I'm going to save every single interaction and I'm going to send it to you in a box. My doctor and I have a plan.  You don't get to know what the plan is until I want to tell you.  I will tell you that you are losing money because of one of our plans.  MAKE IT STOP NOW".

    I think it repeated it 4 times. 

    I had children in my room and on third repetition one of the child told me to be nice.  My response: "I'm being nice, I haven't started cussing yet.".  There was also another teacher in the room, and she agreed that I had not broken the nice barrier yet, and that I had earned a lost of patience.

    The good news: The pop ups didn't show up on the web site today.

    The bad news on their end: I've complained to the state board of insurance.  I'm not holding my breath of course.

    I still maintain that is not fair for anyone to change the rules in the middle of a policy. 

    My plans: Medtronics gets to supply me my test strips.  I'm am liking Medtronics more and more every day.

    I'm successfully used a vial of Humalog without an allergic reaction. 

    When I run out of Novolog, and can't get any more, I will switch.  I will still support @racingwithinsulin and I will still support Charlie Kimball, and be envious of him.  I will still like NovoNordus as a company better than Lily even if they are foreigners.

  • Dulce is exhausted

    We had a long day yesterday and the poor dog is tired.

    It is days like yesterday that worry me. I have been following Tara and Duchess and I know that Duchess has stopped working.

    I am letting her rest as much as possible.

    Dulce is exhausted

  • Dulce is exhausted

    We had a long day yesterday and the poor dog is tired.

    It is days like yesterday that worry me. I have been following Tara and Duchess and I know that Duchess has stopped working.

    I am letting her rest as much as possible.

    Dulce is exhausted

  • Lee’s got another great book out

    I've purchased all of his books, and read most of his blog since he got his first CGMS, yeah, when he was processing Kodachrome.

    I have had my CGMS since June (okay, I had a Dexcom a long time ago too).  Haven't done much with until I read his book besides put it on, calibrate it and listen too it and have been letting the endo deal with the data lately. 

    Frankly I rely on Dulce to prevent lows more than the CGMS, and I haven't been worrying about the highs lately but I should.

    Anyway, Beyond Fingersticks is great.  I'm about 95% through, and he is telling the gospel truth.  I have a disagreement with him:

    "Chapter 13"

    "Living with a CGMS is easier than having a pet dog."  Okay, maybe, but the endo and I both like Dulce a heck of a lot better than the CGMS.

    She gives us no data, but she is more relable, and she hasn't left as many permanent marks on my skin.  I can also ignore her most of the day.

    The payoff from Dulce is better than the CGMS though.

    Get it here:

        

    If you are a newly diagnosed diabetic, Taming the Tiger is great:

     

    And I need to go read this again:

     

  • Christmas Present — Awesome!

    I got a LOT of gift cards for Christmas.  Some from Nordstrom's, some for Nordstrom's and some random ones.  I grouped them all together, spent them at Nordstrom's and got some cool new headphones what I have been using at the gym — philosophy — anything that will keep me exercising longer is a good thing.

    They are Bose Wireless and if you want a pair of your own, they are here:  The cool thing — they come with a wire, so if you forget to charge the wireless thing, or your device isn't bluetooth you can still use them.

     

     

    You can also get this from Amazon:

     

     

    Since my husband doesn't have any devices that are wireless, I went cheap and got him the same set of headphones but are wired.  Much cheaper, but same good sound quality.  In fact, he said he had forgotten that some of his music had piano in them.  Yes, he is older and going deaf.

     

  • One of the changes I’ve made in the past year

    Along with a major wardrobe change, I've also done a change in skin care — until last spring I was a soap and water girl, but I've been noticing some sides of aging (though most people aren't aware I'm in my mid-50's — horrible thought).

    I asked my Nordstrom stylist for help and she hooked me up with a Personal Beauty Stylist.  Yeah, it's as cool as it sounds.  You don't have to go in store, but I do recommend it.  I personally like "Kate", Kate Summerville, but they have other lines and other price points.

    Right now there are some on line sales going on you might want to take advantage of: 

    Find winter skincare products at NORDSTROM. Free shipping & returns on every order.

    By the way, fill is going well, though for some reason I am freezing tonight.  Managed to make it to the new gym both evenings–their parking lot is full but still plenty of space to work out which hasn't been true of the old gym.

     

  • Fill

    Just got a fill, they added .8 putting me at 9.3. I am lucky, since my bariatric place went out of business there is a place close to school that handles maintenance.

    Apparently the band itself looks good. I know it works, just not as well as I would like.

    While I love my new clothing, I have vowed not to buy anything new until I can shop on the second floor. Plus size is third floor.

    I have maintained my weight for a year which is rather frustrating and I would like to be out of the Plus Sizes.

    Speaking of which…since I have started exploring ways to make money from web design and my blog, I have been exploring Plus Size blogs. Rather dismaying from a 50 year teacher standpoint. Few of the styles shown are things I wear.

    I did got to the Nordstrom Cafe for lunch today and the saleslady in Encore were commenting that the top but we both realized it was too low cut and needed a tank under it.

    Sent from my Windows Phone

  • Gyms

    I just braved massive traffic to get to LA Fitness, construction has south bound Josey from 3 to 1 lanes. If i weren’t going to the grocery store when I get done I would have gone to Planet Fitness.

    I am not sure which gym I will be keeping in October when the LA Fitness membership expires. Of course this gym may not survive the construction.

  • Can’t Decide, and Have a few fun Nordstrom links

    I want a pair of pants to wear when I'm at dog class.

    I've looked at these in store in non-plus sizes and have read the reviews, and the return policy is really good, but just can't decided.

     

    Also, I bought something last night by following the Nordstrom's links on my website, and actually earned a commission.  Not much, but hey, every little bit helps.

    And one of the reasons for posting — They just send me a few cool links: NORDSTROM.com

    I've already grabbed a few cute things from here: Save up to 60% on women's plus size apparel at NORDSTROM.

     Though one of my "New Year's Resolutions" is to stop shopping in the plus section.

  • Ignoring the Holidays

    There are several ways to successfully survive the holidays as a diabetic, and for me, the easiest way is to ignore them as much as possible. I didn’t plan that this year, but it worked out that way.

    I successfully ignored Halloween, Thanksgiving, Christmas and even New Years, which I think the last bugged my husband the most. He helped though as he wasn’t much into the gift giving spirit, starting with our anniversary which is before Halloween. Next year, I think I am going to have to be assertive and tell him exactly how I want things done, or just ignore it again.

    But don’t take it personally, it is a good survival technique.