Category: Blog

I was very dismayed to learn that BCBS of Texas did not cover the Symvist injections in my knee.  No one in the doctor’s office mentioned that was a possibility.  Plus, all my other specialists told me when it was possible that something wouldn’t be covered.

I was also dismayed to learn that the injections were $1000 a piece.  They didn’t seem to be worth that.  Especially since I’ve been having more pain in my knees since the last shot.

The good news, is that one of the shots has finally been covered, so I assume the doctor’s office has gone through the appeals process.

There are pictures and everything here.  By the way, I got a shipment of syringes from Medco last night — and it was SO nice to realize that it was my last shipment of them and I’ll be going back to pen needles soon. 

FDA approval has been given to Amylin Pharmaceuticals, Inc. to market their automatic Symlin injection devices. Symlin (pramlintide), a synthetic analog of human amylin, a naturally occurring neuroendocrine hormone, is the first of its kind injected antihyperglycemic medication for use in patients with type 2 or type 1 diabetes. Two versions, rated by their maximum dosage, should be available for purchase in December.

Source: SymlinPens Approved by FDA – Medgadget – www.medgadget.com

Amylin has announced today that the FDA has approved two Symlin pen models. The pens should be available by December 2007.

Source: Bernard’s Diabetes Blog: FDA Approves Symlin Pen

Another diabetic who is excited!

 From Scott’s Weblog, but it’s blocked by our content filter at school.

Well, it has been promised for nearly 3 years now, but today, the company revealed that they were in receipt of an approval from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for the SymlinPen 60 and the SymlinPen 120 pen-injector devices for administering SYMLIN (or pramlintide acetate) injection. According to the news release, the pens are expected to be available to patients by December 2007.

I am SO SO HAPPY.  The vials I have are the last I’m going to own.

 From the Dallas Morning News:

Ten North Texas teachers will be inducted as fellows into Texas Instruments Foundation’s new Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Academy.

Education notes | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | News: Education

I’ll find out what this means next week.

Whew! It was finally delivered last Wednesday.  Hmmm, I’ve had the pump since May and couldn’t use the software until last week.

First, the carb counting and the blood sugar is recorded by the pump now and shows up on the reports.  That is what I’ve waited two pump releases for — I certainly would have implemented that in the IR1250 if I had been then.  In fact, I was shocked to see that didn’t occur when I received and downloaded the IR1250.

The problems….

All of the existing bugs I could test for are still there. 

You cannot edit or delete items from the food database using the EzManager PC Software.  All you can do is delete all the favorites.

You can delete individual items from the food database, but you can not edit them, even though there is a item for edit in the menu.

One new thing that bothers me, you cannot add injections to the log from the PC version of the program.  However, you can add them via both the Palm version and through the Ultra Smart meter.  In fact, the Ultra Smart is a good way to enter in exercise data too.

I do wish Animas would clean up and fix EzManager.  It’s a good program but a few small failings hurt it.

Oh, and I can’t test this one — did they ever fix the Freestyle upload?  It doesn’t handle Freestyle data correctly from October through December if I remember the bug correctly.

I wrote about a little gal in my class I was worried about and I have some good news.

During “Meet the Teacher” I had a few minutes with momma and I told her that I was worried since her daughter had shared her blood sugar with me.  I told her when I was diagnosed, I felt very ill, was very hard to get along with and was fairly certain that the daughter felt the same way. 

Well that Friday and the next Monday, my student was absent.  When she came back on Tuesday she let the whole class know she had been in the hospital and knew all about diabetes now and was on insulin.

Apparently if you are diagnosed Type 2, they put you on insulin probably because they are not real sure what the oral medications will due to teenagers.  She’s the second kid I’ve had from the Parkland Diabetes clinic who was a Type 2 and both were put on insulin.

I really do think she feels better already.

Except for today and this sensor, I’ve only been finger sticking with the Dexcom wants a calibration — well, I take that back, the two finger sticks I’ve done today was because Dexcom said he wanted them.

It will be interesting to see an A1C.  In fact, I am thinking about seeing if I can get an extra A1C before my doctor’s visit. 

Since before school started I’ve been relying 100% on the Dexcom sensors. 

And it’s been working well.  It’s caught a few unexpected highs, and a few unexpected lows, but for the most part, I’ve been having very stable blood sugars.

Diabetes care is undergoing a transformation: Thousands of patients are switching from a few finger-pricks a day to track their disease to new sensors that keep guard around the clock.

Diabetics swap finger pricks for sensors – Diabetes – MSNBC.com

This would be me.

However, we’ve got a LONG, LONG way to go before I’d ever go with a closed loop system.

Guess I’ve seen too many problems with all ends of the system.

First, I undestand people are getting a CGI error when they post comments.  Would someone please email me at kathleen at gmail and let me know what it is.  A screen shot would be terrific.

The good news, is that the comment gets posted, but delayed because I have to approve it.

Next, life has been very full since school started.  I have about twice the number of students as last year which doesn’t affect set up time, but does mean that grading takes up lots more time. 

I really haven’t had time or energy to do anything in front of a computer but school stuff.  Hopefully that will change soon.