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I finally bit the bullet and am trying a different meter — Lifescan’s UltraSmart. My PBM (Medco), doesn’t have Freestyle on the formulary, although I really like that meter. It’s a difference of over $100 a year on the copay, so I’m giving the UltraSmart a try.

I really think I’ll go for it, as it J&M who owns LifeScan is buying Animas, meaning that there will a tighter pairing between the products. I’m quite sure one of the next upgrades of the Animas pump is going to be talking to the meter, as that is the only thing the competitors do that the Animas doesn’t. The only thing holding that back is that the Ultra line connects with a serial port, not IR. However, Lifescan just went through a preMarket approval (501K) on a new Ultra meter, so that might be coming up.

The biggest negative on the ultrasmart is the size, the biggest positive is the log on the meter. I really like the idea of seeing the trends on a portable graph, which you don’t get from EzManager. You get graphs on the PC side, but not on the PDA side. I tend to want to make adjustments on the fly, probably not a good thing, and being able to see what is going on while it is happening, rather than waiting until I get to the big computer is desirable.

I’ve had some trouble using their test strips. The samples I used worked fine, but when I opened a new bottle this morning, I had 3 bad readings in a row, while I was at school and couldn’t get a good reading. So I picked up the phone and called Lifescan in front of my students (I think hearing someone deal with tech support is a good thing, and they were doing an assignment). Of course, they had to talk loudly when I was on the phone … Anyhow, I was not impressed. I accidently dialed the Spanish line instead of the English but it still should not take 6 minutes to get to a person on Wednesday morning. I find it irritating to have to listen to a survey request before I get tech support, and in fact, I told their system to shut up and answer the phone more than once.

After the tech walked me through the procedure, I didn’t have another problem, though I find holding the stupid meter on the blood drop during the countdown to be extremely annoying.

Apparently Lifescan has modified the One Touch system, according to the 501K updates, but I can’t find the changes. I am hoping it’s a device that will communicate with the Animas pump. That IS the next step.

Diabetes sucks….

All last week, including this weekend I’ve been struggling with carb cravings and high blood sugars. Woke up every day between 110 and 120.

Today, I woke up at 90, and after every meal have been a bit low. In fact, I’ve had to eat about 3 pieces candy to avoid crashing.

I did make one change — carb to insulin ratio in the morning, but I didn’t do that until last night.

Someone at school asked me if I had blogged the details of my recent changes. I told her I had as much as it affected my diabetes.

I’m real careful not to post much about school. In fact, for most of the almost three years of blogging, I’ve kept this about diabetes. I have been posting about my dogs and agility lately, though those also affect the diabetes, and the diabetes affect it. It’s not hard to track me down and I don’t need any more controversy in my life, thanks.

School gets better every day. I do feel the need to comment on my students comments, as that has been the coolest part of this year. Even today, I saw one of my students who had transferred from my class back in September, and he complimented me. He said I explain things better than teacher he has now. When I pinned him down, he said it was more about the tone of my voice, that she “yells and seems mad” when she has to explain something. That’s something I don’t get.

Not everyone gets every thing the same way. One thing I ALWAYS do when a student asks a questions, I repeat the question for the whole class and answer the question for everyone. I feel that it opens up things for the other students, and if one kiddo doesn’t get it, at least 3 others don’t.

I’ve always taught a wide variety of kids who have differing ability levels. I always try to cover the lesson as fast as possible for those kids that get it and want to get the assignment done and gone on with the next thing. Then I go over the assignment in detail. Then I wait for kids to ask questions and repeat them for the group. I also wait for the kid that just doesn’t get it and if we have time, go over it once just for them. We don’t always get that time.

I’ve got a kiddo in regular CS that is that way. He dives into class, does the assignment as quick as possible and then goes and does what he wants to do on the internet. I don’t have a real problem with that, though that does challenge me to find things that will get him to spend more time on my work. In the same class, I have one or two students who have to see me go through the whole assignment before they “get it”.

Anyway, I’m having one of my best years ever. I may not always do things the way the administration wants them done (meaning high passing rates on the AP CS tests), but I’ve always been good at giving my students what they want and need.

Had to do it today. Site change. I’d changed a site this morning and at noon, had a high blood sugar even after a correction. No place to hide. Called fora security guard, waited and waited, none came. Finally figured out that I could lift my shirt and do it without disturbing the students. Wouldn’t work if I was wearing a dress, but this one did.

Blood sugar is lower, though I think the heat in this room is part of the problem, it’s over 100 degrees, and approaching hotter.

It’s actually amazing to me, but my weight has been very stable since about the end of November, even though my eating hasn’t been great and my insulin usage has been considerably higher.

In fact, right now, I’m at my lowest ever weight, even after the class schedule switch. Every day is getting better with that, by the way, just got the software inslalled I need for my Visual Basic students (well, I will by 2nd period — I still have a couple of computers to go.

Didn’t get home until late tonight–mainly because my students need Microsoft VB.net and I had to get it on 16 computers. Got it mostly knocked out. I have two computers to finish in the morning.

I still had a high blood sugar in the afternoon, and I swear I bolused for it this time AND did the symlin. It was 205 this time, better than yesterday. However, the correction worked.

I have gotten in 15 minutes on the treadmill, had to stop because I think I was burning blood sugar faster than I was digesting it. I’m going to try to get in another 15 minutes before 8:00.

After last week’s major reorganization of my day, everything IS getting better.

I didn’t do any school work last night and I didn’t do any uncontrolled stress eating. My insulin usage was actually under 40 units, which is the best it’s been since the initial announcement.

I still manage to go a few moments each day without something major i need. Yesterday it was the cell phone/blood sugar monitor bag. For an entire class period. Left it up in the other room. Also my coat. I’ve got to figure out how to handle that, because retrieving that hurt my knee.

I also forgot to bolus for lunch but did do the symlin. Blood sugar was 225 in the mid afternoon, which is not good when the room is 100+ degrees.

I thought it was either the heat or too much insulin the day before, but it was a simple missed bolus. Downloading everything each day is a wonderful thing!