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I finally figured it out – a TV show helped – I’ve associated the beginning of the school year with a truck driving into my house. Or some other disaster.

Two years ago, the first week of school, a drunk driver drove into our house.

I’ve had other bad events – dog had her eye come out of her socket and spend the weekend at the vets, etc. Last year, my room was a complete disaster as they put a dedicated A/C unit into the room, and I couldn’t even get into it until Saturday before the beginning of the school year.

Thus, negative associations.

Right now, I’m having trouble even climbing the stairs to go upstairs to the bedrooms. I figure I’ll be okay once we get settled into a routine but I have talked to my medical care provider and several friends about it.

Questions

1. What do you do to prepare for a doctor’s appointment to make sure they go well?

2. Have you ever had a poor relationship with a doctor/CDE and then it got better? What did you do to improve it?

3. What qualities do you look for in a healthcare professional?

4. What advice do you have for a fellow PWD or parent who is struggling with their healthcare professional?

via thebloodsugarwhisperer.wordpress.com

Allison asked the above and I've been answering in bits and pieces but its truly blog worthly.

I just got back from a good appointment with my endocronologist and so I feel qualified to answer. 

No matter which doctor, I try to make sure I show up with enough data and information so that we can have an intelligent conversation.  Endo is easy, as we always do our labs the week before, and usually get the results back the next day.  I also try to make sure I'm using my pump right at least the week before, not always easy.  This time, was because I was in the habit. 

Sleep doctor appointments tend to be an emergency.  I still try to remember what is keeping me from sleeping. 

If I have questions about something I'll bring an article or link from the internet.  I also always bring a internet device so I can look things up.  They are good but they haven't always looked at interactions between diabetes and whatever item we're doing so I can do a quick search while we are thinking about it.  That's been good with several medications. 

Yes, I've had a poor relationship that got better  — sleep doctor — since the meds didn't work he was convinced I wasn't compliant with the equipment, that was before we got the equipment that recorded everything.   Now that the CPAP machine ACTUALLY tells him I'm compliant he listens better.

I've also fired doctors — primary care physican that I inherited.  He was quite insistant he knew better than the endo — the final straw was when his assistant grabbed my hand and did a finger stick which I got charged for.  I knew for a fact that my meter was more accurate than theirs.   It still took me a year until we mutually fired each other.  He accused me of wanting a "doc in box" (probably not his words, but his point) and I tried that for a year.  Now I have a primary care physician that share records and space with the endo and realizes that they each have their own job to do.  I still have trust issues.

Qualities I look for:  my best doctors listen to me and treat me with respect.  They realize that I'm proactive in my health care and know more about diabetes that they do (even the endo — because I live it and he doesn't — however, he can look at a graph and know how to tweak my pump, I don't — I can't just react).

If things are clicking, it might be time to go shopping for a different doctor.  It's hard to know – sometimes they will let you know it is time to go.  Sometimes you have to figure it out on your own.  Biggest sign: you dread going to the doctor.

Auto correct got me earlier today.

First, his assistant gave him up – said that the doctor was looking forward to visiting with Dulce. <VBG>

As I posted last week, A1C is tending in the correct direction, as is my weight, blood pressure and the rest of my vitals. Nice to be coming out of the dark woods.

He tweaked my pump settings – ended up with an evil low this afternoon, so it may have been too much but then again I was working in my classroom. I do have around 8000 steps on my Fitbit already.

Someone tweeted today about how wearables do change behavior.

I have several, a Fitbit and an Aria scale. I also have a MyfitnessPal account and use Foursquare.

I use all those check-ins and gadgets to keep me going to the gym and working out even though I fight through arthritis pain to do it. I don’t make the goals as often as I would like but I do see progress.

My latest wearable is a Continuous Glucose Monitor, CGMS to the diabetes crowd and in a little more than a month I have gotten from a 7.9 A1C to a 7.3 which is huge!

FYI, Dulce the diabetes alert dog kept me from too many lows, good dog but not really a wearable, or is she?

Yes, the all work and add an element of game.

Thanks to the Metronic CGMS and changes brought about by it, my A1C is down to 7.3 from 7.9 and I’ve only had it for a month.

I’ve been struggling to get it down for a couple of years, and the CGMs seems to have done the trick!

I have been at the gym every day and doing cardio for about an hour. I will admit I don’t do weights as much as I would like and should, and I need to kick that up.

The good news, my weight has been steady. The bad news, I wanted to lose some more weight and I haven’t really until this week.

Hoping it stays off.

I’ve found out something very odd. Dressing up in the right workout wear helps your workout. Weird.

My favorite – is Zella. For summer, these pants:

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/zella-live-in-capri-pants-plus-size/3215864?origin=category-personalizedsort&contextualcategoryid=0&fashionColor=&resultback=571&cm_sp=personalizedsort-_-browseresults-_-1_3_C

and these tanks:

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/zella-zel-dri-tank-plus-size/3390393?origin=category-personalizedsort&contextualcategoryid=0&fashionColor=WHITE+MELANGE&resultback=799&cm_sp=personalizedsort-_-browseresults-_-1_4_C

also these tops:

http://shop.nordstrom.com/S/zella-zel-dri-tank-plus-size/3390393?origin=category-personalizedsort&contextualcategoryid=0&fashionColor=WHITE+MELANGE&resultback=799&cm_sp=personalizedsort-_-browseresults-_-1_4_C

The ruching at the side is flattering and makes you feel a bit slimmer. Also the fabric feels cooler and less sweaty. Much better than t-shirts.

I always feel bad when we have to travel because Dulce doesn’t get much time off. Austin is nice, because there is at least one dog park that we’ve gone to that works out well for us, but it isn’t the same as being at home.

I also have some very strict hotel rules, because I’ve suffered from people’s lack of respect – she is never left in a room by herself – she never made any noise or bothered anyone when we lived in the apartment and besides, she’s with me because I need an alert dog.

She had absolutely no accidents, which has been a concern, because she has eliminated twice in the ring doing agility lately. I think it is my stress.

The hotel helped by putting us as close to the grass as they could. We were two rooms from the elevator, and the elevator was close to the pool.

I was also really good at taking breaks during the day, almost every day but Thursday and Friday.

She alerted Sunday night and Monday night – probably because I spent some time in their pool. I didn’t do that again, because I didn’t want to take that chance. She also alerted on Friday during the day.

She whined once Thursday – letting me know that she needed out. Yes, I can honestly tell the difference between an alert whine and a I need out whine. Also no one else heard either whine.

Met Tara and Duchess finally. They apparently get denied access a lot which is sad, as she needs Duchess much more than I need Dulce.

I think I know why – first of all I'm older and have more presence – I am a 50 something, school teacher. I am not taking crap off of anyone. Plus I'm often limping. She's a cute, bubbly young adult. She doesn't look like she needs help.

There is also the dog difference. Dulce is a cute little beagle. Duchess is a cute, little Lab. Who outweighs Dulce by 4 times.

It's a shame really, because Duchess does much more than Dulce can because of her size.

I've only been denied access twice, now.  Though in the early days did a lot more arguing (but won), then I do now.