The Science Project

Had a doctor's appointment this week. My HbA1c was 7.1, which was good, but not good enough. I mean, Tom (the nurse practitioner I work with) was thrilled...but I can do better. I don't think a 7 is gold star work.

Just a reminder on what the heck I'm talkin' about.

 

I did mention the hubs and I just started to diet and exercise, right? Hopefully by my next appointment (three months) it will be down in the 6's. 6 is actually my favorite number, so anything in the 6 range will be fine. We're shootin' for a 6.3. It won't be easy, because there are some non-diabetics out there who can't even get that score, but I've done it before and dagnab it, I'm going to do it again.

 

Also in the course of discussion, which my husband was in on because he came with me this time, were all the "future" things coming for diabetics. Like insulin pumps/ CGM that talk to your Android phone and work on their own to correct highs and lows and account for food and what not. Otherwise known as a pancreas, or, in some circles, a unicorn. Husband and Tom were both really excited...me, not so much.

 

Woo. Really, I mean it.

 

 

Don't get me wrong- that would be all good once they have it all figured out. Right now you have to wear two sensors, and use three devices I don't have (different pump, different CGM, and an Android phone, which we all know no insurance is going to cover). I know they are in the very beginning test stages and we're talking years before this is even available to people like me, but that all sounds like more trouble than it's worth. Now, my husband is a gadget guy and he may also be Batman (I've never seen them together, so it's possible.) He is also more concerned with me being healthy than anyone else on the planet that I am not blood related to. For him this all sounds great, hassles aside. For me?

 

It makes me feel like a freaking science project. And I remember not liking those much.

 

Vector-clip-art

 

It's also really hard to get excited for "what's down the pipeline" when my insurance company has been less than cooperative with getting me on CGM in the first place and the companies I've worked with have been less than stellar at making the whole "out of network" thing feasible (like, here). I mean, hello? It's pretty damn obvious that CGM and the pump alone are keeping me from ending up in the HbA1c red zone up there, because donuts and Christmas cookies and Red Vines don't just eat themselves. I'm just not looking forward to the battle ahead though it would be really nice to have a working pancreas again, even if I do have to wear it in my pocket.

 

Arthur Ashe is quoted as saying, "Start where you are. Use what you have. Do what you can." I find these words pretty inspiring, because a lot of what I have to do with diabetes is pretty much that. And Walt Disney is famous for saying, "It's kind of fun to do the impossible."  I feel like I'm always trying to do that, too. I don't have much of a choice though, do I?

 

Again, Phil and Lem put it succinctly. 

 

So I will keep starting where I am, using what I have and doing what I can until some company manages to do the impossible and I get my electronic pancreas, and if I have to deal with insurance companies being a pain in the arse and having to look like Batman with devices all up in my pockets and on my belt I'll do that, too.

 

Because I have to.