There and back again...

I've been lax with the diabetes thing lately. Frankly, I've got a lot of other life stuff going on right now and prioritizing hasn't always been my strongest skill. We're nearing the point where we're going to have to deal with losing Shiva, our 16 1/2 year old dog who has been with us for at least 15 of those years. After losing Bandit less than a year ago, I'm even less ready for this than I was before. We took in another foster child- older than Lani, so to say it's been an adjustment is a massive understatement. The Terrible Twos are BS, by the way, because now that Lani is three I've discovered my least favorite age for a child is the "I'm going to drag you straight into Hell and make you question whether you had sanity when you decided to become a parent Threes."

In a nutshell, things have been kinda stressful.

But that's to be expected, and I never thought that being a parent (whether it be to human children or fur babies) was always going to be sunshine and roses. Hell, even Mrs. Brady had some hard times.

Lately, though, I've been really slacking on me. And this is apparent from the fact that I've been dealing with Medtronic/insurance tralala for over a month and haven't bothered to come here to blog about my complaints until now. It's mostly because I don't have the time to do it, but also because I almost just don't care anymore. This is what life with diabetes is like. I should just get used to it.

Here's the dealio on what's goin' on:

1. Work changes our insurance (or in my case, the union does), and I forget to submit the info to the pump supplies supplier. (April 1st)
2. They send me an email to let me know they can't send me my supplies because my insurance was denied. I call and leave a message telling them everything is the same except the name of the insurance company (because that's the truth). (May 26)
3. I send an email because I don't get a call back. (May 28)
4. I get an email asking for my insurance card. I send them an email with scans of both sides. (May 30, 31)
5. Weeks pass and I don't get my supplies. 
6. I send an email as a follow-up (JUNE 28) and get three emails from three different people over the course of a few days days asking the same damned question- "Which one is your primary?" I reply to all three with the answer. I resend the scans of the cards (June 29- July 5)
7. More weeks pass. I get an email asking for 30 days of blood glucose test results...as if I keep those. (July 14)
8. I ask why I need them, and am told the insurance won't approve without them. Fine. I pull what numbers I have off of my glucometers and send them. (July 15)
9. I get a response asking me to include my name and birth date on the Excel document (July 15) because I guess it's not legit if someone else does that so I get it done and sent today. (July 16)
10. I still don't have my pump supplies.

I'd like to point out that this started in May, and it is now July, and if I weren't the kind of person who stocks up on supplies in case something happens, like, oh, I don't know, insurance and pump suppliers become completely incompetent and I have to wait weeks for my supplies, I'd be in a world of hurt right now. As it is, I'm just annoyed.

Oh, and someone from Medtronic keeps calling and emailing me to try and get me to buy a new pump because the one I have just ran out of warranty. He couldn't have timed that worse. I may have a stock pile of supplies, but I'm far more likely to shop around for a new pump company after all of this if my insurance is willing to foot the bill...which, you may remember from last time, they are NOT even if Medtronic claims they are.

Whether or not I get a new one is highly dependent on two factors: 1) How much do I owe out of pocket, and 2) How much do I want to deal with it?

The answers to these questions and more will just have to wait until next time.