Truths

Being a diabetic sucks.

I know, this is a revelation. But it's true.

I was having trouble with getting insulin delivery through my pump, and I correctly assumed it was because of the large amount of scar tissue in my stomach. I have, after all, been on the insulin pump for well over 10 years, and 10 years of jabbing my tummy with infusion sets is bound to create some scaring. In addition to this, ever since I started with the continuous blood glucose testing I've rarely changed sides of my body with the infusion sets. I sleep on my right side and that often interferes with the sensor readings.

So I flipped things around, and put the insulin infusion on the left and started to use the continuous blood glucose testing sensor on the right. And now I'm having no probs with the insulin, but my sensors aren't even lasting a day because they keep giving me drastically wrong readings and having so many error messages that the pump is just throwing in the towel.

I can see why. Darn thing is broken.

For the record, that thin little piece of wire should be straight. It goes in with the help of a small needle, which should keep it from getting bent out of shape. My body did that to it. My body. Bent it. I've got so much scar tissue in my abdomen that it bent wire. I'm not surprised by this, either, because I had a little trouble getting the needle out, which means that it was probably a little bent, too.

I'll let you think about that for a second. 

What does this mean? I'm not really sure, other than I really have to find another body part to start putting my sensor and infusion sets in. If this is what happens after 10 years, and I'm not even 40 yet, how much more of myself do I have to scar up before they either find a cure (unlikely) or I die (hopefully far into the future)? 

There are ways around this. You're not supposed to insert these things into the same place every time. I don't. I use the circle method, which means I just move them around in a rotation so that no one area gets jabbed every time. But eventually you end up back where you started in a circle, and I've found that certain areas (too close to the belly button, or too close to the rib cage, for example) aren't as receptive and cause issues with delivery and sensor readings, too.  You also can't put the two things close together because the one can interfere with the other, or so I've been told.

Keep in mind Medtronic is still calling me to upgrade because my warranty expired, and I'm sure they will have two or three generations of pumps above what I've got which will address these issues. Probably. So I guess I should call and see what they are offering and maybe get a new pump even though I really don't want to.

Whoop de doo.

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.

Fail = Epic

Today = Epic Diabetes Fail

I'll preface this by saying that I don't always take the best-ever care of myself, but I'm usually pretty good about not causing catastrophic injury. Today though, the stars aligned for epic disaster.

It started out like any other Saturday morning. Got up, got the Toddler ready for daycare, got myself ready for work, felt rushed and frazzled because I'd slept in after not sleeping well all night. Dropped the boy at school, got on the road, got to work ready for the day. In a good mood, actually.

It didn't take me long to realize I felt like garbage in spite of my good mood though, so I checked my blood sugar and got this reading:

OMG, no wonder I feel rotten! Better give myself some insulin!

I even used the Bolus Wizard on my pump rather than just randomly pick a number of units and guess. I was on point with this taking care of myself thing. Why was it that high? Could have had something to do with the donut I'd just had for breakfast that I hadn't yet bolused for...Okay, Maybe "on point" isn't the right term. But no worries, right? I got this. Correction dose + donut bolus =  Insulin had been given, the day would continue as usual.

Nope.

Fast forward a couple of hours, and now I'm feeling even worse. Like, over and above worse. I took a break from the desk to check my blood sugar, but didn't even have to go that far because I discovered something on my way to my office that really stunk...and I mean this literally. If not for it being Spring and my allergies making smelling anything difficult I'd have realized a long time before then that I was leaking insulin. Why?

Because the blasted pump setting was on wrong. I had given all those units of insulin to my shirt, and not to me. It's no wonder I felt like utter crap. And insulin has a rather unpleasant smell (and taste, come to that) which is usually an immediate sign something is amiss.

Just to give you an idea of what a pump setting is supposed to look like when connected properly, here ya go.

Flush against the skin, lined up correctly, and locked

I tried to duplicate what it looked like when it wasn't on properly, and couldn't. I can only therefore assume that since I cannot purposely put it on wrong the fact that I somehow managed to do so this morning after I got out of the shower can only be attributed to epic fail skills I wish I did not have.

The thing that really made it an epic fail, though, wasn't that I got it on wrong. 

What makes it even worse is that I was already operating on a Low Reservoir. 

Without me even telling you, I bet you can guess that a low reservoir probably means I didn't have a lot of insulin on me. (We already know I had none in me.) Basically, there's a little tube I fill with insulin that's called a reservoir, and the pump periodically gives me a little shot of the stuff from there to keep me in a normal blood sugar range. If I eat, I manually give more to cover the carbohydrates. The tube holds a lot of units, and when I have about 50 left the pump alerts me that the insulin reservoir is low, and I need to fill it soon. Technically 45 units will last me over 24 hours, because I only get 1.6 units per hour. Technically is bull, because that doesn't take into account eating.

Well, I was down to about 44 units, and I had given myself 14 units- correction, I'd given my shirt 14 units- and now I had to give myself 14 more units to counteract that goof. (And no, this time I didn't bother with the Bolus Wizard. I'd already messed up so I really didn't need to see how much higher I'd gone.) No worries, right? That's only 28 units given...leaving me with 16 or so, only I still had to figure out lunch. Lunch boluses are usually about 10-12 units, so NBD, I'd still have 4-6 units to last me the 6 hours before I got home. 

1.6 x 6 = 9.6

CRAP. Now I don't have enough insulin to get me through the day! 

That might not sound like a big deal, but a couple hours without any insulin going in is really, really bad. I mean, look how high it went after two hours of no insulin this morning...never mind breakfast, which I'd only just eaten and hadn't even had a chance to break down into anything.

Long story short (too late) I went home sick from work today, because I feel yucky and needed my medication. I am also really pissed at myself for landing in this predicament, because it was completely avoidable and I hate taking off of work because of this stupid disease. I very rarely do that. The real fail here is I feel like I didn't conquer, but was conquered, by my arch nemesis today.

Guess I know what I gotta do.

Back to Life

Hey. It's been awhile. Part of that is because I never seem to have the time or energy to write these days, though the itch has been growing and I've been opening up stagnant stories in the hopes that maybe inspiration will hit and I'll pick them back up.

Mostly it's because of two reasons. 1) I usually re-read the last blog I did before writing a new one and the last thing I want to do is re-read my last blog. I miss Bandit enough without reminding myself how shredded I was the day we had to say good bye. Hell, just writing that is making me sob...so hang on while I do that...

The other reason? My diabetes is in shit control right now and I'm ashamed of it. I've been eating poorly, my Garmin has reset my step goal to less than 5000 steps because of how little I move around, and even though I'm trying to work with someone from Medtronic on revising all of my pump settings, it's been difficult to connect with her and my blood sugars are paying for it. Don't believe me? Look!

The gray area below all that yellow and above that red line is where my blood sugars are supposed to be. I basically feel like shit all the time and am giving myself copious amounts of insulin for what appears to be no reason at all. And no, I can't really understand all of that either. I just know it's bad.

I don't blame anyone but myself for this. I know, I could blame any number of people or scenarios or things, but let's be real, okay? It's my damn fault these numbers are this way. I don't count carbs, I don't use the bolus wizard, and I don't hound the Medtronic employee when she doesn't get back to me after two weeks of waiting. It's my fault.

I had an endocrinologist appointment this month but I had to reschedule it, so I now have a month to get myself back on track. I have not fallen off of the wagon. I jumped off, chased fairies into the forest, and have spent the last several months eating the leftovers of the witch's gingerbread house now that Hansel and Gretel took care of her. It's time for me to shake this off and take care of myself and fix this mess I've made of my health.

#BetterOffTed

Which is easy to say but not do. I know this, because I've said it many, many times before. I've said it in this blog. I've said it to my doctor. I've said it to myself in the mirror with conviction, even. But when the time comes for me to roll my butt out of bed and spend ten minutes on the exercise bike before I get our son up and ready for school...

Hell, I should be on the damn bike right now, but instead I'm sitting here trying to be clever. I mean, I could do any ONE of the things that I need to do and I would see improvement.

• Use the bolus wizard so I am giving the appropriate amount of insulin when I eat.
• Eat healthier foods, and lay off the cookies.
• Get up twenty minutes earlier and exercise.
• Email the pump specialist and see if we can't lock down a time to chat.
• Get up and walk around the building during my breaks at work.
• Take breaks at work, for that matter.

Any one of them would make a difference. Right? I don't have to do all of them at once...

No. No, no,no.

Today is going to be one of, if not the, hardest days of my life.

We've been having an increasing number of disasters with Bandit, who in addition to being diabetic is also unable to stand on his own and has been slowly losing the ability to walk at all due to a spinal degenerative disease he was diagnosed with in June but has clearly had for much longer than that. Needless to say if we don't get to him in time it can cause unpleasant issues. He's been losing weight again, he cries and cries and cries to get up, and the past couple days he hasn't been eating well. He also spends most of his time sleeping. Add that to the fact that my husband often comes home from work and has to bathe both the dog and whatever floor he was lying on, and the writing on the wall is pretty clear.

It appears that it's time for us to do the thing we hoped to never have to do.

Knowing the day and time of your pet's last moments is horrifying. It's like another line in your stupid Day Planner- Sunday, Bandit vet appointment- only it's the worst ever vet appointment and every time you look at him you break out into ugly sobbing because of the guilt you carry with you. How is this something you can just plan? WTF is this? Logan's Run?

The problem with that comparison is that Bandit is way more a Peter Ustinov than a Michael York in that scenario. He's nearly 16, which in dog years means he's almost as old as George Burns would be if he were still alive.

Knowing it's coming is one thing. Calling the vet and setting the date is completely different. You start noting the last time for everything. Last night, last bath, last meal, last Sunday. And that's why there's guilt. Guilt and questions. Did I let this go on too long? Is he miserable? I haven't seen his tail wag much lately. Has he been trying to tell us he's ready? If he could tell me something would he be upset that we came to this decision?

Being in this situation makes you want to drink. Heavily. Starting now.

I'll take two, please.

I don't want to do this. He was lying on the floor next to me as I wrote most of this last night, and is sleeping in the bedroom right now, and my heart is already shattered, I've got an unending waterfall of tears streaking down my face, and every time I look at him I either choke back a sob or wail an I'm sorry because I am. I am sorry.

I'm sorry I wasn't a better doggy mommy.
I'm sorry I ever forgot to give him insulin or any other medication.
I'm sorry for every single time I ever yelled at him.
I'm sorry that Lani is only going to have vague memories of him and that Bandit never really got to play with his boy because he's been too old.
I'm sorry that the internet research tells us that even if we had an infinite amount of money to throw at his health issues there's not really anything we can do to better his quality of life or stop this from happening and even if we found a way to keep moving on with things as they are he's living on borrowed time.

He kind of is, actually. When he started to slow down my husband thought we'd better get another dog- a puppy- to help both me and Shiva ease through the transition of losing him.

This was the day we got her. Now Rosabel is five.

Then there was that bout of Old Dog Vestibular Disease that looked like a stroke.

Then there was two years ago when we thought we were gonna lose him for sure and it turned out he only had diabetes.

I'm still not ready for this. I don't see how anyone ever could be. Bandit has been my comfort, my protector, my baby. He's the first dog I've ever had. He licked the tears off of my face on September 11, 2001 when I was sitting there watching the news in shock. He's woken my husband in the middle of the night when my blood sugar was low. He's been an integral part of our lives for well over fifteen years. He's family.

I hate this. I hate this as much as I love him and I love him a lot. I don't know how I'll handle those last moments. I keep praying and hoping and wishing that we'll get to the vet and they'll say, Oh, we can fix this. Give him this pill/shot/enema and he'll be walking again in no time. I know it won't happen, but this is what's been getting me through this horrible, rotten, tear filled weekend. A tiny, minuscule, nearly non-existent chance that it won't be his last and I won't have to go through with this.

Addendum: I wrote the above last night and edited it some this morning. Writing has always been cathartic for me and getting my emotions out between sobs helped some.

About thirty minutes ago Bandit left this world and crossed over the Rainbow Bridge. I have never been this heartbroken. We were with him when he passed and I still don't think this is real. It can't be. He can't be gone. I don't want to believe it.

Life as a science experiment, part II

Had my endocrinologist appointment last month...this month? I can't remember. Anyways, the new nurse practitioner he has me working with wasn't thrilled with my 7.8 HbA1c. Neither am I, truth be told, but at least it wasn't an 11, which in this case wouldn't be a good thing regardless of what Nigel Tufnel claims. Everything else was pretty normal, though my cholesterols both went up from last time.

A little more movement on my part and being more cautious about what I eat would solve this hemoglobin issue, yet unlike the previous nurse practitioner that I worked with this one can't seem to see through my BS and see that. If I say I've been trying to be more active it means during the last three months I managed to get on the exercise bike three times...total, and not per week as I had intended. The only reason my A1c was even that good was my continuous glucose monitor.

http://type1diabetesmemes.tumblr.com/image/144301185570

This is fairly accurate except for the "What I think it is" box because the last thing that (insert chain of expletives here) CGM does is let me sleep. It beeps constantly. And wouldn't you know it, I just realized I could at least shorten the length of the beeps so it isn't quite as annoying after using one for years. There has been an unforeseen consequence of this, though, in that the beep is now so short I often don't hear it until all the alarms go off and its beeping emergency signals because I've basically been ignoring it.

Getting back to the endo, though, she hooked me up with a thyroid ultra sound I've as yet to schedule (I've complained about this before, and here we go again- no, I don't have a thyroid problem, yes I've had more than one ultra sound done on it before and as there is nothing in my blood work that indicates there is a problem why am I doing this yet again?) She also gave me a number for a diabetes educator that is probably not covered by my insurance but will be able to see through my line of BS and just tell me I need to do what I know I need to do. The alternative is being part of a "study" which has been mentioned more than once at visits that I have clearly shown zero interest in (the study, not the visits...though, let's be real- I'm not that interested in going to visits, either.)

http://type1diabetesmemes.tumblr.com/image/145758068025

Now, I'm usually all about the science, but  not when I'm the freaking project. And the more she explained the less interested I became. It's a study on a drug for Type II diabetes that they are "thinking" about using with Type I's, and there's no guarantee that I'd even be on the drug as I could be in the placebo group.

I'm sorry if I'm dense here, but how the heck is being in the placebo group going to HELP ME? 

Answer: I don't think it is.

Also, I've been asked by this person more than once if I've ever been on Metformin. Please, correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't that also a Type II drug? Is it actually possible the woman with whom I trust my care doesn't know the difference between the two so- completely- different- they- might- as- well- not- even- be- the- same- disease types of diabetes?

http://thediabetesheroes.com/html/pictures.html- this website is completely awesome, by the way.

I doubt that I'll go for this study thing, regardless of how I do my next visit. I really should just try exercising more and eating a little better. I'm sure it would go a long way and save me a lot of trouble in the long run. Adding another level to the science experiment that is life is something I don't need right now, and probably never will. Managing diabetes is hard enough as it is on a good day.

#accurate

The low down on the down low

It's getting really hard to turn on the news or log on to Facebook these days. It seems everything posted or linked or talked about is __ number of ______ people killed in ________ because of _____. I know I shouldn't hide from it, because I want to be informed on what's happening in our society and in our world, but if I have to actively seek out good news, or scientific discoveries, or anything positive while I weed through article after article about racism or animal cruelty, hate fueled rants against people running for President, and stories about rapists, murderers, and child molesters... eventually I just sit in a corner and I cry.

Beats me, Theoden. You ever find out let me know.

Yeah, life sucks for a lot of people right now, and I'm not usually political, but it's getting me down. Real down. Low down. It really seems like the media (in all of its forms) has honed in on the fact that people will read good news, but they will share and rant and talk about bad news until the next bad thing comes along, thereby making the media oodles of money.

Sadly, my blood sugars sure haven't been low down. When I get depressed, I eat. When I eat because I'm depressed, I usually forget to give insulin. Not even "enough" insulin. Just "at all" insulin. And last night my stupid pump setting was off (probably because I was tossing and turning all night) and I woke up with a blood sugar of 440 and eff it all. I felt awful. I was sure I was going to start throwing up and the sludge running through my veins was going to never go away. 

If you've never had a high blood sugar, imagine the most hung over you have ever been in your life. Nausea. Head aches. Light sensitive. And an overall feeling of I will never forgive myself for drinking as much as I did last night and I swear to God I will never do it again...only you didn't drink and you probably just goofed and no matter what promises you make you will goof again.

Since my last blog I have forgotten to put my insulin pump back on after showering and have made it all the way to work (which is a 30 minute drive in no traffic) before realizing it. TWICE. Who the hell walks out the door without their pancreas? 

Seriously. 

I've also rescheduled my next endocrinologist appointment twice now because I haven't had the time (read: motivation) to go and get my blood work done. My birthday was a couple weeks ago, and there was a lot of cake. A lot. Of. Cake. Also, I am not playing Pokemon Go so I am still walking as much as I ever have, which is to say about 7000 steps a day, which is enough to keep me from gaining a lot of weight but not enough to work off the multiple calorie overages I tend to make in a single day.

To say that taking care of myself has taken a back seat to pretty much everything else in my life would be a fairly accurate statement.

But...life goes on. And everyday is a new one to remember to log my calories into MyFitnessPal and make sure I get up and start walking when my VivoFit3 tells me to. And there's little else I can do about the rest other than be the best person I can be, teach the Toddler to be the best person he can be, stand up for what I feel is right when given an opportunity to do so...and post a lot more videos that are funny, because Rob Paulsen is right, and laughter is the best medicine. You can't OD and the refills are free.

So here are some videos that make me smile. I hope they make you smile, too. And tomorrow, I'll be sure to get in some more steps and not forget my pump. Baby steps.

Yakko's World from Animaniacs (c) Warner Bros.

The McCarthys (c) CBS, not they they care since they didn't renew the show :(

I can't even with how hysterical this is.

Rocksugar + Christmas = Perfection.