Just Call Me a Super Hero

How’s that for an attention grabbing title?

I feel like a super hero after the night we had. Chad was set up on his pump yesterday! YAY. We went with the Tandem T:slim. It seemed to be operator friendly. He isn’t a techy guy and it’s the one he felt most comfortable with. It’s amazing that he can dose whenever. He doesn’t have to dread the shot. he doesn’t have to “catch it up later”, because he dreads the shot. WE LOVE THAT PART!

However, it was a bit of a rough night. I told him I would get up several times to check his blood sugar, since it was the first night on the pump. He was 125 at bedtime and more than 3 hours after dinner, which is an amazing blood sugar for him. For the first time ever, he didn’t eat a snack or anything. That trust and confidence was so hard! When I woke up at midnight, his blood sugar was 50. I gave him about 40 carbs of chocolate milk. I woke up at 3 to check and his blood sugar was 70. Another 40 carbs! When he woke up at 5, took forever in the bathroom,  was stumbling a bit, I got up and checked him. 36!!!!

I told him it was okay to go into work late. Usually he doesn’t. He gets back on the saddle and makes it into work on time, but I wanted to make sure he was okay first. I quickly googled “How long does Lantus stay in the system?” He was taking it twice a day, half a day’s dose at 8am and the other half at 8pm. His trainer set his pump up so his basal (this is the background insulin that runs continuously all day) didn’t start until after 8pm last night, but we are pretty sure he still had the Lantus from yesterday morning in his system as well, since it can last 18-26 hours! He conferred with his trainer this morning and she agreed that it was likely. Just to be safe she walked him through lowering the basal rate just a bit. (from 2.0 per hour to 1.8 per hour)

As far as the first day on the pump, he is loving it. He really likes not having to take shots. He loves that he can input his blood sugar and carbs and it will figure out his insulin dose. This is a new thing for us and we are fumbling around a bit, but in a week it should be second nature. He has done one infusion set. He will be doing a cartridge change and infusion change tomorrow morning with the trainer.

He has been approved for a CGM (continuous glucose monitor). This will be his next step.

I am hopeful that today will be a better day. He did end up going to work and got there just a little late. He is an excellent family provider and he hates missing time from work. Sometimes diabetes comes first!

ETA: I guess I should explain the super hero comment. I feel like a super hero after saving his life three times last night. :p I’m tired, it makes ME feel better.

Diabetes is so easy to manage!

I think that anyone who has actually dealt with diabetes can hear the sarcasm dripping from that title. Or they were shocked and wondered what kind of snake oil I was going to sell. No snake oil here!

We are back to the insurance company only wanting to cover 1 test strip per day. “102 every 90 days”. Part of having any semblance of control is knowing where you are at. How can anyone do that on ONE test strip per day? I shouldn’t have done this, but I gave up. I said I would just pay out of pocket for them. I know that this gives the insurance  company what they want, which is more money in their pocket, but come on!

To break it down again, my husband has double insurance coverage. Generally the secondary picks up any co-pays or costs that the primary did not pay for. So, 3 test strips a day, leaves a $50 co-pay for us, which the secondary was picking up. They refused to pick up the $50 co-pay for 4-6 strips per day. It didn’t cost them any more, but they still denied it. Now they are back to saying that they will only cover the 102 every 90  days. We tried to explain that he is type 1, because the 102/90 is what they pay for type 2, while they do 102/30 for type 1, but somehow it’s not getting through. I just need the darn test strips, ok?

We have started the process to get an insulin pump for my husband. This should be helpful in managing his diabetes, if the stress of the process doesn’t kill him first. We met with the doctor, who sent  the information to the pump supply, who contacted insurance. Insurance will not consider paying for the device until he does a blood test that shows the level of c-peptides in his body. A Type 1 diabetic has low or no c-peptides, while a type 2 could have normal peptides. From my research, it seems that they would require a person with normal or high peptides to control their diabetes through diet and exercise. Since my husband is type 1, this is  not going to happen. 45 years of medical records seem to make little difference.

There are two requirements for the test:

• fasting after midnight
• blood sugar below 150

The first night, I woke up shortly before midnight and checked his blood sugar. It was 82, so I had him drink some chocolate milk. I woke up again at 3, and it was 62, so he had more chocolate milk. He could not do the test because he was no longer “fasting after midnight”. Last night, I checked him at midnight and he was a little on the high side, so I woke him up and had him take a shot. He was still too high this morning for the test, so we will have another go at it tonight.

It’s really frustrating that I know other diabetics who have taken this test, but they were not required to have a blood sugar under 150. Generally, he is under 180 in the morning, but it is rare that he is under 150. Even if he was under 150, there is no guarantee that it won’t go up between  here and the doctor’s office and waiting to be called in for the lab. Or, it could go the opposite way, he could be under 150, but drop rapidly because he has been fasting since midnight.

We will do this. WE WILL. I am flabbergasted at the amount of frustration that a insurance company is willing to cause a diabetic. He wants a pump to have better control over his diabetes. He wants a pump to have more normal blood sugars. Making my husband meet a list of requirements, although short, makes him feel like a failure when he doesn’t meet them.

We would love your prayers for better results tonight. If he could get this part out of the way, I know he will feel victorious.

Hi, Hi, Hi

Or high, high, high, Whatever the case may be.

Chad had a doctor appointment yesterday. He got a cortisone shot in his hip, because he had what presented itself to be bursitis. His blood sugars have been pretty good, but after the appointment, he had a tough time keeping it below 300. It was fine at lunch, then skyrocketed after that. We could say it might be what he had for lunch, but it was left over dinner, so who knows. He was thinking it might be the cortisone shot.

Last night he took about 20 units of insulin to compensate for the high blood sugar and the birthday cupcakes we had for our 10 year old. This is way more than he usually takes, so I got up at 2AM to test his blood sugar. It had dropped a little, but it sky rocketed again this morning, and was still high near lunch time. He called his doctor and they said “Don’t eat carbs and go for a walk”. He texted me along with a “WTF” for emphasis and I said “Well,  that sounds like a pretty good plan, actually”. So he ditched the left over lasagna from his lunch, but ate everything else. He texted a bit ago and said his blood sugar was 160-something. So that stinky old doctor’s advice must’ve worked.

I told him to be patient and ride it out, because panicking creates the yo-yo affect, Sky rocket, plummet, over compensate, repeat steps, which is just frustrating. You really do have to be patient  with diabetes (when it’s not an emergency, OMG get the Glucagon situation). It’s hard to ride it out though, because we’re human and we want things to be better five minutes ago.

The good news is that his A1C is down to 6.8%! His doctor was impressed with his A1C and cholesterol numbers. His kidney function has declined a bit in the past year. I really wish they would give more information than just “kidney function is declining”. WHAT DOES THAT MEAN? I’m assuming that if it was  an emergency, they would say more?

And the pump lady called to set up an appointment. We are one step closer to pumping that man up. 🙂

We Are Making Progress!

I know it’s been a little quiet around here. First my husband went out of town and I found myself with a lot of free time! The night he left, I started painting the bathroom. I’ve been meaning to for a long, long time. We’ve lived in this house for a whole lot of years. It’s been painted once. It was time..

Speaking of my husband being out of town. He survived. Hurray! To ease my mind, he tested his blood sugar at 1:00AM and texted the results to me. This way he wasn’t going 8 hours without testing his blood sugars. They did run a little high during the week, but we attributed that to all the eating out. The first night, his dinner was 90 carbs! 90!!!

So, he’s home and all is well. Yay. 🙂

We went to a new endocrinologist yesterday. I really, really liked her. I have been to the same clinic with my father, but a different doctor and I don’t really care for her. His doctor discredits a lot of what I say and doesn’t listen to me. My husband’s doctor was good about listening to both of us, answering our questions, giving advice, etc. She told us that diabetes is NOT an exact science and that there isn’t a one size fits all approach to it. I told her that we often feel like failures when his blood sugar is too high or too low. I prefer when it’s just right, but she told us that it’s really hard to hit that magic number. She was impressed with his A1C, which is interesting, because his general doctor is constantly telling us he needs to get it down. His endocrinologist said that a lot of times when the A1C is in the ideal ranges, it comes with the risk of low blood sugars. So he was looking good!

She put in a referral to the nutritionist who is also in charge of all things insulin pump related. She feels that he is an ideal candidate for it. Even with all the research I have done, I didn’t realize that he wouldn’t need to take his long acting insulin anymore! I know that pumps can be expensive, but I am hopeful that with double insurance coverage, they will cover a good portion of it.

So now we wait for his referral to go through. I am so excited about the process and next steps. His endocrinologist feels that he could be outfitted with a pump within the next 6 weeks. So exciting!

Have You Tried Essential Oils?

Ahem. I might step on a few toes today. That is not my intent, but sometimes the suggestions given to my husband are crazy, even if they are well intentioned. Nobody likes to see a friend or a loved one suffer from a disease that *might* be cured or managed. My husband has heard some zingers. These are a few of the suggestions he has heard from others regarding his diabetes and the reason(s) why he is not/ has not/ will not try(ing) them.

1. Have you tried essential oils? No. His doctor doesn’t really recommend essential oils has a viable method of controlling his diabetes.

2. I heard that okra in water will cure diabetes. No. I think if this worked, we would all know about it and there would be an okra shortage. (Source: http://www.diabetesdaily.com/blog/2014/03/why-okra-will-not-cure-your-diabetes/)

3. If you just had more faith, your diabetes would be cured. Do I believe that God COULD cure diabetes? Yes, but so far He hasn’t. My husband said that he was approached at a family wedding by an aunt who thought she could cure him with her faith. This many years later, he’s still diabetic. This has become an inside joke for us though. When his blood sugars are whacked, I tell him to get “in the word”. I’ve heard it’s a cure for all that ails ya. (Don’t hate us, we’re believers. We also think we are funny)

4. Medifast.  I can’t tell you how many times Medifast has been recommended for my husband for weight loss and diabetes control. I have seen Medifast work wonders for some people. I am not discounting that it’s a great product for some people; however when we looked into it we were told that my husband needed to check with his health care provider before starting this program. In fact, straight from here is this: If you have type 1 diabetes, it is essential to discuss Medifast with your health care provider or diabetes specialist before you start any of our plans for weight loss. He has been seeing the same doctor for 15 years. He has a good relationship with him. He asked him about Medifast. His doctor said that he did not think this was a good option for my husband. Rather than leave the people hanging that had recommended this to us, I politely informed them that his doctor did not recommend this route. These were the responses:

• “What? Really? I have never had a doctor say no before” (There’s a first time for everything?)
• “He obviously doesn’t understand what it is. Let me give you information to take with you next time. In fact, do you want me to come with you?” (no)
• “That’s weird. Our doctor said it was okay for my diabetes.” (ok)
• “Why would he say no? That doesn’t even make sense!” (none of your business)
• “If his doctor said no, he has a good reason. Honestly, I sell it and wouldn’t recommend it for your husband.” (smile)

5. What about an insulin pump? Yes. Yes. Yes! We have looked into this before, but at the time, the cost was prohibitive. Now my husband has double coverage. I just checked his benefits and BOTH insurances cover the insulin pump! He has had some major medical expenses in the past two years and our out of pocket costs have been minimal. It looks like this will be the case for the pump. He has an appointment with his doctor soon and we will be asking about this again!

Did I step on your toes? I hope not, but when you are a diabetic (I am not) you have heard it all…. for the most part. To keep our patience, we try to remember that people are just trying to help because they care. It’s actually the people who are offended that we are not taking their suggestion that test our patience. We have learned to say “Thank you” rather than give the reason why what they said will not work for him. If you are diabetic, what are some helpful/ unhelpful things you have heard to cure or manage your diabetes? 

ETA: Out of all these things, the only one he has tried is prayer, although he isn’t praying that he’s cured. He’s praying that he manages well. So he can’t say without a doubt that none of these will work to manage his diabetes. 🙂

P.S. in an earlier post I talked about how my husband’s insurance only wanted to cover 100 test strips a month. We talked to a different pharmacist the last time we filled his test strips and she knew the work around/ coding needed for insurance. They just needed to know that he had a condition that required the test strips, because people like to fake diabetes, you know.