Monday, February 27, 2012

ADA Expo

Yesterday I took the opportunity (amid all the moving) to go over to our local Expo center and attend the ADA  (American Diabetes Association) Expo.  I arrived pretty late in the day, I spent my morning packing and doing yard work on our house, so there were not very many people there.  I missed out on the speeches and demonstrations but was able to just browse the booths without the crowds.  

When I first got there I figured I had wasted my time even going because everything seemed so irrelevant.  They had lots of cookbooks, overpriced stuffed animals for sale, and diabetic shoes, and socks.  Who wants that stuff?  Well, I certainly did not.  I wanted to check out the new technology.  Look at the new pumps.  So, I wandered around a little trying to see what was there.



I accidentally ran into the Dexcom CGM booth and display.  Ah!  Now that's something worth looking at.  So I stopped, talked to the rep. for a while, and I was pretty amazed at how cool that thing is.  I've blogged about wearing the Mini Med CGM before.  I think the guy asked me if I had ever worn one before.  I told him I had and he knew it had to have been the Medtronic one.  I saw the insertion site of this CGM and was TOTALLY blown away.  I had NO IDEA those things had gotten so small!  My Medtronic CGM was so large and it really hurt sometimes.  By 7 days I had to rip that thing out!  Anyway, so he launches into an infomercial of all the great features of the Dexcom CGM.  It was pretty neat.  It all comes down to relevance for me though.  Do I really need one?  It would be great for control.  But, my control is pretty good already. I know that if I wanted to get pregnant again, I would get one for sure!  I don't really see that in my future though.

As I was wrapping it up, this young girl walks up.  She wears the CGM, and has an Omni Pod insulin pump.  Saddest thing of all, this girl is not at all excited about having diabetes.  And I don't know why anyone would be.  But I just felt bad that she seemed so bitter about it already and she couldn't have been more than 10 years old.  So I hear her dad say that he keeps hearing that "any day now" they're going to get the Dexcom and the pump communicating.  I thought that Dexcom had a pump, or was a pump.  So.  I set out to find the Omni Pod table.

I walked all the way around the ADA Expo floor like three times (it wasn't very big) before I finally found them.  Omni Pod was taking up just a corner of one table.  I couldn't believe how small their display was.  But, there was a crowd and I had to wait for quite a while to talk to the representative.  He asked if I had a quick question, "No, I have a lot of questions."  I responded.

The Expo closed at 4:00pm and I was at his booth probably at 3:45.  So he and his guys were packing up but he's the representative, so of course he's going to take the time to talk to an intelligent "potential buyer" such as myself.  This pump totally blew my mind.  The part where he showed me how the needle works is where I was SOLD on this pump.  So cool!  Omni Pod is really, for me, a total mind-shift.  I love that there is no tubing.  I love that the pump and the meter are controlled on the same device.  I love that it will soon be integrated with the CGM.  And, I love that it's totally water proof.

There were a few draw-backs for me.  First, it doesn't hold as much insulin as my Revel.  My Medtronic Revel holds 300mL of insulin.  The OmiPod only holds 200.  My body requires an average of 75 units per day of insulin so I'd go through that every 2.5 days, that would be annoying.  Second, I just got a new pump so my insurance won't cover a new one for a few more years.  And third, I'd really have to take some time to get used to the larger site.  They say they are decreasing the size of the pod, which is good.  But I'd really like to see it in a larger vial capacity too.  Having such a large pod would definitely take some adjustment.  At the same time though, NOT having to wear a pump on my belt every day could be pretty amazing.  Hey, I could maybe even wear a DRESS again!  Wow.

Anyway, I think that when my insurance is ready to cover a new pump, I'm going to do some more  research and most likely, I'll be switching to the newer and better technology.  Just way too cool!  Those are the kinds of things I CAN get excited about.

Sunday, February 12, 2012

365 Project


I'm doing a photography project this year.  I'm taking a photograph every day for a whole year.  So far, I've done really well at sticking to it.  Some days, I take multiple photos and some days I take none, but for the most part, I've been able to remember to take a picture, upload it, and post it.  I'm using 365project.org and I really like it.  I've also decided to use a list of photographs for the month of February.  In January, I just did my own thing.
Here are my pictures.  If you click on the picture below, you'll link to my "project".  I'm posting most of them to Instagram so if you have an account you can follow me: sugarfreesweety

Tuesday, February 7, 2012

adjusting to a new schedule

Keeping good control over diabetes means making frequent adjustments.  A friend of mine, and diabetes podcaster recently asked the question; "How often do you make changes to your basal rates?"  This questions means making adjustments to the amount of insulin your body receives throughout the day.  Basal rates are the amount of insulin your body requires at different times in a 24 hour period.  Each time I visit my Endochronologist, like I did about 2 weeks ago, we look at my blood sugars, analyze my A1c, and examine my basal rates.  Usually, we make some little adjustments.  My doctor has taught me that there needs to be a minimum of a 10% change in basal rate for an effect to take place.  I see my doctor every 3 months.  Occasionally we don't make any changes, most of the time however, we do.  I rarely make adjustments to my carbohydrate ratio (the amount of insulin I take for the amount of carbohydrates I consume) but in the beginning I made those changes more frequently.  I also made carb ratio changes when I was pregnant because EVERYTHING changes and gets really wacky when you're pregnant and diabetic.

Anyway, recently, my weekend schedule has changed.  I wouldn't say that it has changed dramatically but it has changed enough for me to notice a pattern of change- for the worse.  So, I've got to decide what I'm going to do to make some changes and adjust to this new change.

Each year, our church schedule changes.  We attend church for a three hour block of time.  Each "ward" or congregation, is assigned a different start time so that the buildings may be shared by more than one ward.  This year, its our turn to attend the 12:30-3:30 block.  AND I HATE IT!  I absolutely detest this schedule.  It's not good for me, and it's not good for anyone else in my family.  Last year we were lucky enough to attend the 9-12 block.  Yeah, it's nice to sleep in on Sundays but I'd much rather be finished with church by noon.  Also, when do you eat?  Either you sleep in and eat a big, late breakfast; or you wake up early and eat two small meals before attending church.  This is what has been really whacking out my blood sugars.  In the 5 weeks we've attended church in 2012, I've had ONE Sunday where my sugars were under control.  The other weeks, I've had one issue or another.  I've been high, I've been low, I've been quickly rising and falling fast.  Ugh.  I cannot figure out this schedule.

Yesterday, it finally clicked that something had been off for five straight weeks, each and every Sunday.  Yesterday I took the day to sleep in.  I slept until 9:00 am like a total slob (for a mom) and didn't eat breakfast until 9:50am.  At that time, my blood sugar had dropped to 59.  I didn't even feel it.  I almost always feel lows. Not this one.  So I ate.  And I ate.  And I probably did eat too much.  And I didn't take any insulin.  So, 2 hours later, my sugar was like 280.  Then I got to take my naked and free shower (where you aren't wearing a pump site or sensor) and put in a new site after my shower.  I bolused and figured I'd come right on down.  Only no.  1 hour after my bolus I checked my sugar and it was 316.  I felt super dizzy.  And super thirsty.  And it just happened to be the first week of the month which means that everyone is fasting.  So I'm taking down at the water fountain when all the adults around me are fasting from food and drink, including water, for 24 hours.  Ugh.  But you do what you have to to take care of yourself, right?
Eventually my sugar came down and I spent the rest of the day fighting lows.  Which leads me to tomorrow's post.

So, let me get to the point here, I know I've got to make a change.  And I hope it will be an easy one.  I just need to wake up earlier.  No more enjoying the ONE BENEFIT of this stupid late schedule, I've got to get up at my regular time and eat breakfast at my regular time.  As for lunch, I don't know.  I think I'll just go for a little carbohydrate and protein combo snack before church and maybe another portion when I get home and then have dinner at the regular time.  That should do it.

I'll let you know how it goes.