Day 3 Silent Illness

If you haven't checked it out yet, hop on over to the Diabetes 365 Flickr group.
You can't see my pictures unless you are signed in, I think this is because I am under 18. So I will post them here too.

Diabetes is a completely silent disease. There are few physical signs that a person is diabetic. Unless you witness us take an injection, spot our pumps, check our glucose, or are told that a person is diabetic, you would probably never notice. I think diabetics notice the little impacts that daily care takes on their bodies physically. For me I notice the multiple tiny scabs that have created callouses on the tips of my middle and ring fingers from daily glucose checks. From the top of my hand you wouldn't know, but turn them over and there is a sign. A sign that I am a diabetic, and that in order to care for myself I must check my blood glucose anywhere from 8 to 12 times a day.
There is no cure for diabetes. Yet.

P.S. Have you seen the new limited addition Animas pump!? I will not spoil it by posting a picture, but seriously I want one!

Happy Birthday Élise!

Élise is my big sister for those of you who don't know. Today she is turning 23. She asked me if I was going to write a post about her today. Like the one I wrote for my mom on her birthday. The thing is it never crossed my mind, I never really thought of her involvement with my diabetes the same way as my mom's. From what I can remember, she wasn't really involved in the beginning. I know she was there, but she was 11 when I was diagnosed. So I don't think she participated in the daily ins and outs. My memories of her involvement are vague. I remember she was at the hospital in her school uniform everyday after school. I know it must have been hard to witness my wild reactions to the shots when we came home. I can't even imagine how crazy I must have seemed or how scary it must have been. Once recently she mentioned to me that she was jealous of how much attention I received when I was younger. I don't blame her, I think it would suck to be the sibling of a diabetic kid. Diabetes is a selfish disease that can take away alot from the other members of the family. For our extended family type 1 diabetes was so novel, and I am sure Élise was left in the background for many years because of this. Eventually Élise became the only other person besides my mom, I would let give me shots. But it hasn't been until recently that I have even talked to her about diabetes regularly. She helped me through choosing a pump, read the booklets, looked at the pictures, and even explained to my mom why it had to be the Cozmo not the Animas. We have grown up so much over the years, and gone through many trying times together. I can't imagine any of this without her though, even if I don't remember the beginning. I love you Élise! HAPPY BIRTHDAY!

Ps. If you are lurking, de-lurk. I cannot get the little button to work so if you want to see it go here.

Comments Galore!

So instead of going to every individual site and saying thank you to everyone multiple times for each comment, when I start slacking I will just have a post dedicated to thanking the devoted readers out there! So here goes....

THANK YOU!

Albert (twice)
Cara (thrice )
Shannon (twice)
Penny (thrice)
Donna
Christine-Megan
Chrissie
Scott (twice)
Travis
Allison
Jeff

Now to actually address some of them...
Yes, my mom is pretty amazing to put up with me on a daily basis, diabetes wise or just because I am a teenager. I'll tell her you guys said happy birthday. And she did read the post, Cara.
Penny, sorry I made you cry! To Shannon & Penny: Hopefully some day Riley & Brendon will be able to express what your love and care has meant to them.
Thanks to all for the Diaversary comments, I am no where near the perfect and always compliant diabetic, but I've made it this far. I also want everyone to know that I came to the OC at a time when I felt like giving up, but I have learned and grown so much, reading the posts and comments from all of you!
To Scott, Dr. Infamous is not getting anything from the companies. Trust me he hates the drug and pump reps more than most doctors, he refuses anything from them when they come except for an iced coffee. Even though I'm sure many of them would try to buy him way more.
And to everyone, I'm going with the Cozmo. After lengthy discussions, comparisons, website tours, talking to the reps. I can not let the fact that I like the look of one over the other, out weigh rhe medical advantages. I need the 300 unit cartridge, the pump is supposed to be a way to free yourself from some of the constant(ness) of diabetes. With the Animas, it would all become about timing and waiting for that one and a half day mark when my cartridge would run out. Potentially leading to more sleepless nights and more anxiety than I already experience. Mom faxed the papers in this morning so now we wait. Until then I'll be watching all the videos on the Cozmo site.

Decisions, Decisions!

Fun birthday! Lunch with the parentals, test drove some cars! Well okay I wasn't driving them, my dad was...but whatever. Looks like when the time comes I will be getting a Scion xB, you know the little box car you see scooting down the road, dream car number two. The first dream is a Mini Cooper, but that is out of the price range. So we get home from a wonderful dinner, and there are a few birthday messages on the answering machine. Along with one from the good old Infamous Endo, "Hi this is Dr. Infamous, I just wanted to make sure you really want to go with the Animas, okay thanks call me back so we can talk about it!" Okay Dr. Infamous, you have already planted seeds of doubt about my Animas dreams, I sent you the paper work to make sure... And then you call. So okay fine fine. I look it all over again. Go to the websites, look at the comparison chart. Fine tomorrow we will send in the Cozmo one, to tell you the truth I only didn't want it because I wanted the color screen of the Animas. But it is stupid not to go with a pump that basically will do the same things for me, covers my major concerns (waterproof, luer-lock, 300 units). So what is this change of heart number 45!? Well I guess with age comes wisdom! Cozmo it is!

PS. Thanks to everyone who wished me a happy birthday it means alot. I haven't been returning comments, but I will get to everyone individually! Good Night!

Quick Update!

Sorry, I drifted off for a bit. Planning a birthday party, researching insulin pumps, waiting for CGMS results, doing school work, and cleaning have kept me very busy!

The results are in NO dawn phenomenon. They saw a slight spike in my morning numbers, but not enough to call it dawn phenomenon. The CGMS also indicated that I could use some tweaking with my insulin to carb ratio around dinner (or when I start pumping my basal rate). My doctor is concerned that there will be some sort of problem with insurance coverage if I go with the Animas 2020. He thinks that since I might be taking close to 100 units a day (based on the amount of insulin I am taking now) that the insurance won't want to cover the fact that I will have to change reservoirs and infusion sets basically every 1.5-2 days. He says that the Animas will have about 180 units after it is primed, compared to the OmniPod which will take less units to prime from its original 200. The thing is I can't see how a less than 20 unit difference will matter that much. No matter what, I will not make it to the third day. Unless by some crazy miracle my insulin needs change dramatically with a pump, which I am not counting on. Any opinions? Am I missing something here? I think I will email the Animas rep we are in contact with to see what she thinks about it all.

This is going to be a busy week for me, Wednesday is my 16th birthday, Friday is my 11th DiaVersary, Saturday is my Sweet 16 Party and also my mom's birthday. I'll be back at some point during the week with something to say. Wishing a great week all!

Jilly Jill and the Pumpy Bunch

(You will understand the title by the end of the post.)

So it’s just after 3 am. What am I doing awake you may be asking yourself. Unfortunately my seasonal allergies have kicked in and I am all stuffed up so sleeping is just not working out. Plus, I woke up at about 1 am checked in at a falling 84. So I ate a few lifesavers just to bring it up a touch, and to prevent sleeping through the inevitable low I felt coming on.
Anyway so my mind started turning as it does when I have nothing to do with myself, and what did topic did my brain decide was right for the wee hours of the morning? Pumps. What else is new? Lately if it’s not my Sweet 16 Party, it’s Diabetor knocking on the door of my brain. So what am I thinking you might ask? Which pump of course! Animas or Omnipod.
The only reason that the OmniPod is even back in the running is because my doctor suggested investigating them, and having the reps do the insurance leg work just to see what kind of coverage we could get. In the beginning I was all Omnipod all the time. NO TUBES! HECK YES! Insurance shot down our inquiries so I decided what the heck traditional pumps I could do it. My research took me to every pump possible, even ones not available in the US. After reviewing each pump pretty thoroughly, Animas was the front runner. It has what I want features wise, I like the OneTouch meter is works with, its waterproof (Yes, I know it can still flood if it has a tiny crack, but that’s what the warranty is for), I like the loaner program, the customer service has been excellent and I am not even a pumper yet. And to tell you the truth I like the look of it, and if I am going to have to live with it for the next 4 years I think that’s kind of a big deal.
As I rolled around in bed trying to fall back asleep, I thought hey I have this CGMS thing attached and I barely notice the site. I can sleep on it, without feeling it at all. Could I do that with an OmniPod? I kind of doubt that I wouldn’t notice I was laying on about a half egg sized piece of hard plastic. You can’t see the site under my clothes (for the CGMS and I am assuming it would be the same for an infusion site), so what if the wire/tubing hangs loose? With an OmniPod will you see it? Probably. I mean come on I am a teenager, I do not want some weird blob sticking out on my already somewhat pudgy stomach. Another thing I like about the infusion site with tubing is that I could move around the actual pump. Pocket, waistband, thigh thing, you name it, the pump moves! OmniPod not so much, I don’t think that makes diabetes a “smaller part of life”, I know myself it would make me so annoyed and self conscious. I also think it’s a bit wasteful? Little batteries, a crap load of plastic, and probably some insulin goes in the trash with each pod. Now I am not knocking anyone who has the OmniPod or who will choose it. But I know now that it isn’t right for me. Oh and I forgot to mention the fact that it will be extremely sad that I won't be going with OmniPod, because I really love to call and listen to the reps with Boston accents. Yeah I know weird. Blame it on Mark Wahlberg.

So if I don’t get anything else out of the CGMS study, I know I can be attached and be comfortable. Back to bed!

It's all in the numbers...

First number.

8.2 that's my latest A1c. Down from 10.5! I guess I'll have to go change that on my tudiabetes page. I was congratulated and complimented by the IE. I knew he had a heart, and he said that basically he wanted me to work my butt off so he could feel confident in putting me on a pump. Makes sense, but still it made me dislike him for awhile.

Next Number.

3 or maybe 4, number of days I will be on the CGMS system. Here is the story. First I had my appointment with the IE, we talked shop. Pumps (OmniPod or Animas), A1c, a lipids panel I could "sell on ebay". Then my mom and I left to have lunch. Went back to the office, met another diabetic boy who was a year older than me and was going on the CGMS because he hasn't been waking up during night time lows. We did a little tutorial together. I made him go first, then I went and almost passed out. I am a "passer-outer", everything and anything I get lightheaded. I think it was more the nervousness than pain or anything caused by the actual sensor. I would explain the insertion as maybe a finger prick to the surface of your stomach. A little sting that stays with you for a couple of minutes and then its gone. The tape is worse than anything. It feels all pinchy.

The process went like this, insertion,review removal, start the one hour warm up. I got home the warm up timer went off, I was supposed to calibrate. I washed and alcohol swabbed my finger got a reading, entered it. And got a CAL ERR message, I went through the clearing and re-entering process. CAL ERR again this happened 3 times, I called the help line. The guy told me to wait awhile because continuing to re-enter could cause the sensor to fail. So I waited a bit, and did it again. The rep would inserted it said after every error clear you should check and re-enter but that contradicts what the guy on the helpline said! Ugh! So I just called again and had a more helpful person. She said to just turn it off for 3 hours to get the sensor completely saturated with body fluids (um okay?), then try again. So much for this being an easy process.

Here are some pictures:

The Monitor Shower "Paks"

< Sensor and ridiculous amount of tape.

Where was I?

So here is an update, I have no idea what I discussed last.



We have called the IE twice since receiving the email about the CGM study. No returned phone calls. IE get your self together man. No worries though I have an appointment on the 5th so if the calls haven't been returned by then... Well let's just say my very protective and advocating mother will be making sure our unhappiness is known. Speaking of getting ready for the appointment I have been in contact with our assigned rep at Animas just to keep her up to date on the goings on or lack there of. I have finished reading Insulin Pumping Demystified, and am now onto Pumping Insulin. I also had blood drawn today, not my favorite experience. I was the kid who cried, threw up, ran around the office, or did anything possible to avoid that chair of terror. Now I am just the teenager who as soon as she walks into that little white room, the phlebotomists immediately asks if I am nervous or if I have a tendency to pass out? The answer to both of those questions is YES! But thankfully I didn't pass out today.



I have been having problems lately with the pen top needles on my insulin pens. I will try to explain this to the best of my ability. I dial up the units on the bottom, stick the needle in my skin, press the "trigger" down, a few units go in, and then it jams! At first I thought it was that there was something under the surface of my skin I was hitting and was blocking the needle tip. Then I took the needle out tried a new site and the trigger still would not budge. Put on a new tip and repeat the process everything goes okay. But this has happened a few times and it is extremely frustrating.

Hey! You can now vote for a new Ultra Mini color and enter a sweepstakes (if you are over 18) to win one of 10,000 Ultra Mini and for 100 special people an iPod Nano.


P.S. Kevin at Parenthetic (Diabetic) is back. I just "lurk" over there, and never leave comments. Maybe now I will.