Well, our insurance issues are not over. A short time ago, we thought we had the insurance issues all figured out, but we did not. Now, insurance is refusing to pay for ANYTHING until everything is straightened out. No insulin, no test strips, nothing. I am on my last bottle of test strips right now because the pharmacy refused to fill the full number last time, claiming insurance refused to pay for more. (We checked, they didn't decline) So I am on pins and needles waiting to hear. Everyone we talk to says they know other people have been in our situation, but no one knows how to fix it. We were trying to do the honest, right thing, and it is now getting us screwed over. I HATE INSURANCE COMPANIES!!! Apparently they would rather have to go the ER (which they will pay for) than pay for my test strips and insulin that prevents me from going there. Grrrrrr.
*Update* I think we have a temporary solution for now. We might have to pay for the prescription up front (ouch!) but insurance #1 will reimburse us 80%. So I will be able to get supplies. Hopefully. I am going this afternoon to try it. Meanwhile, person at insurance company #1 is talking to #2 and hopefully it will get straightened out. Thanks so much for the generous offer of supplies. It looks I will be able to get through, even if it will be expensive.
Wednesday, April 26, 2006
Sunday, April 23, 2006
I. hate. being. sick.
I hate it.
I have all of this crap in my lungs. I hate it. Luckily, it haven't been too nauseous. I've been able to eat OK, and drink OK. My numbers have been...decent, but a little on the high side. No ketones though. I plan on going to the health clinic tomorrow. Blah. I am going to go take ANOTHER nap.
*Update* I spoke too soon. My numbers are crap. And you know that lack of nausea? Yeah, that's no longer true. Thank goodness for temp basals. I am now running at 125%, but I don't know if I want to leave that for tonight. I have been sleeping so heavily that my roommate had music on and was talking and laughing with another girl (they didn't know I was sleeping) and I didn't hear them. So which is the lesser of the 2 evils, running in the 200's all night, or risk going low? I'll probably just let the temp basal expire and sleep without it tonight.
I hate it.
I have all of this crap in my lungs. I hate it. Luckily, it haven't been too nauseous. I've been able to eat OK, and drink OK. My numbers have been...decent, but a little on the high side. No ketones though. I plan on going to the health clinic tomorrow. Blah. I am going to go take ANOTHER nap.
*Update* I spoke too soon. My numbers are crap. And you know that lack of nausea? Yeah, that's no longer true. Thank goodness for temp basals. I am now running at 125%, but I don't know if I want to leave that for tonight. I have been sleeping so heavily that my roommate had music on and was talking and laughing with another girl (they didn't know I was sleeping) and I didn't hear them. So which is the lesser of the 2 evils, running in the 200's all night, or risk going low? I'll probably just let the temp basal expire and sleep without it tonight.
Wednesday, April 19, 2006
The decision....kind of
Since Kerri is worried about me, and I need a break from studying, I thought I would continue the previous post. So, if you haven't read the one below, go do so.
I decided to put another site in. I found a spot on my stomach that looked good, so I got everything ready, and put it in. It did hurt a little, but nothing horrible. I started to pick up the stuff from the site change, and my arm brushed up against the site. I looked down and my arm had a large line of blood on it. WHAT THE HECK???? So, I look at the site, and sure enough, it was bleeding. I use the quickset, and not only was blood going up the tubing, it was coming out of the hole in the middle too. I have never EVER seen anything like that. It was SO GROSS! I grabbed a huge stack of kleenex and pulled the site out. I soaked through 2 folded tissues before it stopped. I sure knicked a good vein or something!
After that, I was frustrated and (excuse my language) somewhat pissed off. I haven't had a site last more than 2 days in the last couple of site changes. So I dialed up a dose of levemir, gave a correction of humalog and stuck my pump in the drawer. It bought me some time to relax and cool down. I will probably put in a site later tonight, or early tomorrow morning, but after 2 painful sites, I just couldn't handle another one.
Now, as for the previous question about lows rebounding into highs. I woke up several mornings in a row in the mid to high 70's. I usually treat numbers in the 70's, because it usually means I'm dropping. I was curious to know if I could be running that low, or lower during the night. But that trend has stopped, and I did do some random middle of the night checks. My basal does drop me 50-100 points over night, but so far that has been beneficial. I am usually on the high side when I go to bed, so the basal is helping me wake up at wonderful numbers at around 80-100. I was having a WONDERFUL streak of numbers. It was BEAUTIFUL. I would wake up in range, and not go low or above 180 the whole day. I was in diabetic heaven. Then it ended. 2 things changed on that day: I changed my site and finished my antibiotic. I suspect the antibiotic, but could it really do that? If it did, I want it back!!
In other news, life has been going at an astounding pace. I will be done with my freshman year of college in 3 weeks. I can't believe it went by so fast. It is crunch time in classes, trying to get everything done before the semester is over. On top of that, there has been a lot of emotional stresses. Last Monday night, my good friend had a grand mal seizure in front of me. I'm really glad I was there. I was able to call 911 and talk her through it and calm her afterwards, but it was very scary. It furthered the impression that I NEVER want to have a seizure. I have been wearing my medic alert bracelet almost 24/7. I realized I didn't have it one when I went to the ER with her, and that scared me. I have been one of several girls sleeping in her room at night. She does not have a room mate. So after that, and getting no sleep after spending the night in the ER, I have been helping her recover and going to her to the neurologist, etc. Last night, my room mate broke out into hives. Huge, rapidly spreading hives. You could literally watch them grow. It was quite alarming. In half an hour it went from a mosquito looking bite to covering both arms. SO, I spend another night in the ER. Whew! I get tried just typing it. So, needless to say, I am a little sick of the ER. This post is now very long, very rambling and very grammatically poor, but I don't really care. I'm tired, and it is all off my chest!
*Update* I put in another site this morning. In my arm. I didn't want to do one there, since the weather is so nice, but my stomach is looking a little beat up. I set a temporary rate of 25% until the levemir is out of my system. I guess it needs to be higher, because I haven't been below 200 all day. I am currently sitting at 200, but I can't correct because of the stupid insulin on board. I am refraining from just bolusing the crap out of that 200. I am looking forward to better numbers tomorrow when my stress level will be lower, I will have a full night of sleep (Lord willing) and no levemir in my system to mess things up.
I decided to put another site in. I found a spot on my stomach that looked good, so I got everything ready, and put it in. It did hurt a little, but nothing horrible. I started to pick up the stuff from the site change, and my arm brushed up against the site. I looked down and my arm had a large line of blood on it. WHAT THE HECK???? So, I look at the site, and sure enough, it was bleeding. I use the quickset, and not only was blood going up the tubing, it was coming out of the hole in the middle too. I have never EVER seen anything like that. It was SO GROSS! I grabbed a huge stack of kleenex and pulled the site out. I soaked through 2 folded tissues before it stopped. I sure knicked a good vein or something!
After that, I was frustrated and (excuse my language) somewhat pissed off. I haven't had a site last more than 2 days in the last couple of site changes. So I dialed up a dose of levemir, gave a correction of humalog and stuck my pump in the drawer. It bought me some time to relax and cool down. I will probably put in a site later tonight, or early tomorrow morning, but after 2 painful sites, I just couldn't handle another one.
Now, as for the previous question about lows rebounding into highs. I woke up several mornings in a row in the mid to high 70's. I usually treat numbers in the 70's, because it usually means I'm dropping. I was curious to know if I could be running that low, or lower during the night. But that trend has stopped, and I did do some random middle of the night checks. My basal does drop me 50-100 points over night, but so far that has been beneficial. I am usually on the high side when I go to bed, so the basal is helping me wake up at wonderful numbers at around 80-100. I was having a WONDERFUL streak of numbers. It was BEAUTIFUL. I would wake up in range, and not go low or above 180 the whole day. I was in diabetic heaven. Then it ended. 2 things changed on that day: I changed my site and finished my antibiotic. I suspect the antibiotic, but could it really do that? If it did, I want it back!!
In other news, life has been going at an astounding pace. I will be done with my freshman year of college in 3 weeks. I can't believe it went by so fast. It is crunch time in classes, trying to get everything done before the semester is over. On top of that, there has been a lot of emotional stresses. Last Monday night, my good friend had a grand mal seizure in front of me. I'm really glad I was there. I was able to call 911 and talk her through it and calm her afterwards, but it was very scary. It furthered the impression that I NEVER want to have a seizure. I have been wearing my medic alert bracelet almost 24/7. I realized I didn't have it one when I went to the ER with her, and that scared me. I have been one of several girls sleeping in her room at night. She does not have a room mate. So after that, and getting no sleep after spending the night in the ER, I have been helping her recover and going to her to the neurologist, etc. Last night, my room mate broke out into hives. Huge, rapidly spreading hives. You could literally watch them grow. It was quite alarming. In half an hour it went from a mosquito looking bite to covering both arms. SO, I spend another night in the ER. Whew! I get tried just typing it. So, needless to say, I am a little sick of the ER. This post is now very long, very rambling and very grammatically poor, but I don't really care. I'm tired, and it is all off my chest!
*Update* I put in another site this morning. In my arm. I didn't want to do one there, since the weather is so nice, but my stomach is looking a little beat up. I set a temporary rate of 25% until the levemir is out of my system. I guess it needs to be higher, because I haven't been below 200 all day. I am currently sitting at 200, but I can't correct because of the stupid insulin on board. I am refraining from just bolusing the crap out of that 200. I am looking forward to better numbers tomorrow when my stress level will be lower, I will have a full night of sleep (Lord willing) and no levemir in my system to mess things up.
eenie meenie miny moe
I am sitting here. Debating.
I tried a thigh site Monday. It was...OK. But I did try it. I hurt at first, then was OK. Then it started to hurt again last night. At dinner, it burned. Badly. So, I gave it and pulled it out. I bled a tiny bit, but not much. Now, I am not connected to anything. I don't want to put in a site. I don't want to take a shot. Not doing either is not an option. So? What do I do?
The decision and a lot of other things coming soon. It's been a wild ride lately.
I tried a thigh site Monday. It was...OK. But I did try it. I hurt at first, then was OK. Then it started to hurt again last night. At dinner, it burned. Badly. So, I gave it and pulled it out. I bled a tiny bit, but not much. Now, I am not connected to anything. I don't want to put in a site. I don't want to take a shot. Not doing either is not an option. So? What do I do?
The decision and a lot of other things coming soon. It's been a wild ride lately.
Friday, April 07, 2006
True or False?
If one has an untreated low in the middle of the night, they will rebound quite high by the next morning.
Sunday, April 02, 2006
A bunch of random things.
First of all, to all of you parents of kids that have diabetes amaze me. I read some of your blogs today, I think almost every single one brought tears to my eyes. You all are doing a great thing with your kid. They may be diabetic, but you are letting them be awesome, normal kids. (I'm one of the weird ones that prefers being called "diabetic" to saying that I have diabetes. Who knows why)
I did a site change in the middle of the day today, and it wasn't a site change day. I didn't have ketones, but I had been going progressively higher all day. I didn't eat breakfast, and I went from 174 at breakfast to 324 at lunch. That should have been my first clue, but I just corrected it and ate lunch. I didn't come down, but I didn't go sky high either. Finally at about 4 this afternoon I was 377 and I decided the site should go. So I took a shot (with a pen :-) )and pulled out the old site. WOW! I'm glad I didn't let it go 3 days. It is NASTY looking. I took a picture, but for your mental health, I'm keeping it to myself. I'm not sure yet if it is infected or just bruised. I'm keeping antibiotic cream (but no band-aids, stupid allergies) on it, and I'll check again in the morning. I've never had an infection before, so this should be interesting.
*EDIT* I do have an infection. I'm on Amoxicillin and Clavulanate V for 10 days. Not Keflex for me. I don't like looking all puffy and red. :-) Anyone have any good suggestions to make sure it goes away, stays away, and how to prevent another one?
In other news, I think we FINALLY got all my insurances stuff figured out. I have insurance through my parents, which covers 80% and the rest is supposed to be covered by a "crippled children's" health care plan. (I won't even get into the fact that they call it that.) Well we just found out that our pharmacy has been billing just this "crippled children's health care" and not my parents insurance. My parents insurance is stupid, and it requires that we pay for prescriptions up front, and then we mail them the bill, and they send us a check for 80% later. The pharmacy said they had something worked out, but apparently they are lying. So my asked around and she thinks she finally has something worked out. This is a relief. I was worried that when my secondary runs out when I turn 21, my parents insurance would pitch a fit at having to pay for all the stuff they haven't had to pay for in so long. But, hopefully it is all cleared up. Hurray!
Speaking of insurance....if you haven't sent a letter to your senator about s.1955, go do it NOW. My medical costs are 760 dollars a month, not including visits to the endo, blood tests, etc. That's a LOT of money. Let's face it, none of us could afford to pay for the best medical care if it came straight from our pocket. I am really bad at the whole HTML code thing, but if you go to
or
I think they both have the link.
Until Next time....
Jen (who has a BAD case of spring fever)
*EDIT* Blast. I can't even figure out how to do links on blogger! GRRR. I've wanted to put pictures up for a while now, but I just can't get them to show up in my profile or title. Anyway, those links should be : http://sixuntilme.blogspot.com and http://artistmom2two.blogspot.com
I did a site change in the middle of the day today, and it wasn't a site change day. I didn't have ketones, but I had been going progressively higher all day. I didn't eat breakfast, and I went from 174 at breakfast to 324 at lunch. That should have been my first clue, but I just corrected it and ate lunch. I didn't come down, but I didn't go sky high either. Finally at about 4 this afternoon I was 377 and I decided the site should go. So I took a shot (with a pen :-) )and pulled out the old site. WOW! I'm glad I didn't let it go 3 days. It is NASTY looking. I took a picture, but for your mental health, I'm keeping it to myself. I'm not sure yet if it is infected or just bruised. I'm keeping antibiotic cream (but no band-aids, stupid allergies) on it, and I'll check again in the morning. I've never had an infection before, so this should be interesting.
*EDIT* I do have an infection. I'm on Amoxicillin and Clavulanate V for 10 days. Not Keflex for me. I don't like looking all puffy and red. :-) Anyone have any good suggestions to make sure it goes away, stays away, and how to prevent another one?
In other news, I think we FINALLY got all my insurances stuff figured out. I have insurance through my parents, which covers 80% and the rest is supposed to be covered by a "crippled children's" health care plan. (I won't even get into the fact that they call it that.) Well we just found out that our pharmacy has been billing just this "crippled children's health care" and not my parents insurance. My parents insurance is stupid, and it requires that we pay for prescriptions up front, and then we mail them the bill, and they send us a check for 80% later. The pharmacy said they had something worked out, but apparently they are lying. So my asked around and she thinks she finally has something worked out. This is a relief. I was worried that when my secondary runs out when I turn 21, my parents insurance would pitch a fit at having to pay for all the stuff they haven't had to pay for in so long. But, hopefully it is all cleared up. Hurray!
Speaking of insurance....if you haven't sent a letter to your senator about s.1955, go do it NOW. My medical costs are 760 dollars a month, not including visits to the endo, blood tests, etc. That's a LOT of money. Let's face it, none of us could afford to pay for the best medical care if it came straight from our pocket. I am really bad at the whole HTML code thing, but if you go to
or
I think they both have the link.
Until Next time....
Jen (who has a BAD case of spring fever)
*EDIT* Blast. I can't even figure out how to do links on blogger! GRRR. I've wanted to put pictures up for a while now, but I just can't get them to show up in my profile or title. Anyway, those links should be : http://sixuntilme.blogspot.com and http://artistmom2two.blogspot.com
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