Impluse

I made an impulsive decision today. I an my endocrionologist appointment today. My A1c was 7.1%, which is good, but I don't feel like it fully reflects my control, and I've been trying and trying to break through that 7% barrier. As my endo is looking through my log sheets he asked if I had tried a CGMS. I said yes, and without thinking, I blirted out "Yes, and I want one." I had planned on going in and asking if they had a Dexcom for me to trial (they don't), and I walked out starting the process to fight for insurance approval. I made it clear that I don't have the time or the stamina in me to do a lot of fighting, but his office is putting together the paperwork for me, and submitting a claim for a Guardian. I'm a little shocked. I don't really expect to get approval, but it would be really cool if I did!

Whoa!

The Navigator has FINALLY been approved! I didn't think this day would ever get here! I'm very interested to see if it lives up to the hype or not.

Thanks to Diabetes Mine for the heads up!

Spring Break

Tomorrow, at 5pm, my Spring Break will begin. I am SO ready for a break. My head might explode from everything I have been cramming into it lately.
I'm heading to Kentucky for a mission trip. I've never done anything like it before, so I'm excited and nervous.
I hope we can make a difference in the area, and that we'll all get the mental rest we need.

CGMS, pumps and surgery, part 2

After waking up in the recovery room, I settled into my room for the night. Oddly enough, I was on a Women's health floor- I guess the hospital was really full. I had difficulty falling asleep, and just laid there staring into space for a while. My nurse was awesome. I checked my blood sugar using their meter (hospital policy that wasn't worth fighting) to confirm a blood sugar in the mid 200's. I corrected, and assumed I would come back down slowly. Boy, was I wrong. I rose steadily into the 400's where I stayed. No matter how much insulin I gave, I would not come down. So in addition to the pain from surgery, I now was dealing with the pain of a high. Needless to say, I didn't sleep much that night. Finally around 8am I asked them to page my endocrinologist, since I wasn't getting anywhere on my own. He had me inject a whopping 15 units and change my site- why I hadn't thought of that, I don't know. I had brought a spare site with me, just in case, so I put that in. And waited. An hour later, I was still in the 400's. I talked to my endo again, and he asked me if I thought the second site was bad. In the course of questioning, he found out I had used my own insulin, and not the hospitals. He got upset at the nurse at that point, and said he would be right over! The outpatient clinic is across the street from the hospital. He took a couple of sites and a new bottle of insulin over to me! After another shot of 15 units, I finally started to come back down. My nursing care after the night shift was frustrating. When my breakfast tray came, she was upset that I didn't want to eat anything. I was 400! I had large ketones! I was trying not to throw up all over the place, let alone think about food! Then she asked me how I felt. I replied that I felt gross. I cannot describe how I feel when I am really high other than that I feel gross. If there were other words, I would use them. She would not let it go, until finally I just rattled off the classic symptoms of a high to make her go away.
They would not release me until my blood sugars came down, but I had to leave before 10pm or I would have had to be readmitted. I didn't want that to happen because I had a feeling the diagnosis would have been something like DKA- which was not my fault. I did the best I could under the situations. My insulin needs stayed high for the next week or so, I was running my basals around 150%. I knew it was possible for insulin needs to run higher, but I underestimated how much it would affect ME.
The whole experience was quite eye opening. I saw things from the patient's perspective. Let me tell you, I think I'd prefer to be the one giving care. It's a whole lot less painful.