I’m off to see the Endo

Endo appointment on Friday. Appointment #3 with endo #4. I like her. I like her attitude.

I think I probably ruined any chances for a stellar A1c for this appointment but I’m not going to sweat it. Oh, and my idea of “stellar?” Around 7. That would make me happy. I’ve only had one A1c under 7 – and it wasn’t much under… (but you shoulda seen me doing my happy dance in the office parking lot!) I haven’t had any over 7.9 (I think), not even when I was diagnosed (at age 55). Weird…

Tonight’s chore – getting the Ping & Dexcom down (up?) loaded to the magic internet. (I’m still not happy that Diasend stopped doing the CGMs.) I called my PCP’s office a couple of weeks ago to have all my lab reports sent to the endo’s office AND, they sent me a set of copies so I think I’ve got that covered.

Nicest part of the day will be meeting Shannon Lewis for lunch! Two d-meetups in one month! That just doesn’t happen to me…

There are a few, very few, daffodils just coming up in my yard. Most of them were destroyed during our reconstruction but a couple were spared. Next fall? More daffodil planting!

Oh – “Ice Out” was declared this morning for Lake Winnipesaukee. Let Spring begin!

 

I need to…

With my PCP appointment last week, I finally got around to uploading my Ping and Dexcom to Diasend. Took some info with me to the appointment and let my Endo know that I’d done it.

The PCP appointment was great. All lab results are fine. A1c was up a tiny, tiny bit but her’s always reads a tiny, tiny bit above the Endo’s test. I’m not worrying about it. Did the foot check, had lost 2 pounds and BP was fine.

Later that day I received the nicest note from my Endo. (Oh, I have to send my messages to her through the Dartmouth-Hitchcock site – and noticed I could attach a jpg, so I sent her a photo. I’ve only had two appointments with her so… thought it might help.)

You always make me smile.
I really enjoy hearing from you.
I was able to view your ping upload – but not your Dexcom – I wonder why ???
However just based on the fact that you check quite often and very well – I think you have maintained a pretty steady blood sugar range (when you behave!!!!)
There are occasions when you do go high – but I am sure you figured this out yourself – there is no consistent pattern.
I would not recommend any changes.
I am glad you like the Dexcom. I think it is the best out there.
Lastly – you look beautiful in the picture.
Happy new year.
Please let me know if you need any refills – will be more than happy to help you.
Take good care….

Yup – she’s a keeper!

Back to the title. I need to upload the Ping stuff more often and look at it. It’s really simple to do, well – sort of… I have to unplug a printer usb from the front of the computer and then shove in the Ping usb. The computer is under a table next to the desk so it involves getting on the floor and if it’s night, I have to shine a light on the computer to see the stupid usb thing. But – as a friend says, “You Can Do This”

I also need to get back on the treadmill. I may have to dust it off, first…

And finally – a photo of the fam.

 

 

 

Wordless Wednesday

I just uploaded my Ping meter to Diasend.

Here’s a pic of the last month’s info.

The last week’s info isn’t that great. Oh well…

What a Great Endo Appointment!

I’m going to wait to title this (hope I don’t forget…).
I’m writing a post on a Friday night… but the night sounds are beautiful, the acorns keep falling and bouncing on the deck. It’s really quite nice…

Went to the endo today. Second appointment with Endo #4. I loved the first appointment and today, well, today was even better.

The office is a little over an hour away. It was a simply gorgeous day for driving down I93. Not much traffic as I was heading south and the sun was shining and I had the radio loud and since I was by myself, I could sing!

Arm is still paining so I also did some arm stretching since it’s my right arm and no one was in the passenger seat.

I cannot imagine what anyone thought if they saw this person with her arm stretched out and obviously talking/singing to no one. Oh well.

I’d done all the requested lab work back in June before my PCP appointment and just to be sure, had faxed everything to the endo’s office this week. Even called to make sure they got it.

I uploaded my Ping to Diasend (had some problems, called, had to wait for a call back when Christy politely reminded me that I had to suspend the pump before it would connect… I knew that. I just didn’t do that…) Incidentally, it uploaded much faster than it has in the past. Yay!

I let Dr. G know via email that my info was on Diasend and she let me know that she’d gotten it and was concerned about the lows the last couple of weeks. I’m calling it the Advil treatment.

So, the nurse, whom I hadn’t met, did the weight, BP and A1c. (The MA was out sick.) She’s also the CDE, was dx’d at 17, wears a Ping and a Dexcom. She came back in a few minutes with an orange sticky and I asked for the number. She gave it to me and I did a little cheer. I don’t like posting A1c’s but, today’s was the lowest since I was diagnosed back in 2005.

Dr. G. came in and we talked about the lows. She suggested I work with temporary basals more often to help. She sat next to me and basically said I’m doing great. She said she’s awed with my understanding of d and working with carbs, insulin and the pump.

AND I TOLD HER…
I wouldn’t be where I am today without the d-bloggers. I told her I don’t panic because someone else has already posted a similar situation. I SWAG because I’ve learned from some of the best. I choose what to eat because I’ve learned from some of the best. I thoroughly enjoyed a (small) piece of Key Lime pie yesterday because – you know… I told her about writing about my bent cannula and feeling stupid and that people commented (thank you!) and let me know I wasn’t stupid – that Karen said, “Diabetes is stupid!” She laughed. And then I told her about Meri, and the boys, and Ryan – and she got tears in her eyes. I told her I’ve not met most of these people but that I depend on them for support, hugs, advice.

Called M as soon as I got to the parking lot and just said the number – and he was appropriately congratulatory.

Did some shopping on the way back north. Went to Chili’s by myself and ate a cheeseburger and less than half of the fries!

And so, as I’ve said in the past, thank you to everyone who takes the time to write about their diabetes. It’s kept me sane – well, as sane as I can be these days…

Love you all!

“Oh, I never go low…”

“Oh, I never go low, well hardly ever.” Yup, that is exactly what I told the new endo earlier this month. Bite your tongue, girl. When will I learn to shut up? Although, it was my answer to her when she asked, “How do you treat your lows?”

That night I put in my first leg site and since then, I’ve had lows. Not terrible lows, like in the 50’s lows.

Yesterday, I went back to the stomach area for the inset. I wanted to find out if I needed to come up with a new basal program just for leg sites.

Nope, Dexcom (thank you Dexcom) woke me twice last night for lows. Again, not terrible, low 70’s, but not what I wanted to see at 3am in the morning. Tested! Swallowed the juice and went back to bed. I know I was doing ok as I’m now snipping the corner on the juice box and pouring it in a glass – this straw stuff is ridiculous. 6am, same thing again. This time I just gave up, got up and started the day with coffee. Normally I give myself a unit for coffee. I didn’t this morning and BG stayed around 80-90 until I ate some breakfast.

There have been a couple of other instances. This week I met M at the building store to look at doors. Checked Dexcom when I left work, fine. Checked Dexcom before leaving the door store, fine. Got home and it showed 60 something. (5 minute drive)

So – my exciting Sunday evening activity will be getting all my pump/meter stuff onto Diasend and letting Dr. G. (new endo) take a look. She’s emailed me twice with questions after I let her know how the leg site worked soooooo well.

Here’s Saturday evening’s Dexcom photo. (The blank part is where I restarted the sensor.)

Meanwhile (I don’t post every day so…), thanks for the ad info responses. I Google everything, usually. But didn’t Google my question that day… Today, I found this:
At WordPress.com, we sometimes display advertisements on your blog to help pay the bills. This keeps free features free!
We only run them in limited places, and we do not show ads to logged-in readers, which means only a very small percentage of your page views will actually contain ads.
To eliminate ads on your blog entirely, you can purchase the No-Ads Upgrade. The upgrade is especially attractive and useful to business blogs in order to eliminate any possibility of competitors’ ads displaying on their domains.
The No-Ads Upgrade costs $29.97 per blog, per year.

I’m not fond of armpit hot dog ads but – I have better places to spend $30. (copays?)

 

Great New Endo

Short post – it’s late, I’m tired, it’s been a long day.

New Endo Report – Wonderful!

She has personality. She’s smart. She went through my Diasend printout and thinks I’m doing great. We met for an hour and so far, I really like her!

A1c is the same from 3 months ago and she thinks that’s good.

I sang with the radio on the way home – sun was shining and life seems much better.

I was a total basket case about meeting with a new endo (see earlier posts), but for now, I’m good.

Oh – put in my very first, successful (so far…) leg site for the Ping tonight. No blood in it, yet…

Stuff

Well, I just didn’t know what to do with myself last night. Didn’t have to blog and so, you’d think I’d clean a bathroom or do something constructive. Nope, caught up on blog reading and blog commenting.

Also went over to BlogHer to see if there was a silly badge that would say to the world, “Yay! I did it!” There’s no badge… So you get to see the old badge from 2009.

Then, after determining that the WP theme of twentyeleven, which I really like, won’t let me show a sidebar on post pages, etc…, I switched it all back to twentyten.

I did, finally, upload my pump to Diasend. I like the charts and tables. I haven’t looked at my numbers since September when I saw my CDE. I used to constantly upload and look. Not so much anymore. I should probably get back to looking at them (the numbers) more often.

Today I was going to call Dexcom and whine about the sensor I have on right now. But, it must have “sensed” (hee, hee) that I was going to do that because it’s been perfect all day long. I put this one on last Thursday evening – yeah, right after the turkey, etc… I went ahead and did a restart this afternoon, so I’ll see how it goes… I know some people can keep one going forever but, I’m usually lucky to get two weeks out of one sensor. And yes, I do know we’re only supposed to use it for seven days. But – if it’s working well I really, really hate to start a new one.

We had lunch at the turkey restaurant today – the one where I’m pretty sure I didn’t get diet soda the week before Thanksgiving. I spoke with the hostess and she apologized but was pretty clueless. She did say that the bartender is very good about using diet when that’s what ordered. I then explained to her that if the wrong soda stuff was plugged into the diet nozzle, then it could be a problem, an annoying problem, as in “I have diabetes and getting a regular soda is not a good thing for me.” She’d never thought about that. I’m now drinking water or coffee when there. Numbers were great today after my lunch. Hmmm…

And finally… One of the nicest things about the d-bloggers is — most of you are younger than me. And… I find myself listening to music that you’ve posted and I wouldn’t ordinarily hear. We live in the boonies and just finding a clear radio station is a challenge. And a station that plays something other than classic oldies (I love classic oldies but even I get tired of Layla after a while) or elevator music is even more of a challenge. Today Allison posted a song and I really like it. In fact I’m going to go look for more by this artist.

Woo Hoo! Dexcom just requested its two readings. Right hand – 106. Left hand – 109. Husband’s comment, “Don’t you love it when two tests come together?”  If you aren’t sure what he’s talking about – click here. 🙂 And just call him Hannibal Smith!

Hi-lo, hi-lo, it’s off to the endo I go

Tomorrow’s appointment with the ARNP at the endo’s office is at 9:30am. I’m going to have to be out of the house by 7:45am at the latest. And because I’m one of those people who hates to be late, I’ll probably leave earlier.

And like every good d-person, I’ve spent the last hour downloading, uploading, whatever…

I’ve got the Dexcom numbers and they are somewhat overwhelming, so I’m going to ignore those.

I’ve got the Ping numbers and they don’t look so bad.

And yes, the office will take the Ping and probably the Dexcom (first appointment after starting it in July) and download it all but – I wanted to look at the numbers before the appointment.

I’m using the Diasend program for the Ping and it’s pretty cool. (WISH it would do the Dexcom, too.) Only issue is – when downloading, it just scoots right along until about 75% of the way… Then, it hangs there forever! Meanwhile, I have to make sure the Ping stays “on.” And so I keep pushing the light button (that cute little light bulb on the top) to make it stay on. And… then it sings Fur Elise and tells me that the pump is suspended and to confirm that – well, yeah, I suspended. (I do follow directions – when I read them…)

Meanwhile – the computers/printers cord situation is getting TOTALLY out of control! Neither printer was working and it turned out the cords were not plugged in (not my fault, I’m sure). One of these days we’re going to get organized but, not tonight…

So, I’m off to the endo’s to look at numbers (hi & lo), and more numbers. I flunked first semester freshman math in college – oh well…

The Dexcom cord…

The Ping cord…

Scooting right along during the upload…

The “stop here for awhile” point…

And after that… I’m going shopping – there is a mall!!!