DLIfe
I taped DLife since I was on the road yesterday, and watched it today. It is much improved. Much more relaxed and less frentic pace.
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I taped DLife since I was on the road yesterday, and watched it today. It is much improved. Much more relaxed and less frentic pace.
Diabetes Mine: Think Outside the (Test Strip) Box: DexCom and Me
I am seriously thinking of joining the Dexcom crown in August. It will be of course, out of pocket.
Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Points
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Monroe turned out good. Maggie took a first place in Open and a 3rd place in Excellent A.
Last year at Monroe, people asked me to take her away from the ring as she was snapping at their dogs and barking. This year, not one person asked me to do that.
Last year, she stuck her head in a hole in the hall and bellowed. This year she stayed with me. Also the hole had an access panel covering it.
She's been a bit of a wonder beagle for me. I really think I brought her out a season too early. Maggie is a rescue. She was "free to a good home", found on a chain with no house. She's had 8 puppies, beagles, thankfully, and her rescue family has all the puppies now. Of course, they are all adult dogs.
Her head is deformed, we think congential, as her puppies came out fine, she is both wry and has an overbite. She has very silky hair, not correct in a beagle which means she gets old very easy. We call her the sport beagle as she is built like a sports car, very long leggy and very skinny. She runs FAST. She yells a lot. A full bodied beagle bellow that pushes her backwards.
Marcie on the other hand was a lead balloon both days.
Got to see my niece and her fiancee on Saturday. Saw my mom and sister today.
The trip was worth while. I only forgot socks and a contact lens case. Both were easily obtainable. However, I ended up changing sites three times, but that is normal for dog agility.
So Maggie is now Maggie, OA, OAJ and has caught up with Marcie on Excellent A JWW legs.
Oh, and my husband the mailman had a cookie in the mailslot for her.
There are pictures of previous trials at http://www.kweaver.org/photos
Okay, here's what scares me the most. She doesn't remember the lows!
Three people watched her not move for more than 5 minutes. She says she was drinking her Dr. Pepper the whole time.
I am hoping I got to her today. We all kind of agreed last night if any one can reach her, I've got the best chance.
I tried.
I have a friend here in Monroe, at the agility trial who is a diabetic. And every year several agility friends and I meet her at a restaurant for dinner.
She absolutely scares the bejesus out of me, because at 3 different meals she has arrived at the restaurant low. Tonight was the absolute worse, and I honestly thought she was going into a seizure. She did not respond for 5 minutes didn't move, etc. The only reason I didn't force glucose gel down her throat was because she had already drank about 8 oz. of Dr. Pepper (the non-diet kind).
And yes, she drove herself to the restaurant.
I'm lucky. I can feel the low coming on. In fact, sometimes I feel like I'm low but I'm not (that happened this afternoon), but I always ALWAYS check when I feel that way.
She's a Type 1 and I do realize that most Type 1 spike from low to high quicker than I do. I also know that there is gylcemic unawareness going on, but can you PLEASE check your blood sugar and fix it before you get in the car?
Sorry, it makes me nuts.
I'm in Monroe, Louisiana for a dog agility trial. I have been half inclined not to come all week. Part of it is the 5 hour drive and the fact that they didn't finish today until just a few minutes ago -- I know because people who run in my class just showed up at the hotel.
Of course, they always get things going faster on Sunday, as every one is ready to go, especially since this is a 4 day trial.
When we run in Dallas, we go small to tall, more experienced dogs to less experienced in both class, and I'm usually done and out by 2:00 pm. This trial is large to small, and in one ring, they start with the less experienced dogs. Unfortunately both of my dogs are in the Excellent class, which puts us at the end of the day.
The drive wasn't bad. I've been listening to Wicked, the whole trip. I recently signed up for Audible books and while I don't listen much in town, it's nice for a long drive. So far, Wicked is an interested book. It's about the Wicked Witch of the West.
I also downloaded some inexpensive books that I had already read and liked, but years ago, in case I didn't like Wicked.
I really like my hotel room. It's a premium single and has a microwave and refrigator. I brought my food from Diet Gourmet, though I'm eating out every night. I also brought an extra vial of Symlin and an extra vial of Insulin. I'll put them in the small cooler on the way home.
Packing the new CPAP machine went well, and I brought all those pieces. So far, the only things I know I left were treats for the dogs and socks, so I'm hitting the Walmart across the street after dinner. Better than forgetting Syringes.
I think I'm going to get to see my niece tomorrow morning, and my sister and mom are thinking of coming Sunday. They all live in Brandon Mississippi. Niece is visiting her father in Shreveport this weekend, and since Monroe is on the way, and the trial site is right on the highway, she hasn't got an excuse not to drop by and visit. I'll get to meet her fiancee this way too.
Husband is at home, he doesn't do dog shows.
Whenever I start a new semester or have a major schedule change, I've just got to realize that I'm going to have to take an off week.
Believe me, last week I tried, but then every morning I woke up and my knee was aching.
I just don't sleep well when I get a different set of students. My mind whirls, and I keep thinking of things that have to be done before tomorrow.
Summer school was no different.
I am back on a routine now, in fact, I'm almost done with my walking (it's an off day for weights).
Busy week though, I need to get back in before Thursday to work on my final, and I'm going to concentrate on learning Blackboard before the workshop on Thursday.
And I'm off to an agility trial in Monroe Lousiana this weekend (husband is staying home).
Oh, and I've got Take Home Chef going on the background and I still think it is cool, and having Curtis Stone cook for me is STILL a top fantasy.
Diabetes - New Time to Test Glucose Levels
The bad news, is that the Animas pump only allows the alarm to be set at 1 whole hour intervals.
reviewjournal.com -- Sports - Predators' Fryzel dealing with diabetes
This has got to be a Type 2 case -- but look at the guys weight, height and age.
Goes to show you, it isn't 100% life style.
Looks like Byetta is becoming just a bit too popular!
SignOnSanDiego.com > News > Business > Biotechnology -- Amylin seeks to limit Byetta prescriptions
Companies worry about keeping up with demand
Candid Diabetes: Grading On the Curve
Good info on the Minimed Guardian from Canada. I am still thinking about the Dexcom. I don't really want to go with Minimed.
So there is an message on my voice mail that says: This is Fay, the Nurse Practioner at Dr. x's office who you talked with while you did your stress test. It came out normal, strong healthy heart.
Only a couple of problems, I didn't talk with Fay. Oh well.
Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | Sports
Actually it's the LAST paragraph, and since he's probably advocating for Type 2, that gives me two reasons (diabetes AND Type 2):
But his most personal contribution is the Triple Threat Foundation, which he founded in 2002. It raises money and awareness in the fight against diabetes. Two of his older sisters died from complications of the disease, and both his parents live with it.
But lets face it, Dallas is a much nicer city that Miami
Richard's D.C. Diary - Blog from the ADA 66th Scientific Sessions
I hate blogs without RSS feeds
Diabetes Mine: Live from the Biggest Event in Diabetes, 2006
I'll have to admit, even though I had a super weekend, I'm still envious of her trip. And I don't even like to travel!
Dr. Rack answers another question I've had (but haven't asked yet).
Diabetes Mine: ADA Product Roundup 2006
Go see what Amy's up to!
I have some questions (and these should show up on her site, since this is a trackback).
So after seeing the Dexcom and Freestyle in person, which would you go for?
Which is your favorite meter since you've had your hands on a bunch?
As I suspected, the error code was not a big deal. Basically the tech uodated my records.
As I suspected, the error code was not a big deal. Basically the tech uodated my records.
I got a 0054-0001 alarm code yesterday. It says to call service. Since it stopped and didn't reoccur after changing a slightly low battery, I'm waiting until regular business hours.
This is my second alarm code, I've also gotten a 0052-001 back on March 23. Therefore I am not too alarmed (bad pun).
I am finally catching up on sleep. Whenever I change anything about my sleep equipment it makes it hard for me to get to sleep.
Plus using the old machine really messed me up. So I've had trouble actually getting to sleep all week. Several nights I got less than 6 hours of sleep because I had to be up the next day.
Yesterday, I laid down to take an hour or so nap, and ended up waking up at 5:00 when my husband got home from work.
However, then I couldn't get to sleep until after midnight, but woke up at 5:00 -- which is when I've been waking up, but was able to go back to sleep for almost 4 hours more sleep.
So I am at 37.2 hours on the machine and have had it for 5 days, so I am just past 7 hours a night average. I'd like to get to 8 hours.
I'm going to take a sleeping pill tomorrow night and try to get to sleep for 8 hours. It is always hard to sleep the night before new students and I'll be getting my summer school students tomorrow.
Just heard from the nurse at the cardiologist.
I got back an equivocal study. The nurse said that was common in women and that 8 out of 10 times, it comes back normal. Equivocal means that the doctor could not see certain parts of the heart because a muscle was blocking the view.
The doctor even said that my uncontrolled gastric reflux could be causing the problem.
I will be getting a test, basically a CT scan with iodine that replaces the old catherization. It takes about 30 minutes. I probably won't hear from the lab that needs to do the test for at least anyother week.
She recommends that I keep my activity level about the same, but not make any major changes or add to my program until we get the test done. She also agree, because of the local weather conditions that I do cut some of my agility practice runs in half.
In other words, don't panic. I hate waiting.
Commenter just mentioned the Minimed Continuous Glucose monitor. I emailed this reply:
Yeah, but you have to do business with Minimed. They have screwed over way to many diabetics to suit me, and I almost got suckered into their pump during the waterproof debacle.
And to add -- I can't believe their sales reps, either.
Anyone who watches TLC a lot will know where I am going with this.
So I'm in a grocery store and this really cute blond guy comes up and talks to me in an Austrialian accent. He offers to come to my house and cook an "amazing meal".
So I tell him I'm diabetic which means I want to go "slow carb" and low fat. We shop in the grocery store and find "amazing" stuff for the "amazing" meal.
We go back to my house, of course, stopping at a local catering shop and he picks up a surprise gift (like he didn't do enough when paid for the groceries!).
I call my husband and insist that he be home between 5:00 and 5:30, and Curtis shows me how to make the "amazing" meal. He is charmed by both dogs, and by the cool house, even though the place is swamped with his 15 person crew.
--
Yeah, it's Take Home Chef, is that the coolest show or what? I swear to god, some of the women are very close to dragging him off camera, and I would be tempted too.
And he really does come up with amazing menus. A few I even want to try, like the braised lamb and the pot o' chocolat (sp).
And I think it would be cool for him to come up with some healthy for a diabetic and that is amazing too!
I've yet to hear from either nurse at the cardiologist office. Obviously I'm not getting the == look for blockages == procedure done THIS Thursday, since it's over.
I also haven't heard from the Nurse Practioner. I haven't said this in the message but I want to talk to her about lap band too -- she DID bring it up.
Speaking of lap band, Maggie's other mother had it done a few months ago and she is lost something like 50 pounds. Magggie is my bad beagle, yes, I introduce her as the bad beagle, and her other mother is the lady who rescued her "free to a good home". Mom (short for Maggie's other mother), is at 361 pounds which is almost 100 pounds more than I am. I don't want to think about what she used to weigh, and is very happy with the procedure.
I still think I can lose weight the old fashioned way, especially if I can get the new principal to help -- and all I want him to do is to make sure that the Dean doesn't mess with me for awhile. I've gained back 10 pounds and I figure 5 is from the schedule change and 5 is from freaking out over finals.
I might have time for lap band after summer school and before regular school, but it is pushing it, because I have some workshops and a trip scheduled for then.
I might even make time for it during the school year, though Joyce thinks I will have to spend time in ICU after because of the diabetes thing and the possible blockage thing.
I could use the surgeon I met with last fall, I think he does it, though he might want me to do the full thing -- I'm not sure about that.
Anyway, I just want to finish the discussion she and I started and got interrupted on.
I've decided I don't want to mix business with pleasure so to speak, so I am going to start blogging about school stuff at http://www.kweaver.org/cs
That means I probably won't blog here as much -- an RSS feed is suggested -- but it will go back to being about diabetes and dog agility -- with only about 10% being dog agility.
Anyway, the new blog is at http://www.kweaver.org/cs if you want to read it.
Still doing very well. The feature that I think that is making the most improvement is the leak detector. The first two nights it did go off and I think my mask has been leaking all along. It did not go off last night, but that's because I knew what to do to keep it from going off.
The humidifer is working out well too. No dry nose this morning which really makes a difference.
Now if I can only get to bed at night. Last night I decided I had to stay up until the first two days of Algebra I work had printed and I had the printer sent to print as slow as possible (not on purpose).
I've been putting this off. Yeah, it has nothing to do with diabetes. Even less with dog agility. However, it does have something to do with teaching, especially after CBS news last night. They did a story about how school districts recruit in other countries. And yes, my school district has been recruiting, mostly Spanish speakers who can teach.
Here's my problem with immigration (and out-sourcing). Many of the employers who actively recruit immigrants, my school district included, say they do it because they can't find American workers. That is SO much BS. The reason they can't find American workers is because they are not offering competitive pay or because they are offering substandard working conditions.
And that is SO true of my district. I've been teaching 14 years and have a master's and make just under $50,000. However, I have a Master's in CECS (Computer Education and Cognitive Studies) and a BS in Computer Science. Anyway care to guess what I might be able to make on the open job market as a curriculum designer? I will admit one of the biggest reasons I stay are the benefits.
And the working conditions. The building I work in is over 50 years old. Cleaning as at a substandard level which aggravates my allergies. The temperature control is non-existant, and the building is either so hot I'm having to wake up students or so could we're all wearing sweaters -- IN AUGUST. Though I'd rather be in the sweater state.
Class sizes are too big. Almost all of my class sizes were over 30 students last year, only one fewer than 20 (and that was an AP class).
I have a little story to relate, which will tell you exactly what happens to the teachers that get recruited from other countries. I worked as a computer programmer in Yazoo City, Mississippi, my first year out of college. Made $16,000, but I paid $150 rent for a 3 bedroom apartment. After working there for a year, TI recruited me to come and live in Dallas. They paid me $24,000, but I couldn't find an efficiency apartment for less than $500 a month! Then I couldn't figure out why I couldn't get ahead, but grocery prices, clothing prices and gasoline prices were higher (car expenses stayed about the same). Can you imagine how it must work for someone working in Columbia? Or the Phillipines?
What is worse yet, is the one who really take advantage of the illegal immigrants. I've seen news reports of how they will work as day laborers at car washes, get paid in tips only, or worse yet, get their tips taken from them and sent away empty handed. I do believe that we need to crack down on the companies who purposely hire illegals and shut them down and send the employers to jail. And not one of our nice ones either.
I do believe in immigration -- gee, I'd say over 50% of my students are immigrants themselves, and not all legal either. But LEGAL immigration.
Still haven't heard from the cardiologist office, neither to answer my question or to schedule the CAT scan looking for blockages.
I wouldn't be surprised if that happens NEXT Thursday though.
Still doing well on the PAP, and tomorrow is a teacher workday for summer school.
I'm the commenter who asked the question -- if you have any sleep issues this is a great blog to keep up with.
sleepdoctor: The difference between CPAP, BiPAP, and auto-CPAP
The difference between CPAP, BiPAP, and auto-CPAP
Decided to call the cardiologist nurse and clarify what I was told yesterday. Left the message at about 1:30 pm and it's almost 7:00 pm so I'm sure i won't get a call back today. I hate that!
I'm starting to worry about other things -- the cough I always attribute to GERD -- is it a congestive heart failure cough?
The good news, though, is that I haven't felt the need to take a nap today, wasn't sleeply in the workshop I was in this morning, so it seems the autoPAP is doing the job.
The new biPAP/auto is working -- although I had trouble getting to sleep -- and that is related to both the new machine and the bad nights I've had the last few nights -- I feel better today.
What with all the controls, etc. I had to deal with last night, I forgot to set my alarm clock which wasn't a good thing as I have some teacher training to go to this morning.
However, I woke up at 6:00 anyway, so that's good.
Much less congested, but I am comparing the new heated humidifer to going without one -- it was too much trouble to deal with using the old machine and I was never convinced that humidifer worked well. I got a little rain out (I'll explain) at the beginning of the night, but no problems with the humidifer after that.
I'm really curious about the readings, but I guess I'm going to have to wait to get the smart card read for at least a few days.
As to the humidifer -- one of the problems with using a PAP, is that it drys out the air. The solution is to use a humidifer. The first generation of humidifer were pass over and while that helped, the PAP air was still too dry. A real problem for those of us with allergies and other breathing issues. So they came out with heated humidifer's. The problem with them is rain out -- by the time the air got to the patient, condesation happened, and you would get water in your face. We call that rain out. Not enough heat, and the air is too dry. I also get one other problem with non-humidied air, I get literatly chilled. Fortunately I can grab a dog or two to warm up, but it wakes me up, again defeating the purpose of the CPAP.
Without humidification, I wake up with a headache, very congested and extremely dry. It is no fun.
I don't feel 100% rested, and probably won't until a few days have passed, adjusting to new equipment is always hard.
I honestly think I should call the cardiologist office tomorrow and clarify what he told me, though I might just wait until the nurse calls.
I was kind of freaked out that she didn't call today, but then I remembered what she said -- she had to call and get the procedure pre-certified before she could make an appointment.
I personally think most of what is going on with me is caused by the uncontrolled GERD, which was caused by the uncontrolled stress.
I think the cardiologist said that the borderline stress test could also be caused by the GERD ... but that could be denial talking. I will say that I'm putting the borderline stress test together with the decreased ability to run my dogs. I hope I am getting 5, not 4.
Amy from Diabetes Mine came by and sent me a personal email and was a bit shocked that I was having problems. Frankly, I'm not THAT surprised. I've had sleep apnea for a very long time, it has been estimated that I started suffering from it after my car wreck when I was 20. Though lack of sleep seems to be one of those genenic vs environment arguments for me. I don't think anyone in my dad's family sleeps that well.
In fact, it was my pulmonary specialist who sent me to the first cardiologist, mainly to make sure that the sleep apnea hadn't already caused heart damage. I'll be frank, I'm actually relieved to be on an APAP, I haven't been confident that the CPAP was doing the full job.
I've talked with a couple of close friends, and we all agree that I'm approaching this from the right angle -- I told my current cardiologist that the reason I started seeing him regularly at 45, was so that we could meet in his office and discuss things in a sane rational way, rather than meeting him in an ER -- and not even having a choice of cardiologist at the time -- and making decisions in panic mode.
In other words, it is a lot better deal with a blockage, if I have one, while we are in his office, and not after I've been hauled into the ER, probably from a dog show, and have to deal with it on an emergency basis.
Anyway, diabetes isn't the only factor in causing any complications. I've got environment to thank -- I grew up eating and learning how to cook very fatty and salty foods. I started cooking for the family when I was in 6th grade, and I am quite sure that no more than 3 days passed without cooking something with a cream sauce in it. As I said before, my role models didn't sleep. Especially on my father's side of the family. When I was in college -- and I still do this the last few weeks of school, I would run none stop, and then sleep for three days straight at the end of the semester.
I've got the sleep apnea, GERD, and morbid obesity to thank for this. It might be time for bariatric surgery, but I don't have time to go there until Christmas 2006. Besides, it usually takes that amount of time to get the insurance on board.
The good news, is that I did 30 minutes on the treadmill tonight, straight, without a break, though I did slow down that pace, then did over 10 laps in our pool. Man, it was nice tonight.
Man, do new machines stink. Okay, any time you do anything different to a PAP, it stinks. But I took a short nap, and I feel better already.
My first sympthom of a non-working PAP (notice I'm changing initials already), is allergy symthoms. Very congested but very dry at the same time. It's awful. That's already better.
Plus the diet coke I drank for lunch is doing away with the caffeine headache.
I think the cardio vascular complications may be catching up with me.
I have been having troubles running the dogs in agility.
Today I went to the cardiologist for my annual checkup. Nuclear stress test time. I should have realized something was up when shortly after they started xrays, the nurse practioner started following me around. I was actually relieved she was collecting my medical history during the test rather than waiting after.
Oh, and you need to know about this -- in the middle of the test, my phone rang and it was my pulmonary specialist. They wanted to see me at 1:00 pm. The techs said I could get there then, of course, I didn't tell them that the pulmonary specialist is at big Baylor. We were in far north Dallas.
Oh, that the doctor wasn't taking BCBS but I could be out of network. Oh well....
At the end of the test, the tech said that the cardiologist wanted to see me. Gee, it was just last year when I bitched about paying $345 which was 20% of the total charge and not once seeing the cardiologist, wasn't it.
Well, he said the test was border line and he wants to check for blockages. They are supposed to call and make an appointment. At this point, I hadn't decided if I was telling husband or not.
I got to big Baylor at about 1:20, but there was a huge line waiting for the valet -- and it was going to be the fastest and actually not any more expensive way to park the car. So I got up to the office at 1:30. The even funner part is that an old friend of mine and my husband (we each met him seperately before we got married or EVEN met). I blurted out the cardiologist news without thinking -- then realized I then had to tell the husband right away.
Seems that the pulmonary specialist wants me to have an autoPAP, and wanted me to have a specific brand rather than getting the old machine repaired.
We worked out a deal with the DME, I have an autoPAP now, and they are going to process the paperwork on a new smaller one as soon as it comes out, sometime in the next 90 days.
So all in all, it was good and bad.
More on the cardiovascular thing as I know.
I have been absolutely sick since my CPAP went down. I think the old one is contributing to that -- right now, I have the worst allergy symthoms I've ever had.
I called my DME this morning and they are supposed to call back and let me know what they were going to do, hopefully giving me a loaner while mine is fixed.
The good news is that I have an old machine that still works.
The bad news is that it gotten through another DME that I don't do business with anymore. When I got it, they didn't bother to tell me they were out of network. Of all my DME's I've used, I like the current one the best. Locally owned, by the son of a retired coworker (teacher).
They have given me super service. Though I don't look forward to dealing with it.
I'm trying to recover from the school year, especially the last few weeks. I got extremely depressed and upset over how much material I was able to cover with my students. I was one complete unit short with one group.
Their grades were not as bad as I expected. I'm trying not to beat myself up too badly since it really wasn't my fault, I've only had them since January 23.
So I've spent the last two days in the bathroom, but finally got that problem stabilized, severe diarreah which is scary when you are diabetic because you don't know how much food is getting processed and how much is just getting dumped, plus the dehydration possibilities.
I'm also working on my two summer projects. I met with my partner on the district final (one didn't show and gave one of his song and dances), and we spent an hour or so planning our approach. I'm going in one day next week and get some work started so we can make more progress when we can met next.
I also went through summer school training and I'm working on getting my lessons in the computer. A lot of the material is already in electronic format, but there is one book that I'm having to scan in lessons.
I am not sure if we'll have copies in our classroom when we get back -- long story, so I'm also going to put together my first week's lesson on hardcopy so I can make copies.
We have 22 teaching days.
I'm looking forward to all of that.