Living With Diabetes

I know that most people have insurance electives to deal with this time of year. We do our in May for August. (Remember, I'm a school teacher).

One of the best things you can do if you have a chronic illness, is to set up a Flexible Spending Account, if you can. Everything you spend out of it comes from pre-Tax dollars.

Our plan gives us a credit card. About once a year I have to send in a bunch of receipts, but that's the whole extent of the paper work.

It is definitely worth it.

Posted by at 5:46 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

We've had a good year here, even with some recent frustrations.

My husband is in good health, has a good he enjoys.

I of course, have a job I really enjoy and have students who make my days worthwhile.

We have the beagle girls, even the puppy, who can be frustrating.

We had a nice quiet day, went to Steak and Ale. Hope everyone else had a good Thanksgiving.

Posted by at 7:36 PM | Permalink

Had to call the vets to check on blood work -- everything they have gotten back looks good. We're still waiting on titers, and they might not be here until next week.

I really dislike having to call, when they said they would call.

Posted by at 6:35 AM | Permalink

I think I disappointed him -- I think he was ready to do the Symvist.

But my knees are bothering me less without the anti-flammatory, than they were before inserts. As I told him, they aren't perfect, and I'm sure there is still healing going on, but I am more active, and things are better.

When I got done, I went and bought two more pairs of inserts. Now I have one pair in my exercise shoes (dog remodeled), and two pairs to alternate on a daily basis.

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I started this when I was actually in Houston. I did some really smart things hotel wise. I always have trouble sleeping at these things. First, just the stress of driving there -- I did not get to Houston until after 9:00 and it always takes me several hours to wind down after driving. Second, the stress of being there. This conference, every teacher in the room seems to be stressed out over the curriculum audit. I'm trying hard not to do that.

Anyway, the hotel I chose was Comfort Suites. It's not a real suite -- a real suite has a door between the living area and the sleeping area. One thing I find sleeping in a hotel is that I wake up anytime anyone walks down the hall. Having a bigger room, with some space between the bed and the door helped. Also, I ran the fan in the bathroom all night, adding some additional white noise. The CPAP white noise always helps too.

The first night, I got to bed really late, didn't get sleepy until after 1:00 pm and then woke up early, but laid in bed. And I even took a sleeping pill. The second night I was able to get to bed and sleepy by 10:30, but woke up once to go to the bathroom. Again, I woke up early -- it was normal time for me, but I didn't have to be up that early.

One of the reasons these workshops are so stressful, is that they just don't fit my learning style. My learning style is to go to class for an hour or so, then work on the topic in front of a computer for hours. Those workshops just aren't set up for that. You'd think after 14 years, I'd stop stressing over it, but there you go.

Posted by at 6:39 AM | Permalink | Comments (2)

I'm home. Man, I'm glad to be at home. I hate traveling -- I think I said that before I left.

I did have a problem with eating on the way home -- I was tired, I was bored, I wanted to get HOME! So I ate. I tried to stick with okay stuff, but I broke down and had a horrible individual pizza during the last hour. Oh, well, my blood sugar was back down to 117 this morning so it wasn't too bad.

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That's the biggest change that diabetes has made in my life.  I have to plan everything and plan for everything.

BD, I would grab a dog that was scheduled for dog class, jump in the car, and get there.  Now I have to make sure I have supplies available in case I lose a set, insulin goes bad, etc.  I have to test my blood sugar before I get in the car, before I get on the training field and again before I drive home.

Today after school I'm going to a teacher workshop in Houston.  Going involved making sure I had enough supplies and even medications just in case something happened.  Hey, it is Houston, and they've been known to have weird things come up before without warning.

But every action these days requires infinitely more planning than ever before.  I miss being spontanenous.

Posted by at 8:11 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I asked for a Novolog that needed a refill.  Never got done -- doctor's office didn't have a record of the refill request but they faxed a new refill anyway ... By the way, all this via email....

The Novolog is in the processed of being shipped.  I think I made the original request last Monday, and told the doctor about the missing refill on this Monday.

Not too bad.  Though they should have gotten the fax to the doctor in the first place, but that could be the fax machine at the doctor's office, in fact, I need to check that number, come to think of it.

Posted by at 3:41 PM | Permalink

Man, Medco is freaking me out, I'm actually getting good service from them.

I ordered Symlin when it came due, and it was shipped correct and arrived a day early.

And I also ordered my new Depo (Yes, I'm anal, since it isn't due for another 10 weeks or so), and it was delivered today.

WOW!

Posted by at 11:04 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I got my new Fisher and Paskel 432 mask last night.  I'm sold on the full face mask since I first tried one.  I let air leak of out my mouth so I need a chin strap which is really a pain literally -- thus I've got to full face mask.

And like all CPAP mask users, I'm on the search for the perfect mask.  The one seems closer than I had before.  At first I was disconcerted because it hissed, but I figured out quickly it was the rebreather -- the silicon was stuck.  Fixed that, and had no problems.

Was able to wear it through the night.  The biggest test will come in 7 days -- we're seeing 50 minutes of leakage every night, and the machine only shows a 7 day average.

Posted by at 10:19 AM | Permalink

A Lifetime Of Diabetes by Teresa Ollila

A Lifetime of Diabetes by Teresa Ollila

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And in fact, have been for 12 hours.  Hopefully they will come back up fixed with their own content.

Posted by at 8:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

And in fact, have been for 12 hours.  Hopefully they will come back up fixed with their own content.

Posted by at 8:30 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

I got up today and voted a straight Republican ticket -- why?

When the Republicans run things around Dallas, things get done.  Roads get built and things get better.

When the Republicans run things around Texas, money gets spent towards schools, and especially teacher salaries.  When teachers make better salaries, I work with a higher class of people.  Not sure what it says about me, since I came in when our pay was the lowest.

When the Republicans run the country, more people are employed.  That's good for both me and my students.

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Though they have taken the posts down from their site that "tells" the story.  That's okay, I'll just add a little anti-battle diabetes content to every post ... maybe that will make them go away.

Posted by at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)

Took her long enough to figure that out!

Diabetes Mine: When MDI is B-A-D -- Time to Pump

I suppose people on insulin pumps have bad weeks, too. But I'm officially D-O-N-E with the last few, that's for sure.

Seriously. Pumping is the only way to be a diabetic but it is EXPENSIVE, time consuming, mind consuming, etc.

I have done it all -- oral meds for about two months which drove me nuts. No matter what I ate, didn't ate, etc, my blood glucose monitor insisted on being a random number generator.

I've done MDI. Here's the problem with MDI, you make a mistake, you roller coaster for days. Flat out, you are just stick with the insulin you take until it decides to leave.

That's true pumping too, but it decides to leave on a quicker basis. And yes it is ALL about the control!

I'm lucky, the short term complications get me in a hurry. The first is blurred vision -- if my blood sugar isn't in normal range, I can't read, and have trouble seeing. The second is bitchiness -- if my blood sugar is too high, I'm hard to get along with. The third is congetive ability, I can't program and I can't teach as well if my blood sugar is too high.

And remember make sure you are reading this at http://www.kweaver.org and if you are reading it at BattleDiabetes.com, it is stolen content!

Posted by at 11:22 AM | Permalink

Be aware that if the URL of the post you are reading is NOT http://www.kweaver.org, you are reading stolen content. DO NOT click on their adverstising links.

FYI, at the moment, I do not have any advertising links.

Posted by at 8:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (2)

The inserts the orthopedist gave me are doing the trick. I only have a little pain when I wake up on the non-anti-inflamtory mornings, and it goes away when I move. I'm still stiff but that's an all over thing.

I've moved around my work outs already and I believe -- which I'm going to double check tonight -- that my hotel has a gym. I have to go to Houston for a teacher workshop on Thursday and will be back Saturday.

FYI: The whole battlediabetes thing is creeping me out. I can understand why anyone would grab my little trivial posts.

And the heartburn is much better too!

Posted by at 5:06 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

One of the best things you can do as a user, is to positively NOT click on any advertisements that you see on the battlediabetes.com website. They are attempting to make money on their site and use click on advertisements (mine doesn't at the moment).

If they lose revenue, they will go away.

Posted by at 6:40 PM | Permalink

No hospital records for 'comatose' airline passenger - 02 Nov 2006 - National News

No hospital records for 'comatose' airline passenger

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If you are reading this on BattleDiabetes.com be aware that the author is stealing my blog entries as his own and that the real site is at http://www.kweaver.org and I am a real person.  Not a scum bag like the owner of this site.

Posted by at 1:42 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)

The prescription strength Zantac is helping.  I've been able to sleep all night, and the heart burn episodes are not as severe.

Not as much chest pain either.  Still lots of coughing.

Posted by at 8:03 AM | Permalink

Airline's medicine ban leaves passenger in coma - 01 Nov 2006 - Health & fitness

My biggest question -- did the insulin freeze? And is it still good?

A diabetic man fell into a coma because airport staff refused to let him take his insulin on board a flight from Auckland to Christchurch.

Posted by at 2:08 PM | Permalink | Comments (1)