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From the Dallas Morning News:
Ten North Texas teachers will be inducted as fellows into Texas Instruments Foundation's new Science, Technology, Engineering and Math (STEM) Academy.
Education notes | Dallas Morning News | News for Dallas, Texas | News: Education
I'll find out what this means next week.
I've been a good patient and have been getting my mammograms at the same place for years -- local hospital radiology department.
On the way out, the xray tech tells me (after seeing my insulin pump), that one of her other patients has lost a ton a weight and gone on oral meds after having lap band surgery.
ARGH!
I'm just not in the mood to go into the ways this is so wrong.
Whew! It was finally delivered last Wednesday. Hmmm, I've had the pump since May and couldn't use the software until last week.
First, the carb counting and the blood sugar is recorded by the pump now and shows up on the reports. That is what I've waited two pump releases for -- I certainly would have implemented that in the IR1250 if I had been then. In fact, I was shocked to see that didn't occur when I received and downloaded the IR1250.
The problems....
All of the existing bugs I could test for are still there.
You cannot edit or delete items from the food database using the EzManager PC Software. All you can do is delete all the favorites.
You can delete individual items from the food database, but you can not edit them, even though there is a item for edit in the menu.
One new thing that bothers me, you cannot add injections to the log from the PC version of the program. However, you can add them via both the Palm version and through the Ultra Smart meter. In fact, the Ultra Smart is a good way to enter in exercise data too.
I do wish Animas would clean up and fix EzManager. It's a good program but a few small failings hurt it.
Oh, and I can't test this one -- did they ever fix the Freestyle upload? It doesn't handle Freestyle data correctly from October through December if I remember the bug correctly.
Not only is the Dexcom doing a great time most of the time (right now I'm wearing an wonky sensor), but it is also does a lot of other good things.
First, it is an interesting feed back loop. One thing I've noticed, and I'm not the only one, is that the better you manage your diabetes, the better the Dexcom works. Thus, just by using the Dexcom alone, you tend to manage your blood sugar better. Someone needs to do a clinical trial and see if we're right.
Second, it opens up some interesting conversations. Mostly on the line of, is your diabetes THAT bad. No, it isn't. I just like to see the data and manage it better.
Remember, it opened up a conversation between my self and my student I've posted about.
I wrote about a little gal in my class I was worried about and I have some good news.
During "Meet the Teacher" I had a few minutes with momma and I told her that I was worried since her daughter had shared her blood sugar with me. I told her when I was diagnosed, I felt very ill, was very hard to get along with and was fairly certain that the daughter felt the same way.
Well that Friday and the next Monday, my student was absent. When she came back on Tuesday she let the whole class know she had been in the hospital and knew all about diabetes now and was on insulin.
Apparently if you are diagnosed Type 2, they put you on insulin probably because they are not real sure what the oral medications will due to teenagers. She's the second kid I've had from the Parkland Diabetes clinic who was a Type 2 and both were put on insulin.
I really do think she feels better already.
I think it is finally fixed, though I need to upgrade it one more time as it takes forever to rebuild.
Because school had gotten started and I have much more students than I am used to, it took a while for me to get it fixed. I just haven't felt like doing constructive computer stuff since I spend so many more hours on the computer grading.
Last year, my largest class was 20. This year, I'm right at 26 in four classes and around 20 in the other two. As I usually say, my seating charts are full.
Hopefully I can get back in the blogging mode.
Except for today and this sensor, I've only been finger sticking with the Dexcom wants a calibration -- well, I take that back, the two finger sticks I've done today was because Dexcom said he wanted them.
It will be interesting to see an A1C. In fact, I am thinking about seeing if I can get an extra A1C before my doctor's visit.
Since before school started I've been relying 100% on the Dexcom sensors.
And it's been working well. It's caught a few unexpected highs, and a few unexpected lows, but for the most part, I've been having very stable blood sugars.
Diabetes care is undergoing a transformation: Thousands of patients are switching from a few finger-pricks a day to track their disease to new sensors that keep guard around the clock.
Diabetics swap finger pricks for sensors - Diabetes - MSNBC.com
This would be me.
However, we've got a LONG, LONG way to go before I'd ever go with a closed loop system.
Guess I've seen too many problems with all ends of the system.
First, I undestand people are getting a CGI error when they post comments. Would someone please email me at kathleen at gmail and let me know what it is. A screen shot would be terrific.
The good news, is that the comment gets posted, but delayed because I have to approve it.
Next, life has been very full since school started. I have about twice the number of students as last year which doesn't affect set up time, but does mean that grading takes up lots more time.
I really haven't had time or energy to do anything in front of a computer but school stuff. Hopefully that will change soon.
DexCom SEVEN: Taking a break from the Dex
Funny, I feel the opposite, I don't feel diabetic when I'm using Dex, but do when I am finger sticking.
If you have diabetes, you should have a flu shot every year. And with the shortage of flu vaccines that we've had in recent years you can't start thinking about this too early.
Bernard's Diabetes Blog: Time to start thinking about....Flu Shots
Though I really believe if you have insurance, use your doctor's office. I never have to wait in line when it is just a flu shot.
Time to blog about my yearly eye exam again. It amazes me that there are not more Optomap Retinal scanning devices out there and being used. My eye doctor -- Kay Willis at Contact Lens Center in Dallas swears by it. Pearl Vision Center has also been advertising it, but they only have too.
Cool gadget, you sit down on a stool with a remote control, the tech lines you up, and it takes a picture of your retina. Even better, the doctor saves a copy of it. My doctor now has several pictures over several years to compare.
No dilation, no pain, and better yet there is a record of what is going on with your eyes.
And so far ... no problems!
I knew there had to be more to that study!
Now a lengthy study in the British Medical Journal has delved into the reasons why meters are often not used effectively by people with type 2. And it has concluded that the problem lies, first, in caregivers' failure to educate type 2s about how to respond to blood sugar readings, and, second, in an apparent disinterest in meter readings on the part of healthcare professionals.
Blood Glucose Meters For Type 2s: Why Aren't They More Useful? - Diabetes Health
Of course the insurance companies and the PBM's are going to ignore this one, and focus on the first.
The nurse came by my room hunting down a kid, and I told her about my diabetic girl yesterday. She didn't know about her and was glad I figured it out. So today when d-girl came to class, I called her aside, double checked and took her down to the nurse.
Bad news, she is not being treated for the diabetes. Good news, she has lost weight which should help. I left her with the nurse and am hoping she gets dealt with.
Maybe she'll learn more. I told her about how I was slurring my speech earlier today in front of the principal and discovered my blood sugar was low -- and showed her my 154 after lunch -- she said she wished she could get hers that low.
I told her I kept tight rein on it because I felt better under control.
So now I have another mission -- and teaching 4 subjects and 2 at a time aren't enough? I also think my entire 7th period class has ADD.
Scott's posted an interested article again big pharm and their ads and credits me for dooming Exubera. BUT wait a minute....!
Collectively, patient groups can flex our collective muscle on many of these issues (such the role as Allie Beatty, Amy Tenderich, Kathleen Weaver and my reporting played in dooming Exubera).
Scott's Web Log: Flexing Our Collective Muscle
In my own blog posts, I actually praise Exubra. I can't imagine using it myself, but I have a coworker -- teaches the same subject at another school -- who loves it last time I talked to her. If a drug (or in this case a different formulation), helps people get healthier, I'm all for it.
I'm middle of the road on the drug ads myself. I honestly feel like a drug ad sometimes, as I am taking many of the medications advertised on a regular basis. I usually take the drug first and then see the commercial, but there are major benefits to drug ads.
For one, they are a major source of revenue for television, magazines and for even the internet. I wish some of the ads weren't as pervasive and intrusive -- the E.D. drugs, but at the same time, I do think that they can be beneficial.
I certainly don't believe that the big pharmacy companies are delaying a cure. Frankly, I don't think the medical community understands enough about diabetes to even have a cure -- contrary to the information I receive one of my science teacher coworkers who works at Southwest Medical in his spare time.
So don't count me against Exubra OR against pharmacy ads, or even against pharmacies.
My afternoon CS class got me off topic. I'm starting to teach the kiddos about buying computers. I like to do it in little chunks, and today I was showing off my convertible notebook. Later in the week I'll show off the MacMini.
Anyway, I ended up showing them my continuous glucose monitor. One of my students asked "is your diabetes so bad that you need that?".
My answer: "I'm so much into data that having it makes it easier for me to keep my blood sugar where I want it and not only do I feel better, but I'm a better teacher".
Guess what? She's hispanic, overweight and diabetic. Doesn't take insulin. Betting you that she's a Type 2.
Maybe she'll learn something.