It has been about 2 months now since we registered for my D.A.D. I have put a little over $2,000 dollars down towards my dog. I spend hours every single day wondering how I am going to come up with the $20,000 (approximately) the my pup is going to cost. I know I can do it though. I always do good under stress, I just haven't had a price tag added to other stressful situations before! I have so many other D.A.D. owners telling me not to pay any money towards my dog, that all money should come from donations but I'm not comfortable with that. This is my dog and I want to be a big part of it! I have bought silicone bracelets with the D.A.D logo on them that I am selling for $5 a piece, and we are going to make up some t-shirts. I have so much to do and I sometimes feel a bit overwhelmed. I am slowly getting things rolling, and it feels good.
Also, my endo. Back in Oct/Nov time I tried to set up an appointment to see my endocrinologist. I got a message that I owed money. I said yes, I just got a bill for twenty dollars and I want to pay it off right now. The lady on the other end said "no, you owe around $400." Long story short, the stupid doctors office messed up again. Their billing people are morons. 18 months AFTER my appointment they try and bill the insurance company and expect the insurance company to pay. I no longer even had that insurance. Of course they won't pay! Then they try and stick me with the bill. This is the SECOND time that the office has come after me for their billings mistakes. Both times was 18 months after the doctors appointment too. How ridiculous. I put up a fight both times. This time I dealt with a lady named "K." She tried to help me over a couple weeks time before informing me that she was quitting to go elsewhere. Great, had to start over. I then call the new lady in January named "O." O informs me that when she says she will take care of something, she does it. I found out today O has also left the office. Nice. Finally today (end of March) I find out from the endo's nurse that they wiped my debt off. Excuse me? It was under my name but it was your office's fault. UGH, talk about stress I don't need. It makes me so mad that I couldn't see my doctor for my health because of their stupidity. Its a good thing I like the doctor...and that I threatened to call the better business bureau. :)
Monday, March 26, 2012
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Down Payment Has Been Paid!
Well consider this my first post of many exciting one's to come! I finally did it. Nick and I met a lady online who has a diabetic alert dog (DAD) for her sons; both of which have type 1 diabetes. I was amazed that one dog could work with two people. So I sent her a little message asking how that worked. 2 months later I have put a deposit down on my own DAD. I never thought I would do it. I'm not a huge dog lover, and I've already got 2 wiener dogs at home. Unfortunately after having my second son I was having so many lows that couldn't be explained. It got to the point that Nick (my husband) wouldn't go to work in the office anymore (he only works from home now on his laptop).
Last night for example I checked my blood sugar: 72. We went out for dinner and then I came home and had my insulin. 45 minutes later I was reading a story to Cooper (my 4 year old) and the words were blurry. I couldn't make sense of the words. I checked my blood-sugar and I was 33. I drank a huge glass of milk (my go to when I'm low) and checked 10 minutes later: 30! I was DROPPING. Another huge glass of milk (I probably weigh 20 pounds more now too!) and then I recheck. 36. What the heck??? I ate out and took my regular insulin. I SHOULD be on the higher side of a perfect number! I check a few minutes after and now I'm 46. I hover around this number for 45 minutes before getting back to my safe zone of low 70ish area.
So that was the point we said "enough is enough." I work so hard to have perfect numbers. I am doing everything I can. I looked into the CGM's (continuous glucose monitors) but quickly decided that was NOT for me. I started researching DAD's and always ended back at the Warren Retrievers. I LOVE that they create a plan that works around your family. Here, I'll just make a list of what I love about them:
1. They work around YOUR wants and needs.
2. You get the D.A.D as a young puppy so it is trained on your/my scent, not someone else's
3. They are supported by JDRF
4. My money is partially turned into donations towards JDRF that will find my cure. So really, I am getting a dog for free that can save my life while supporting funding for my cure. :)
5. They work with any family (more than one type 1 in the house, if you have tiny kids, if you have other dogs...)
6. I don't have to pay for the dog up front. I pay my down payment to get on the waiting list, then do fundraisers to achieve my personalized goal that we set up for my cost. Its all about me and my family!
7. They help find ways to do fundraisers, its like a separate family.
8. Once I paid my down payment, Dan, the head hauncho ( insert smiley face here) said "welcome to the family." Really? My heart pounded because this darn disease often makes us feel so alone, and for once it made me really thankful to have it. Not to be diabetic, but to have something that can bring me closet to others for such an important reason. Does that make sense?
There is so much more that I will soon get to! Keep checking back!
Last night for example I checked my blood sugar: 72. We went out for dinner and then I came home and had my insulin. 45 minutes later I was reading a story to Cooper (my 4 year old) and the words were blurry. I couldn't make sense of the words. I checked my blood-sugar and I was 33. I drank a huge glass of milk (my go to when I'm low) and checked 10 minutes later: 30! I was DROPPING. Another huge glass of milk (I probably weigh 20 pounds more now too!) and then I recheck. 36. What the heck??? I ate out and took my regular insulin. I SHOULD be on the higher side of a perfect number! I check a few minutes after and now I'm 46. I hover around this number for 45 minutes before getting back to my safe zone of low 70ish area.
So that was the point we said "enough is enough." I work so hard to have perfect numbers. I am doing everything I can. I looked into the CGM's (continuous glucose monitors) but quickly decided that was NOT for me. I started researching DAD's and always ended back at the Warren Retrievers. I LOVE that they create a plan that works around your family. Here, I'll just make a list of what I love about them:
1. They work around YOUR wants and needs.
2. You get the D.A.D as a young puppy so it is trained on your/my scent, not someone else's
3. They are supported by JDRF
4. My money is partially turned into donations towards JDRF that will find my cure. So really, I am getting a dog for free that can save my life while supporting funding for my cure. :)
5. They work with any family (more than one type 1 in the house, if you have tiny kids, if you have other dogs...)
6. I don't have to pay for the dog up front. I pay my down payment to get on the waiting list, then do fundraisers to achieve my personalized goal that we set up for my cost. Its all about me and my family!
7. They help find ways to do fundraisers, its like a separate family.
8. Once I paid my down payment, Dan, the head hauncho ( insert smiley face here) said "welcome to the family." Really? My heart pounded because this darn disease often makes us feel so alone, and for once it made me really thankful to have it. Not to be diabetic, but to have something that can bring me closet to others for such an important reason. Does that make sense?
There is so much more that I will soon get to! Keep checking back!
Friday, December 30, 2011
Go, Go, Go...STOP.
We have been needing to sell our house for about 2 years now. We tried when I was pregnant with my son Wyatt, but it didn't sell. Wyatt is now a year and a half old and we have totally outgrown this house. Its a GREAT little house, but its little. We have no play area's, no game room, no "extra" anything. There is no hallway closet/s for storage either. We store our blankets in the corner by the couch. I'm love doing arts and crafts with the kids, but unfortunately there is no room to do big fun things because I have nowhere to store the stuff. In our small little coat closet I have shoved all our art supplies on the top shelf. That would be fine, but where do I put the things such as umbrellas and hats/mittens/scarves that need to be in the coat closet. You get my point...back to the diabetes blog, Krista.
So today I started do the massive cleaning and boxing up of things we don't need on a daily basis. We CANNOT put our house on the market the way it is now. In Wyatt's closet we have an old sub-woofer of Nicks, a guitar of Nicks (PS, he doesn't play guitar...at all), extra diapers that kids grew out of that size before we ever got to use them....clothes boxes....and its not a very big closet! So Wyatt's room got my attention today. I went CRAZY. The cleaning bug got me good. Lysol wipes even got some major use in there...then...the xmas stuff started to get put away. Boy, I am on a roll... I also got 1 load of laundry washed, dried and put away...one more in the dryer and one in the wash.... THEN...I feel weak. Again. Everyday for the past few days I've been going low. Not at the same time as it would usually happen though. It might be at 10 in the morning, it might be at breakfast, after lunch, bedtime. UGH. So all my cleaning that so desperately needs my attention is stopped dead in its tracks. I usually don't really care about having diabetes; I'm so used to having it that I hate it, but I don't let it get the best of me. When it stops me from being able to do anything, I get kind of ticked off though.
Have I mentioned I've been looking into CGM's? I was. I decided against it because there seems to be more CON's than PRO's for me. So, no thank you CGM, even though my insurance would pay for a great portion of it... Want to know what I've been looking into though? DAD's. Diabetic Alert Dogs. Pro's and Con's again though. I NEED something to help me out though. I need something that will give me a heads up before I go low, and before I get too high. I can't keep living like this, I'll never make it. I don't really know what to do...so I'm going to keep looking into things. Right now, the DAD is looking like a pretty good option. Keep reading to see where this takes me!
So today I started do the massive cleaning and boxing up of things we don't need on a daily basis. We CANNOT put our house on the market the way it is now. In Wyatt's closet we have an old sub-woofer of Nicks, a guitar of Nicks (PS, he doesn't play guitar...at all), extra diapers that kids grew out of that size before we ever got to use them....clothes boxes....and its not a very big closet! So Wyatt's room got my attention today. I went CRAZY. The cleaning bug got me good. Lysol wipes even got some major use in there...then...the xmas stuff started to get put away. Boy, I am on a roll... I also got 1 load of laundry washed, dried and put away...one more in the dryer and one in the wash.... THEN...I feel weak. Again. Everyday for the past few days I've been going low. Not at the same time as it would usually happen though. It might be at 10 in the morning, it might be at breakfast, after lunch, bedtime. UGH. So all my cleaning that so desperately needs my attention is stopped dead in its tracks. I usually don't really care about having diabetes; I'm so used to having it that I hate it, but I don't let it get the best of me. When it stops me from being able to do anything, I get kind of ticked off though.
Have I mentioned I've been looking into CGM's? I was. I decided against it because there seems to be more CON's than PRO's for me. So, no thank you CGM, even though my insurance would pay for a great portion of it... Want to know what I've been looking into though? DAD's. Diabetic Alert Dogs. Pro's and Con's again though. I NEED something to help me out though. I need something that will give me a heads up before I go low, and before I get too high. I can't keep living like this, I'll never make it. I don't really know what to do...so I'm going to keep looking into things. Right now, the DAD is looking like a pretty good option. Keep reading to see where this takes me!
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Bringing Up the Low's
I belong to this wonderful diabetes blog on facebook. Its a blog for parents of diabetics, but I belonged to a different group on facebook and was asked to join the parents group. I did thinking it was kind of silly, but boy am I ever glad I did join. It is suck an amazing group, I feel really lucky to belong to it.
Anyways, this morning there was a posting from one of the moms who had given her daughter a glass of milk and her daughters blood sugars went through the roof. Her sugars were normal, then they skyrocketed after the milk. She was so confused as to why! I thought, its MILK, that's why she's high. I wrote to her saying when my blood sugars go low that the BEST thing there is for me to bring my sugars up is milk. It shoots me up while still being an easy to drink to try and get down when the yuckyness of the low sets in. Its smooth, and really easy to gulp! I was surprised when so many parents said they had never thought of using milk to bring up a low because its...well...milk.
I mentioned that she could try a test to see how the milk effects her blood sugars. Give her a glass of milk when she hasn't ate or drank anything, then test her sugars every 3-4 minutes for a while after. See how it brings her sugars up. Some foods and drinks affect us different so milk might be one that really brings me up, but not so much other people.
Some of the other things I use to raise my sugars are apple juice, and if there is nothing else around I will drink orange juice. Glucose tabs don't do a thing to me! NOTHING. Straight sugar tabs, and they do nothing. We were shopping at a grocery store a few months back and I felt weak. My blood sugar was low 40's. I ate 4 glucose tabs, checked about 6-8 minutes later....and I was the exact same number. It hadn't budged an ounce.
Anyways, this morning there was a posting from one of the moms who had given her daughter a glass of milk and her daughters blood sugars went through the roof. Her sugars were normal, then they skyrocketed after the milk. She was so confused as to why! I thought, its MILK, that's why she's high. I wrote to her saying when my blood sugars go low that the BEST thing there is for me to bring my sugars up is milk. It shoots me up while still being an easy to drink to try and get down when the yuckyness of the low sets in. Its smooth, and really easy to gulp! I was surprised when so many parents said they had never thought of using milk to bring up a low because its...well...milk.
I mentioned that she could try a test to see how the milk effects her blood sugars. Give her a glass of milk when she hasn't ate or drank anything, then test her sugars every 3-4 minutes for a while after. See how it brings her sugars up. Some foods and drinks affect us different so milk might be one that really brings me up, but not so much other people.
Some of the other things I use to raise my sugars are apple juice, and if there is nothing else around I will drink orange juice. Glucose tabs don't do a thing to me! NOTHING. Straight sugar tabs, and they do nothing. We were shopping at a grocery store a few months back and I felt weak. My blood sugar was low 40's. I ate 4 glucose tabs, checked about 6-8 minutes later....and I was the exact same number. It hadn't budged an ounce.
Wednesday, December 7, 2011
OUCH!
So this is just a random post, but I wanted to put it on here anyways.
You know how your pickers (what I call the little machine that pokes my finger to draw blood) have different settings on it? To make the level of poking weaker or stronger? Well I accidentally changed mine and dang does it hurt! I have 2 kits that I use. One of the kits has an older picker in it and needs to be set to a 4 to draw blood. The newer monitor has a new picker in it and it hurts like heck, so its set to a 2. I must have changed the 2 to the 4 because MAN, did it hurt...and it still hurts...and I did it yesterday! CRAZY. I promise for some new fun posts soon...
You know how your pickers (what I call the little machine that pokes my finger to draw blood) have different settings on it? To make the level of poking weaker or stronger? Well I accidentally changed mine and dang does it hurt! I have 2 kits that I use. One of the kits has an older picker in it and needs to be set to a 4 to draw blood. The newer monitor has a new picker in it and it hurts like heck, so its set to a 2. I must have changed the 2 to the 4 because MAN, did it hurt...and it still hurts...and I did it yesterday! CRAZY. I promise for some new fun posts soon...
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
A CGM?
I went to my Endocrinologist today. He brought up the topic of a CGM (continuous glucose monitor). I had secretly been looking into one on my own. He said I would be a perfect candidate and asked me if I wanted him to go ahead and get minimed (a CGM company) involved to start research with my insurance company and get other papers started. I'm pretty excited, I will keep ya'll posted!
Interesting Low
This weekend we went to Oklahoma for our Universities homecoming. On Saturday night we were in Tulsa at our friends house, along with another couple. Nick looked at me and said "check your sugar, your going low." He always knows when I'm going low. Anyways, I guess I was trying to give insulin before I checked my sugar which was bizarre (I don't remember this), so Nick went and got me some milk to drink while I tried to poke my finger. I drank the milk, then got my blood glucose reading of 28. Drink another glass of milk... I had been feeling gross for a few hours and felt like I was coming down with something and the milk wasn't helping. Suddenly I started to shake violently. I kept going in and out of consciousness which is strange because I'm either conscious for my lows, or I'm not. I was sitting up on the couch when he was giving me my milk telling him not to hold my head back. He wasn't, but the shaking made me think he was pushing my head back. I checked my sugars a few times while he was shoving food down my throat with milk. Apricot jelly too, YUCK. When I finally stopped shaking and started to calm down, Nick brought me a toast. I ran to the bathroom and vomited. The smell of the toast made me sick. As soon as I was done vomiting, I felt so much better. I left the bathroom and overhead our friends friend "M" on his phone. His is a local firefighter and he was on the phone with his firehouse. He asked them if they minding if he brought me up there for an IV of D50 (liquid glucose added into an IV). They didn't mind so into the truck we go off to the firehouse.
On our way, police sirens go off. All of a sudden we get pulled over for going 6 over the speed limit. "M" tells the police officer who he is, that he is taking me (a diabetic) to his firehouse for a glucose IV. The dumbass police officer starts lecturing him! "Well, don't you think you should have called an ambulance? Silly to be speeding..." He finally lets us go (after asking M which house, address, location, and information to make sure we weren't lying) and M gets so upset. I would have too! He was annoyed that the officer was lecturing him. Come on, it was free to go to the firehouse, the officer would have done the same thing!
When we got to the firehouse, sitting on the table were all the supplies needed for my IV. I was sat into a chair and the firefighter who was doing the IV prepped my left arm. He started the IV (owie, it hurt!) and unfortunately my vein wouldn't "flush". They need to have the IV in the vein so that the glucose is administered directly into the vein so I don't have things like my cellulitis hand last March happen. He tried for a minute or two and then asked if he could try another vein. I said yes, and he tried my right arm. He got it right away. Within seconds my blood sugar was rising. YAY. After about 30 minutes the IV was done and we checked my sugar: 212. I then had to eat a spoonful of peanut butter before they would let me go. It took about 30 minutes to eat it because as soon as I tasted it I felt sick again. Finally I finished it and we went home. I got back to our friends house and BLAH, was sick again. UGH! I managed to get a can of pears down and went straight to bed before I could get sick!
I am so thankful for great friends, and such kind hearted people. I can't thank M enough for what he did. We didn't get home until 1 in the morning and he was so nice about the entire episode. He ruined his Saturday night to help take care of me. I feel like a really lucky girl! Thanks M!
On our way, police sirens go off. All of a sudden we get pulled over for going 6 over the speed limit. "M" tells the police officer who he is, that he is taking me (a diabetic) to his firehouse for a glucose IV. The dumbass police officer starts lecturing him! "Well, don't you think you should have called an ambulance? Silly to be speeding..." He finally lets us go (after asking M which house, address, location, and information to make sure we weren't lying) and M gets so upset. I would have too! He was annoyed that the officer was lecturing him. Come on, it was free to go to the firehouse, the officer would have done the same thing!
When we got to the firehouse, sitting on the table were all the supplies needed for my IV. I was sat into a chair and the firefighter who was doing the IV prepped my left arm. He started the IV (owie, it hurt!) and unfortunately my vein wouldn't "flush". They need to have the IV in the vein so that the glucose is administered directly into the vein so I don't have things like my cellulitis hand last March happen. He tried for a minute or two and then asked if he could try another vein. I said yes, and he tried my right arm. He got it right away. Within seconds my blood sugar was rising. YAY. After about 30 minutes the IV was done and we checked my sugar: 212. I then had to eat a spoonful of peanut butter before they would let me go. It took about 30 minutes to eat it because as soon as I tasted it I felt sick again. Finally I finished it and we went home. I got back to our friends house and BLAH, was sick again. UGH! I managed to get a can of pears down and went straight to bed before I could get sick!
I am so thankful for great friends, and such kind hearted people. I can't thank M enough for what he did. We didn't get home until 1 in the morning and he was so nice about the entire episode. He ruined his Saturday night to help take care of me. I feel like a really lucky girl! Thanks M!
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