Pregnancy, Type 1, and Doctor's Appointments

Get ready for the appointments.

Type 1 Diabetes + Pregnancy = ($$$ x Time) - Sanity

Week	Doctor Visits
Tri 1: 1	fertility doc, CDE
2	HSG scan, fertility doc, endocrinologist
3	fertility doc
4	fertility doc
5
6	fertility doc (sono 1)
7	CDE
8	endocrinologist
9	CDE, OB/GYN (sono 2)
10
11
12
13	perinatalogist (sono 3)
Tri 2: 14	OB/GYN
15
16	chiropractor
17
18	OB/GYN, perinatalogist (sono 4)
19	CDE
20	endocrinologist
21	opthalmologist
22	OB/GYN, perinatalogist (sono 5), chiropractor
23	CDE, pediatrician
24
25	endocrinologist, pediatrician, lamaze
26	OB/GYN, CDE, perinatalogist (sono 6), lamaze
27	anesthesia class
Tri 3: 28	***thanksgiving week***
29	opthalmologist
30	endocrinologist, OB, perinatalogist (sono 7)

By my count, that's 37 visits to a medical practitioner or hospital in 30 weeks...and my understanding is that it will get more frequent from there on out. o_O

Freestyle Navigator - Sensor Insertion

My online friend Jess brought it to my attention that there are NO videos on youtube on the Freestyle Navigator, specifically the topic of sensor insertion. Since I am a HUGE fan of the Nav (and find the insertion simpler than Dexcom and Minimed), I'm setting out to change that, one video at a time.

Here is a link to my first youtube video upload EVER!

PDM - Public Display of My new toy

It's here. It's blue. And I like it.

Several shots for size comparisons.

PDM to palm ratio

PDM to Navigator

PDM to Gen 1 iPhone and Gen 1 PDM

Killing Me Softly

So those of you who live with beeping devices will understand.

My husband awoke Saturday morning complaining of a high pitch frequency in the kitchen. A beep. A squeal. He searched everywhere. He went into the attic. He turned off appliances. He flipped breakers.

Distraught after a good half hour's hunt, he decided to have a snack. He flipped open the lid of the trash can to throw away his granola bar wrapper and the beeping grew louder.

What was the source? A discarded Pod I had failed to deactivate. My batteries had gone dead in my PDM, so I'd just ripped off the Pod and started fresh. Hee hee. Whoops. A power drill and four holes later, Hubs killed his squealing nemesis.

A-1-jeez!

I've been asking my mom for the last year if she had any of my A1c values from when I was under their insurance... I can't believe what she found.

I was diagnosed DKA in July of 1990. These are the numbers she had for my first ELEVEN years as a diabetic, followed by my more recent history. How am I still alive and complication free????

08.20.90 - 12.9
11.05.90 - 11.4
02.04.91 - 12.3
08.05.91 - 13.7
11.04.91 - 13.6
05.04.92 - 11.2
02.03.92 - 13.9
08.03.92 - 13.6
11.09.92 - 15.4 (WTF? - age 13, translates to an average blood sugar of 395)
02.08.93 - 13.4
05.10.93 - 12.8
08.09.93 - 12.2
11.01.93 - 13.4

(don't know what happened to 1994, but I found where on my 15th birthday, my pre-dinner bg was 506)

03.22.95 - 8.9 (switched from exchanges to carb counting some time during this era, 95ish)
06.27.95 - 9.5
10.03.95 - 9.1
01.31.96 - 10.5
05.07.96 - 9.7
08.12.96 - 9.7

(umm...ages 17-20? are we just forgetting h.s. and college? don't know about these...)

(some time in early 1998, switched to Humalog)

06.10.2000 - start pumping on a MM 508, no more NPH!

02.11.2001 - 9.0
07.22.2001 - 10.1

I pick up my own insurance and start documenting from then on, a few pump upgrades happen, etc...

03.22.2004 - 8.6
12.23.2005 - 8.3 (some time in this year, switched to Apidra)
07.28.2006 - 7.3
11.03.2006 - 8.0
05.25.2007 - 7.6
11.15.2007 - 7.0
02.29.2007 - 7.1 (joined Weight Watchers in April)
06.01.2008 - 6.9 (joined TuD!!!, got a Cozmo a month later)
10.27.2008 - 6.1 (started on a CGMS a month after this one)
02.10.2009 - 6.1
05.21.2009 - 6.1
07.10.2009 - 5.8
09.29.2009 - 5.6

Here's to 19 years of S L O W progress, my friends!

Om-Me-Did

I did it.  I bailed on Cozmo to make the switch to Omnipod.  It shipped out today and should arrive at my CDE's next week.  I'll get my training and get all set up before I head off to Disney World at the end of the month!  I can't believe it's happened so quickly!  Forgive the love fest here, but my CDE and the sales reps at Omnipod (Clarisse & Fernando) have been AMAZING.

Here are some of the many reasons why I am excited about the switch:

1. I do not (repeat DO NOT) have to trade my Cozmo pump in.  I get to keep my IN WARRANTY Cozmo and all my supplies and current Rx's for cartridges and infusion sets.  So I will have a working back-up pump that I love!

2. Insulet Corporation was the only one offering a NEW device rather than a reconditioned used pump.

3. It will use the same strips as my Freestyle Navigator CGMS!

4. I have been dying to try the pods.  Curiosity is killing this kitty.  Here is a shot with one of the dummy pods I've tried.  Pardon the gratuitous back nakedness.

Jumping Ship?

So 9 months ago, I bought a Cozmo. I've liked it a lot. And they're claiming that they will support the device for the duration of my warranty - which will expire in July of 2012. I can get my cartridges from Edgepark and I use Animas infusion sets anyway. Looks like I'm all set, I guess.

But then I imagine waiting until 2012 with no potential advancements, integrations, or updates to my pump model. Is it worth giving up a device that works great NOW to jump ship from the company? I have a perfectly good, in warranty, working pump. I hate this feeling. Shopping for an insulin pump escalates me to my most anxious level of buyers' remorse. I tell everyone here at TuD that you can't make the "wrong" decision about a pump...and yet, that's exactly what I fear doing (or fear I have already done).

I have talked on the phone with Abbott, Insulet, Animas, Medtronic... Considering my options (those links link to their Cozmo switch details). UGH. Did not want to go through the pump shopping process again this soon. Seems like some of them will have something new out in the next year. If I do the transition to these companies now - when they're offering GREAT deals - won't it be cheaper to upgrade in the long run?

My biggest concern is my Freestyle Navigator (by Abbott). I LOVE IT. It's not that I don't like the Dex, mind you. I'm just really happy with my choice of the Nav. No regrets there! But with Smiths out of the running and Abbott not talking about their pump development yet or endorsing any one particular pump as far as future integrations are concerned, I'm frustrated (as my three calls to Abbott this morning probably conveyed). I am waiting on a call back from Abbott corporate now. None of their customer care reps are authorized to say much. It's not that I want to know who's integrating with the Nav. I just want to know who is not going to be Nav-friendly. I don't want to jump on over to a Ping and find out with their next model that I would have to get a Dexcom in order to take advantage of all its great features. That's part of why I left Medtronic. Not worth paying for a pump that was integrated with a product I wasn't planning to use. So what then...the Pod? Perhaps. Their reps can at least tell me that they're open to integrating the use of both Abbott and Dex.

Just wanted to vent. Thanks to all those who listen / comment / make suggestions / empathize / etc.

I Can No Haz Buzzy

My Cozmo pump has a feature called "disconnect" where you can anticipate the basal insulin you're going to miss during the time you're disconnected and take it ahead of time. For a shower, I usually activate the feature for 15 minutes. It alerts you when the time is up in case you were to forget to reconnect.

This morning, I left the pump (in vibrate mode) on the bathroom counter and took a long shower.

After the 15 minutes was up, I heard it vibrating (buzz buzz buzz) and ignored it.

Washing out the conditioner (buzz buzz buzz),
shaving my legs (buzz buzz buzz).

Meanwhile, my fat black cat creeps closer. (buzz buzz buzz)
He's a ninja. (jingle jingle)
With a bell. (buzz buzz buzz)

(crash)
I hear the little cup with my wedding ring hit the floor.
(buzz buzz buzz) (jingle jingle)

(buzz buzz CRASH)
I look out of the shower and my pump is lying face down on the tile.



Thank goodness those things can take a hit.
Doesn't he look satisfied?
Ninja, I tell you.