dear readers; i need your advice

today i have to order my pump supplies.  

i use an Animas Ping pump (which i love!), and i have tried several different infusion sets.

i had been using the Rapid D for quite some time, but they don't quite fit the pump properly and i have to trim a little off the sides of the part that attaches to the cartridge.  not a biggie, but still i began to wonder if that may cause a problem down the road. 

i then went to the Orbit MICRO steel set, but was told that they would  no longer be carrying these and would have to go to the Orbit Teflon.  me and teflon do not get along.  some sort of skin allergy(and the constant kinking) put me off.  i have tried using tegaderm between the set and my skin but i seem to be allergic to it too.  not all the time but every now and then.  enough so that i don't want to do that 'cause i end up with itchy blisters that leave an ugly scar.  i'm not vain in regards to the scarring, just the itching drives me crazy!

so i went back to the Contact Detach.  it's the one i started with originally when i first got my pump 3 years ago.  i originally changed sets because of money.  i needed more bang for my buck and with the Rapid D, i got that.  now that i have things a little (a lot) more fine tuned, i can order just enough for 3 months and it works perfect.  

however, i seem to have an allergy to the sticky stuff on the Contact D too!  again with the blistery, itchiness.  now before every set change, i wipe my skin down with an alcohol wipe, let it dry, spray the area with Benadryl Itch Spray, and let that dry.  insert set and voila!  no itchy blisters!

however, dear readers, i need your advice.

what type of infusion sets do you use with your Ping?  have you ever had these problems? if so, how did you solve the itchy blisters?  what about teflon allergies?  is there a set out there that i haven't tried that might help?  does anyone know of any other steel sets?

i'd appreciate any advice you may have to give.  

thanks =)
 

Wordless Wednesday NOT!!!!

Hi everyone

I am feeling so out of the loop.  I haven't been on here in quite a while.  Used to be a daily event to come on  and write my post and read all of yours.

I just haven't felt "into" it of late.  I hate to say it but I'm sick of Diabetes.  And by that I mean, I'm
tired of the day to day.  I know it sounds strange, but up till now I've been kind of feeling alone in this.
Not feeling sorry for myself, or burnt out, just bored.   Not much relevant has been happening.  I'm feeling a little angry at someone.  I'm not really sure who I'm angry with, but I'm angry. Let me explain. 

Finally, after much hard work by some very determined people, the Dexcom G4 has been approved for sale in Canada.  I was thrilled by this news!  3 years ago, I would never have given this a thought.  I was only recently thinking about an insulin pump and couldn't quite get my head around having something attached to me 24/7/365.  Now I'm seriously considering having another "something" attached to me!

As the years with diabetes go on, I realize that I am not feeling the symptoms of these lows as much as I used to.  It bothers me that some days I "feel"  low at 5.2  and other days I can be 2.8 and feel perfectly normal.  It bothers me that I may be alone, or with one of my grandchildren when that 2.8 hits with no forewarning.  My husband is pretty good (read great) with noticing lows in the middle of the night, but he is also a truck driver and not home every night.  This is kind of scary.  I don't want to imagine what could happen.  For many years I neglected taking my bedtime shot of Levemir for fear of going low and not waking up.  It has happened on several a few occasions over my 39 year career as a diabetic, but there was always someone home with me to help me out.  My husband, my children, they all knew exactly what to do.  But things change and as I said, I don't always feel those lows coming on.

So I had been waiting impatiently for the approval for sale in Canada of the Dexcom.  I thought this would be a great advantage to me in staying safe.  I spoke to the people at Animas long before the approval came through.  Gathering information for the day when I could contact my insurance and get the go-ahead to order my G4.

Alas, that apparently, is not going to happen.  I spoke with them two times in the past week.  The first time was to advise them that the Dexcom was going on sale on November 25 and I needed to know what paperwork they would need to approve it for me.  The second time was to be told that my insurance company does not cover "medical devices", and would not likely make any exceptions in that regard. 

Needless to say, I am pissed.  I explained to the nice lady, that in my insurance handbook it states clearly that my coverage includes a maximum $10,000.00 per calendar year in coverage and "includes prescription drug items approved by *******  **** ***** and certain over-the-counter items which are considered life-saving in nature and which are approved by ******* **** *****.  Including diabetic supplies."

So after explaining how a Dexcom is a potentially life-saving device, and the reasons that I think the plan my company has should cover them, and saying that I cannot be the only diabetic within the Loblaws company of stores,  I was told that she would go back and see what she could do, but in the end I may have to go to my union and press them into adding that to our coverage when we renew our contract next time.  Next time is 2 years from now.  Other plans within the same insurance cover "medical devices", but mine does not. 

I feel a battle coming on.

In other, much brighter news, I have received 7 postcards so far from my postcard buddies!  WDDPE is so much fun, and it does really drive home the knowledge that I am not alone, no matter how alone I feel.  Each day I go to my mailbox with such anticipation!  Just look at the wonders that have greeted me so far!

Seven of them are from the US and 1 is from England!  They are awesome!!  I hope mine are being received!  Lee Ann Thill (and her helpers) do such an awesome job in getting this organized each year.  This is my 3rd year participating and it's so much fun!

I'll try to be more constant in my postings and keep you up to date on my Dexcom dilemma.

the most wonderful time of the year!

hi everyone

it's been quite a while since i've written.  summer has been very busy.
i look after my 2 grandchildren and they are non-stop!  
i must say the summer has just flown by.  it's hard to believe that it's September already!  

school starts back here tomorrow, and i am looking forward to it!  Cameron is going into grade 2, and he isn't looking forward to it.  i'm certain once he gets back into the routine he will be fine.

routine is a good thing, as anyone with diabetes knows!  i will be welcoming the return to routine.  not that my diabetes routine is disrupted by summer, but the routine of the day with the kids is, well, no routine at all!  

some days they wanted to go swimming first thing in the morning.  other days they wanted to go to the park, the zoo, the liftlock, the chip truck, the splashpad.  some mornings were spent watching old disney movies (old meaning VHS), scarfing down some lunch then swimming all afternoon!

but alas, summer is over.  perhaps not officially, but in my books today is New Years Eve!

i've always felt that this time of year is "New Year" .  as a kid, i loved heading back to school.  not necessarily because i loved school.  more because i loved the social aspect of it.  a lot of my friends lived in a different area than i, and were bussed to school.  so seeing them over the summer was not really possible very often.  and this, of course, was long before the days of cell phones with facetime, or laptops with skype.  

we did have bikes and we knew how to use them, but back to school was an exciting time for me.  

when i had my own children,  i enjoyed back to school shopping, and getting them ready.   new teachers, new friends, old friends!  i don't know.  call me weird, i just love this time of year.  (<--watch the video!!)

another wonderful thing about this time of year is canning.  it's a new thing for me.  the first time i canned anything was last year.  i've become obsessed.  so far this year i've done dilly beans, corn relish, mustard pickles, dill pickles and this morning i did hamburger dills.

homemade hamburger dills

my next canning adventure will be chili sauce.  like the kind made by Heinz

we have an abundance of tomatoes so i thought i'd give it a try perhaps sometime this week.  i'll post pictures of course!

well, since it's New Years Eve, i'll think i'll go have a bevvie and enjoy this nice long weekend!  

Happy New Year everyone!