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!

why do i wait?

This is just a small sampling of the number of lancets I have at my disposal at any given time.

Every 3 months I receive another 3 boxes with my pump supplies.  That's a total of 300 every
3 months. 

I had so many that I dropped 6 boxes of 100ea to my local Canadian Diabetes Association office.
I hope they can disperse them to those that may need them.  Seniors, newly diagnosed, those without
insurance.

And hopefully they will use them.  Because apparently I do not.  I have enough that I should be able to change my lancet every time I test, or at the very least, once a day.

So then, I ask, why?  why do I wait until my fingers hurt soooooo bad, and i get no blood, before I decide it's finally time to change the darn thing?!


I mean it's not like it's a difficult thing to do.  It doesn't require tools, or even any skill.  It takes all of 13 seconds.

So again I ask, why?

Why do I wait?