Everyone needs a boost from time to time!

Has it really been almost 2 years!?

Good news for Canadian Mac users with Carelink!

Medtronic Carelink now works on the MAC operating system.....YEAHOOO!!

Airline troubles?

Has anyone ever had this happen?? This is an interesting article.

From the flight deck: diabetics, watch your insulin

I use small doses of insulin, compared to most people. When I fly, I can count on a decrease in my blood glucose values, I wonder if this is why? I should disconnect next flight and see if my trend continues. I figured it was a psychosomatic reaction to flying, maybe not!?

I see some trial and error in the future.......

I love the fog!

It has been a solid month of fog......every day....a luxury of living on the ocean, in the month of May. I am ok with the fog, it allows me to hide from the world for a short period of time. I look out the window, I see a grey haze, that is it.
That being said, I feel good.....I had a great run in the Bluenose Marathon the weekend past (Great BGL's the whole race!!!). Last evening we had a monthly gathering of the "diabetes group". Life is good.

I enjoy travelling, and thought it was ok to go through the "full body scanners" at the airports, until I read this article by Medtronic. TSA Screenings Update for People with Diabetes Have a read, could be important information! This won't stop me from venturing......just allows me to be a little more educated along the way.

A blue and green christmas......

We've been having storm after storm after storm here on the East coast of Canada, resulting in a wet and green christmas. I am ok with the lack of snow, but it really does not feel like Christmas......feels like something is missing......this year, something is missing. Ah well, hold on cause the waves are rolling and the earth is turning....is this a permanent change? I hope not.

Merry Christmas everyone, enjoy this time when life slows down and we can take a few days to rest with family.

Happy no-D day!

If you get a chance to visit Iceland, DO IT!!

STAR 3 trial clinically validates the Medtronic integrated system

STAR 3 trial clinically validates the Medtronic integrated system

Jelly Bellys were on sale at Costco......

Last week, I visited Coscto with my parents. This is where this story starts!

The night before, I had emptied the candy jar that I keep hidden under my bed. It was a nice midnight feast (that I vaguely remember). I recalled this event when we were browsing the isles of Costco, and I saw an extra large bag of "Jelly Belly's" on sale! "ok", I thought to myself "lets try something different.....all sorts of great flavours!"

The large bag of beans came home with me, and filled my midnight candy jar.

Let's fast forward to the other night. I had an excellent "bootcamp" workout, but it left me a tad low around 2am. I reached for the candy jar, knowing I only needed a few of these magic beans. I stuck my hand in the jar, grabbed 6 beans, and started chomping.

For a mere second I thought I was going to gag! What the heck happened?

GROSS. That is all I can say about that. Individually, Jelly Belly's carry unique jelly bean flavours and are quite tasty. Coffee, watermelon, lemon, popcorn, coconut, berry, chocolate.....but when you take 6 incompatible flavours, and throw them in your mouth at the same time, it is not tasty. Resembled barf.....

Rude awakening! Lesson learned!

Eating those tiny jelly beans one at a time, is about the same as trying to eat KD one noodle at a time :)

Just went I thought I knew everything about my pump......

Late last night, I woke to my pump asking for a calibration. In my haste to get to sleep after work last night, I forgot to test before going to sleep.

After my test, I was scrolling through the pump screens to get to my "daily totals". I don't usually look at this number, but for the past few weeks I have been watching my daily totals (.....just curious). Being dark, I was using the backlight to illuminate the pump screen.

When the screen light timed out, I pressed the button to reactivate the light, but I did not realize that I has missed button, and pressed ACT while I was looking at a daily total.

I looked at the pump, and I had no idea what I was now looking at......what was this breakdown? I had no idea that I could see the breakdown of my daily total by pressing ACT, while on a certain day's total.

I was looking at my %daily total basal versus %daily total bolus, and many other summary features. This was amazing, and I had no idea.

Funny how you think you know something inside and out.....and in the wee hours of the morning, you find yourself under the covers scrolling through daily totals for the past week looking at in depth details......what a neat discovery.....took awhile to fall back asleep!!

Traveling with diabetes is USUALLY easy......

Back and rested from a great vacation abroad.

I enjoy traveling.....learning about different cultures, people, environments and food.

I always pack my diabetes supplies in my carry on luggage, as the guidelines for airport security request. This trip, I took the time to research the guidelines for the areas I would be traveling, to ensure I had accurate information on the handling of my diabetes supplies. Using an insulin pump requires a lot of "strange" looking items to take through airport security.

My usual routine is to tell the airport security agent that I have diabetes, and I wear an insulin pump. I explain that my medical supplies are in my carry on baggage if they have concern. I have paper documentation from my physician, and documentation from my insulin pump company.

(side note, only once, in New York, was I actually given a hard time about my insulin pump and CGMS. Even the documentation I carried did not help in that situation. It took an hour to work through that process, but it all resolved once they were able to inspect my bags in great detail and swab everything for traces of anything "harmful")

This trip, I learned the appropriate wording in the appropriate language to explain "diabetes", "insulin pump", "medical supplies".....but I was not prepared for what happened.

I flew through airport security in Halifax and in London. No issues.

When I arrived in the Athens airport a few days later, there was a major issue with my insulin syringes and my glucagon. The airport security agents understood when I explained I had diabetes and those were my insulin syringes (I carry 10 syringes in case I have a pump issue and need to return to injections). I explained the glucagon kit was in case of emergency. This information was all understood, but still the airport personal did not know what to do with the "injectables". There was fear that I would attack the crew with my diabetes supplies while in flight.

Being a person with diabetes, I have syringes everywheres. It is not easy to find them all. I have a few in my "bathroom" bag, a few in my purse "emergency kit", along with several in various places in my "diabetes kit". Add to that, my two glucagon kits in two separate places....I began to quickly realize this airport security visit was going to be complicated.

After a long wait while the airport security spoke with their supervisors, along with reps from the airline and even up as far as speaking with the pilot, I was left to travel with no syringes or glucagon. My supplies were taken from me, and sealed in a container in the front of the plane until we arrived at the destination. The whole process was chaotic and confusing to all persons involved.

I asked if I was the first person to ever travel through this airport with insulin dependent diabetes. I understand their reasoning (reference Northwest Airlines Flight 253 / Syringe attack) about crew safety. I had proper documentation and prescription labels, but that did not help in this situation.

My concern: if there is a rule that no "injectables" can be taken on an airline, should there not be a plan in place for people with insulin dependent diabetes, and persons with severe allergies requiring an EPI pen, or any medical condition requiring the use of a syringe to deliver medication. It is not an uncommon issue......and airlines advocate for persons to take all medications in their carry on luggage. Why is this "rule" about injectables not imposed consistently? I have travelled through many airports, and many during this last journey, and only the airlines in Greece gave me any issue (and even then, one airport security agent in one airport in Greece let me go through with my glucagon and said there was no issue with it). The airport security had imposed this new rule, but do not have a consistent plan in place to deal with the situation when it arises.

I am home now, and lost 10 syringes and a glucagon emergency kit. Their process failed me, as I had a chaotic crossover at an airport mid journey and had to switch planes. My parcel of medications did not make this switch.

This is not a deal breaker. I will continue to travel, but will pack all my syringes in 1 bag and place it at the top of my carry on. As I did with my latter flights, when i sit on the plane, I call the flight attendant over and tell them I had a parcel of medications that were taken from me, and I needed to ensure they were on board before departure. I ask the attendant to let me know when they have been places on the plane. When I leave the plane, I exit as usual, and when at the front of the plane I ask for my parcel, and it is returned to me.

This is not a huge hassle using an insulin pump for my insulin, but if I relied syringes all of the time, I would need to call the attendant, and ask for a syringe in order to take my insulin....and even then, would they let you inject in your seat?? I am also not a fan of leaving my personal medication with other persons I do not know or trust. I handed my syringes and glucagon over to a stranger, who walked away with them. Call me strange, but now I do not trust any of those items which left my sight. They are "garbage" to me.

Good information to know. At this point, I only encountered this in Greece and no wheres else in the world. I hope they iron out the process as it was a hassle. I am going to contact the airline and ask they develop a process that can be consistently utilized, and make it publicly known.

Where to start?

I went to sleep last night at 11pm. There was a slight flurry of snow in the air.......when I woke at 7am, there was 35 cm of snow on the ground. Why do these storms always happen at night when I can not watch the beauty of the DUMP? Last night I could see grass on the lawn, the morning.....a winter wonderland.

When I crawled out of bed, my blood sugar was 4.0mmol/L. That was a good morning blood sugar, but not good enough for snow shoveling. I peered out the bedroom window, at the neighbor in the distance. He has a plow on his truck, and was having trouble getting through the heavy, deep snow.

I knew I needed to "stock the furnace", in the words of my dear mother.

I went to the kitchen, and drank two full glasses of orange juice.

I went to the cupboard, and ate two small granola bars.

I did not bolus at all for the food I ate. It was easily 80 grams of carbohydrates, which would typically be 4 units of novorapid for my ratios.

I bundled up and headed out to shovel the driveway. I did not realize it was so warm outside. It was only -1 Celsius, so it was not long before I started shedding layers. I started at the end of the long driveway, and shoveled for 2.5 hours. I moved mountains of snow. My arms were tired, my back was tired....I was tired.

After I was done, I looked at my pump.....6,3 mmol/L. How's that for carb burning! I lucked out, or shall we say I calculated correctly!?

Let's be honest. I guessed, and won.

I am going to have sore arms tomorrow!!

The weeee hours of the morning I heard a fly buzz by my ear.....I grabbed the sheet, and threw it over my head. AH HA fly, I will outsmart you.

It is summer in Nova Scotia, and it is toasty warm. It took only a few minutes and I began to cook under the sheet. I needed fresh air, so off went the sheet, and in came the fly.

Dang you fly, why are you bothering me while I try to sleep?

I rolled over, and grabbed my tester. I had turned my sensor off last night before going to bed. The sensor was on day 6 and I knew in the middle of the night it would end and wake me. If I started a "new sensor" it would wake me as well for a calibration. Rather then fooling around with double calibrations before going to bed, I just turned the sensor off for the night.

Soooo, here I am early in the morning with a fly buzzing around my head, starting up my sensor. I tested, and was alarmed at the higher then normal BGL in the morning. Hmmmm, maybe that is why the fly was buzzing me, for my sweet blood.

I searched through the sheets to find my pump. I could not find it. This is not abnormal, it tends to travel while I am dreaming. I usually start at my pump site and follow the tubing ..... this morning, I could not find either. HUH? I stood up, and found my pump in the sheets, disconnected. During the night, my pump pulled right out of my stomach. I have never had this happen!

I remember the day before saying "During these hot days I have to change my pump site more often, I should do that tonight"

I should have listened to myself! Isn't that always the way!!

Halifax's Bluenose Marathon

May 17th is one of my favorite days of the year in Halifax. This day marks the beginning of spring in my opinion. Haligonians come together for the start of the running season to host and participate in the annual Bluenose Marathon.

I woke yesterday morning to a rainy and cool morning. "GIDDY UP", I said to myself when my alarm went off "LET"S GO GET 'EM!". Off to the races I went....literally!

I met up with my running buddies, and we headed for the race. What a blast! I thank Halifax for the intertia.......keeping all of the runners going through a beautiful race that took us all through many km's of historic streets, through the greenery of the Point Pleasant Park, along the waterfront and dockyards.

I had 3 goals with my race yesterday, and I am happy to say I made them all.

1. First and foremost, make it through the race alive. DONE, that one was easy. My wonderful Medtronic glucose sensor and insulin pump combo allowed me to know at all times where my blood glucose level was at.....I was able to approach each water station and know with confidence if I should drink gatorade or water, if I should take a carbo gel, if I needed a bolus or a stop....... It was such an ease to not have to worry about what my blood sugar was doing during a long race. I could actually focus on my running like all the other racers!

2. Finish in under 2hr30minutes. I ran the half marathon, so that equals 21.1km / 13 miles. I finished in 2hr21 minutes. Not a stellar time, I certainly did not win the race, but I met my goal of under 2hr30 minutes. My time result made me very happy, and later in the summer I will set a goal to shave a few minutes off that time, aim for less then 2hr15minutes!

3. My third, and most important goal, was to finish the half marathon before any of the full marathoners finished their race (How do they run that fast!?!?! They obviously are not short like I am!!!). The lead marathon runner finished in 2hr35minutes.....which is an amazing time (WOW), but still more then my time.

A success! Felt great!

Thanks Halifax!

Giving my carelink username and password?!

What a dilemma. I have an endo appointment monday morning. This is a good thing - my previous endo moved across the country, and after 14 years in this endo clinic, I had to go back to my GP to re-refereed for a new endo. I have had endo's leave in the past, and my case was always handed over to a new physician. Well, this time was different. My Ha1c was not great, but it was good enough to triage in to a 2+ year wait list to be assigned a new endo........now the wait is over.

I have been emailing back and forth with my education nurse, who thanks to the small number of patients on pumps, she remembers me by name. She said, if I gave her my username and password for carelink, she would print all of the data off for the Dr.

This is very helpful - and I agreed.....but now I sit and think about how my views of my diabetes control have changed over the years, especially over the past years since I ventured in to "adulthood". Take this scenario when I was 15 years old, and I would have been hiding all of the bad readings in order to avoid the "lectures". Now, I am laying it all out there.

There is a part of the health care system that is steering away from the "lecture" technique to encourage proper diabetes care....and allowing persons to step back and accept that their control may not be perfect, but small changes and small steps will make a big difference. Maybe adding a bit of realism?

I do feel vulnerable allowing people in to my secret diabetes world. All of the data that is secretly stored in my pump will be examined and critiqued by my diabetes health team......my goodness I don't even like people to see my meter screen when I test!

This is my first appointment with no carelink limitations. Last time, I took in the printouts I wanted the Dr to see. This time........

Cozmo exits the pump scene

Yahoo Canada News

I'm watching the snow blow horizontally across the beach....

Over the holidays, I was up in Ontario visiting family.

I flew out of Halifax, during the January 1st winter storm. We were experiencing an extreme blizzard, and the flight I was scheduled on was cancelled........and re-cancelled......cancelled again......and again......and then after multiple stand-by flights, I did made it to Ontario.

No surprise, but during this process, my luggage was lost.

Thankfully, I had my life packed in my carry on .... with the exception of clothes for the week. Easy enough.

I spent the week in Ontario with no luggage. No winter clothes, no gifts for the people I was going to visit (I am going to rewrap them in Easter wrapping paper!!), but still had a WONDERFUL time.

I received my bag back, a week later, on the day I was returning to Halifax.

When I arrived at the check-in terminal at the airport, with my bag, I was asked "Has this bag been in your possession the entire time?".

I looked at the agent who was waiting to take my bag, and I said "Well actually no. It has not been".

She stopped, and looked at me, waiting further explanation.

"Well??", she said, "where has it been that it was out of your possession? We need to know for security purposes"

"Funny that", I said, "the bag has been with Air Canada for the past seven days. I just received it back. For once, I can not answer yes to this question"

I asked if she wanted to take a look in the bag. She seemed unimpressed, said no, and the bag was checked through.

Funny that..............

Almost to the new year.....so close.....

2009 is almost days away, which means I need to compile my "to do" list for the year......

Places I want to go, people I want to see, things I want to do.....stay tuned :)

The list-making queen is at work!

Brrrr that was fast....

I have no doubt that Purolator is FAST, in terms of their $hipping. I also have no doubt that Medtronic is fast with their order processing. Combine these two and you result in top notch customer service. I have never been let down by either.

Something changed recently, with the shipping process for the Medtronic glucose sensors. I was not aware .... hence this posting.

I enjoy ordering online, rather then speaking in person to someone in a call centre. No offense to the actual human interactions, but I enjoy the simplicity of the "click and ship" process. No dialing, no voice prompted menus, no waiting!

I booted up the Medtronic website the other night to order my glucose sensors. I have been without sensors for awhile now, but made the realization these little gems are the key to my diabetes control. I dusted off the credit card, and ... click click click, they were on their way.

I went on to the Medtronic website the next day to track my order. Another technological advance we have all grown to love, the ability to track every move our parcels make along the way. "oh look, the truck just hit a bump outside of Montreal. Oh look, the driver has stopped for a pee". Play by play, 24 hours a day.

When I checked the status of the order 24 hours after it was placed, I saw no update. "Ok, no problem, likely a Christmas delay. I am sure Glucose Sensors are a hot item on everyone's Christmas Wish list......what, no?". The next day, I was off to work. I started my work day at noon, and worked through until midnight. I was very tired when I pulled in to the driveway ..... put out the garbage, and then crawled in to bed.

Before closing my eyes, I pulled out the laptop to check the status of my Northern Vagabond. I saw my web browser still open to the Medtronic tracking page, so I clicked refresh to see the play by play updates! I was taken back when I read the following line "Item delivered to residence at 13:25".

"WHAT?". No one was here.....I saw not box on the kitchen table....no sticky on the door....what does this mean?

I jumped out of bed, ran down the stairs an opened the front door.

There is front of me, on the front steps, was a very chilly box from Medtronic. Sitting on the front door step like a dog waiting to come in the house.

I looked at the clock, 02:15. I looked at the thermometer, -10 degrees.

My box of 4 glucose sensors, that cost $220.00, sat on the front steps of my house, for over 13 hours at sub zero temperatures. I had to literally scrape the ice off the box to open and inspect the contents.

I called to Medtronic in the morning, to see why this happened. Typically I have to sign for the parcel, to keep it safe. It seems enough people complained about missing their deliveries that Medtronic took away the need for a signature on arrival. Wow, the internet site did not mention this during the ordering process!

Medtronic states they have tested and can confirm the sensors are good to -20. I am not comfortable that my sensors spent over 13 hours in the subzero temperatures. I asked the rep at Medtronic if I could store them in the freezer from now on (yes, I was a LITTLE sarcastic). I was advised the sensors do not even need to be refrigerated anymore. I had heard this rumor, but I have also heard the fragility of the chemical compounds on the sensor itself. I have heard the sensors are sensitive to "movement", and now I wonder how extreme temperature fluctuations would affect these sensor chemicals.

The sensors are sitting in my closet now, at a toasty 20 degree temperature.

We will see how these sensors will pan out. I will start one up in the morning and get back online. I know for next time to expect Purolator to drop the parcel anywhere and anytime. I do have the ability to request a signature on the parcel when ordering, to avoid this from happening. If I had not checked that webpage in the wee hours, I can guarantee those sensors would still be on my front door step. I only check those steps on Saturday and Sunday.....when the weekend newspapers arrive! By tonight, they would have been under a foot of freshly fallen snow.

Well, truth be told, I am very happy to have my little friends back. Merry Christmas to me!

Still Running.....bundle up!

Winter came to Nova Scotia, for a short period. We had 2+ feet of snow. We shoveled driveways, slid in our cars on the road, waited in line up to get snow tires and sat by roaring wood fires.

Less then a week later, we were back to 10 degree temperatures, wading through the slush and now back to seeing the grass on the lawns and the leaves waiting to be raked. What a climate we have....

This year I am determined to keep running outside during the winter. Typically I transition to the treadmill, and start up again in the spring. Running inside is not even close to "the real thing" for myself.....so I have enlisted the help of my running buddy Wyatt to keep me on the roads. We headed out in -7 degree temperature for a 9km run around the city, and that went well. I slid a few times, but nothing major. Last weekend, I participated in a 10km road race around the city, and that went well.....so far, I should be ok.

I am learning I tend to overdress, as I watch other runners in shorts and t'shirts, while I am wearing lined leggings, two shirts, mittens and a hat....and wondering why I am so HOT at the end of the run! This will come with time and more sub zero experience.

On the good side - the cold temperatures will keep me running, that is for sure. I would not want my pump to freeze, so I keep it close to my skin....so as long as I am warm, it is warm. I stop running and cool down, it could freeze....so keep those feet moving girl! Not a problem today, as we sit at 4.2 degrees and rain. The cold temperatures have gone away for awhile....but I know they will return!

Snow Help Needed...

Anyone willing to get the newspaper for me?