The New Girl in Town

Well the new girl in town is settling in nicely. 

No pump skin as of yet. First I have to learn her personality and then find a suitable match! We are getting along well, keeping things in line.....all and all the change from my old pump with the weird error circle to this new pump went smoothly.

I had to take one of my best friends to the ER by ambulance tonight. Time like these make me cherish my loved ones, seeing the sadness of people in the hospital. I work with these people day in and day out, but to step back and see them from an onlookers view, it is a gentle reminder to be grateful. 

The Error Circle That Would Not Go Away!

So last night I worked a night shift. Tiring......I got home in the morning and crawled right into bed......but first, a sensor calibration so I would be woken during my precious sleep!!

6:05 my pump alarmed that I needed to do a calibration soon.

7:05 I was not fast enough, I received a "calibrate now" alarm. The open circle showed on the pump face.

7:06 calibration entered, no problemo. Fell asleep, slept well until 13:00 when I woke.

13:00 totally missed thanksgiving dinner (canada) with my family. Slept right through. Whoops!! Got up hit the road. 

14:00 figured I should at least look at my pump, see where I am at for BGL. All fine, but there is an open alarm circle. Strange, I had no recent alarms. Flipped through all the pump screens, no alarms showing active. Lots of units of insulin left. Hmmm....strange.

Changed the battery (I was at 1 line). Checked the alarm history, last alarm 7:05 with the calibration alarm. No temp basal, no pattern basal, no square or duel wave bolus on the go....NOTHING. Blood sugar 5.6, isig value is fine, sensor is fine. WHAT THE HECK? The open alarm circle is still there!!

I called the minimed hotline. I went through everything with the rep, neither of us could find why this was happening!! I was asking if there was some way to reset the pump.....reboot, but no. Not an option.

So, the US rep transferred me to the Canadian site and they processed an order for a replacement pump. I was told I could have a pump to me in 2 hours. WHAT! 2 hours...I need time to say goodbye to this one, 2 hours is not long enough! HA. I was shocked in the service, considering today is Thanksgiving in Canada. Someone's turkey dinner was being interrupted for my open alarm that would not go away. My pump was working fine.....I did not think this was URGENT!!

I told the rep the replacement could wait until tomorrow, let people have their family time!! He laughed....I laughed..

...then I had a brilliant idea. I entered a calibration that was WAYYYYY off. My isig was 5.7 and I entered a BGL reading of 14.0. There sensor, take that!! Lets see you alarm again ..... sure enough, within 10 minutes CAL ERROR. HA, I knew I could get an alarm out of ya!!

I cleared the CAL ERROR and as I thought may happen....the open mystery alarm circle disappeared.

Strange. 

I entered the REAL BGL, and the sensor is happily back online, and the mystery circle is gone.

I told Minimed, and they still want to replace me pump. "Sure, that is ok.....but please do not replace until tomorrow....let people have their turkey and naps". They laughed, and said ok.

Tomorrow 9am a new pump......this is my last night with my faithful buddy who has been with my since aug/06. I had her serial number memorized, her pump skin in place.......we get along great. I have had many different Minimed pumps since I started 6.5 years ago, and each pump change is hard emotionally. She (the pump) is confused, the open alarm circle is gone - why must she go away? Oh it will be a sad night, but it is more then the initial 2 hours we thought we had left together. Why do I feel this emotion towards a piece of plastic with a motor? My sidekick for the past year......wow.......if this is how I feel towards a pump, I would hate to see my emotion if I were to have a kid and something happened......

Fast Delivery

I certainly can not complain about the customer service with Medtronic Minimed.

Yesterday morning I went online, and placed an order for 4 sensors.

Less then 24 hours later, the sensors arrived to my door. Amazing! 

Another cooler and freezer pack to add to the collection...the perks of CGMS. I always have lots of freezer packs and cool lunches at work!

I Love My Pump Buddies

If you find pump buddies, hold on to them with all your might!

The other morning I had a low reservoir - but sadly had been a total idiot and left my extra insulin in the car throughout a hot day (ok give me a break, I was sky diving and my mind was rather distracted!!). 

"No worries" my pump buddy said "There is a fresh bottle of Novorapid in the fridge, crack it open!" 

My response "Giggle...this is not even your home!!!"

Problem solved....even when I was not at home - at a house that was totally strange to me, many km away from where I call home....my pump buddy was able to reach out and help. Even tho I was alone, I felt the connection and I knew he was there for me! 

Thanks Clay :) HUGS!

The Beauty Of Greens

Yesterday was my most nerve racking day of the year. I hate going to the eye specialist, as do most persons with diabetes. I was not even this nervous when I jumped out of an airplane last weekend (Oh that was such a rush, I can not even explain the feeling of free falling from 10,000 ft!!!!!! I am still waiting for the pictures to tell about that day).

Either way, I woke early knowing I had to walk to the clinic.....as I could not drive afterwards! It was a nice morning and I had an enjoyable walk to the office. I waited 1.5 hours in the waiting room. I read every magazine, texted every friend I could think of, tried to have a nap -anything to occupy this nervous time.

I finally went in, and had those dreaded drops. You all know what I mean....your vision slowly disappears until you are left in a fog. Once that fog was secure, I was called into the room by the Dr.

My eye specialist is one of the nicest guys I have ever met. I see this man once a year, and he always knows who I am, and asks specific questions about my life - which shows me pays attention when I am talking with him. We laughed, we talked...and then he proceeed to look deep into my eyes. The blinding band of light passes slowly through all sections of my eye, deeply exposing what I hope are healthy blood vessels. 

That 30 seconds waiting was the longest 30 seconds of the whole year. Waiting for what he is going to say. Good? Bad? Oh the suspense was killing me, and had me nervous enough to barf.

Once he was done, he sat back....and gave me a smile. He knows this freaks me out, and now from that smile I knew everything was ok. He pats me on the shoulder and says everything is looking good for another year, and I can carry along my way. We discuss the CGMS technology and part ways. I booked in to see him 12 months later, and I know he will remember out conversation from today. Amazing.

I left, and of course was as blind as a bat. I had my sunglasses on, but I could not even stand to have my eyes open. I walked as best I could - but could not get over how intense the colors of what I could see. The green of the grass is what I noticed, mostly because I was staring at the ground. Amazing intensity and looked like velvet. I was able to glance briefly up at the trees to the most intense green leaves I have ever seen. 

A gentle reminder to enjoy the beauty around me.

 

Your favorite food?

Last weekend I was having dinner with friends, and one of them asked me what my favorite food was........speechless.......

I thought about it, and I was not able to come up with a food that blew my mind away.....I just do not have an extreme likeness for food. I eat, don't get me wrong, and I like what I eat - but I never get intense cravings or desires for anything specific.

I think this all stems back to being a child with diabetes. Food was not fun, food was medicine. 

This was back in the mid 1980's and there was no such thing as MDI's or pumps (where I was living). I took my Toronto and Lente insulin in the morning and headed off to school for the day. My mother has specific foods stashed to be eaten at specific times. No flexibility, end of story. (and no testing during the day, did not even take a meter to school! I freak if I leave home now without a meter!! Could not do it!!!) 

Food was not a choice for me, it was part of my medical day by day plan.

My opinion of food stayed this way for a long time, when I moved out of home I moved into residence at university. I ate and it was social. All of my friends would go up to the meal hall together and we would hang out, and eat. Other then that, I would eat when I was low.....when I moved out on my own, I had no interest in preparing meals and planning food. I was on MDI's and I became a grazer! I would eat here and there when I was hungry, and there was no structure. Because of the MDI's, I was able to pull this off with no issues - and of course my BGL's stayed fine with the smaller meals.

Now I sit, several years later, trying to fix my bad habits. Once I started using an insulin pump, I was amazed the freedom away from food. If I did not want to eat, I did not have to. This was a very freeing experience that I can not say enough good things about. Amazing.....but it allowed me to have busy days where I would go from morning to evening without eating! People say "You need to eat, you are diabetic" and I think to myself  "No I don't, my sugar level is fine and holding fine".....but I know for my BODY I need to eat!!

So this is my constant struggle with food. I could easily survive as I am, grazing throughout the day.....It is 10am, I have not had breakfast yet, but I am not hungry. There is nothing I want to eat, I would rather not eat, but I know I should, and I will - and then start my day. No structured meals today but I will grab things from time to time because I know my body needs fuel...

For the record, I am searching for a favorite food......maybe a 3-starch, 2-protein, 2 fruit, 2 milk and 1 fat based meal :)

Cherishing Life!

I can only hope for a life as long as my Great Aunt. She passed away two days ago, at the age of 104. Can you believe that, 104 years old! Her brother is still alive, at 94 and drives around with me in my Smart car.  

I have a great genetic basis, minus the whole diabetes thing. I figure the 104 year old life span factored against the diabetes, will leave me living to the average of most Canadians :) Do the math!!!