Had a business lunch today and only had 3/4 of a club sandwich…maybe had 20 or 25 homemade potato chips….Took additional insulin to cover and 2 hours after lunch and I am pinging 244 on my Dexcom…..What the heck?  It is times like these that you question yourself and your ability to estimate carbs. I’m guessing I mis figured but that is sure a pretty good size miss.  Oh well…..........what are you gonna do?  Keep on fighting the good fight and just plow on…...it seems to be the only thing that makes any kind of sense to me.. Helllooo insulin….

Ah, the joys of diabetes….........................

I was just interviewed by Kay Fontana who runs a site for Baby Boomers who are Grand Parents and for whatever reason are raising their Grandchildren.

The emphasis of the interview was to speak to Grandparents who are raising Diabetic Grandchildren, or are diabetic themselves.

You can hear it here …...

http://www.talkshoe.com/tc/68906

Cheers,  Bob

I have been blessed to have been using a Dexcom cgms for close to 4 years now and have religiously had my Dex by my side. Amazingly I have not lost it in all that time and have found it to be a great tool in helping me manage my disease. My most recent A1C was 5.9 woo hoo…...and that is because with the pump and the cgms, I can make decisions and get feed back quickly.
In the last 6 months however, I have drowned 2 Receivers and have had to buy new ones because of it..
How…..well, let me paint the picture for you.
Yaaaaawnnnn…..stumble out of bed, clip my Dex to my pajamas…..stumble into the bathrooom, pull up my t shirt…..splash….Dex jumps right into the toilet. Pull it out within 1/10th of a second, and alas it is completely dead. It wont dry out, it just dies. The receiver is not anywhere even close to being water resistant.How did this happen….well, in my sleepy state, I probably got part of my tshirt caught in the clip and when moving my shirt, splash down!!!
It sounds stupid I know, but I am guessing this happens to folks pretty often when you figure the thousands and thousands of folks using them.
After recently spending a bunch of money again to buy a new one, I figured I would plan for the ultimate inevetabilty of my cgms getting wet again.Storms or dropped in puddles, or a sink….what have you.

I looked online for simple solutions….water proof cases and the like….but I couldnt find anything that was small enough, didn’t look like a big ole box on my hip, or was inconspicuous.
My solution…..a small Hefty sandwich bag. I wrote “Reward” and my phone number on the back of the unit in case I ever mistakingly lose it some where. I put the cgms in the bag and slide and stuff it all into my cgms case from Descom. It is very simple and cheap, and effective. The cgms is still visible as the bag is clear and functionality is not affected. You do have to take it out to charge it however…but it’s not a big deal. And you can replace the bag if you ever think its torn.
You may not even think it is a problem for you, and I didn’t for 3.5 years with this never happening to me either. Not me..I said to myself. ..I am extremely careful, I wouldn’t ever drop my cgms into water….Yeah right!!!!
I would recommend you do something….Trust me, you dont want to look at that dieing cgms and think Oh man, its over….Dex is dead…...

I have posted on this previously but I think it’s important. I used to think that was a crazy question. Now I’m not so sure. Tony at Dsainsights posed that question a while back and I told him I thought he had lost his mind. After paying attention for quite a few months now, Im not positive, but I think he is right. I have noticed that I do tend to trend upward pretty dramatically in the a.m. after drinking coffee. I can’t prove it 100% but it sure seems  like coffee is the cause of it…   Adrenaline and all that…...

Keep an eye out and see what you think. Watch it over time and see what your conclusion is….

oh yeah,   and chocolate mocha latte doesn’t count….  I’m talking coffee coffee….the straight stuff with just cream or sweet and low…
let me know …................

Well, I am glad to say that I am back in one piece after a wonderful week on North Captiva Island in Florida. After about day 3, I kept getting an alarm and my pump quit working. Oooohhh noooooo!!!! Now on any other trip, I have always remembered to bring an old one as a backup, NOT this time, dang-it.

I called Medtronic, and they over nighted me one. I am always amazed how something can get from California to an Island in Florida only accessible by ferry in less than 24 hours. Wow! Medtronic was great with their service as always.

I did however have to go on the needle for about 24 hours. Now the problem was that I only had fast acting Humalog, and nothing else. Every 3 hours, get up test, or check the cgms (which was also acting a little funny that day) take some insulin. Everything worked great until about hour 23 when I went down to the office to hopefully pick up my pump. They told me it wasnt there yet. Ok, no problem, it’s probably on the next ferry over.

That is the last thing I remember. I was almost blacked out on my way back to the house as apparently I was over injecting and was having a severe hypo. Thank God my son was driving around on his golf cart as he saw me driving at about 1/2 mile an hour with a blank look on my face. He got me home and my wife pumped me up with glucose gels, of course the inevitable super high followed.

However the pump came, and I was able to get back on a basal rate to get back under control. Lessons learned? Oh yeah, always bring a back up pump or some slow acting insulin when leaving town or being away from home. I already knew, that. Somehow, when things are buzzing along well, you don’t really think about the possibility of problems. I messed up and didn’t have a plan B. Stupid, stupid, stupid.

The good Lord and my family have saved my skin. Yet Again!

Keep going
Peace, Bob

I recently tried Apidra for about 2 weeks as my endo thought it might be helpful. I really looked forward to what i hoped would be faster absorption rates that I had heard about.   Sadly to say, after 2 weeks, I am back on Humalog as I didn’t respond well to Apidra.   My wife finally convinced me to go back on the Humalog after about the third or fourth extreme low that she had to resurrect me from. As one who is hypoglycemic unaware most of the times, I dialed back my basal rates and I took less insulin, but the lows hit me really hard and without any warning….rather reminescent of NPH.

I also definitely found myself to be moody and morose and felt my overall mindset was suffering. I dont know if it was from all the lows or what, but it was not a good experience for me.  I am sure others have had positive results with Apidra, and I recommend they continue with what works for them .  For me however, it was not an improvement in my control…..more of a liability.   Sadly, I had hoped it would be an improvement regarding absorption rates….ie improved control, but it didn’t work out for me….

Keep Going,..................................Peace,    Bob

We’re pleased to welcome Dr. Anita Ramsetty, Endocrinologist as the newest blogger for SugarStats!

We’re delighted to share her expertise and viewpoints with our community. She’ll be sharing her words of wisdom, her experience and professional/personal insights on diabetes with us regularly, so do stay tuned in.

You can address questions to Anita at: endodocs@endocrinehelp.com. On behalf of all of us here, thanks to Anita for her commitment and accessibiity!

Happy Friday everyone. Here are some cool thinking happening in the Diabetes world as well as some interesting resources:

The New OneTouch UltraLink Wireless Meter

For those who don’t already have one or haven’t heard of it yet:

“The NEW OneTouch UltraLink Meter wirelessly sends your test results to your MiniMed Paradigm® insulin pump, making bolus dosing easier and more accurate.

Some advantages of the UltraLink:

• Wireless communication of test (more…)