Monday, August 27, 2007

The little victories and little defeats

I had my doctor's appointment today. Before I went I downloaded all my pump information & printed off the results for my doctor. I made a list of things that I needed a prescription for and made a list of all the things that I wanted to ask my doctor about. I was ready to face my doctor, get my A1c results, and find out what I needed to do to get a CGMS for my pump.

Of course when I got to the office I had to wait for TWO HOURS before I could get in to the back. And then waited another 15 minutes to see the doctor. I like him. Really I do. But the booking is a little crazy.

Anyway, back to my story. I got called back and they weighed me. I don't weigh at home. I would be obsessed with it if I did. I knew I had gained some weight back. It was about 5 pounds. A little defeat. I have been trying so hard to keep the weight off. I hate it that I had gained some back. This makes me that much more determined to start exercising on a regular basis. I want to loose about 15 to 30 pounds. I know it can be done. I just have to get off my butt and do it!

When my doctor came in and gave me my A1c results I was really hoping for a lower A1c. It didn't happen. My last A1c was 6.6. Today it was 6.7. I know it's not much of an increase. But it's there. And I don't like it. Another little defeat.

Now on to the little victories. My microalbumin urine test came back good. No problems. No spilling protein. My cholesterol was okay. And there were no other abnormal test results. This is very good to hear. Twenty-two years is a long time and I know sometimes that I am playing a fine line to have no complications. I want to keep it that way for as long as I possibly can.

Another good thing is that I spoke with my doctor about getting the Constant Glucose Monitoring System for my Minimed 722 pump. I have wanted this for some time, but was afraid that my insurance would turn it down. But one of my co-worker's has the same type of insurance that I do and they pay for her husband's CGMS. So today I asked my doctor what we could do about getting it for me. He asked me several questions about my blood sugars. When do I go low? How often? Can I tell when my blood sugar is dropping? Then he said he would write a letter of medical necessity to the insurance company and we would see what would happen. My doctor's office also has the Minilink that he loans out for about 3 days at a time to patients to try out. He put me on the list to get this and set me up and appointment for 6 weeks from now.

So, I had some little victories. I had a few little defeats. But overall, there was no terrible news. There was nothing that needed to be changed drastically. I got my prescription for test strips increased to 10 per day. I got prescription for a glucogon pen.

I will definitely let you all know when I get the CGMS on trial from my doctor's office. It may be a little while, but I will keep you all updated. Wish me luck! :)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi Cara.

Congrats on a pretty decent doctor's visit. You say it well, about the "fine line" we walk while keeping the dreaded complications at bay. If the worst thing about a doctor's appointment is the 2 hour wait, I'll take that any day, as long as the labs come back looking good!

By the way, have you ever tried calling the office in advance to ask how behind schedule they are running? Some offices are better than others when it comes to such "inside" information. ;^)

I wore a 3-day sensor a few months ago. It was a bit of a pain because it was cumbersome, and it could not be disconnected. So I had to protect it from water in the shower. The graphs helped me tweak my basals, though, so it was worth the hassle. Why six weeks away? Is your endo that busy?

As for exercise, I am in the same boat. I love to get out and ride my road bike, and we live in a community with a 3 mile loop that has very little traffic, so there's no excuse not to spin 3 or 4 loops as often as possible. It's just that there always seems to be something more important to do. Maybe we should all post our exercising every day to guilt each other into doing it.

Also, thanks for adding GDAT to your blogroll. Much appreciated.

--Jeff

Scott K. Johnson said...

Hey Cara,

Mostly good stuff at the appt. I think!

The little defeats sound like they are motivating you to push for better and better, and it is great that you can use them for that.

Keep us in the loop!

Anonymous said...

Hi Cara,
Ugggggggggh! 2 hours! That's nutty! It sounds like you really advocated for yourself and were fully prepared. I am proud of you for getting what you needed for yourself. I know A1C results can be so emotional; it's a number that can't fully express all the work we do to keep our sugars in range and work hard. And the scale number can also feel damning, but I think you rock and are lovely just the way you are! Wish I could say more to cheer you, but I think you know all of us here in the diabetes OC are rooting for you! :)

Jillian said...

Hi Cara!

I'm glad you found me and are enjoying my writing. Thanks for the compliments. You are a ray of hope that maybe I will to the 22 year mark complication free. But maybe, just maybe there will be a cure before I hit that. I'm going to add your link to so I can catch up on your writings!

- Jillian