A question...

After being diabetic for 12 years I think I'm finally coming to the realization that I have this disease. For so long I sort of brushed it a side and never really made it a big deal.

I was feeling a funny tingly feeling in my right foot and started to get nervous that this was a diabetic complication (I'm 26, active, etc...) which I thought would never happen. Turns out the doc thinks I may have carpel tunnel (spelling??) in the foot, which is not related to the diabetes. I did mention that my feet were extremely cold and that's when the doc went full speed ahead with the precautions I need to take as a diabetic to ensure that I don't need to have a toe, foot, leg amputated in the future (he used the word "amputate" about three times). The way he said to prevent this was to keep in good control, really staying between 80-120 (he even said that above 120 was getting too high).

Anyway this brings me to my question: Is it possible to get in control where your numbers are always 80-120???

I left the office and burst out into tears. I always thought I was in good control, but now am realizing that constant highs and lows does not equate to good control.

Meter disaster

A few weeks ago I got a letter from the company that sends me my test strips. The letter went something like this, "blah blah blah blah, we learned that a Class I Recall has been issued on One Touch Ultra and FastTake blood glucose meters from Lifescan, blah blah. Because we are concerned with your diabetes management, and committed to 100% customer satisfaction - we are offering our customers who use these products a free meter upgrade to a MediSense Optium or an Ascensia Contour. blah blah blah..."

Maybe I'm not so smart, but even though there was a recall I didn't know that my supply company would no longer send out supplies for the Glucometer elite. There was no explanation regarding this. This caused a problem since I was sitting around waiting for my supplies (I test a million times a day, so I always run out of test strips quickly). Finally I called and they told me that they wouldn't send me supplies for my meter and I HAD to get a new meter. So, I surrendered. I signed up to get the Ascencia Contour. With a few test strips left, I received my package with the new meter today....

They gave me the ASCENCIA DEX 2 meter and test strips for the ASCENCIA Contour... WHAT! I sat there for a good hour trying to figure out how the individual test strips worked with a meter that took the package of strips until I figured out that I had been sent the wrong meter.

So now the correct meter will hopefully be sent out overnight tomorrow. I'm keeping my fingers crossed.

What I'm most angry about is the recall letter. I am completely shocked that a company providing medical supplies would make it seem like they were doing the customer a favor by providing an upgrade to their meter. I would think their responsibility lies in providing accurate and detailed information to the customer. I'm still in disbelief.. I expected more...

My first entry

So, I'm sort of new at the whole blogging thing. I started looking around at some of the blogs a few weeks ago and felt like this would be a good place to share some of my feelings and experiences.

There is definitely a lot to me, but the thing that I most want to talk about here is having Juvenile diabetes. I've been a type 1 diabetic for 12 years, wow I didn't realize it was that long. I'm 26 now and obviously an adult and have felt like I've hit a brick wall. It's been great to read some of the blogs and know that I'm not alone in this world.

It's sort of funny to me. I went through years and years of saying that having diabetes didn't effect me. I was pretty adamant about the statement. Well it turns out that having diabetes does have an effect, actually it's pretty big. Being a single, 26 year old, professional, active person does not help keeping the diabetes under wrap. I'm pretty quiet about having diabetes when it comes to people I don't know. My friends (or most of them) know about it, but I really try and not make it a big deal or focal point in my life. That seems to be a little different than a lot of other posts I've read. I'm working on it, but I feel embarrassed/ashamed at having the disease.

Everytime I read something regarding diabetes it is focused on Type II diabetics. At this point in my life, I'm having a hard time with that. I feel that these are two different types of diseases and Type I diabetics do not have their fair share of information and support out in this world. I've known three type I diabetics in my lifetime. One was a girl in highschool, she got the disease after me. Really the only time we talked about it was when we saw each other on school break and we sort of gave each other the once over and made sure things were going okay. A few years ago I met a woman at the bar I worked at and every so often when I'd see her, we'd talk about it, but it was different. Although I appreciate her talking to me about some things we were in completely different stages of our life. Finally I met my ex-boss' wife who has some of the same issues as me (you know where do you put that damn pump when you are out at a party wearing a dress issues). Other than that I've sort of been left on my own to figure some of this out, more so I haven't been able to talk to people who really get it.

It has been really great reading some of the blogs out there. The honesty in these blogs feel close to home.