Egg And Toast Please

This morning I stopped by my office building’s cafe to grab some breakfast, my standard, multigrain toast and a hard-boiled egg.  Today I am wearing a black sleeveless dress and amazingly, (see pic from yesterday’s post), my fauna decorated Dexcom still looks perky after a shower (shocking, I figured it would dissolve). The Dex in my arm doesn’t seem to ever blend-in but the contrast today seems more significant.

The woman behind me in line asked, “What’s that on your arm?”.

Me: “Oh I’m diabetic and it’s a continuous glucose monitor so it shows me blood sugar trends” (pointed at Dex receiver on top of my phone on counter).

Lady: “Oh my friend has diabetes but he has a…. ummm…” (pointing to her hip).

Me: “Oh an insulin pump.” I grab my pump thru my dress, attached to underwear so she can see the boxy shape on my hip.

Lady: (looking confused). “Oh his pump takes care of everything, he doesn’t need anything like that” (pointing to my arm).

Me: “Yes, the thing in my arm gives me glucose readings.  It helps me make decisions with the pump and alerts me if my glucose is too high or too low.  It’s a new technology that’s been really helpful for me.”

Lady: “The only problem he has with the pump is if we go to the theater and it goes off going through security, but otherwise it takes care of EVERYTHING.”

I’ve decided I MUST find this theater loving man with a pump that takes care of EVERYTHING.

This week has been filled with incredible BG frustration (and yes I am still taking +10% to +20% temp basal & multiple corrections per day with mild success).  I got in the elevator and felt angry.  In my moment of anger and frustration, I thought how much I would like to smack the man with his pump that takes care of everything.  He has done a disservice to me and many others like me, letting this woman roam the earth thinking that his pump is a cure and its biggest frustration is that it sets off a metal detector sometimes, you know, at the theater.

5 thoughts on “Egg And Toast Please

  1. i hear ya. I was at the health food store yesterday looking for bitter melon and the lady wanted to talk about how it helps her blood sugar…she has been type 2 all her life, she says, but now she is on insulin, so she is type 1…….tests her blood once or twice a day, and it is always “fine.” As my dad says, “there are none so blind as those who will not see.”

  2. If you’re constantly correcting your basal rates and your corrections, shouldn’t you just change them? I’m still new to the pump thing and I’m making constant adjustments as well. Just a thought. I love the decorations for the Dexcom. I found your blog thanks to the comment you left me on tuDiabetes.

    P.S. If you ever find that magic pump, let me know as well. 🙂

    • Hey Allan,

      Oops, I should have done a better job explaining the temp basals and corrections. I went on vacation (3 hr time difference for 6 days/5 nights). Although I adjusted fairly well meal wise (eating on local time), my sleep patterns didn’t make the adjustment (super early to bed and super early wake-ups). I ended up having too high alarms 4 out of 5 nights, multiple times per night. I would correct and although my bgs didn’t increase, they also didn’t come back down. Almost the entire trip my bgs were too high and I was taking much more insulin than usual, getting poor results and growing increasingly frustrated. I switched pump sites, changed insulin bottles and was so disappointed that my fingersticks matched up to the Dexcom beeping numbers. By the last day I took 10% more basal rate almost the entire day and never went too low. Yuck! When I arrived home, I thought perhaps being back on schedule would set me straight but instead the same Dex beeping highs started btw 2am to 4am. Crazy especially with the time difference. I switched everything again, Sites, insulin, using supplies from different lot numbers and also factored hormones into the mix but still my results were inconsistent and most of the time my bgs were simply too high. I mentally gave myself a few more days before I’d increase my basal rate setting in my pump (not a temp), then started thinking maybe I was getting a cold. Yep, weird vacation stuff, sinus issues and hormones may have been the combo because I have been back on track(mostly)since Saturday morning….YAY!! So really long story summarized: yep I believe in trying to keep basals steady (well I use temps for my workout schedule especially running) but at the 1.5 week mark of night time highs I definitely thought I was going to need to increase my late night basals AND I was THRILLED to be wrong.

      Whew, sorry, that was a LONG story!

      And as for the magic pump, I’ve got my eye out for that guy for sure! 🙂

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