Why oh why didn't we ask?

Jack finally called the insurance company yesterday about covering his testing supplies. And boy, do we feel stooopid. J: "I wish I had done it earlier. It's really quite easy. They cover all the test strips except for a $20 co-pay." Me (in a very snappish-PMS tone): "Jack, I told you to call them months ago!"

I don't even want to think about calculating all of the thousands of dollars we've needlessly spent over the years simply because we didn't ask. We just assumed. ARGHHH.

However, the person he talked to had never heard of the DexCom and asked for a billing number. We'll see how long it'll take Jack to follow up on that... So really, the DexCom is quite more expensive if we'd actually, correctly, used our insurance coverage.

The Belly

I was looking at Jack a couple of days ago while he was relaxing after lunch - usually not a very attractive pose for anyone, but gosh darn it, I could have sworn his belly looked a bit smaller. Then later that day, he patted it and said: "I think my stomach's smaller!" Independently confirmed - I guess it wasn't a trick of the light after all =) Yay - and all it's taking is cycling an hour a day for 2 weeks. I wonder if Adora will remark...

The Husband's Mysterious Mind

Jack has been dropping off and picking up Kooky Kid from daycare by bicycle. Hooray! I think this fortuitous turn of events was inspired by KK's classmates' bon mot. I'm immeasurably impressed by his efforts because it took quite some effort to retrofit the bike, take the childseat off my bike and install it on his. So he's biking at least 45 minutes each weekday, the DexCom faithfully recording the BG as it steadily lowers during his journey. And (the cherry on top of all), he takes glucose tabs with him (woohoo! preparation!), and he loads himself up with milk and juice before going. I am so proud, I could cry... He is so proud of himself, he reminds me every day: "My stomach's smaller already! I really like the biking!" Then, yesterday, "And I thought of it all myself, right? You didn't make me do it!"

Right. I thought he was a bit more enlightened than that. He's Dutch. He cooks. He vacuums. He changes diapers and he can get the baby to fall asleep when I can't. But he doesn't do things just because I tell/ask/suggest him to?! Yeegads, that would explain a lot of things. And I can't believe I didn't realize this until now, on our 14th-year anniversary. So I should be more crafty when I want him to do something? Plant the seeds instead of laying it out straight?? But it's understandable - he probably often feels that the diabetes controls him. Add onto that the perception (maybe reality) that his wife is also imposing control over him, and any sane human being would balk.

Ironically, I actually did suggest the bike riding, months ago =)

Oh, My Kingdom for a Peaceful Night

My best-est friend, The Dex, woke me up 3 (or 4?) times last night. As any new mother will tell you, the lack of uninterrupted sleep will fry your ability to create coherent thoughts or memories.

Anyways, Jack has his lower limit alarm set to 80. It buzzes me awake when it crosses that 80 mark, and I wake him up to drink something. We've recently figured out that one glass of milk will very nicely bring his BG up and keep him steady for hours while he sleeps. Last night, however, he either didn't feel like getting up or never really woke up. His BG hovered around 80 all night - which is great, but every time it crossed that limit on its way down, it would buzz. I tried to kick him out of bed to drink some milk so it would at least hover around 100, but he just checked The Dex, and turned around. And snored. The big lug...

Again, what's a little cross-eyed sleep-deprivation for my husband's healthy A1c?

Not Even Safe at Safeway

Sometimes I think Jack and I are both simpletons. Some things, very obvious things, completely pass us by, even though they're waving red flags in front of our noses. Such as...

We often walk to Safeway, our friendly overpriced neighborhood grocery store. It's a 10-minute walk at most, unless the Kooky Kid is accompanying us on his motorcycle (aka tricycle), in which case it's a 45-minute journey. Invariably, after about 30 minutes of shopping, Jack's BG takes a nose-dive. Usually as we're walking out the door on our way home. I always assumed it was due to the increased physical exercise, but was somewhat puzzled because walking to the same-distanced park did not produce this effect.

Lo and behold, an epiphany when the same thing happened yesterday: It's the temperature, dummies. Just as last week's record heats wreaked havoc on Jack's BG, so does Safeway's sub-zero ambient temperature. His BG also plunges after he's been swimming for 1/2 hour. It would seem that he needs more glucose to combat the effects of the cold and keep his body temperature up. Duh. So. Obvious.

The other thing I learned, in retrospect, is that we eat a lot of junk food! These post-Safeway BG emergencies were always saved by the loot we were carrying home. On different days: chips, cookies, chocolate milk. Yikes. Yesterday it was bananas - but only yesterday. Gotta get more control over the junk food!

Night Visitor

For the 2 of you who got to my blog not through DiabetesMine, I have another post there on a peculiar Night Visitor.

Hooked On It

Well Jack's truly and verily hooked. He can't get enough of it and gets very, very nervous when it's gone. It's even warped his sense of reality and rational thought. Yep, he's addicted to The Dex Line. Yesterday it fritzed out on him again by showing him at 384 (yikes). He did a fingerstick to check and that came in at 38 (ouch). Well, The Dex was only off by one digit right? heh. And then came the shocker. He refused to drink any juice.
Me: Since when do you not drink juice when you're 38??
Jack: Since I have The Dex. And it says I'm high.

I've been (and am) a staunch proponent of this CGMS, but this is a negative I did not expect. Oh boy, they did warn us, those DexCom people, and the FDA, that you shouldn't base your treatment on its data. But it's hard not to do that - after all, why the hell get it if not to use its data to modify your treatment??!

Well, this is why. You get hooked, and it deceives you when you can least resist it, in the midst of a very low hypo. I finally convinced him that his meter really is more accurate than The Dex. The performance of this last sensor has been sporatic. Its data has been very far off fingerstick values a few times, and a couple of other times it's gone dead altogether. This latter situation is never pretty because then Jack gets very nervous: I don't know whether I'm going up or down! I don't know what my BG was 5 minutes ago, or now, or 5 minutes from now! I can imagine it's a bit like being blind (pre-Dex), getting full eyesight (during-Dex), then going blind again (no-Dex).

Both he and I have become very reliant on it, even with all its quirks. I check it during the night when I happen to be awake (and he asleep). We talk about the "night-line" every morning and cheer if it stayed within limit the whole night. He proudly shows me sustained flat lines like a little kid (Do you want to see my line? Do you? Do you?). I wonder if CGMS users show each other their lines when they get together (I'll show you mine if you show me yours.).

Anger vs Patience

I can be very angry at him when he goes low, as if it were his fault. But most commonly, anger within relationships is rarely about the specifics of the events, but reflective of some deeper problems. I notice that when I'm upset, I react angrily at his lows. When I'm calm and well-fed, I can patiently get him juice and repeat many times, You need to drink some juice. Yesterday I was tired from work and cooking dinner, and it was fricken' HOT people. So when he went low, and wouldn't drink the juice, and was telling me that the fingerstick numbers meant nothing, I lost it. I would have screamed if I weren't a repressed 'girls don't raise their voices' type of girl, but instead had to contend with dramatic eye-rolling, throwing a couple of fists in the air, and grrrrrowling in frustration. I walked away and really wanted to stay away, but I couldn't, could I? I had to stay and make sure he didn't slip into a coma, damn it. Maybe it was the growling, but he drank the juice after a few minutes. Afterwards, of course, I always feel guilty about my anger.

When our relationship was going through a bad patch (totally non-diabetes-related), I would become livid with his lows. There's a huge difference between an accusatory Are you low?!! and a gently inquiring Are you low?. Luckily for the both of us, nowadays I do the latter more than the former.

Ho Ho Ho

Exercise

Jack went to pick up Kooky Kid from pre-school last week. One of the classmates is a very cute, very chubby, pig-tailed little girl who looked up at Jack and said, "You have a big stomach!" Well Jack, being the type of guy who'll not let a 3-year-old get away with slighting him, poked her in her stomach and said, "Well you have a big stomach too!"

I totally cracked up when Jack told me the story because he said his feelings were "still hurt". I've been suggesting that he modify his diet or exercise more because he looks like he's 8-month pregnant. When I was pregnant, I would compare my increasing belly with his (at the time, he had a 6-month belly). Not subtle you say? Ya - subtlety does not count with him. Did this work? Naah.

But a little 3-year-old commenting, well that did (somewhat) work. He jumped on the treadmill for 30 minutes the very next day, and vowed to do so every day until the belly's gone. He "took a break" during the weekend, so we'll see whether the resolution will hold.

Diet

Jack loooves his fried/sated potatoes/meats and thick cream sauces. And his mega-size burrito. And his beer (especially his beer) and wine. Which would be ok if he exercised as much as he used to, but not at his present level of physical activity.

We used to live in The Netherlands where he commuted to work by bicycle because it was the norm, people! He ate more then, but was a slim, trim, muscle machine (I was certainly slimmer and trimmer too, but we won't dwell on that).

Lately he's argued that his diabetes is a cause of the belly: too much insulin=glucose correction. Too much glucose=belly. I say it's simply: more calories in than is being used up.

This is Life?

Jack and I have an ongoing debate about health and finances. He resists too many limitations on his diet or his spending because he says he may die tomorrow. So he should enjoy today. But, I argue, what if you live to be 100? Would you want to be decrepit and poor? Enjoy life today, but also remember that you're the caretaker of your future. Luckily, he more than knows this with regards to his diabetes.

The Temperamental Dex

Jack put in his 3rd sensor on Saturday. Two hours later he calibrated it (one finger stick from each hand), and started getting readings. But a short while later, he said that he felt low. The Dex showed 146. A finger stick showed 46 - ouch. The rest of the evening didn't fare much better, with huge discrepancies between The Dex and Jack's meter. We have a couple of hypotheses for this: (1) It takes a while after a new sensor is inserted for the readings to stabilize. Jack's heard that it sometimes takes a sensor a day to get the most accurate readings. (2) His BG was wildly fluctuating (most plummeting down) during the period after the calibration. But increased finger sticks & inputting that data into The Dex drastically improved readings.

By 11pm that evening, he wasn't getting any readings at all. Nada for 3 hours. So he restarted his session and the calibration process (yeah, it woke me up at 1am to demand those 2 finger sticks). Since then, it looks like it's been ok.

The Dex does lose contact every now and then, notably at night. Jack keeps the receiver on his night stand. Is is possible that when he lies on top of the transmitter the signal is lost? Supposedly the signal should easily traverse sheets/blankets/mattress. Ah well - this is still no worse than not having The Dex...

How The Dex Affects My Responsibilities

Last night I woke up to its vibration and nudged Jack so he could check it. He looked at it, then turned around and went back to sleep. So then I was left in the dark, wondering, "Did he consciously decide to ignore the alarm, or was he just groggy from sleep and just fall back asleep? Should I get up to check it myself and nag him to get juice/bolus, or assume he can take care of his own regulation?" Hmm - what a conundrum. Bad spouse that I am, I just turned around and went back to sleep.

This morning, he said he'd expressly ignored it because it showed 79, but the line was pretty steady. Then we looked at the data, and it showed a dip into the 50's, and a subsequent rise into the 80's. So it was ok this time, but he should probably have had a little juice.

Since The Dex, I've felt my responsibilities lighten a bit. Jack is *mostly* alarmed by it when he's **about** to go too low, so takes action then. As opposed to finding himself in a state where he is no longer able to make decisions. We've had many less situations when I'm nagging him to drink juice, although it does still happen. Sometimes his BG plunges so rapidly that The Dex isn't quite caught up yet (my hypothesis).

Money Money Money

Believe it or not, our monthly expenses have decreased since Jack's been on The Dex. He was able to use his first sensor for 6 days (the insertion site hurt by then) and his second for 10 days (probably could have gone longer, but the tape holding the sensor came off). Even if we had bought the system at full price, we would have recouped the money in about 4 months. So all in all, a savings!

The Dex (not including transmitter/receiver):

- $35/sensor, 1 sensor/8 days (average) = $131.25/30 days
- $0.90/strip, 2 strips/day = $54.00/30 days
- Total for 30 days: $185.25

Without The Dex:

- $0.90/strips,14 strips/day = $378/30 days
- Total for 30 days: $378