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Meetings Scheduled with Local Government Reps

Following up with what I posted last night about the e-mail response from US Senator Bill Nelson, I wanted to get feedback from the DOC about your success and failures of reaching out to your local reps.  I have some meetings coming up with local reps, and I don’t know exactly what I am going to do.  I told them before setting meetings, that I don’t have all the answers or all of the best ideas for, but just getting an opportunity to bring diabetes to somebody with some power is what is most important.

On a local level there is not much that can be done.  I am meeting with the local city reps, so I can’t ask for their help in getting funding for the FDA to proceed with research on the artificial pancreas.  But I will be asking them to be more involved in local JDRF and ADA events.  If need be, I will speak to large groups of locals about diabetes and get some truth to these people instead of the false “facts” that they are hearing on Oprah and Dr. Phil and Dr. Oz.

I am asking for your help DOC…what items have you had success with on a local level.

I look forward to hearing your comments and suggestions.

E-mail Response from US Senator Nelson (D-FL)

A few weeks ago I was inspired by a social media victory when a fellow DOC member had written a letter to their representative and eventually they were granted a meeting with him.  After that, I decided to send an e-mail to every single one of my reps.  Whether it was on a national level (to discuss FDA and the artificial pancreas) State reps, and even the most local reps.  I received quick responses from most of the local reps within 48-72 hours.  I did not hear anything back from the two Senators….until today.  And let’s just say, I wasn’t very happy with the response.

First, I could tell that it was an automated response, and most likely not even from him.  The first two sentences mentioned my concerns about the FDA and the artificial pancreas and funding for diabetes research.  After those two sentences, it went straight into campaign rhetoric.  It was mentioned that he will take this into consideration, but his main focus is working on a budget that will help reduce the national debt and work on funding for public education.  So, basically you’re saying that theres no room or no time left of yours to deal with the diabetes issue?

That is why you, as a Senator, have a lot of aides.  Because you may not have the time personally to deal with this issue directly, but one of your aides can speak with people about diabetes, and some of the major issues that are out there and then during one of your meetings, it can be discussed.

I was not a fan of Senator Nelson to begin with, but as the one with power, I had to reach out to him.  I always said that, it doesn’t matter on a Federal level, your voice is never heard.  Unfortunately, this is another example of that happening.  When you are ready to discuss the importance of diabetes Mr. Senator, I will be hear with an open mind wanting to discuss what you can do to better the lives of the millions of diabetics out there.

Thanks.

Switching from Freestyle Lite to One Touch Ultra…I Guess

I have not had an appointment with my endo in a really long time.  The last 3 appointments that I was supposed to have were either cancelled by myself or by the doctor because of scheduling conflicts.  I think that the last one that I had was in December.  That also means, that is the last time that I got my blood work done.  I had a script to get the blood work done for each of the appointments, but I never did it.  Now I have to have the office mail me another script because they are only good for 30 days.  Sometimes this gets annoying, but it’s all part of living with diabetes I guess.  And since I have a diabetes blog, I’m allowed to bitch about it!

My appointment is scheduled for later this month, don’t ask me when, because honestly I don’t know.  All I know is that I have to get blood work done this weekend.  I have not been the best diabetic in the past few months, but I’ve been getting better.  I’ve been eating a lot better and I have also been exercising a little more.  Walking our new dog really helps add some exercise into my life.  My biggest concern for this appointment is that I need a new prescription for my testings trips because I am almost out, and I need to switch to a different brand.  Why am I switching?  Because I refuse to pay $150 for a 90 day supply for Freestyle Lite when I can get a 90 day supply of One Touch Ultra strips for only $25 for a 90 day supply.  Freestyle Lite strips are my favorite.  I have used just about every brand that is out there… that was one of the few perks of working at a supply company for three years…. which by the look of it, they will be going out of business soon, but that’s a whole other side story.

So basically, my insurance company is forcing me to switch to another brand.  I used to use the One Touch strips before the Freestyle Lite came out, but then I was hooked.  I just like it so much better.  There was also the whole counterfeit strip fiasco that happened several years ago, and recently again.  (I can’t go too far into this, that shitty company I used to work for may try to sue me). My endo always asked me why I didn’t use the One Touch meter because it links so easily with the Medtronic insulin pump that I use.  *Sidenote* I am notorious for just guessing my blood sugar or just punching in a bolus number for my pump, and not allowing the pump to do the calculations for me*  So my  doctor felt that this would solve that issue.

I do plan on using the lancing device from the Freestyle Lite meter though.  I don’t have to worry about lancets because the insurance company sent me 1,000 lancets in my last order, and I change it overtime I open a new bottle of strips, so that is like 1-2 weeks, so I should be set for a good amount of time.  That was a mixup on their part anyway…they sent me 600 strips and 1,000 lancets.  Does that make any sense?

Well, I think I covered just about everything that I wanted to.  I’m going to finish my wonderful ceasar salad i’m eating right now and then get back to work.  Down 4 pounds in month of May, have to keep it up.

 

A New Puppy Reminds Me of Diabetes Diagnosis

It’s been another long period in-between my blog posts, but man, it’s been worth it, ha.  As some of you may know, Amanda and I recently got a new puppy last weekend.  A 9 week old Cavalier King Charles that we named Ruby.  You can see her cute self below.  This dog has kept me busy like no other over the last week and a half.  The first few days it was just non-stop following her around the house.  She was just peeing and pooping everywhere and chewing anything and everything she can get her hands on.  After a while she has calmed down, plays by herself for periods of time, and has managed to go pee and poop on the pads in the area that we have designated.  It was a huge change to our normal lives.  Learning a lot of new things about dogs, our patience, and took ourselves to the extreme of wondering if this was something that we can handle.

Then it got me thinking.  Re-read that last paragraph and change the subject of it from a 9 week old puppy to diabetes.  It was a shock and a complete change up of how I knew and lived life.  I did not choose diabetes however, like we chose the dog, (well, after we saw it, we didn’t really have a choice, I mean, could you have said no to this face).  Ruby - PuppyBut, it really did make me think about learning about diabetes and adapting my life to be able to manage diabetes and control it.  The second night we had Ruby, she would not sleep at all and Amanda and I had to go to work the next day.  I remember telling Amanda, “if I can get through a diabetes diagnosis, I can get through handling a new puppy.”  And so far, so good.  It has been getting better and getting easier, but as soon as you let your guard down for a second, she makes you pay for it, but chewing on wood…. or how diabetes hits ya with a 400+ blood sugar.

I continue to see and think about comparisons between the new dog and my diagnosis of diabetes.  Which leads me to ask you, was there something in your life that happened that you can compare to your diabetes diagnosis?  I think this would be interesting to hear.

Please comment and share because, well, isn’t that what the DOC is all about?