I loved the pump.  I loved the way it worked and how it helped me manage my blood sugar levels a lot better.  Then I got into finding blogs online and just reading them and learning that there were other diabetes companies that existed other than Medtronic and One Touch.  I spent some time working for a diabetes supply company, so I had access to a lot of different products from different manufacturers and found out the benefits of all these different pumps.  I also learned more as I blogged longer and met more people using different kinds of pumps.  So, this finally leads me to the reason of today’s post.

I have been happy with Medtronic, but I’m not 100% loyal to Medtronic.  I would like to try other pumps.  I would love to try or test out the One Touch Ping and Omni Pod.  I have been given the trial pod for Omni Pod and I have worn it and I loved it.  The only issue is that I would be changing out the pod every 1.5 days based upon the amount of insulin that I use.  If I lose weight then the possibility of my insulin usage can go down and then I can use an Omni Pod.

Along with insulin pumps, I would love to try out the Dexcom CGM, but I just haven’t had a chance to do so.  I have used the Medtronic CGM in the past, but haven’t used it in nearly a year because I haven’t had any sensors and some issues with the insurance company.  Starting next year I will begin using a CGM again.  Whether it is Medtronic or Dexcom, it is one of my top goals for 2012.

For those that have used multiple pumps, not those that have only used one and will tell me how much you love it, but only those that have used different pumps, which have you liked better and why?

I appreciate any responses or feedback in advance.

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Right now I am just using the Bayer one that came with the Didget meter.  I am going to take it old school for about a month and write down every sugar, the time, and how many carbs with how many units of insulin that I am taking.  I had put a question out on Twitter to see how many of you still used a pen and pencil logbook and some of the answers I received were expected, “What is pen and paper?”.  Even though I am an internet marketing guy, pen and paper to me still use what works best.  Eventually I will probably switch over to using the iPhone to record all of my sugars, but I’m not to that point yet.

Logging my blood sugars is something that I haven’t been very good at doing since I was diagnosed.  I recorded every single blood sugar for about a year, but then I became too comfortable with my diabetes and didn’t do it as well. I thought, what’s the point of recording them, if I can keep good numbers it doesn’t make a difference.  Or I can just upload the results to the computer, but then I started using multiple meters and couldn’t get a good, accurate average.

I am also going back to testing 10 times a day and knowing what is going on with my blood sugars at all times.  I have about 6-7 CGM sensors left that expired a few months ago, but I am going to give them a shot anyway and see how accurate they are. To end this post, I am going to ask for your help and just answer a few questions in the comments:

1. What logbook do you use?
2. What app on iPhone do you use?
3. What computer software do you use to log blood sugars?
4. Do you log food info along with blood sugars?

I appreciate your help with this.

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Easy to Use

The very first thing that I want is for the device to be very easy to use.  Now that all pumps have built in carb counting and insulin suggestions, it makes life so much easier.  I love that they calculate how much active insulin there is.  Not too many buttons, just 2 or 3 at max to do what I need to do.

Convenient

What I mean by this is that I want to be able to use my iPhone to link with my pump.  My iPhone is my life, literally.  I work from it, I communicate with family, Amanda has one also so we have apps that easily keep us in touch and on the same page with each others calendars etc.  I want to be able to just pull out my phone at the dinner table or at a restaurant and hit a few buttons and then bam, there goes the insulin.  I would like to also just have to use my phone as a meter, not just anyphone, because I know there are phones out there, but the iPhone.

Tubeless

I still use a Medtronic Paradigm, so I have never even used the tubeless / wireless OmniPod yet.  The number reason that I don’t is because I use about 120 some units of insulin a day.  That only holds 200, so I would be changing the pod every day and a half.  I would a pod to be able to carry, let’s say, 600 units of insulin.  I basically only want to change reservoirs and infusion sets, or pods just once a week.  It’s less work I have to do and less garbage and sharps containers I go through.  Charge the same price, it doesn’t matter.

CGM Built-In

I want the CGM and the pod or infusion set to the be the same insertion.  I don’t want to have to wear two separate things.  Very clear on that.

Well, that is what I want in my insulin pump.  I know some of these things exist, but not all in the same pump.  So, when JDRF is giving their millions to these companies, I hope they have spoken with diabetics themselves on what we want, not just what they want to create and think will make life easier.

What do you want?

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Today is going to be a long day.  I have a lot of work to get done, a lot of cleaning, a lot of laundry, and some ironing to do because I have an interview tomorrow.  I’m nervous because it’s the same office that my roommate works at, so I need to make sure that I am on my best game so I don’t make him look like a donkey(chose this word instead of the other to keep it pg), for him referring me.  Do you know how hard this is going to be?  There is a 24 hour marathon of college basketball going on todayon ESPN which is going to make it hard for me to concentration.  Plus, since this is the 3rd Tuesday that I have been unemployed, every Tuesday is a Law and Order: SVU marathon.  I have been probably never blogged about this before, but this is my favorite show.  Quick side note on SVU and how it became my favorite show.  Back in my freshman year of college I had a huge paper that was due the next day, what a surprise and I was working on it for like 3 hours straight without a break.  Then I decided to take a break and watch SVU for the first time, but I would mute the tv during commercials and do my paper for 5 minutes, then 5 minutes at the next commercial.  I did this for about 4 episodes of SVU and not only got my paper down, but read 3 chapters of a text book.  This than became the only way that I would do homework and reading, watch SVU or another show if it wasn’t on, mute the tv and then read.  I found that my attention span was only about 5 minutes anyway, so it worked out best.

Wow, sorry about that side not there.  I have seen a few people blogging about the Bayer Contour USB.  I freaking want one!  Can I call Nick Jonas to get one?  My little nieces (actually my cousins, but my aunt is more like a sister to me, so I have called them my nieces for 10 years, but now that I have an actual niece, my brother’s daughter, I’m not sure if I can still do that), they watch the Jonas brothers so that’s a good enough connection to them I think.  It looks so cool that you just test and then plug it right into the computer.  I never upload my sugars to the computer, ever.  I don’t have the USB cable for my Freestyle Lite, if I had one, I probably would.  My doctor’s office has every single one of them at her’s so when I go she just uploads them.

[As I'm typing this sentence a brand new episode of SVU is starting, pause while I watch the opening minute of it]

How many people have used the USB Contour already?  What are your thoughts, are there any bad ones of it yet?

Does anybody know how much it costs, or how much it is going to cost?

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I have a doctor’s appointment coming up in a few weeks and she really wants to see the results from the CGM and she usually only looks at the 2-3 weeks prior, so this is good enough amount of time for her to see, and also for me not to get in trouble again for not doing it.  I also have to get my A1C down next week, which I am not looking forward to because I don’t think that it is going to be a good number.  I have managed my sugars pretty well the last 3 months, but there have just been some random highs here and there that just concern me.

Today is also Monday, so we all know what that means, time to start the diet again.  I had coffee to start off the morning, but didn’t eat anything.  For lunch I am going to have a salad and a little bit of left over pasta.  Tonight for dinner I am going to a banquet for the football league that I coached this year.  There is going to be a lot of different random food because I believe it is a pot luck type style.  My assistant coach and myself are supposed to bring pizza, so I’ll be bringing whatever pizza is on sale, the kids won’t care, they will love it either way.

The afternoon today is also going to consist of more job hunting and submitting resume’s online.  I’m not just looking for a regular 9-5 but also some contract or telecommuting type jobs as well for CSI Marketing Solutions.  I haven’t been real aggressive in looking for clients, but I think it’s about time that I start to do that.

Well have a good week everybody.

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I plan on counting everything diabetes related that I have.  Test strips, lancets, syringes, pen needles, infusion sets, reservoirs, sensors, IV prep pads, IV dressings, alcohol swabs, and anything else that I have in my diabetes cabinet.  I am hoping that I have enough of everything to last me at least 90 days because most companies will give you insurance after 90 days of employment.  It’s ironic that I worked for a company that helped uninsured people and now I am one of those uninsured.  My main concern is being able to get insulin.  I really need to work on exercising and eating less so that I use less insulin, especially until I am insured again.

I have no excuses anymore for not going to the gym.  I don’t have a job right now, so I have all the time in the world to go, but I am constantly doing things on the internet now.  These are productive things, so I’m not just sitting online all day looking at Twitter, I am trying to get things accomplished and do work on my clients sites.  That’s also one reason that I have decided to do the diabetes inventory later today because I have the time to count each and everything that I own.

I’ll give all the numbers tomorrow.

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The day started off great.  The free coffee was spectacular.  Morning started off with finally meeting Manny.  What a great guy he is.  Just as nice and genuine in person as he always has been online.  We briefly discussed how awesome it is that the DRI is connecting with the diabetes community and not just speaking with doctors and researchers.  Manny was also very helpful in giving me some key insight about Cobra and certain people that I should speak to in order to get some better information about it.  I told him that with not working at the diabetes company anymore, it felt weird to be at a conference as an attendee and not behind the booth working it, I actually liked it better.

After the breakfast, or lack there of in my opinion, we were herded off into the next room to hear the lectures and updates from three of the top researchers in the world.  To introduce the three speakers was Dr. Nemery, she is a south Florida pediatric endo that is one of the best out there.  She finished her introduction by saying, ” my goal as a pediatric endo is to not have to treat my patients with insulin.”  Well said.  The first speaker was Camillo Ricordi.  It was very difficult to understand his accent, plus he spoke to us like we were also scientists and doctors, so it was tough to understand what he was talking about.  The main thing that I understood from his lecture is that insulin producing cells generated from human embryonic cells protect mice from diabetes.  That sounds like a good start to me.

Next up was Luca Inverardi.  Once again, this lecture was just as difficult to understand.  I believe that the DRI videotaped every session and plans on putting it up on their website or having the videos e-mailed to the attendees, I will find out and you all know.  The last speaker before the next session was Antonello Pileggi.  Now, by the time he started to talk, I think the whole crowd was becoming hungry, very hungry.  It was becoming difficult for me to concentrate because my stomach was taking over my brain.  The next session was the most informative in my mind.  “Ask the Researchers”

One of the first questions asked was asked in a “dummy” type of way, which was better for the people in attendence.  A lot of the research that is done can be classified into two parts, there are the “attacker” cells that cause diabetes and then the “victim” cells that get killed which causes diabetes.  The question asked why all the research is done figuring out how to help the victim cells, but why isn’t research being done to stop the attacker cells?  The scientists discussed that there is research going on in that area, but it doesn’t look as successful as the research being done on the victim cells.  Dr. Jay Skyler is one of the worlds most respectable doctors / researchers of diabetes.  Someone had asked a question on why there is such an epidemic of diabetes now and although there were a lot of answers Dr. Skyler describe it as there being a lot of cases of Type 1 plus type 2, an overweight child with type 1 which makes them become even less insulin sensitive and causes type 1 at a faster rate.  I am not sure how this next statement relates to diabetes, but he talked about how foreign countries feed their young feces in order to expose them to germs at early ages.

The next question was the most important to me because I had heard so many different numbers and percentages.  “What are the chances that a child of a type 1 will also have diabetes?”  Well here is the breakdown.  If the father has diabetes, then there is a 6% chance, if the mother has diabetes then 3% and then if both parents do, it is 15%.  The reason that the 3% difference is there between men and women is due to unexpected abortions.  The final question was asked about an artificial pancreas.  Although an artificial pancreas can become a great tool in management, it is not a cure.  There is one main reason why.  In type 1 diabetics, when we eat the insulin that we then bolus with, or the artificial pancreas releases will never catch up to the food.  Meaning that 2 hours after you eat, your blood sugar may look normal, but in between those 2 hours your blood sugar has spiked which is still causing high blood sugar numbers.  In order to fix this, you must be able to anticipate the food that you are going to eat.  With an insulin pump or MDI even, you can do this.  You can count your carbs before eating and bolus, 10-15 even 20 minutes before the food touches your mouth.  Which, when lunch time came at the conference, we didn’t know what was for lunch until it was right in front of our face so there were 4 diabetics at my table all wondering when and how much to bolus, not a good move on part of The Signature Grand.

The final part of the conference, well for me at least because I had to leave at 2 p.m. to get somewhere that I had plans for a long time to be at, was about connecting the community and involved a panel with Jeff Hitchcock (Children with Diabetes), Manny, Scott Strumello, Kerri, and Ellen Ullman also with Children with Diabetes.  There were a few questions that were prepared for them about how the diabetes OC has helped them, why they started, and advice tips from them.  A few quotes and answers that I really liked from each of them are listed below:

Scott – Diabetes is too much about glycemic control and not about the other feelings that go along with it.

Kerri – There was only bad things about diabetes, there just had to be more to it than that.

Jeff – We all seem to be invisible so this gave us a voice.

Ellen – As a parent, it gives you a chance to vent because you don’t want to do it in front of your kids.

I hope that this was somewhat helpful.  You can check out the other’s blogs as well because I am sure they will have some updates also.

Have a great Monday.

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With all of this work, and it’s not been completed yet, I foresee the same thing going on this week as well.  Last week from Monday-Friday I slept, in total, about 15 hours.  I was going to bed at 3:30 and waking up at 6:30 and getting back at it for an hour before I would begin getting ready for work.  See I work a 9-5, and run a business and do contract work on the side so I need about 8-10 hours a day to do that.  Then there is the 2 blogs that I write on a daily basis which adds about another 10 hours a week.  So, adding that up, we’re looking at around 20 hours of work a day, and no time for sleep.  This picture pretty much sums up my week last week.

Typically, the later I stay up, the more my blood sugars go up.  It’s basically a hand in hand thing.  I tend to start eating snacks in the middle of the night as well because I am up later and getting hungry and need to eat something.  I told myself last week that I am not going to let this happen, if I’m staying up later, I will make sure my sugars don’t go crazy.  I have done a pretty damn good job of it.  Throughout the nights my sugar didn’t really go over 200 maybe once or twice.  Here is a breakdown of my morning sugars this past week (my best ever):

Monday – 112

Tuesday – 88

Wednesday – 94

Thursday – 104

Friday – 125

Friday night however ended up being a different story.  My sugar, after being great in the morning, just shot up all day long and didn’t come back down.  It was on average about 325, with a high of 496.  I went to the movies to see Saw VI and I went to the bathroom when I got there and then I usually will go right before the movie starts so I don’t miss any of the movie.  So, I went as soon as the previews started but when I came back I told Amanda that I feel like I already have to go again.  I just thought that maybe my jeans were a little too tight and they were pushing in on my bladder, because that sometimes happens if I’m wearing a pair of jeans that don’t fit me the best.  About halfway through the movie I just had to go again, I couldn’t hold it any longer.  And for those of you that know the Saw movies, you know you can’t miss a second, because something is going to happen.  I literally ran out to the bathroom and ran back within about 20 seconds and didn’t miss anything.  As soon as the movie was over, I had to go again.

When we got out to the car I tested and that’s when I was at 496.  I was about to correct, but I knew that it was a bad site, so putting more insulin into it wasn’t going to do a damn thing.  I took just a little bit just so it wouldn’t go any higher, I knew it wouldn’t bring it down, but I was just trying to eliminate an even higher number.  Once we got home I took out the old site and was getting the stuff together to put in a new one.  Well guess what, I couldn’t find the pretty blue insertion device to put in the infusion set.  Finally after digging through my room Amanda found it, in the first place that I looked.  In the morning when I woke up my sugar was down to 185, so it went down.  Saturday was a little of the same story, high all day long, but not as high, this was in the mid 200′s.  So, I wasn’t sure what was going on.

Throughout the daytime hours my sugars aren’t going all over the place either.  Even with drinking about 4-5 cups of coffee and drinking at least 1 energy drink, sometimes 2 a day are not affecting my sugars. The coffee usually does, but energy drinks don’t ever make a difference on my sugar levels.  I know that the sleep deprivation is not good for me, but I don’t plan on doing it for a while, just until I get this work finished and everything is up and running.  I just fear that when I am done with the work and want to go to bed early, I’m not going to be able to because I will be so used to staying up later.

We shall see.

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I need to go to the dentist because it has been almost a year and a half since I last saw my old dentist back in PA.  I don’t want to go right now because I haven’t met my calendar year deductible.  So why not just wait until January 1, right?  My endo was fine with that decision except that I said the same thing last year as well, which is exactly why I haven’t seen a dentist for as long as I have.  So then I started to think, is it just a lame excuse to not go and see the doc?  I also need to go get my yearly eye exam.  I do believe, however, that I went for a check-up earlier this year because I needed a new prescription for my contacts and needed new glasses.

Now, some of you may be thinking, how in the world have you not met your deductible this late into the year?  I got a new insulin pump in January, I have infusion sets, reservoirs, transmitter and sensors for my continuous glucose monitor (CGM), but they were all billed from an out-of-network provider, so that ate up my out of network deductible, but didn’t touch my in-network.  All of my doctors are all in network with the type of insurance that I have.  And of course the money that I pay every 90 days for my insulin does not go towards my deductible, why would it?  So that leaves me with only one thing going towards it and that is my doctor’s visits.  So until I meet that deductible, there is no co-pay, it is strictly going towards the deductible.

I started seeing my new endo back in May or June, don’t exactly remember and I have had monthly, well every 4-6 week visits since then.  And since the insurance isn’t covering anything yet, I’m sure you know much it is costing me for these endo appointments.  So I am paying a monthly premium for my insurance, but still paying monthly doctor bills.  I guess it could be worse because I don’t pay anything at all for my pump supplies and testing strips, at least not yet.

Now, getting a little off of the deductible topic and into a more general insurance topic, private insurance.  For those of you who have been reading my blog for a while, you know who I work for, and that has been disclosed before the FTC crack down on it.  Any who, I receive insurance from them as a full time employee.  I have also created a company within the last 60 days as well.  This wasn’t really a planned thing so I will explain it briefly.  I had friends and relatives that knew I was really into geeky, cool, tech things like website design, blogging, and social media.  A few people needed help getting started on Facebook and Twitter etc.  So then I said well why not start getting paid for doing this stuff.  Then it started to evolve and had people asking me to do their PPC campaigns, (Google Adwords primarily) and also some organic SEO stuff.  Now I definitely have to charge for that type of stuff because it is not the easiest and quickest stuff to do.  Do I have to disclose when I am talking about my own company?  Well, just in case, I own Chris Stocker Inc, with 10% of all profits being donated to JDRF.  Now you know the story, here is the question.

Since I am diabetic, I feel restricted that I have to work for a corporation that will offer me insurance.  Is this new PPC / SEO business paying the bills?  No, not really, so I’m not looking for this to be a full-time gig or expand it into something large with several employees, then in which I would be able to get some group insurance.  This is just something that I am extremely passionate about and love to do, so I do it on the side and would love for my career path to follow this way.  The only problem with that is a lot of work in this industry is done on a contract basis, and there’s no insurance in contracted jobs.

So what am I to do?  Are there any of you out there now that do this type of thing or any contracted work?  Or own your own business?  Like I said before, at this time there are no plans to expand to the level needed for insurance.  I would really appreciate all of your help on this.

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First thing that I am going to explain to the doc when I get in there is come straight out and admit that it hasn’t been a good month for me.  In fact, a pretty effin’ bad month.  I had a lot of highs, some major lows and just been all over the map with my sugars.  However, I did manage to find more time for exercise and lost some weight.  I put a little on over the last week, but I had lost enough before that to still be down some weight since the last visit.  The last thing is to explain that I haven’t worn the sensor at all for multiple reasons.  For one, it started to fall out all the time.  Secondly, the ones that I had expired way back in May and never realized it because I just kept thinking, well I still have 2 full boxes.  I will probably still attempt to use them though.

I must also remember to get new prescriptions from her however because I am almost out of insulin.  That also reminds me that I better re-order very soon because there is always an issue, especially when I need a new prescription sent in.  The first time that I had to send in a new prescription, it took me almost 2 weeks to get my insulin delivered, not good customer service in my eyes.

Today’s post a little short because I just got back from the gym and I am tired and I am trying to cook dinner and do laundry and have a lot of work to catch up on tonight.  So you all have a great day and I will have a better post tomorrow.  Hopefully something positive from the endo appointment.

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