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Tag: Cobra

No A1C Test for a While

Chris Stocker 4 Comments

Not having insurance for some time really sucks.  Sorry to be so blunt about it, but it does.  For those of you in that boat, you know what I mean.  I was insured the entire time I was diabetic, so I had no clue how it would actually feel.  I could only imagine, but now that my COBRA should be kicking in soon (fingers crossed), things may be getting better.  I have not had an A1C test done or seen my doctor since October.  I was seeing her on a regular monthly schedule.  The very first thing that I am going to be doing when I get that confirmation letter that I am covered again is schedule an appointment with her.

I know that my A1C is not going to be good this time around.  I am not even going to try and make myself believe that.  Over the last month, my overall sugars have been crap!  Below are snapshots of my 7 day, 14 day, and 30 day average levels, respectively.  As you will see, not that good.

7 day blood sugar avg

14 day blood sugar avg

30 day blood sugar avg

The 7 day average is mainly due to two bad sites and being sick.  My last A1C was 6.9.  I was happy with that at the time because the one before that was 7.1, so it was declining.  Unfortunately, that is not going to be the case.  At least one of my top 10 goals of 2010 should get accomplished.  These elevated blood sugars can be explained with two simple words: diet and exercise.  Actually, those words may not be as simple as we think.  Let’s get into details.

Diet

If you do a search in the dictionary for the word diet you come up with 11 different varieties of the word.  Yea, 11!  You can choose whichever one you want, but I have decided to go with this one:

“a particular selection of food, esp. as designed or prescribed to improve a person’s physical condition or to prevent or treat a disease: a diet low in sugar.”

That sounds exactly like what I am trying to do.  I select certain foods to make me lose weight and keep my blood sugars normal. That part seems easy to do, but it’s the management of it that gets me every time.  I feel that I don’t have the time to make a healthy dinner every night.  Well that’s just BS because the time that I spend sitting in a restaurant or waiting in line at a fast food joint, I could have spent cutting up some veggies and grilling or boiling some chicken.  One tip that has helped me in the past with this is to just put my laptop next to the grill and do some of my consulting work while the food is cooking.  Getting something accomplished while making a good, healthy meal.

The next part that ruins my diet every time is the cravings.  One craving will kill a whole week’s worth of dieting.  I always get cravings for Chinese food, which is my number one craving.  I used to crave Taco Bell all the time, but I fought that one off, so I know it is possible to do it with this one as well.  A good way to fight off these cravings is to cook up some veggies myself, grill some pork loins and then make my own stir fry with brown rice, there’s my craving fix.

The final struggle to my diet woes is portion control.  Even when I do cook a healthy meal, let’s say for example that stir fry I just spoke about.  It doesn’t make it healthy when I eat 3 plates of it when I should be eating only 1, maybe a half of a second plate.  The way  I always justify it to myself is that, well it’s healthier than eating 3 servings of Chinese food, which that logic needs to go, which I know this, it’s just the fact of actually doing it.

These 3 things are what are killing my diet, but I know what I need to do and will need to work harder to stop doing these things and I should be ok.

Exercise

This one is simple and easy to explain, laziness.  I make way too many excuses because I am so busy.  I work 3.5 days a week on site at Volvo Aero Services and then am doing about 50-60 hours a week worth of consulting or web design work, so there is very little time to fit things in.  I also have season tickets to the Florida Panthers so there are nights that I can’t exercise because I don’t get done working until about 5-5:30 and have to leave for the game at 6:30.  So that gives me one hour to either cook a good dinner or exercise, and typically neither one of those even happen.

I am sure that I share these same problems with everybody.  If it was simple and easy, I’m sure we could all get over these hurdles easily, but they are not simple and easy.  It makes it a lot easier however having the supporting cast on here that we all have.  Every day that I am living with being overweight is just hurting me in the long run.

It all comes back to my 3 words of 2010 and getting it done!

Lack of Sleep Catching Up and A Visit to the Clinic

Chris Stocker

My lack of sleep over the past few weeks is finally starting to catch up on me.  I seem to always be dragging and not at full strength.  I am getting a lot of work done and staying focused on my work, but as soon as I step away from my desk, I can’t seem to funcition.  So I guess it is good for business, but not good for personal.  However, I will need to rest up a bit because I am a tad bit sick.

Last week Amanda’s mom was a little sick with a cold and sore throat, guess who caught it?  That’s right I did.  The other night I was starting to feel a little stuffy and like a sinus cold was coming on because there was a big drop in temperature, so that was normal for me.  Then on Sunday night my ear started to feel like it needed to pop, and when I woke up yesterday morning it felt that same way.  I was told to try some Claritin D because it was probably just my sinuses acting up.  When I woke up this morning and felt even worse, throat hurt more, ear felt more clogged, I decided to go to the clinic. This is where the adventure began.

I am without health insurance right now, I am in the process of getting Cobra, but that’s a whole other story by itself, being held up because my former employer isn’t playing very nice with me and my insurance provider to smooth the process, that’s a different story in itself.  So I called around to see how expensive different clinics were and they all averaged about $100-$150.  I then came across the CVS Minute-Clinic.  It was only $65, so why not go there.  Let’s first discuss this name, should be more like CVS 60 minute-clinic to get seen.

After waiting for nearly an hour, I was finally seen by the person, not sure what her credentials were.  I explained the situation, so she checked my throat and my ears.  She then proceeded to open up an operations and procedures binder and started asking me yes / no questions, like she was just going down a checklist of things I could have done on WebMD.  After about 5-10 minutes of that she started to collection some information from me.  Once I told her I was diabetic, she instantly started to freak.  “Well, I have to follow different procedure since your diabetic, I have to refer you out to another clinic, I can’t prescribe anything for you because you have diabetes.”

She made a phone call to ac colleague I guess and they decided to refer me to an MD Now clinic in Boca Raton.  Guess what, I called that place this morning and it was $130, exactly why I didn’t want to go there in the first place.  After about a total of 90 minutes inside CVS I said, I’m not paying for this visit because you’re referring me somewhere else and I didn’t’ get anything out of the visit, and she agreed and said she wouldn’t charge, finally something good out of that place.

I went over to the MD Now and signed in and was asked for my insurance cards.  “I don’t have insurance, I’m paying out of pocket.”  Receptionist replies with, “Ok that will be $130 and additional fees for any services or tests ran during the visit, I can take your payment now, credit or debit.”  Well, ok good day to you too.  So I paid the $130, even though I was trying to avoid that, but no options here.  I only waited about 5 minutes there and was brought back and was speaking with the doctor within minutes.  So this is what I paid $130 for.

Sinus issue going on with your ear, take Mucinex D to loosen it up.  It looks like it could be turning into an infection so here’s a prescription for amoxicillin.  The best part about it was that I got the prescription for free from Publix (grocery store) because they give free generic prescriptions for up to 14 days.  I was able to save money there which helped out, but still out $130.I guess it is worth it to have that piece of mind to know exactly what the issue is.  Still sucks though because I can barely hear out of my right ear and feels like I have been flying for 24 hours without being able to pop my ear.

How Diabetes Created My Business

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

Growing up I always had dreams of owning my own business in New York City in a big high rise building. When I was hit with the diagnosis of diabetes when I was 19 those dreams still were there. After a few years of having diabetes and realizing what the insurance side of diabetes was like I started to become discouraged about owning my own business. How would I get insurance if I owned my own company. These are still my biggest concerns.

Diabetes introduced me to blogging which led me to social media. I started blogging everyday, going on social media sites, started working on design, started learning about search engines and how they work and different marketing techniques. I started to think to myself damn this is awesome, I would love to do this for a living. But, how will I pay for insurance.

So while still working for that old company I began to do some consulting, giving advice to people on how to rank better in Google and then teaching them about Twitter and showing then how Facebook = easy money. So then popped up CSI Marketing Solutions, LLC.

Right now I have insurance through Cobra for the next 18 months so the insurance part of owning my own business is not as much of a concern. So this is how diabetes has led to me owning my own business. If it wasn’t for diabetes who knows if I would have created a web design an search marketing consulting company.

It’s times like this that make me thankful to be diabetic.

Have a great weekend everybody.

How Many Hours in a Lifetime Wasted On Hold with Insurance Companies?

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

You know how there are all these studies out there and all these dumb little facts?  Well I have one for somebody to figure out.  The average amount of time in a lifetime that a diabetic waits on hold with an insurance company.  I’m guessing I can save pretty much half of my life this way.  Today was worth the wait however.  I had to first call my insurance company and find out the phone number to my mail order pharmacy.  My insurance had switched in November, the day before I was fired, and I still have coverage through them, so I wanted to get an insulin re-order before that time.  It took the guy on the phone 20 minutes to basically just give me the phone number to the mail order pharmacy.

Once I called them it became better.  I spoke to a lady who walked me through the whole process.  She recommended that I have my doctor call in my prescription because she said, “in all honesty, the fax will get tied up in an incoming box until probably tomorrow.”  For once, somebody at an insurance company told me the truth about something.  She will probably lose her job for saying such a thing.  She gave me a phone number, fax number, what exactly to have the nurse say to the person on the phone, everything.  After having a nice discussion with her, I then called my doctor’s office.  I explained the situation to her and explained why I missed my last visit and why I don’t know the exact date of my next visit.  I will explain that here tomorrow, it’s kind of interesting believe it or not.  Anywho, I asked my doctor’s office to call and leave me a voicemail once this was all completed, well I received the voicemail, so I am happy.

The only scary part is that I am going to PA next week, so I asked for the insulin to be delivered there.  Which now I regret because I have enough insulin for about a month, so I could have just had it shipped here and stored in the fridge.  Now I have to have it shipped into the freezing cold weather, and then bring it back with my on the plane.  It goes into my carry on, so it is going to take up a pretty fair amount of space on there, so we shall see how that turns out next Sunday.  Well, time to sign off for the night again.  I need to try and get my posts done in the morning again instead of 10:00 p.m.

Changing Jobs – Diabetes Style

Chris Stocker 1 Comment

Like I mentioned briefly yesterday, I am in the process of changing jobs.  I am no longer working at the diabetes supply company that I used to, so I guess I can take that out of my disclosure of the website now.  I won’t get into details of why I am no longer there, but the most important part is that both sides are happy and it’s time to move on.  I am still running CSI Marketing Solutions LLC, but due to the fact that I have this thing called diabetes I can’t work solely on this, I have to work for a corporation as well in order to have health insurance.  I am currently seeking a new job, and I would love to get a new job doing what I love to do, social media and internet marketing.  If not, then I will find something that I don’t mind doing.

While changing job for most people can be difficult, but when you have diabetes there is a whole other game added to it.  Sure, everybody has bills that they have to pay and families they have to take care of, but when you have diabetes, you have one of the most expensive diseases to manage it and there really isn’t much help out there for you if you don’t have insurance.  There are resources, but they are limited and they can still be way too much for those without a job.

Then when you finally do get a new job, some places don’t give you health insurance right away, let’s say for example a 90 day period before health insurance kicks in.  Well since we have this pre-existing condition BS, we have to prove to the insurance company that we have had credible insurance coverage within 63 days, and if you haven’t then you will not receive insurance for 12 months due to that pre-existing.  So if you have 63 days to prove your coverage, but your insurance doesn’t kick in for 90 days, what are you supposed to do?  If you’re married, which I’m not, you can try to get insurance through your spouse.  Amanda is not working full-time because she is finishing up her degree, also we’re not married so that’s not an option.

The next option is to pick up Cobra.  I don’t know too much about it, but when I had discussed with them two years ago when I thought I was going to have to pick it up, it was going to cost me nearly $650 a month.  How the heck are you supposed to pay for that.  I’m not even sure what it covers, but I’m guessing you still have to pay for strips, insulin, pump supplies, doctors visits, and even blood work?  If you have answers, please let me know.

Gee, I would sure like to have a new health care system that didn’t force you to work for  a corporation in order to get health insurance.  How about you let 50 uninsured diabetics get together on the same insurance plan, just like a small business with 50 employees, and even let their family members on board as well, so let’s say it ends up being 100-150 people on the plan and they pay a premium just like anybody else would for a small business.  Why can’t we do that?  It would be the same thing as a small business.  Oh, I know, because when 50 employees at a small business get a group plan, there is only a few diabetics, so the insurance company still makes their money from the “healthy” people that are just paying a monthly premium.

I better stop now, I’ll get back to this another time.

Lack of Exercise Has Brought Weight Back On

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

In a post I did earlier in the week, I explained that I was working a lot and not really sleeping at all.  Well, along with that I have been working right through exercise time as well.  My exercise has consisted of throwing footballs and doing a little jogging at football practice when I am coaching, that is about it.  I also have not been eating healthy again because I haven’t really gone to the grocery store in a long time.  I don’t really have the funds right now to go out and by $100 worth of groceries.  Business is good, but there are plenty of other things that require my money at the current time.  Back to the subject, I have put some weight back on unfortunately.  Not a lot, I am still down a few pounds from back in September when I got serious about losing weight, but still not down to what I want to be.

I have a monthly goal of losing 5 pounds before every doctor visit, which at this time is every 4-6 weeks.  I may have to cancel my next visit that is scheduled for later this month because I may not have insurance coverage at the time, we shall see and I should have a better answer shortly about that situation.  Once again, if anybody has information about being on Cobra, I really need your help.  I’ll post more tomorrow, but I no longer work at the diabetes supply company that I worked at for 2 1/2 years.

I will get back into my workout habits again, it doesn’t take much for me to get back into the gym, it’s just making sure that I continue to go everyday, well at least 5 times a week.  I also need to cut back on my coffee intake and fast food.  Lately I have not been cooking breakfast, instead I have just been going to Dunkin Donuts and getting a large coffee and a sausage biscuit (it’s only $0.99 so that’s why.)

Here is my goal and I will keep a daily record on my blog of this starting on Friday November 6, 2009.  I’m going to look for a cool WordPress plugin, if anybody knows of one, let me know, that will put a chart or graph into my blog and I will add it into here.  But I will keep track of my daily calorie intake, as well as how much exercise and energy drinks that I intake.

A New Baby, A New Life

Chris Stocker 2 Comments

Well the Phillies are still alive and the Eagles kicked butt on Sunday.  I have missed 3 Panthers hockey games now because I have had to stay home to watch the Phillies.  As long as they win, I don’t really care.  I received some good feedback on my post about diabetes being a disability and also want to thank those that commented on my birthday, I appreciate it.  Yesterday I was a little sick and didn’t go to work because I wasn’t sure if I was coming down with something worse and I didn’t want to spread it to any of my co-workers.  When I woke up this morning I felt a little better so I went into work.

I have a lot of research that needs to be done about Cobra.  For those of you that are currently using Cobra, please e-mail me at chris.stocker – at – thelifeofadiabetic dot com.  I’m not going to go into in the blog post today, so if you are interested or have any comments on Cobra, please e-mail me.

Now onto the good news today.  I am officially an uncle as of 3:30 a.m. this morning.  My sister-in-law had been in labor for about a day, but just went to the hospital yesterday after going to see the doctor.  My brother sent me a text early in the morning.  Unfortunately, I am not able to make it up to see her right now.  Her name is Sylvia.  I will post some pictures as soon as I get them (My iPhone can’t get MMS messages).  Hopefully, I can get up there to see her for Thanksgiving, if not then I will definitely see her during Christmas time.  The baby not only brings a new life into this world, but a new life and journey for those involved.  I have a lot of work to get to now, so I will post more about the newborn baby when I can.