Relief

I feel markedly better tonight.

I came home after work and my supplies have actually arrived. The supply company actually sent me tracking information this time. Somehow my doctor and supply company actually co-ordinated to get a new prescription. I actually received all my supplies!! I only had to call the supply company twice and the doctor once. This is a huge win, this month.

I wasn't fully aware though of how much stress I was carrying around with me this week while waiting for my supplies. I felt generally alright since my first call to the supply company but many times in the days since I would remind myself, "Call the supply company. Make sure they received the new prescription from the doctor. Tell them to just send whatever they have prescriptions for currently and not wait to send all my supplies at once, when they have the new prescriptions. Don't forget to make a payment for previous supplies. If the person on the phone sounds incompetent, immediately ask to be transferred. If you don't get what you need, ask for the supervisor right away."

This state of being is common with diabetes. So often I find myself stressed in some part of my mind with whether my supplies are going to come, am I going to run out of supplies, have I taken to little or too much insulin, will this visit to the doctor cost me an arm and a leg, can I actually walk to where I am going today, do I have my sugar and meter?

As a diabetic I have to make so many decisions throughout my day just to get anywhere. It's becoming second nature, after five years, but the stress involved with managing a chronic illness is massive. I work to take steps to lower my stress levels but as this disease never takes a break, I find that I can feel fine and normal one minute and then low and ultra discouraged the next.

Along with all the stresses of managing my health and supplies, there is also the issue of how my blood sugar level actually effects my mental state all together. When my blood sugar is very low, it's difficult for me to hold conversations and put together coherent ideas. I need to just sit down and fully recover. When my blood sugar is high for an hour or so, I don't feel bad. But when it's high for a consistent period of time, I become easily agitated and frustrated with just about anyone and anything. Doesn't make for a happy Jones.

Chronic illness is definitely a mental game. I'm getting better at playing it, but it seems there will always be new players and rules along the journey.

Got a lot of fun gigs this month, playing a lot of great music. I really can't wait. And now that I have my supplies for the next period of time hopefully I can really let go and just enjoy music with my friends.

Here's the Ben Wendel Quartet performing Jean And Renata. Featuring Gerald Clayton, Joe Sanders, and Henry Cole. I really want to see this group the next time they are in Nyc.

Is that a pager?

"Is that a pager?"

-No, it's my insulin pump. 

"Oh, whoa. I'm sorry. I, uh, didn't...know"

-No worries, not a big deal. All though this clear tube running from the pump into my body does allow me to receive texts from 1993 directly to my brain.  

"What?"

-Sorry, it's just an insulin pump.

Today's technology has really advanced how diabetics manage their health. From the insulin pump with wireless receiver and meter, that doesn't require coding (I have no idea what coding means on a meter btw) to synthetic insulin which doesn't require refrigeration. Insulin pens instead of syringes and vials. National food labeling standards. Dietary dictionaries. Websites and blogs on the best ways to manage diabetes from diabetic's personal experiences. If I have to be diabetic, this isn't such a bad time. Hopefully soon technology will help me to not be a diabetic at all.  

It's amazing though, this technology is right under everyone's nose and most people don't notice it, or use it. It's also amazing that when they do notice it, they think of a pager, which no one outside of a hospital has used it in at least fifteen years, at least in NYC. I've visited many doctors in New York and most of them haven't seen the pump since med school. When I'm wearing my Dexcom continuous glucose monitoring system, I end up giving most doctors a lesson in diabetes technology today.  

It seems the general population of diabetics in my neighborhood are still using insulin pens with fast acting insulin like Novolog or Humalog and long acting insulins like Lantus. When someone is first diagnosed they have to learn to use syringes and vials for a period of six months before they are allowed to use the insulin pump. Personally, this made very little sense to me. First off, I don't want to carry around syringes, vials, or pens with me everywhere I go. Second, I don't really enjoying giving myself shots multiple times a day. Third, I want to use the most up to date methods for managing my condition. As soon as my six months were up, I was on the pump. It fits in my pocket and I can take my insulin with me where ever I go. Also, I don't have to take all of my insulin at once,which is a little scary at times. The pump allows for your total amount of insulin to be spread out over a period of hours allowing for better control. But I will say, whatever method works for someone to stay in a healthy range, I'm all for it. Diabetes is different for everyone. 

Flying can be difficult with a pump. The pump won't set off a metal detector, which is nice. But if you fly through an airport with a full body scanner and you don't take your pump off, you definitely will get pulled aside and scanned for explosive materials. It is annoying. If your doctor hasn't seen a pump since med school then the FAA has no clue what one is. 

So thanks technology, scientists, doctors, and inventors for continuously pushing forward with new ideas and devices to make everyone's lives better no matter their condition. Google currently has a new contact lense in the works that will also function as a constant glucometer. View thew ABC news article here: http://abcnews.go.com/Health/google-contact-lens-monitor-diabetes-holds-promise/story?id=21577373.  I look forward to all the questions I'll get from this new device that will only further me looking like a cyborg.  

Check out Tim Lefebvre destroying the bass: 

Another Late Night

Up late again. Hopefully my sugar levels will return to an acceptable level for sleeping soon. Gonna be tired tomorrow, again.  After scouring the internet for all the possible videos of Keilwerth Saxophones, (I'm really interested in their sound right now) I decide to see if there is any news on the diabetes front. I find an interesting article from the New York Times that really captures what people with Type 1 Diabetes and chronic illnesses face in regards to health management, insurance companies, and pharmaceutical companies.

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/04/06/health/even-small-medical-advances-can-mean-big-jumps-in-bills.html?_r=0

Some quotes that really struck me:

- Dr. Spencer Owades, a dentist in suburban Denver with Type 1 diabetes, said he was shocked to discover that his test strips — which cost just pennies to make — were priced at $1.50 apiece when he ran out and had to buy them at a pharmacy. He usually received them in the mail through his insurer and uses five to 10 a day.

“It’s a printer model,” he said, “where the printer is cheap, but they get you on the cartridges.” He added: “But if you have diabetes, they have you over a barrel.”

- Mr. Kliff, the financial analyst, said some companies were no longer willing to sell in Germany as ever-tougher price negotiations have eaten into their margins. “I’m not saying they can’t make money there — they can,” he said. “But they can’t make the kind of money they make in the U.S.” He added that diabetes treatments remained highly profitable in the United States; insulin, for example, yields profit margins of around 70 percent.

I feel fortunate to have insurance at this time and for the American Care Act. But with the current state of the economics behind chronic illness, without either there would be no way I could continue following my dreams, much less any dream except paying for health supplies. I don't even want to imagine how much all of this will cost five to ten years from now without insurance.  

Also, f.y.i. most insurance companies don't cover AAA batteries or the inserter of the Insulin Pump Infusion Set. Without the inserter you can't receive insulin into your body and without the batteries the pump doesn't run at all.