Opportunity to Join University of Virginia Study on Type 2 Diabetes

I was contacted by Rupa Valdez from the University of Virginia to help spread the word about a study they are doing via a Facebook support group.  The following information was provided to me by her and I am glad to share it with all of you Type 2 Diabetics!


Are you a Facebook user who also has been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes? If so, you may be interested in participating in a University of Virginia study to understand how people with Type 2 diabetes take care of their health. The researchers intend to use the information gained from the study to help better design technologies, such as mobile apps and self-management systems, for people with Type 2 diabetes.

Insurance, what a freakin joke

I cannot, canNOT resist the urge to write about this.  It is literally going to make me explode otherwise.

So if you use an in network doctors office, facility, hospital WHAT the hell ever, your insurance automatically knocks the price down to what that facility has negotiated to charge, right, RIGHT.

So my insurance knocked a lab bill of mine from 423.00 to 207.27 thats great RIGHT? WRONG.  If I had no insurance that facility I went to would knock 68% OFF the bill. SIXTY EIGHT PERCENT! 

That would have made MY portion $135.36.  Wait a second.

So I called the facility back and asked WHY in God's green earth if I was UNINSURED and LESS likely to pay my bill would I get a better effing discount than what I PAY when I have insurance coverage that I PAY for? 

She said they are not allowed to give me any other discounts after my insurance pays for their portion of the bill. 

Did you read that right?  I HAVE insurance coverage that I PAY FOR out of my pocket, ok....do you follow?  If I was uninsured I would have to PAY LESS money for the lab bills. 

I am so freaking stunned, irate, flabergasted all in one moment.  I want to puke.  Thats a $70.00 difference in this one bill.  My other labs this year would been 20% less if I was UNinsured. What a JOKE.  They said they legally have to charge it to my insurance if I have insurance, they cant just let me pay the discounted price.  WHAT THE HELL? 

I am so freaking ticked off right now.  I am so freaking ticked off at people who work the system and screw the system.   We (working married, tax paying, insurance premium paying citizens) (NOT PEOPLE WHO GET FREE STATE HEALTH CARE) are the ones getting screwed in case you have yet to figure that out. We pay 100%  our daughters health insurance premiums out of our pocket, no government assistance programs here. 

Our teams' Walk to Cure Diabetes amazing results from Niabi Zoo!

So far our team has raised an AMAZING $3005.00  I owe a HUGE HUGE thanks and props to Jackie Wiersema!!  Her fundraising efforts are up to $1880 so far! HOLY SMOKES!!! 

You can check out our team page here: http://www2.jdrf.org/goto/SchulerMotors

So far I am up to $620.00 even though it is showing a bit less.  

We have FOUR WEEKS post walk to enter donations (or at least the total that will show on any award you earn at the awards dinner which is June 19th at Modern Woodman park Kari told me)

05-31-2014 it the date to get all your donations turned in!

I really could use a Diabetes vacation and so could my poor pump abused skin...

I am having one of those days where I just wish I could not have to think about my Diabetes.

I swear doing a pump change every 3-4 days makes me go into this dumb rut.  The rut that I dont want to be in or think about.  My skin scars pretty easily, like that ugly reddish purple type scar.  Yeah thats what my skin does for months to years I can see it.

The side of my hip and love handle area look like a purple polka dotted map of scars from insulin pump infusion sites.  I hate it and I dont hate it.  I know that my t:slim insulin pump is saving my life and prolonging my life by many years but I hate the marks it (infusion sets) leaves behind on my skin.  I hate it. I look at it and I feel so upset that I have to keep doing this to myself.  Then my mind wonders into, why do I have to have this damned disease, why the hell cant they just cure it already?  I am so sick and tired of all the carb counting, weighing my food, guessing carbs, guessing too low, guessing too high, changing my pump out, changing my Dexcom sensor (which has been freaking stabbing me since my husband put it on me yesterday and its ticking me off), poking my finger, buying test strips, paying a fortune for insulin, paying a fortune for pump and cgm supplies, the list goes on and on.

My new tallyband from Tallygear.com

 

I decided it was time to try a new way to wear my Dexcom, since I often times dont have pockets big enough for it in the tallygear platnum case.

<===Platnum Case

I NEVER take it out of the platnum case (http://www.tallygear.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=90) for fear of water damage.  I cant tell you how many times I have gotten a water droplet on the front of this case, it is not water proof but I bet you it has saved my Dexcom 100 times. 

Yet another reason to love Dexcom.

So I went low for a while today, right?  Ok that happens, I ate some fruit strips thingies from Target, which by the way are a GREAT alternative to freakin fruit snacks, yuck! (Simply Balanced Wild Berry Fruit Strips http://www.target.com/p/simply-balanced-wild-berry-fruit-strips-25-ct/-/A-14576075#prodSlot=medium_1_4&term=fruit+strips )  If I smell fruit snacks I almost puke I ate them for so many years for lows that now I just can not stand them.  My little pony are the best, just in case you are looking.  Moving on.

So it was lunch time, right, yep, check my blood sugar.  146.  What?  Wait, how the heck am I 146, I was just low like 45 minutes ago. t:slim insulin pump says I need a correction of .55 units

So I take a look at my Dexcom, which by the way I am wearing in a totally new and awesome ankle band from http://www.tallygear.com/index.php?route=product/category&path=97

Dexcom says 118.  Hmm 118...ok that is not 146.















So I recheck my blood sugar again.  128. Awesome.  Pump says correction of  .28 units

I dont know about you all but I am REALLY sensitive to insulin.  A difference of .27 units is kind of a big deal considering my basal for this time of day is .65 units. Yeah that's like a little over a half of a unit per hour that my body needs.  ONE HALF of a unit. I cant even get that precise with a stupid syringe, no wonder my blood sugar was freakin bananas when I was on shots.  ( I took shots for like 8 years and it was stupid for me to not start pumping sooner) For basal during this point in my cycle I only need 15.138 units a day. 

Anyway my point being is that I dont know what I would do without my Dexcom.  Yeah it can be way off one way or the other but at least it is there to tell me when my blood glucose meter is off.  Sometimes its way more than 18 points and I know to some of you that wouldnt make a difference, but to me it does.  I have had my meter give me two different readings more than 50 points apart.


So for those of you on the fence, so to speak, about Dexcom or a pump I say go for it! Most companies give you at least 30 days to decide to keep it or not. I know that Dexcom and Tandem Diabetes give you 30 days to return them and I would expect them to take it back later than that if some crazy issue came about. The ONLY reason I could ever see a person return a Dexcom would have to be some crazy allergy to the tape that cant be worked around and there are many many work arounds for allergies you can find online on Facebook, TuDiabetes or other bloggers.  An insulin pump, like my t:slim is an adjustment and a much bigger one that the Dexcom.  It is a great adjustment for most people and if I ever had to go back to shots I dont think I would live for very long without major complications.  Right now I am going through a rough patch with my Diabetes and my last A1C was crap, pure crap but I am working on it and being more aggressive with my carb counting and trying to take boluses on time, I have an issue with forgetting.  I also have this hatred of low blood sugars, like many other Diabetic people.  I know its really stupid and counterproductive but I just dont want to go low.  I hate it and the tighter my control becomes the more dang lows I have. 

I just dont know what I would do without my Dexcom and Tandem Diabetes t:slim insulin pump. 

Are you in the Sauk Valley Illinois Area and looking for a Facebook group for support and resources?

If you live in the Northwestern Illinois Sauk Valley area and can't seem to find anywhere to go to find information or support for your Diabetes and want to meet other Diabetic people who live locally, you are in luck!

I created a new group for our area!

https://www.facebook.com/groups/SaukValleyDiabeticWarriors/

Check it out, join the group, vent about your day, find information you are seeking to help you with your Diabetes, meet other people in real life with Diabetes, any one with any type of Diabetes can join and their family members may join to support you as well.

The things you post in this group can only be seen by others in the group and it will not show up anywhere else on Facebook. 

The JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes

Today was our somewhat local JDRF Walk to Cure Diabetes at Niabi Zoo in Coal Valley, IL and it was crazy packed! I did not hear the total amount of money raised but I will look Monday to see what its up to. Our team is over $2500 raised and we have six weeks I think, post walk to raise money.

I was disappointed that Greg Dutra wasnt there, we get a photo with him every year. Greg where were you man?

I met up with my Tandem Diabetes rep Nathan again, met the Peoria area rep and the Cedar Rapids JDRF rep, sorry I forgot your name. I know Im terrible. I looked for Kari a bit but didnt see her. She is the Quad Cities JDRF rep.

The walk was great, half my team ended up not being able to make it so that was a bummer but Im just glad to be a part of such a huge fundraising organization to help find better treatments and hopefully a cure one day. My 15 month old daughter had a lot of fun, she got to see all sorts of wild animals at the zoo and stare at them, like what in the heck is that thing? Then she wanted to go pet the Giraffes I think.

Thank you to all of you who gave donations to our team, it means so much to all of us with Type 1 Diabetes.

Jackie thank you for your insane fundraising work.  She raised over 1500 herself!