The Corner Booth

As I mark my 34th year living with type 1 diabetes, it's a perfect chance to pen a letter to my lazy pancreas. You know, the main culprit behind this chronic condition who managed to convince my immune system it ought to attack what it shouldn't. But before we get to that, let me recap my D-story for those who haven't heard it before. My Diagnosis Story Being 5 years old at the time, I don't remember too much. I'm not exactly sure when my diabetes anniversary actually is. I have self-designated March 10, because that's as good as any date. And because it happens to be Chuck Norris' birthday, so for me it adds a theme of karate-kicking diabetes into line. Anyway there was an overnight visit to my paternal grandparents' home. An unfolding of events that mirror many diagnosis stories -- waking up during the night, excessive thirst, frequent bathroom trips, moodiness (for a 5-year-old). My grandparents explained these symptoms to my parents, who instantly...

A couple of weeks ago, I laid off my endo because he wasn't willing to work with me on trying out the new inhaled insulin Afrezza . How it all played out was unexpected and not how I would typically handle something like this, as it was a spur of the moment decision over the phone. I had called his office first thing that day with two specific goals: to get a regular-check appointment on the calendar, and to have him consider my interest in using the new inhaled insulin product Afrezza. In the first few months since Afrezza hit the market, I've been curious about trying it myself after hearing how it's a double thumbs-up for many patients in their D-management. I'm still skeptical and have lingering concerns about the long-term risks to the lungs, but nevertheless I want to give it a puff (ha!) for myself just to see. Going in, I really don't plan to use it as my go-to meal-time bolus insulin. Rather, I simply want to see how it works for those stubborn sky-...

Longtime type 1 Jacob Padilla could be a case study on how healthcare reform is a two-sided coin with pros and cons, but how I think it's more of a benefit to people with diabetes. This 38-year-old in New Mexico had his wallet out and was ready to buy. Diagnosed at age 12, he's lived his entire adult life without health insurance... until now. Thanks to the Affordable Care Act (aka Obamacare) and the abolishment of the practice of pre-existing conditions historically leading to automatic coverage denials, Jacob is now able to purchase his first health insurance plan. While the plans he could choose from were breathtakingly more expensive than he was led to believe they'd be, he was philosophical about it. He was not only willing and able to pay the steep premium, he was eager to do so. "I was just happy there was going to be options, you know, regardless of cost. I was happy to be able to have something, just to have the opportunity to have health cove...

Sometimes, I just want to scream at my endocrinologist. I'm not a textbook diabetic! Don't say I am "uncontrolled"... I'm living with diabetes every day! No, I DON'T know why that number from three weeks ago was 400...! I'm not checking my blood sugars as much because I'm burnt out, and it's not like I can just flip a switc h to make myself feel better! The Diabetes Online Community understands... why can't you?! You just don't get it, doc! Some variation of these pretty much come to mind every time I visit my endo, which is typically every few months. Ever feel that way? You might say my endo and I have a rocky relationship . We don't see eye-to-eye on everything, but she knows her stuff and is highly qualified to do what she does. And she helps me when I need it. Yet I am still frustrated... obviously. I've been with this endo for more than five years now, after discovering her within a 10-minute drive from my house a couple year...

Sitting at a restaurant the other night, I overheard a conversation between two men who were obviously not happy with the healthcare law or the recent ruling by the U.S. Supreme Court. They talked for a good while on this, and I didn't interject. I just sat there listening, drinking my beer and eating my penne pasta while observing the after-work discussion between these two average guys. One made the point: "We're all human beings, and I feel bad that everyone doesn't have insurance. They should. But it's not MY responsibility to pay for them." This comment made me cringe. To me, that illustrates the disconnect we have as a people on this topic. We claim to be wanting what's right for our fellow human beings, but we're too selfish to pay for it. To recognize that we ALL have the duty, as fellow people, to help each other out. At the foundation, this isn't about taxes or politics or whether one person is lazy or not and deserves...

This clip captures my mood perfectly right now, as I reflect on our country's politics and those vying for the presidency. http://youtu.be/sen8Tn8CBA4 I'm surrounded by assholes, apparently. But I guess I already knew that. (Sigh). Presidential hopeful Rick Santorum apparently thinks that insurance companies should be able to deny coverage for people with pre-existing conditions. He's also of the belief that those who aren't denied should have to pay more to receive benefits, because they're sick and cost more to insure. Not all the fools GOP political hacks presidential wannabes think the same way, and some have specifically said that despite wanting to repeal the Affordable Health Care Act they want to make sure insurers can't prevent pre-existing denials outright. But apparently, that's not how Rick rolls. Or so his sometimes-inconsistent video statements seem to indicate. To a New Hampshire high school class, on why people with pre-existing ...

A news story came out recently in the Washington Post, discussing the federal government's proposed sweeping revisions to the rules governing scientific research on human subjects. Apparently, this is the first change in two decades to the "Common Rule" that governs nearly all human-clinical research financed by taxpayers and it protects those in the trenches doing this work while also streamlining the oversight and paperwork required of scientists. Here's a news release on that from the HHS on this rule revision. That release says this: The current regulations governing human subject research were developed years ago when research was predominantly conducted at universities, colleges, and medical institutions, and each study generally took place at only a single site. Expansion of human subject research into many new scientific disciplines and venues and an increase in multi-site studies have highlighted ambiguities in the current rules and have led to questi...

A newsletter came in the mail the other day from our local county-owned hospital. This is a place that I haven't been to in years, the last time being for a non- D emergency about five years ago. I saw an Endo affiliated with this hospital back when we'd first moved to Indiana in 2004, but that was only for a couple years and I later switched to a different Endo affiliated with a larger hospital outside of the county we live in, but closer to our home than where this county hospital is located. But despite those changes, I continue to receive semi-regular mailings from the county hospital. I glance at most of them, flipping through and reading about whatever the local health-care topic may be. Then toss them in the recycling bin. The latest newsletter for Summer 2011, called Focus on You , grabbed my attention immediately. This wasn't tailored for me specifically, it was just a newsletter the hospital sends out to all those on the mailing list. But it did apply specifically...

Labwork is a necessary evil for those of us in the Diabetes Community. While we all love to banter about our own vampire-like skills in blood tests, set or sensor insertions, and syringe stabs, our semi-regular visits to those other Vampires in lab settings are a whole different breed. I've shared the perpsective before of one Vampire Girl who's Better Than Edward Cullen , but as a followup I now offer my latest lab adventure where we got to play that game known as Find the Vein. My fun came on Wednesday. Even though I've been meaning to take some time to get over to the lab to get that done, I procrastinated and didn't get around to it until a chance arose this week - the day before my nearing Endo appointment. In the 4 years or so that I've been with this current Endo, my lab work sites have moved around a number of times - first in the adjacent hospital itself, then in a lab down the hall from her office, across the street at th...

Rules have changed when it comes to insurance flex account coverage on Over The Counter medications. The new health care reform law requires a doctor's prescription for any OTC medicines that someone might want their flex spending account to pay for. Insulin is exempt and anything else you might normally have an Rx for isn't affected, just those on the shelf items such as cold medicine and aspirin. The IRS says this applies only to "medicine" or "drugs," and not those supplies such as band-aids, crutches, contact lens solution, or blood glucose test strips and kits. For me and many People With Diabetes, this specifically comes down to glucose tablets that are sold in the pharmacy aisles or endcaps. Since these are basically something you eat and can be dubbed a consumable "medicine" or "drug," the new Flex rule applies. To be clear: The new rules don't limit these over the counters and don't stop a person from paying for the...

Three months ago, I set up my appointment with that seasonal celebrity of the Diabetes Community known as Santa Endo-Claus. Like many mythical figures of the past and present and storybooks, this character varies for each Person With Diabetes and appears in whatever way he or she might best recognize. In my little corner booth of the world, Santa takes the form of Dr. P. While I do like the Christmas season, I have been somewhat nervous about this appointment. That's because of my experience Inside the Endo's Office back in September when it was revealed my internal office A1C was 7.8%, a tenth of a percentage point higher than the last visit back in the summer. My results had been higher in the few months prior to that, and we both determined it actually may have been a bit closer to 8 thanks to some recent Lows possibly artifically-deflating the result. We vowed to work together and bring it down by Christmas, and for a while that happened. Things were better. Bu...

As a kid of the 80s reaching that video game age in the early 90s, the Nintendo was truly an early love and came into my home to provide hours of entertainment. One of the games included with this system was Duck Hunt, which many know by the orange plastic handgun used to hunt down the passing birds that appear on the screen.  Targeting D-Advocacy at the Lame Duck Congress. Well, now I find myself turning to that Duck Hunt action once again as I set my D-Advocacy sights on the Lame Duck Congress. My weapon may not be an orange clicking video game gun or voice-activated scope headgear, but instead a cell phone and letter-writing campaign, as well as my online messages that appear here and other places throughout the Diabetes Community. Nearly two weeks ago, the JDRF issued a call to action for the Diabetes Community that urged us to contact our legislators in the U.S. Congress and ask that they support a very important piece of legislation. That legislation i...

First, it’s Thanksgiving week so I’m very much appreciative of the fact that 1.) I have health insurance. 2.) I have “decent” enough coverage that means I can basically get what I need to survive. 3.) I've got a job that allows me to at least try to pay for the supplies and prescriptions needed to survive this Life With Diabetes. But that’s about as far as my gratefulness goes on that point at the moment. Especially when said insurance company and pump supply supplier decide it’s a prudent business decision to fib on what they have and haven’t done and whose fault it is. The details: an issue with Medtronic Minimed over a recent pump supply order that has prompted this post. I ordered new supplies in late October, receiving them without issue at the start of November. I did this for a reason – to get them before the year-end deductible resets so that I’d be able to calculate what remains and what else I might be able to use before that amount returns to $0 and I must start over...