Trigger Finger

Blood Sugar:

So, Wednesday, I will have my second surgery to release a trigger finger. I had the first surgery in June of this year. Trigger finger is a painful tendon problem. Anyone can have a trigger finger, but diabetics that have not taken care of themselves for a prolonged period are subject to the issues of it. It usually sets in on the ring fingers...but no finger is safe from the dastardly effects of it. It starts as a popping sensation when you move your fingers. It doesn't hurt then and it just feels weird. As it progresses though, it becomes more painful and the finger can eventually 'lock' in place--which I assume would make surgery more difficult. My doc said that sometimes it will only be in the ring fingers and he may or may not have to operate on the same fingers again, but it can attack all of the fingers and that equals 10 separate surgeries. WOO HOO! Go diabetes! But in all seriousness, of all the complications that can come from not taking care of yourself, this is really minor. My first finger is good. It's a little stiff when it gets cold out but other than that it works pretty well. It doesn't ache when it's going to rain, like Grandpa's back used to! LOL!

So this is what it says on www.mayoclinic.com about trigger finger, "Trigger finger is a condition in which one of your fingers or your thumb catches in a bent position. Your finger or thumb may straighten with a snap — like a trigger being pulled and released. If trigger finger is severe, your finger may become locked in a bent position.

Often painful, trigger finger is caused by a narrowing of the sheath that surrounds the tendon in the affected finger. People whose work or hobbies require repetitive gripping actions are more susceptible. Trigger finger is also more common in women than in men, and in anyone with diabetes."

So here I am, typical diabetic recipient of the pain in the finger! So for those of you reading who have never experienced it...it starts as just a popping sensation and then it gets painful. Surgery is quick, my doc schedules 30 minutes, but says it really takes him about 7. Healing is quick, I was using my hand the next day and by the time I went back to work on Monday, I was typing like normal. Sometimes they want to treat it with steroid injections, and thankfully I got to skip all that...haven't I had enough shots in my lifetime?!

Hemaglobin A1c

Blood Sugar: 144

Ok, so prior to starting on the OmniPod, my A1c was 13.5%. WOW! It's supposed to be below 7. So I've been working and working at getting my basal levels set and checking my blood sugar more often and trying to eat better. In August, I went to my endo and my A1c then was 8.3%--quite an improvement. So yesterday, I had another one done as part of my pre-op exam for my surgery next Wednesday and it's a 7.9%! WOO HOO!!!! I don't think that it's EVER been in the 7's!!!! I know I still need to get it lower, but I just feel like this small victory empowers me to keep doing what I'm doing!

Happy WDD!

Blood Sugar: 154

Happy World Diabetes Day!

Let's Talk Needles

Blood Sugar: 385

So in my previous post, I mentioned that one of the things that I always keep on hand is a device to inject a syringe. Why, you may have asked yourself...there are many reasons. First and foremost, I am deathly terrified of needles. I hate to watch a needle go into my skin. I become quite squeamish to say the least. I've passed out on occasion and I've hurled once. So when I was young, my mom found an injector that you place a filled syringe into and then 'cock' it, place it over where you want to shoot it and push. Wa-la, you are injected without all the nasty business of watching it happen. That fear of needles caused my mother to find a solution for me and as an adult, when I decided that I wanted to switch to a pump, I had to figure out a way for me to avoid watching that needle every time I had to change my site. That fear led me to the OmniPod. I love it, I love it, I love it. It has changed my life for the better and has changed my quality of life completely. In the picture, I have a normal insulin syringe. The second syringe is the one used to fill the pod that I wear and finally the actual pod. It's quite ingenious really and has offered me a better option that using another type of 'injector'. No muss, no fuss...that's what I like.

Self-Admitted Over-Packer

Blood sugar: 192

I am an over-packer. It doesn't matter what I'm packing for, I over-pack. If it's a weekend trip, I need a bag full of clothes and shoes, a bag full of stuff to do in case I might get bored, a bag for my toiletries and my over-packed insulin case. I pack an arsenal of diabetes supplies everyday. I have a system. There is a method to my madness. But on an average day, I could take care of several diabetics in a pinch and still have plenty for me. I think I have the cutest bag (picked up from the cosmetic section at Target, photo) and I have it packed so that I know exactly what I have and what I need at a moment's notice. My husband knows that if he has to save one thing from the house, make sure I have this bag! I usually pack my bag when it's time for me to change my pod. My pod lasts for three days, so I have more than enough stuff to care for myself for three days. I assume that I take 10 blood tests a day, I don't usually, but if I felt the need I want the supplies. So this is what I pack: OmniPod PDM, bottle of insulin, (3) syringes, two extra batteries, a syringe injector, (30) alcohol swabs, OneTouch Ultra Mini meter, lancing device, glucagon kit, 3 extra pods, (30) cotton balls, (30) lancets, testing strips, a zippered pouch for trash and a BioFlip, from www.stickmedesigns.com, for lancets and/or other needle trash. Is this overkill? Some think so. But my reasoning is that fear is not your friend. I think it's better to have what I MIGHT need than to not have what I DO need. So what do you pack with you everyday? I know many people have found themselves in quite the predicament at times...as have I, if you can believe it! I also know that there are a lot of diabetics out there that don't change the lancet every time or use an alcohol swab...but I do because I feel like it's better safe than sorry...am I thinking ahead and being prepared or am I over doing it?

Yesterday's Debacle

Blood Sugar: 211

So I'm still dealing with the ramifications of yesterday afternoon. I ended up leaving work early yesterday. I got home at 5PM and went to bed and finally got up this morning. I feel better, but I'm trying to figure out what happened yesterday. It's hard to back-track and figure things out, but I'm going to have to...to keep from doing it again. I was a major cranky pants last night too and no one was safe from my wrath! I hate being like that. It's nobody's fault really and if I had to blame someone I would have to blame myself, right? So why take it out on everyone else? It's a pity and was a wasted night...today should be better. So As you could see, my sugar is still elevated this morning from yesterday. Why can't carb counting be easier? I'm pretty sure that was the central part of yesterday afternoon's demise. Today will be better. It will.

Ugh.

Blood Sugar: 172 Thankfully!

I don't know what craziness is going on inside my body today...but I've had a really crappy afternoon. I ate my normal lunch around one and by 2:30 I was going low and dropping. So I'm at my desk popping glucose tabs and checking my blood sugar every 15 minutes. I hate days like this because it feels like you're never going to recover from it. I'm so tired now and instead of doing a full bolus, I dropped it in half because I don't want it to come down too fast again. Why does this happen? Now I'll have the inevitable highs for the rest of the evening. How do you spell frustration? D-I-A-B-E-T-E-S

Wrapping Up The Journey

Blood Sugar: 128

So, the new doctor understood my need for the pump but also realized that I needed an endocrinologist to do it right. She suggested that I go see the endo she was affliated with. She said to go see the endo one time and if I didn't like her, that she would do what she had to do to get me pumping. I saw the endo and found another woman with the heart of a teacher. She wanted to help me, she wanted me on the pump, she wanted me to have a better life. As far as doctors go, I've hit my second grand slam. They are both terrific. So I saw the endo the first time in June 2007. I saw her CDE (Certified Diabetes Educator)in July and we applied to my insurance for coverage of a pump. Of course it was a fight. The insurance company didn't want to give me a pump because I hadn't bothered to take care of myself all this time, let alone go to the doctor. So they said that because I hadn't been seen by a doctor 4 times in the last year, that they wouldn't approve me. It was a long road...but I got my appointments in and started on my pump 6 months later. Quite the change from my original doctor. And I'm going strong. My only regret is that I didn't make the switch sooner, but I guess that everything has it's reason and purpose and I have to accept that. Maybe the wait was a way for me to grow as a diabetic and caring for myself so that I was ready to go on the OmniPod in January. It's been life-changing...all for the better.

The Saga Continues...

Blood Sugar: 101


I was a diabetic mess. I ate what I wanted and only took shots here and there. I was 15 when I was hospitalized for DKA and in the ICU overnight. They started giving me insulin and amazingly I got better very quickly! LOL I know they obviously knew that I wasn't taking my shots, but I assured them that was not the case and I always did as I should and blah, blah, blah. The doctors never questioned me again about it, but how could they not know that I was lying? All the details made it perfectly clear that I wasn't doing what I should. Diabetes was my enemy and I was going to do whatever I had to do to combat it. Looking back, I realize that I treated diabetes as the annoying person that always shows up uninvited. If you just keep ignoring them, eventually they will quit coming around. I realize now all the valuable time that I wasted thinking like that. How many years did I personally subtract from my life by allowing myself to live this way? I spent a lot of time blaming people and it wasn't until I met my husband at age 26 that I had an epiphany. You can't always point the finger of blame at everyone else...more often than not, you need to point it right at yourself.
So when I moved back to Ohio in 2001 , I got a job that offered health insurance and started seeing an endocrinologist. I liked him well enough and I thought he was cute, so it wasn't difficult to make myself go to the appointments. I told him that I realized that I needed to make some changes in my life and I wanted to start on insulin pump therapy. He tried, really he did. I just had absolutely no control of my diabetes and appointment after appointment only showed how futile my attempts were. I hadn't controlled my diabetes for years and it wasn't giving up too easy.
He was in a practice of several doctors and decided I needed to start seeing his colleague. Fine, how bad could it be, right? So I went in for my first appointment and he gave me a formula, a sliding scale for injections, told me to count my carbs and come back in 30 days. I was lost. He didn’t explain the formula, I didn’t know how to count carbs and I was a mess…still. I made an appointment with his assistant and he explained how the formula worked, explained why we count carbs instead of exchanges and told me to test, test, test. I went in for my follow up appointment with the doctor a month later. I counted carbs every time I ate. I was testing at least 4 times a day but it was usually 6 or 8. I hadn’t tested my blood sugar on a regular basis since I was under the strict supervision of my mom. The doctor was appalled by the information I was giving him. He asked me how I thought he could make educated decisions about my health care, if this was the information I was giving him. So I told him to tell me exactly what he wanted…WOW. He wanted me to test 8 times a day AND every day for a month at 2 AM. He wanted me to keep a detailed diary of the foods I was eating and count the carbs. OK, I’ll do it. I wanted to be on the pump and this was the road to get there. I left that day with a mission, made my appointment for 30 days later and went to the store and bought a food scale and new measuring cups. I was going to knock his socks off at my next appointment. So I didn’t get up every day for the next 30 at 2 AM, but I did do it a lot…I’d never done it before. There were FEW days that I didn’t test 8 times a day, but it was FEW. I wrote down amounts and foods and carb contents in a notebook and couldn’t wait for my next appointment….then I went. He was appalled by my records, he was appalled by what I ate, he screamed at me about not taking care of myself. I’d had it. I started telling him what I thought about all of this diabetes crap and as I gathered up my stuff, I told him that it was a pity that his knowledge was wasted on him because he was an ass. I continued cussing him as I left. Told his nurse I was sorry she had to work for him. Then I cussed him some more as I walked through the waiting room. I vowed to NEVER go to a doctor again.
So for a year I continued to use the sliding scale and formula he had given me. I refilled my prescriptions every month and was taking better care of myself even though my BG's never showed that. I woke up every morning with my blood sugar at least 300, but usually in the 500's. I just coped. Figured my dose and continued just taking 3 shots a day of Novolog and Humulin N. Finally, I called in a refill and the pharmacy said that the doctor wouldn't refill it until I went in. What's a girl to do?
I realized that I had to find a doctor. Boy, I didn't want to have anything to do with a doctor, but I was in need. I could go, get the prescriptions written and then I was good for another year. A girl I worked with HIGHLY recommended her GP...She could write a prescription for insulin and that was good enough for me. So I made the appointment. Something strange happened in her office that had never happened to me before...I liked her...really liked her. I liked her enough that I wanted to hear what she had to say. I told her that I wanted to be on the pump and that I wanted her to put me on it.