Looking At All the Pieces

I know recently I have decided to spend more time evaluating how I deal with stress, foods, and other items that tend to affect my blood sugar. I am going to keep a log for the day where I recap what happened that day such as cold weather, stressful situations at work like computer issues etc. So I can see what I might be missing or if there is a pattern to better help me avoid bad lows or highs. I do not have a great deal of highs on my Dexcom most of the time but I know when I do I like to figure out why. I know for example I get a large spike in blood sugar with cereal and then a very dramatic fast moving drop when I eat cereal even when I use a combo bolus I tend to still drop dramatically. The interesting part is that if I have granola I don't have the same issue.  I am also using my Dexcom graphs pictures and add them for the day to review the events for the day. I am going to try to do this at least a week or two a month.

I know I do review my data but I think this might help me to make even better changes in not only what I eat but also a more effective basal rate changes as well. I know with all my low every time I am am able to reduce the lows I feel so much better and it also makes for a much better day all around. So I am hoping to continually reduce lows and highs but also keep myself away from the bad lows I have seen in the past if at all possible. I know most Diabetics do not always use all the data they have access to. I know I have been guilty in the past as well. I do not plan on logging every number I have but to look at graphs at the trouble spots and see what options I could try next time and maybe which foods I should generally try to avoid or eat less often. I know so far looking at what I am eating has helped me tremendously and hoping that looking at all aspects will help as well.

Eating Disorders

With it being National Eating Disorder Week I had to blog about my own person struggle with eating disorders. I know I wake up each and everyday trying to keep myself in line. I know it does not take me much to get back into the mindset of if I eat less I will lose more weight and if I exercise twice a day seven days a week I can have the body I want. I know none of these to be true but I have fallen back into my disorder twice over the past several years. I know when you look at me you can't see that I ever had an eating disorder because I do currently have some cushion. I know when I started going to the gym a year ago I knew it had risks for me with having exercise anorexia where I tend to eat very little and exercise constantly. I know at my lowest point I weighed 108 lbs but with being 5'10 that is way too skinny. I know you could see my bones and I had lost most of the fullness in my face and neck. I know when I could see the bones it never registered to me that there was a problem but I know my mother noticed.

I know I was asked when I was getting help to draw how I saw myself and the interesting thing is that the person I saw was a great deal bigger than I ever was. I know now how far I was from the truth. I also know the my obsessive personality could easily fall back into that pattern. I watched my mother criticism herself harshly and I know I do much the same. She also suffered from eating disorders when I was young and continued to fight with herself the rest of her life. I know I really have struggled to love myself when I have viewed my body very harshly. I am still learning now how to love myself not matter what my weight is. I am working constantly not to fall back into the pattern of getting sucked into the perception I need to be a size zero to be loved. I know I get my head in a pattern of if I exercise a little longer my legs will look better my stomach will be flatter I will feel better if I just push myself. This thought pattern leads me back to my obsession with exercise. The funny thing is that I don't normally enjoy it but if I see benefits to it I get back into the pattern.

I know I will wake up everyday for the rest of my life trying to avoid falling back into my eating disorder. The funny thing is that my carbohydrate counting also played a big part of my eating disorder as well. I would count how little of carbohydrates I would need to get through my workouts and just make it through the day. I know it seemed innocent at the time but I learned how to use my food to get what I wanted and that created this obsession with how if I exercise and eat as little as possible I would lose weight quickly and sure enough I did but I also saw the consequences as well. I know my stress fractures I experienced at 28 were related to my eating disorder and I did end up spending six months in air cast boots on both ankles. I know normally when I would go running I did not come back with injuries but that time my ankles paid the price.

Thankfully today I have found that not knowing what I way when I go to the Dr. have helped me to avoid getting focused on a number and more focused on being healthy. I know it seems silly but I get stuck on things such as a number. So I know my Dr. knows about my past and she tells me if I need to lose weight or gain weight. That ways it takes it out of my hands and become about being at the healthiest weight. So I am happy to report I don't know my weight but I do know when I have gained weight so I know when I need to up my workout and when I just need to do my normal routine. I know I will never be completely free of my obsession but at least I have found ways of coping.

What If ?

I know some days I wake up and feel just overwhelmed by it all. I know sometimes it is not even diabetes related and other times it is. I know this feeling is caused by recent incidents that left me feeling a little lost. I know I honestly feel like a grenade waiting to go off most of the time. I know dating is complicated and I have found most of the time when you throw in a service dog and bad lows it will make most men run for cover. I am aware that some times it is for the best that it does not work out but other times is is really depressing that I know most of the guys I date will leave after one bad low or incident which does not help. When I meet new people and worry about what will happen and how it will affect me emotionally. I know most people see me as very stoic and not realize I am incredibly sensitive. I know I can handle a great deal of things but I have never been very good at handling hurtful things.

I also have felt that my Diabetes because it has also caused chaos in my life that one day it would really cost me in some way. I know it has in my dating life, my career and with my friends. I know it takes it toll on not just me but all the people in my life currently. I know I feel very over whelmed by all of the feeling like my Diabetes is causing me issues in so many parts of my life. I know as I try to reconcile my head around the fact that my life is nothing like I ever wanted it to be. I always had a picture of where I might be at this point in my life and I am no where near where I hoped I would be. I am okay with that but the hardest part is knowing that my Diabetes is no where close to where I wanted to be either. I know my life has been really challenging and will always be unless they have major changes in out technology. It has become really hard to stop the what if I had done this instead of this which constantly runs through my mind. I know it is bad to over think things but I know I do this. I guess I will have to live with yes this my life but I guess I can also continue to try new things to improve my life.

Computer Issues and Blood Sugars

I know yesterday I was going to post a blog as usual but I ran into some major issues. These issues were sadly messing with my blood sugar. I came in as normal and it was a normal morning until I started noticing issues with my email. I have my main inbox and 9 other inbox's I can email from. I have way too many but it seems to work okay. So I noticed that my main box was not sending them emails. So I used my sub email boxes then they stopped sending as well. So I decided I needed to log out then log back in and still same issue. So I next tried restarting my computer several times still same issue. I finally called IT they came but with bad news. During the recent power outage at work had corrupted my profiles for my inboxes. So they had to send my email archived to a new folder which would take over night to get moved then they had to add back on the 9 other inbox's back on. So yesterday my bloods sugars decided to go low around 60 over a several hour period of time and then soared up quickly and stayed there for several hours then crashed out last night.

I know during these time Duchess really saves me a lot of trouble she alerted to all the lows and kept me checking my blood sugars then she warned me really early around 125 that my blood sugar was moving up quickly and my Dexcom had not even caught on yet that it was moving up quickly Then she kept me safe as my blood sugar was dropping quickly as I got home and just got off the bus. I know days like these where stress can cause a combination of things I am beyond thankful to have her here with me. I know the longer I have her the more I also feel I need her around just to give me peace of mind. She really helped me deal with the frustration of dealing with the moving up and down yesterday. Sadly I woke up and I dealt with another bad low of 35 when I first got to work but at least the good part is that I am leaving at 2:45pm from work today. So I just have to hang in there and hope that my blood sugars will settle down soon. I know when I get stressed it seems that the drops are even more drastic and the funny part is that I did not realize how all the computer issues were affecting me personally until I looked at my Dexcom graphs last night.

Ignoring Reminders

It seems so strange today to not be able to really feel lows or highs. I know my body sends me such mixed messages these days the only way to be certain every time is too test. I know for example when I am working out and I start to really sweat I take that as a signal which most of the time is correct. I know I remember the fast hear beats, feeling hungry, getting sleepy, getting moody and shaking and what I would give today to be able to feel my lows again. I know as technology gets better our tools get better but honestly their is no better option than being able to feel your lows. All options have drawbacks and nothing is a one hundred percent. I know today I am doing much better than I was back in 2008 when I was diagnosed with Hypoglycemia Unawareness.

I know I even though the feelings of a low can be very overwhelming for any of us. I know for me I think it is even worse not feeling anything at all. I know at times I get caught up doing things that I put off testing or ignore Duchess when I know I shouldn't. I know when you don't feel it is so very easy to not react as fast or think oh I'm fine when you really are not. I know most of the time I do react very quickly but at times I do fall into it will be fine mindset. I also know the consequence of my lows are usually EMS visits and commotion. So I am always trying to work on keeping myself on track and reacting as quickly as I can. I know yesterday Duchess alerted when I was at the gym and I was two minutes from being done so I pushed on. Thankfully it was only 80 so I treated quickly. I also know that I can get to a very bad low extremely quickly and that has always been the case. So I know tonight if Duchess alerts I am going to stop right away and test. It is best for both my sake and Duchess.

Odd Morning

I know most days I get to work I test my blood sugar and bolus for my breakfast. I always have coffee which does mess with my blood sugar slightly so I bolus for that. Just as my coworker was making the coffee that I just bolused for the lights flash all of a sudden. Then the room goes black. So the power went out and I was worried since I had sent insulin for things I had not consumed. I always prebolus because I do not get a large rise in my blood sugars by doing so. I just did not expect the power to go out. I thankfully decided since the power was out for the whole campus that I should go get some coffee. I am caffeine addict and I get sever headaches for not consuming caffeine in some for or another. I knew if I could find an open place by campus I could get some warm coffee. We had a cold front come through yesterday so it was a brisk 35 degrees outside. It was strange to go with my Manager, Supervisor and coworker to get coffee but good in a great deal of ways.

So I learned a lesson to wait till the coffee is actually made for bolusing it next time but I will not stop prebolusing because it works for me. It has been a really odd morning. I found out the power outage was caused by a construction crew on campus. Thankfully after two hours it was back on. I know I was glad I had Duchess in her sweater it was a very cold walk to get coffee this morning. I know Duchess was on duty this morning monitoring my blood sugar. I did not go low so over all it ended up just fine and I have granola bars in my desk just in case as well. So today is a really off day so far but thankfully Duchess was here to help even in the dark. I am really hoping that they keep down the construction errors so we have power to do our work.

My Thoughts on the Animas Vibe

I know I am still loving my Animas Vibe but there is still some things that I have found to bothersome. I know I love having my CGM on my pump and I love not having to carry my extra Dexcom receiver like I used to. I do really love how the bolus amount appears without having to enter it like I used to with the Animas Ping. I do really miss the Animas remote option. It was nice that everything was synched up and so I did not have to enter my blood sugar manually. The one aspect that drives me crazy is that after I enter my blood sugar and the ez carb option does its magic then I bolus as normal. The CGM sends me a message each time that I need to make sure that I had done a finger stick before bolusing for the food but the sad part is that I already am. So that is one aspect that drives me nuts because if it was synched the pump would not send me these annoying reminders.

I also do love that in some ways that I have more flexibility in my alerts from my Dexcom which I tend to feel I am more responsive. Currently the change in the sounds I have not had much issues with hearing or feeling the Vibe going off when low. I know I am loving the other features as well. I know a great deal of people were complaining about not back button I have found when I had it with Medtronic I rarely used it so for me it is not a big deal. I am not caring about the amount of buttons because for me all my devices I have to push buttons or scroll around so I found my pumps to have been no different. I do really wish that all pumps offered you the option to synch whatever meter you use to the pumps with blue tooth etc. that way I could keep up with all the new meters that come out instead of sticking with the original meter that comes with the pumps.

Overall I am pleased with my new Animas Vibe and I really would not change much except a bigger screen would be nice and the option to have a meter synched because I prefer things to be easier. I know I am very satisfied that I will be using the Vibe until June of 2016 when I can then purchase a new insulin pump at that point. I am really hoping for more options when I am able to upgrade then but I also might wait. I know I really wish that pump companies asked for what we as the consumers want and need in insulin pumps. I know it would really make things much easier for us all. 

Spare A Rose Save A Child

Instead of sending roses tomorrow consider saving a life of a child. I know I already donated personally and I hope you will too. This program helped a great deal of children already and hopefully it will continue to with your help. I know when I went back to college I was fortunate I lived in a place where I could receive the free insulin from the company because of my income I know everyday I felt fortunate I could go back to college and still have insulin. A great deal of children would not have access to these type of programs in many countries. I know I feel fortunate everyday even though some of my medical devices I have today drive me nuts. I also know they help me to make better choices by having this information.

Please Consider Donating

http://www.p4dc.com/spare-a-rose/Give/

Old verses New

I really love having my Dexcom feature on the Animas Vibe I know so far it has really been nice. I do use the ability to have my old Dexcom receiver that I use as well. I still carry the old receiver to see the differences. So far I have noticed that the same sensor has different readings. The interesting part of it all is that my Animas Vibe does not seem to have the same issues with water verses the old receiver I still have. Another thing I noticed is that my Animas Vibe tends to be more accurate with lows verses my other Dexcom and the Dexcom is better with highs at times. I have been having issues with the Dexcom thinking I am moving up dramatically when I moved up two units and with two arrows pointing upwards. Thankfully I always check my blood sugar before bolusing because I am not one of the lucky ones where my blood sugar is actually close to my current blood sugars. I have noticed that since my recent procedure that my blood sugar is more steady again and the Dexcom results are getting better.

I do find it interesting to see the different number on the two Dexcom but so far I have to say that I am finding the Animas Vibe to be more accurate of the two so far over the past 8 days or so. I know it will be interesting to be able to download the results for my Dr. as well. I know she is very aware that for me the Dexcom is never spot on. I also have to say that my Animas Vibe does catch lows at an average of 5 minutes earlier for me which is much better. I have noticed that the old receiver results are closer to my night blood sugars where the Animas Vibe is the opposite it thinks I am always low but I know when I tested it was hanging around 90 but it thought I was 70 which is annoying to deal with in the middle of the night. Especially with two Dexcom devices going off during the night. I am also the queen of ignoring it at night because I worked out several hours before I go to bed and I am tired. Thankfully I am responding better now with having two devices going at once.

What is Inspirational?

I know recently I have been quite frequently what an inspiration I am. I know that is only because I am disabled. I know they are trying to be nice but I struggle with it because I am still the same person as I was before. I do have to work harder now but all Diabetics have to work hard and do things that are not easy. I feel I do have challenged but every person I know has challenges. I know that we all work hard at getting what we need done. I know most people seem to think I don't work a full time job and I am lucky I get out of the house. I know I have heard so many things from the general public which honestly shock me. I do get up everyday and I rarely ever call in sick and in fact I miss less days of work than my healthy co-workers. I find it difficult to be put up on a pedal stool of achievement when I have never done anything spectacular. I do educate people on service dogs and I do blog but at the end of the day that just makes me normal in my mind.

I know I watched a Ted talk called "I'm not  your inspiration, thank you very much" I have posted the link below about the talk with Stella Young. I know I work hard to do the best I can but I am not sure I am thrilled with being used as a person inspiration that carries a pretty heavy weight to it. I wake up each and every day like everyone else I just wish people would understand that I do everything like a normal person but need assistance in only part of my life. I do wish people would see that I can do everything everyone else can as well except feel low or high blood sugars. I really just want to see people with disabilities as capable of a great deal of things instead of thinking I get less work or that I get it easy. I know I work very hard and do a wonderful job would be nice if the general public would understand that I do just as much as my coworkers and that I do make a valuable asset to my workplace. I know these days the stigma attached to disabilities is so far off from reality.

I know a great deal of people with disabilities and most people would love to work but the biggest challenge is the misnomers about disabilities that keeps most people from working. It is sad because they could be making contributions but sadly are held hostage by lack of knowledge. I know I really want to be considered a normal person and given credit for working hard to keep my life that way. I know I like to say I am an inspiration but I feel like I do everything normally. So I would like to give credit to the true inspirational people I know.

http://www.ted.com/talks/stella_young_i_m_not_your_inspiration_thank_you_very_much/transcript?language=en

Breathing A Sigh of Relief

I had my follow up appointment for my procedure I had back in December. It is looking really good right now and the Dr. thinks I am one of the lucky one's who see's results in the first month. Normally it takes several months but I have seen results after a week and a half. I am so happy because now I am seeing my blood sugars start to settle back down to a more reliable pattern I am used to. I know this so far seems to me like it really was the best choice for me personally. I am relieved that I had a great Dr. who not only solved my problem but also gave me all my options. I know the choices were not easy but I know my knowledge of medicine really came in handy to help me to decide what I should do. I know I am so thankful that my mom who was a nurse shared with me so much of her knowledge. I know I make the best choices for me because I can read the studies and medical literature and I find this to be very helpful especially related to any issue I have experienced so far.

I know the problem could show up again but at this point I am doubting it will with how fast the change happened. Everything I read said it normally only happens for a small percentage and I feel really lucky because I really was hoping to be one of the few that gets the wanted end results. Even a small change would have made me happy. I know I am hoping for my blood sugars to continue to move back towards what I am used to but I am taking everything one day at a time.

I know I am now seeing my Dexcom staying a flat line across again instead of this up and down I have been seeing for quite a while. I know each day I get back to this I really feel like I am back on track to hopefully keeping myself safer. I know in my mind my last low in December was related to my issue and I know that getting the right Dr. can really be important. My Dr. through the whole process spent time answering my questions and making me feel comfortable.

Spare A Rose Save A Child

Some days I wake up frustrated that I live my life between two lines of sort. I know my Dexcom range is pretty tight high is listed as anything over 150 and low anything under 80. I really do love my Dexcom and what information it does provide me. I know the arrows telling me where my blood sugar is heading is priceless in my opinion.  I do struggle with the fact that I will get over 150 and I will fall below 80. Sadly today I have spent several hours low this morning and all last night. The good things is that at least with my Dexcom on my pump I tend to feel the vibration which does wake me up which is a bonus. Other times I hear my Dexcom when its below 55 and very loud.

I know some times honestly all the information can drive me crazy because I get stuck in the mindset that I am doing damage to my body every time I am above 150 even though my Alc is excellent. I know I can only do so much but with having complications I am always so intense about my blood sugars because I want to keep anymore complications at bay. I work so hard but such constant evaluation of numbers can drive me crazy. I work in accounting so I work with numbers all day and looking at my own can be very stressful because I expect way too much at times. I know my baggage from my complications does play a part in the way I feel today.

I know everyday I am blessed to have all the tools my pump, test strips, Duchess my Diabetic alert dog, Dexcom and dressings for sites. I know when I did not have insurance getting access to the supplies I currently have was difficult. I know with Valentines day coming up please consider donation to spare a rose save a child. I know I am blessed everyday to wake up and not worry about dying because I don't have what I need and I know I appreciate what I do have today even more so. I know even though I feel like I am living my life between two lines on my Dexcom I am beyond blessed to have the opportunity to even use this device. It really puts things in perspective.

Please consider donating

http://www.p4dc.com/spare-a-rose/Give/

Putting Things Into Perspective

Some days I wake up frustrated that I live my life between two lines of sort. I know my Dexcom range is pretty tight high is listed as anything over 150 and low anything under 80. I really do love my Dexcom and what information it does provide me. I know the arrows telling me where my blood sugar is heading is priceless in my opinion.  I do struggle with the fact that I will get over 150 and I will fall below 80. Sadly today I have spent several hours low this morning and all last night. The good things is that at least with my Dexcom on my pump I tend to feel the vibration which does wake me up which is a bonus. Other times I hear my Dexcom when its below 55 and very loud.

I know some times honestly all the information can drive me crazy because I get stuck in the mindset that I am doing damage to my body every time I am above 150 even though my Alc is excellent. I know I can only do so much but with having complications I am always so intense about my blood sugars because I want to keep anymore complications at bay. I work so hard but such constant evaluation of numbers can drive me crazy. I work in accounting so I work with numbers all day and looking at my own can be very stressful because I expect way too much at times. I know my baggage from my complications does play a part in the way I feel today.

I know everyday I am blessed to have all the tools my pump, test strips, Duchess my Diabetic alert dog, Dexcom and dressings for sites. I know when I did not have insurance getting access to the supplies I currently have was difficult. I know with Valentines day coming up please consider donation to spare a rose save a child. I know I am blessed everyday to wake up and not worry about dying because I don't have what I need and I know I appreciate what I do have today even more so. I know even though I feel like I am living my life between two lines on my Dexcom I am beyond blessed to have the opportunity to even use this device. It really puts things in perspective.

Please consider donating

http://www.p4dc.com/spare-a-rose/Give/

Stairs Can be Daunting

Re-posting  an older blog about Rheumatoid Arthritis.

I have been doing better with my Rheumatoid Arthritis flare-up for the most part. There is days that are really daunting verses other days where everything is working like it should be. I know during a flare-up making it up a large amount of stairs becomes incredibly difficult but also exhausting as well. I know when I was 19 during my initial diagnosis there was this long stretch of stairs and I have never been so frustrated with the fact that my body was not cooperating the way I wanted it to. I know recently my mouse at work gives me issues even though it is an ergonomic mouse which is better for my RA. Moving it at times has been so frustrating I have to get up from my desk for a couple minutes then come back and try again at times. Yesterday was a really long day and my joints by the end of the week are always less cooperative.

For me it is very frustrating for me when going up stairs become difficult to maneuver when you are younger and  no matter how hard you try it is not easy. I know I have been moving slower and resting more and seeing results but some days even simple things like opening a bag can be difficult at times. I know I feel like I am about 80 because they could be having similar issues making it up stair, opening packages and overall movement. RA is manageable but I know for many who do not experience it I am sure my writing seems blown out of proportion with how much issues I have doing very simple things. The joints being attached is very hard to explain how much it affects our everyday lives.

I know recently dealing with the frustrations of my body not wanting to cooperate with what I need it to do has been increasingly frustrating. Especially since my work is incredibly frustrating and the medications I am on now causes mood issues which I have been experiencing. So I really have to try and keep things as little stress as possible will help but not always easy. I am feeling like things overall are getting better and will continue to.

Today my Rheumatoid Arthritis has been so much better but now my blood work has been off. I am considering switching medications because my current drug does interfere with some aspects of my life currently. So I am looking at what options I do have. I also know I need to be on something because I want to avoid times like I described above. Thankfully I do have choices in how my Rheumatoid Arthritis is treated.

Animas Vibe I Finally Received It Yesterday

I finally got my Animas Vibe yesterday and I am thrilled to be using my new insulin pump. I do love having one device but I will still be using my existing Dexcom receiver for when I exercise at the gym. I am not going to put my pump up on the treadmill when I am running. I am used to placing my Dexcom on the treadmill and just hitting the button to see where I am at. I do this frequently especially since I use a Gatorade water mix when my blood sugar starts to drop. This has helped me avoid quite a few lows as I am exercising because I can check on my blood sugars. The allows me to use the same sensor for both units so It works out well for me. I know I had not issue so far. I did notice a difference in blood sugars on the two graphs. I know it is a new sensor so I expect some wonky numbers the first couple of days. Hoping the results will be closer then.

Since I have only been using the new pump since last night. I will give my full review of the pump after a week or so in detail. I do like it so far and I love having my Dexcom and pump in one. I do not mind taking my old receiver with me to gym because it makes things easier for me. Thankfully I already had the Dexcom so having both is not an issue at this point. I know everyone seemed to comment about if you suspend they were upset that is stops the Dexcom. I have used Suspend one time in the past 8 years so that won't affect me. I find that it constantly alerting me drive me crazy. I tend to just take the insulin out of my pump and disconnect. This works for me I always remember to reattach as necessary. I think we all have different needs and wants.

Water and Sites

I know recently I have been battling issues with my sites. I am going back to using Hydro cortisone cream several days before I move to a new site and benadryl the day I put new site on. Evey time I shower the Dexcom and the pump sites tend to have issues. I know I have to change my pump sites every time after it gets wet for some reason. I do currently use IV3000 then put the pump site on top of the dressing. So I am not sure why even using dressings I am having issues. I know most of the now I am taking the sensor out after I shower and drying them off and I am getting less questions marks the interesting part is I am still getting ??? marks even with drying the site off and the sensor. So I am back to trying new products or ways to avoid getting either of them wet which could be challenging. 

I know I will be using the cream then benadryl before I use the new sites when necessary. Hoping that I can get my skin issues back under control. I have been able to not use either product for almost a year without issues until now. I guess I was pushing it by hoping that my skin issues were getting better. I know I have learned that skin issues can get slightly better but I should continue to use them because they will show back up again. Honestly it has been nice to not have to do all the extra steps when applying the Dexcom or my pump sites. I am hoping that I can get back to at least two days out of my pump sites again because honestly I am not made of money.

If the using of my old methods of dealing with the skin issued does not work I will have to contact my representative from Dexcom and Animas but I am going to contact my pharmacy that fill my Dexcom sensors they tend to send me samples of products I can use for skin issues. Hoping I find some thing to get rid of the skin issues again.

Crazy Experiences Leaves Me Thankful

I went to my appointment with my Endocrinologist on Friday morning. My A1c was great but there was some unexpected issues. My liver enzymes were off. I currently take Methotrexate for my Rheumatoid Arthritis and I know I am not allowed to drink more than two drinks while on this medication. I had on drink on Christmas day and one New Years Eve. I also had two drinks in January. So I could not figure out why my levels were off. I know the Dr. said if you are using advil that could cause issues with the liver enzymes while on this medication. I did take some Advil after my recent procedures but really small amounts. So now they are monitoring that to see if it goes up. It was only 5 over the normal level which is not much. I am hoping that resolves on its own. If not I will have to see about changing to a different RA medication possibly one that does not impede my ability to drink occassionally.

Then I was speaking with my Dr. about the Animas Vibe order she thought I should have received the pump by now. I was really getting frustrated when I saw a person who ordered after me by a week receive there pump when I ordered before. We both we upgrading using the upgrade for existing customers. I was really not happy at this point. My Dr. gave me the Animas Representative number. I called the representative who said he agreed with my Dr. I should have gotten my pump already. Animas had not even called to take verify my payment method. I was told by the customer service representative we had on the phone they would call me in the next three weeks to ship the pump. The my local rep said we needed to speak to there supervisor. So she said they would call me back. I missed the phone call so I tried calling back but they gave me a fax number which only pissed me off further. I am not sure if it was done on purpose or just an accident.

So I texted my representative back telling that they gave me the wrong number. He assured me he would take care of the issue. Then five minutes later a representative from Animas called me on the phone to verify payment so they could ship my pump. I know my representative had to go up pretty high to get me what I needed but I have to say even with this not so fun experience it is better than what I experienced with Medtronic several years back. So I just happy that if I have a problem the local representative is really my go to person if I do have issues. They also helped with previous skin issues and insulin issues that I experienced. In fact it was the sale representative who worked really hard to get my a solution. I am thankful that I have some one I can go to for these issues. I am happy I get my pump tomorrow. I am also thankful that Animas have exceptional sales reps who will go to bat for the patients.