Wednesday, June 26, 2013

Reasons I Love My Healthcare Team.


  1. My OB and my endocrinologist are not only located in the same building, but on the same floor and two doors away from each other, as if they anticipated hugely pregnant T1 ladies such as myself needing to jog between the two
  2. They use careful and thoughtful wording when something isn't up to snuff; careful to not place blame where it isn't due or to make me feel any more badly than I already do when goals aren't quite acheived
  3. My endo's exam rooms each have a "Carb Drawer" full of juice boxes, peanut butter crackers, and glucose tabs for in-office lows, which I had to dig into at my visit yesterday
  4. When my endo's nurse whisks away my Dexcom receiver in order to download my data from it, she circles back within seconds after seeing the current graph: "You know you're low, right? And you're going to eat something?"
  5. Pedicures and pool time are doctor's orders (actual wording from OB: "You're going to be pretty uncomfortable for the next several weeks, so make sure to do things that can distract you and make you feel good: go get pedicures! Go find a pool to lounge in!")
  6. When I describe my unconventional method for dosing as of late (I'm doing injections for the larger amounts instead of bolusing from my pump*, which helps my pump sites last longer - and saves me money by not needing to order pump supplies again so soon - but does eliminate that handy IOB feature on the Ping. It works for me, right now. YDMV.), my endo pauses, then replies "Oh, that totally makes sense! I'm absolutely fine with that. Do you need (Humalog) pens or needles?"
  7. I get to tell her that no, I actually don't right now because my internist gave me a small village of sample pens last week ("I want that baby to be healthy! She needs insulin!"), and I nearly wept with joy
  8. Sidebar: who else but a pregnant diabetic would shed tears of joy over free digestive hormones
  9. My last two A1Cs have been some of the lowest I've had, and while a lot of that is due to what I'm doing when I'm on my own, it doesn't hurt that we've been meeting bi-weekly to adjust all of my rates  (and now, it will be every week)
  10. While visits to an endocrinologist have, in the past, resulted in me being in tears, I feel nothing but uplifted every time I meet with my current doctors, and that is exactly what I need right now

New basal rates = new fasting BG swagger

*Another reason that bolusing doesn't work well right now: the Animas pumps have a bottom threshold I:C ratio of 1:2, so for those of us who need something more aggressive than that, the bolus calculator is useless. I can do the calculations myself and then dial up the proper amount, but I really miss the pump figuring it all out for me.

8 comments:

  1. I love them too. So awesome!!!

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  2. That's awesome Kim! I'm so happy to hear that! - almost there.... :D (or ;o shit) lol

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  3. I did the same thing with the injections for bolusing and I didn't tell any of my doctors because I thought they would frown on it. My A1C of 5.7 at the end of my pregnancy I think spoke for itself. Sometimes I get frustrated when I think I've come up with a good workaround but I don't want to share it with my doctors because they'll frown on it. I just think of all the information that we missed out on from people who had diabetes for years but whose lifetime of experience wasn't valued because there were no studies that corroborate their individual experiences. That's why the DOC is so great!

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  4. You're doing an AWESOME job! That baby girl is soooo lucky to have you as a mom!

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  5. Love, love, love #'s 2 & 3.

    Yay for momma Kim! :-)

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  6. I love hearing positive doctor stories! And don't you wish you had a prescription for pedicures? That's one I wouldn't mind filling (or writing!) :D

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  7. This is such a happy post. Just sitting here grinning!
    Happy for you!

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  8. This made me happy, Kim. I've found caring doctors too and it makes such a huge difference. I'm smiling right now.

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