After a few days of rest, I feel better, and my brain seems to be functioning. My training is scheduled for this afternoon, and I have been going over the to-do list. I finally weighed myself, and it was as bad as I thought. Good thing only my pancreas needs to know.
I got all my homework done. Now all I have to do is get more nervous than I already am. I may have mentioned before that I hated change. Especially life-as-I-know-it changes, such as going bionic. That is the company’s catchphrase: Go Bionic! Like it’s going to be fun.
It is overwhelmingly not fun. The bionic pancreas (hereafter referred to as the ‘device’) is in its learning mode. For the first 2-3 weeks, it analyzes my daily patterns of carb intake and meal timing. I need to follow rules to help the device learn. If my blood sugar gets too low, I am alerted by the device to treat this condition. Not a biggie – my glucose monitor alarms when I’m going low, so I am used to alarms going off. The difference is that the new device has a bunch of rules about how I am to treat the low, so I don’t over-treat and make the sugars go way high.
I don’t know how this device is going to learn something in 2-3 weeks that I have been trying to learn for years. Sometimes the sugars go WAY UP even when I conservatively treat them by the book. When the sugar is too high, I need insulin. 9 times out of 10, the high would respond, then end up dumping me into another low. Up, Down, Up, Down, repeat. All day and night long. I am exhausted most of the time. And I look it.
In a semi-perfect world, my bionic pancreas will keep my sugars more balanced and longer in the range they are supposed to be in. This will not cure my T1 Diabetes, but it should help a lot.
To be continued…
Tag: wellness
I Feel a New Series Coming On…
Just when my life is getting back to normal, well, normal-er, I am thrown into a new adventure. What helps me deal with changes is to talk (vent?) about them.
You, dear readers, get to come along for the ride. Although this adventure is not traveling to foreign lands, I think you will find it interesting and educational. I know I will.
When Medicare stopped covering my insulin pump, I reverted back to the Stone Age and injected insulin myself. My doctor had to retrain me about the diabetes math (calculations made to determine dosage). My pump did the math for me, among other things.
I did not get a new pump because my former one did everything via Bluetooth, and I did not have to have infusion sets and tubing to bother with. I was spoiled. Fast forward 2 years of unstable blood glucose, and I have chronic kidney disease to show for it. My doctor said I had to go on a pump system again before more complications emerged. I am not happy about this development.
I have enough to do without training to use inconvenient new equipment. [grumble, grouse, and grumble again]
This is the difference between the two technologies:
In my view, Medicare should pay for the simpler solution. That is already working for the patient. However, in the world of medicine, the patient is rarely right, or even considered. But I am veering off topic.
This blog is not to rant to you about Medicare! It is about me sharing my journey with y’all in an effort to get over my depression and look at things from your perspective. What I think is your perspective. I am assuming you are not a Type I diabetic. If you are, you may want to follow along anyway.
This adventure began a couple of weeks ago, when two large boxes arrived on my doorstep. I had to sign for them. They were shipped out by a company called “Reliable”.
The shipping documents showed they were supplies from Beta Bionics. This week, a little black box arrived, only labeled in white letters: ‘iLet Bionic Pancreas.’
It sure did not look impressive. The box was smaller than a bread box.
That’s all I have for now. I have to arrange training on the device and schedule it for November.
TTFN
