Blog Entries With Tag: Omnipod

Blog: Anna's Blog

From: FatCatAnna

Blog: Anna's Blog

From: FatCatAnna

I met up the other night with a T1D who has had diabetes as long as I have.  She had contacted me through Tudiabetes (and I found out she follows me in Twitter as well).  She wanted information on insulin pumping (she’s still on the wall about being hooked up to a “machine”) and had come to Tudiabetes to find out more and found me there.  I don’t blame her with feeling this way, about going onto a pump, since I was the same when my friend Harold had kept on egging me into trying out a pump, despite my having good results with MDI (Multiple Dosage Injections).  So, I told her to take the plunge, just for the experimental bit (she's got really good work coverage for the pump - that it makes me envious of her).  We’ll see what happens, as it is difficult to break out of your comfort zone after so many years of being MDI (for myself – it was 41 years of MDI – before going onto the pump.  I had never intended to purchase - I was pretty adamant about not being wired up to a pump (and as I told her - now in Canada we have the Omnipod which is a tubeless pump).

What was so amazing is that I have this feeling that folks that have been on the juice of life (aka insulin) for so long - somehow age gracefully.  She looked like she was in her 30's (she had a laugh at this but I’m not lying!!). One thing she taught me, which was new to me, I didn't realise that gastroparesis was part of the neuropathy problem related to diabetes!  She's on the a “semi-Dr. Bernstein diet” - but due to some of the foods you are supposed to eat with his way of eating - they don't sit well with her gastro - but she does try to eat no more than 100 grams of carbohydrates a day. 

The other great thing she showed me was that she is now using the Freestyle InsuLinx blood meter .... that I'd blogged about last year.  There's a few things about it that she doesn't like - and technical support seems abit iffy (it's still new here in North America and even I had trouble getting my questions answered when I was doing research on it for my blog).  I personally found the screen difficult to read when she was showing it to me - and Joan from Cornwall in my blog I wrote - had said the same thing - so hopefully that will be changed over time (e.g. make the screen similar to my Animas pump screen).  Still, it's a great device to use to keep track of your insulin coverage, blood sugars, similar to what a pump does, without the expense OR tubing.

I can’t wait to meet up with her again since I rarely get to meet up with T1D’s in person – especially here in Montreal (remember – T1D’s are only 10% according to word of mouth – as I can’t seem to find any concise statistics – even at WHO website or  NDIC).  

Oh, and because of the way she looks - I today used Equal in my coffee (yes - the chemical stuff that I have for so many years refused to use).  She was quite surprised that I used sugar in my coffee when I met up because she thought I was a good diabetic.  Good?  Moi.  Never - I live on the edge .... in my mind!

So, I’m on a high today (not in the BG (blood sugar) area – woke up to 4.6 mmol/l – 83 mg/dl) after meeting up with my new friend here in Montreal (hoping I did not scare her off with my overzealous ways)!!!

Blog: Anna's Blog

From: FatCatAnna

Yesterday I had the car (yes – my diesel Smart has new engine and is working 100% - major test run will be done this weekend on trip to Ottawa).  I try to only use the car once a week plus  it’s a break from working at home where I have no human contact, except for my cats Mia (the black Burmese lioness now has a name) and Zorro (who got bashed up this week – I am vowing that he no longer go outside!).

My first stop off was a well deserved hair cut since I’d not had one since November.  I was beginning to look and feel like a cave woman.   When I was paying for it, I chatted with the receptionist who was cooking away with a bag on her head to restore the blonde to her hair.  She was telling me how her hair went prematurely grey at a young age, and how easy it was to be a blonde when you went that way (she had black hair originally).  I was commenting to her how grey only seemed to be coming out on the sides of my hair and that I was looking forward to one day going platinum.  She said “You’re too young to be thinking that way!”  I told her of my upcoming half a century birthday and she was taken aback by that.  She actually thought I was in my 30’s and she made me laugh.  I told her that I was a diabetic for most of those years and that I had a feeling that insulin was perhaps what preserved my youthfulness.  Low and behold, she told me that one of their hairdressers is also a diabetic, and had the “youthfulness” that I did (they all think she looked 12 years old).  Well, they weren’t far off; this cute little petite woman with a pixie cut came out of the back of the salon with such a glow to her.  I’d seen her (Celine) over the past 15 years and never knew she was a diabetic of 40 years!  The conversation went onto insulin being a youth rejuvenator, and then we got talking about my insulin pump (she’d seen one much bigger many years ago and was amazed at the size of my Animas 2020).  I showed her how I was connected to the pump with my infusion set and even better, I’ll be keeping her informed of when the Omnipod finally makes it grand entrance into Canada.  She is more interested in that type of tubeless pump then the one I was wearing.

So, after a brief chat, I walked back to my car to start another journey to my next destination with a smile on my face, thinking life is good (and this is coming from a gal that is fighting depression for the past month – I’m getting better – just taking time to work through life’s little ups/downs).

Blog: Anna's Blog

From: FatCatAnna