Friday, February 6, 2009
Monday, February 2, 2009
Bonehead!
So, I disengaged from the pump to go to the bathroom; made breakfast and bolused; and finished breakfast before realizing that I'd forgotten to hook back up. I hate when I make boneheaded mistakes.
Thursday, January 22, 2009
hey, diabetic blogger readers...
So, changing a pump infusion set last night, I had my first "gusher." Any advice? How to avoid them in the future? What to do about the old site?
...
Post-comment: I want to thank everyone who commented with reassurances and stuff:
...
Post-comment: I want to thank everyone who commented with reassurances and stuff:
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
google doc tip
If you use Google docs to track anything other than standard spreadsheet stuff, you may find that applying field labels interferes with your ability to do math with the data in the spreadsheet cells. For instance, I use a Google spreadsheet to track my daily blood glucose, insulin usage and carb intake. Then, I like to have daily summaries and averages. This is especially important now that I'm using an insulin pump, because you have to load it every 3 days with a vial of insulin, which means you need to be able to predict how much insulin you're going to use in 3 days.
The problem is that, scanning across a row of numbers, it can be easy to confuse data types. Is 78 the amount of carbohydrate I took in at lunch, or my blood glucose before I started eating? So I'd label them - 78g/cho, 99mg/dL (the first being a measure of carb, the second a measure of blood glucose). The problem is, you can't add the numbers in a mixed-data type cell.
So - Google spreadsheets give you the ability to create custom world currencies. So, what I've done is to create new fake currencies - mg/dL, or blood glucose measure, and u/N, or units of Novolog insulin. Now, I can add, average and manipulate the data in these cells.
Diabetes nerd out.
Friday, January 9, 2009
steady cyborg
I re-calibrated the Dexcom yesterday when my BG was presumably a little more stable, and it's been pretty close to the whole blood meter since.
I also need to point out that I called Dexcom tech support yesterday morning and waited 15 minutes to talk to someone, but never got through. I then emailed them about what was happening and asked for support by either email or phone, and, 24 hours later, have not heard back. Which would be fine if I were having a problem with my DVD player, but this is a medical device.
I also need to point out that I called Dexcom tech support yesterday morning and waited 15 minutes to talk to someone, but never got through. I then emailed them about what was happening and asked for support by either email or phone, and, 24 hours later, have not heard back. Which would be fine if I were having a problem with my DVD player, but this is a medical device.
Thursday, January 8, 2009
temperamental cyborg
Hey,
So, I'm sporting a Dexcom 7 continuous glucose monitor now, and I have some questions for you diabetic bloggers out there who use one.
How accurate do you find it to be? So far, I'm real underwhelmed. Last night was a mess. Four times the damn thing woke me up with alarms that I was over 200, but each corresponding fingerstick was between 90 and 115. I finally, at about 4:15 am, just told the receiver that I was disconnecting my sensor so that I could get some damn sleep. I restarted the session this morning, recalibrated and everything, and it was on the money for the most part... until about half an hour ago when it buzzed buzzed me with a low alert (<70), but my whole blood meter says I'm at 100.
What's the company line? Use it for tracking trends, not actual values. Well, sorry, but the trends are clearly frakked if the Dexcom thinks I went from 120 to 68 in the last hour, but my whole blood meter says I only went from 120 to 100. And last night, the Dexcom thought I was swinging from 115 at bedtime to 3oo and then back down to 200, when the whole blood meter says that I was really only moving from about 115 to 95.
So, any suggestions you have would be welcomed (because the pizza bolus worked really, really well, thanks!).
So, I'm sporting a Dexcom 7 continuous glucose monitor now, and I have some questions for you diabetic bloggers out there who use one.
How accurate do you find it to be? So far, I'm real underwhelmed. Last night was a mess. Four times the damn thing woke me up with alarms that I was over 200, but each corresponding fingerstick was between 90 and 115. I finally, at about 4:15 am, just told the receiver that I was disconnecting my sensor so that I could get some damn sleep. I restarted the session this morning, recalibrated and everything, and it was on the money for the most part... until about half an hour ago when it buzzed buzzed me with a low alert (<70), but my whole blood meter says I'm at 100.
What's the company line? Use it for tracking trends, not actual values. Well, sorry, but the trends are clearly frakked if the Dexcom thinks I went from 120 to 68 in the last hour, but my whole blood meter says I only went from 120 to 100. And last night, the Dexcom thought I was swinging from 115 at bedtime to 3oo and then back down to 200, when the whole blood meter says that I was really only moving from about 115 to 95.
So, any suggestions you have would be welcomed (because the pizza bolus worked really, really well, thanks!).
Wednesday, December 31, 2008
I expect some good karma in 2009
The 12-month meme has been floating around, so here's mine. Obviously it's not all bad, but the bad seemed to come down especially hard this year.
January
My father in law spent most of January in the hospital for some GI issues.
February
Workhorse Interactive, LLC incorporated in February. It's been a great year for WHI. Hectic, and a lot of learning, but challenging (mostly the good way) and we made a few more bucks than we thought we would.
March
My cousin Amanda got married in March, and it was great to see all my Buffalo and California family again.
April
We got a really bad flu here in the house in April, and Karen had one of her several outpatient surgeries of the year.
May
It looks like I made a lot of money in May. Cool.
June
Well, in June I was diagnosed with diabetes. If you didn't you can read all about it here: http://motolano.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html. Look, you can try to make it a positive as hard as you want - I've met some great people, my diet and health in general are probably better now than they've ever been in my life, and I have no shortage of stuff to talk to my grandparents about. On the other hand... it's a chronic, incurable disease. My eyesight has never fully recovered - I'm still carrying around some cataract artifacts, and they do affect my night vision. I just weaned myself off 10 (avg) fingerstick blood tests a day - I'm down to about 4, now that I'm wearing a Dexcom continuous glucose monitor, which is a thing that's stuck to my abdomen with a cannula injected under the skin (yeah, like some kind of cyborg parasite) that sends data to a receiver unit that I have to carry around all the time which is bigger than my cell phone or iPod. And, starting next week, I'll add another Borg implant in the form of an insulin pump. Which lessens my requirements for multiple daily injections (yay) but which is another thing that I need to carry around all the time (boo). Wait, this was supposed to be about June.
Also in June (before my diagnosis, natch), Karen's workload became utterly, inhumanely heavy (seriousy, she camped in the office for a week), her superiors announced plans to relocate her job responsibilities to some podunk burg in WI, and she put in notice.
July
Karen stopped working. Which meant that she wasn't working horrible hours, but also means that we've been doing COBRA and living off my somewhat sporadic income. Don't get me wrong, I did well this year, but sometimes you're working on a project that takes 3 months to complete, and it's another 60 days before you get paid for it, which can make budgeting a little challenging. Plus, Fargus torqued a disc in his neck and partially paralyzed his face for a few months. Honestly, between Karen's father's GI issues, Karen's GI and sinus problems and my diabetes crap... at this point, 2008 can pretty much suck it.
August
I started playing and gigging with Slim Rughead and the Texas Hangover, which is a blast.
September
In September, my dad and I put up a new fence in the backyard. It was a good time and a good experience. Thanks, Dad.
October
I started the Abatacept (effects of Abatecept on newly diagnosed people with type 1 diabetes) study. Read my Abatacept related posts like so.
November
We hosted Thanksgiving again, which was a great time. Of course, it happened a couple days late because one of our guests had a dental emergency on Wednesday night, but it was still really nice to get everyone together.
December
Smashing Pumpkins at the Aragon, Cheap Trick at the Vic, Dark Knight and WALL-E on dvd (both of which I missed in theaters because my eyesight/night vision was so affected by the cataracts), and approval for the Dexcom 7 and Animas Ping insulin pump. It's shaking down to have been a fantastically productive and profitable year for Workhorse Interactive.
Resolutions:
I think resolutions are kind of dumb, but here goes. I need to be better about balancing work and life. It's hard now, though, because I'm the only one earning in the household, and the business could (theoretically) just stop rolling in at any time. I need to bring my high-density cholesterol up (that's the good kind), so more exercise and/or red wine. Need to do a real website and some leave-behind materials for Workhorse (kind of a shoemaker's children situation there). I'd like to finish my standup drumset. I have projects on deck for two local animal rescues.
So, speaking of work/life, time for me to get the hell off the computer and go spend some couch time with the wife. Talk to you next year.
// AJO
January
My father in law spent most of January in the hospital for some GI issues.
February
Workhorse Interactive, LLC incorporated in February. It's been a great year for WHI. Hectic, and a lot of learning, but challenging (mostly the good way) and we made a few more bucks than we thought we would.
March
My cousin Amanda got married in March, and it was great to see all my Buffalo and California family again.
April
We got a really bad flu here in the house in April, and Karen had one of her several outpatient surgeries of the year.
May
It looks like I made a lot of money in May. Cool.
June
Well, in June I was diagnosed with diabetes. If you didn't you can read all about it here: http://motolano.blogspot.com/2008_06_01_archive.html. Look, you can try to make it a positive as hard as you want - I've met some great people, my diet and health in general are probably better now than they've ever been in my life, and I have no shortage of stuff to talk to my grandparents about. On the other hand... it's a chronic, incurable disease. My eyesight has never fully recovered - I'm still carrying around some cataract artifacts, and they do affect my night vision. I just weaned myself off 10 (avg) fingerstick blood tests a day - I'm down to about 4, now that I'm wearing a Dexcom continuous glucose monitor, which is a thing that's stuck to my abdomen with a cannula injected under the skin (yeah, like some kind of cyborg parasite) that sends data to a receiver unit that I have to carry around all the time which is bigger than my cell phone or iPod. And, starting next week, I'll add another Borg implant in the form of an insulin pump. Which lessens my requirements for multiple daily injections (yay) but which is another thing that I need to carry around all the time (boo). Wait, this was supposed to be about June.
Also in June (before my diagnosis, natch), Karen's workload became utterly, inhumanely heavy (seriousy, she camped in the office for a week), her superiors announced plans to relocate her job responsibilities to some podunk burg in WI, and she put in notice.
July
Karen stopped working. Which meant that she wasn't working horrible hours, but also means that we've been doing COBRA and living off my somewhat sporadic income. Don't get me wrong, I did well this year, but sometimes you're working on a project that takes 3 months to complete, and it's another 60 days before you get paid for it, which can make budgeting a little challenging. Plus, Fargus torqued a disc in his neck and partially paralyzed his face for a few months. Honestly, between Karen's father's GI issues, Karen's GI and sinus problems and my diabetes crap... at this point, 2008 can pretty much suck it.
August
I started playing and gigging with Slim Rughead and the Texas Hangover, which is a blast.
September
In September, my dad and I put up a new fence in the backyard. It was a good time and a good experience. Thanks, Dad.
October
I started the Abatacept (effects of Abatecept on newly diagnosed people with type 1 diabetes) study. Read my Abatacept related posts like so.
November
We hosted Thanksgiving again, which was a great time. Of course, it happened a couple days late because one of our guests had a dental emergency on Wednesday night, but it was still really nice to get everyone together.
December
Smashing Pumpkins at the Aragon, Cheap Trick at the Vic, Dark Knight and WALL-E on dvd (both of which I missed in theaters because my eyesight/night vision was so affected by the cataracts), and approval for the Dexcom 7 and Animas Ping insulin pump. It's shaking down to have been a fantastically productive and profitable year for Workhorse Interactive.
Resolutions:
I think resolutions are kind of dumb, but here goes. I need to be better about balancing work and life. It's hard now, though, because I'm the only one earning in the household, and the business could (theoretically) just stop rolling in at any time. I need to bring my high-density cholesterol up (that's the good kind), so more exercise and/or red wine. Need to do a real website and some leave-behind materials for Workhorse (kind of a shoemaker's children situation there). I'd like to finish my standup drumset. I have projects on deck for two local animal rescues.
So, speaking of work/life, time for me to get the hell off the computer and go spend some couch time with the wife. Talk to you next year.
// AJO
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