My Diabetes Nurse Educator is the one that led the class. She is fabulous! She is the one that keeps me going, the one that encourages me and the one that sets me straight and kicks my butt when I'm off.
I still remember the first time I met my DNE. I sat in her office (which happens to be this cozy little lunch room with a sky light at my endocrinologist's office - she is a traveling nurse, like a fairy godmother) and she was so sweet to me. I was newly diagnoses (or mis-diagnosed rather, by my fam. doc who thought I have type 2 - AT 20 WITH NOT A POUND OVERWEIGHT... but I regress), scared and unaware of what lie ahead. My DNE asked me questions and checked my feet. She checked to see if there was any damage to the nerves in my toes. (read: damages from Sue-Lynn stepping on my toes). All was well, she said but I was feeling overwhelmed. My fam. doc (may he rest in peace - he was over 75 at that time!) told me I won't be able to eat tomatos anymore, that life will never be the same again... and other doomsday type stuff. I was shellshocked. But my DNE brought me back to normal. She introduced me to Sue-Lynn and spoke kindly of her. Although her and I won't always see eye to eye, we'll get along just fine. She assured me many people have members of Sue-Lynn's family living with them too. No one quite invites them in, they sort of take over... but it doesn't have to be hostile. "Living with diabetes (read: Sue-Lynn) is doable." I didn't not know who she was, but I was so scared of her. She seemed like a bully. I didn't want to get to know her. I wanted to be normal. I wanted to eat tomatos.
Little did I know. Sue-Lynn and I would become the best of frienemies (sometimes friends and sometimes enemies; sometimes at the same time).
Some of the topics covered were Bolus Ratios/Basals/CGM. The following "graph"/maze makes sense, but be sure to test your BG before trying to follow it along... if you are off right now, this will not make sense. Correct/have some juice, wait 1 hr then try following along again. It's a bit confusing. Hehe.
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We also talked a bit about the Canadian Government approving Type 1 diabetics to obtain "The Disability Tax Credit." In a previous post on my previous blog, Life of a Mom with Type 1 Diabetes, I went through and explained in detail how I applied and what forms I needed to use. The Canadian Gov't didn't just approve it for that year and the ones to come, but also retroactively to the year I was diagnosed 2005. I'm not sure how many years back they are able to go. But applying is certainly worth it. Jump through whatever hoops they ask and hopefully with your endo on board, you'll be all set.
The irony of me attending an "Advanced Pumping Class" tonight was that I am not wearing the pump [gasp!] I have taken a pump vacation. The month of February was a trail; a test; a vacation. I found myself not taking Sue-Lynn seriously. Not on purpose. I don't want to ignore her. But I just did. I've often forgotten to take a bolus (for a meal) or taken a second helping, or snacks ("Oh this one doesn't even count... okay just one more... ok last one.") and then finally I test BG and I'm through the roof. Just having that pump in my pocket was too easy. I just didn't take it seriously. I decided that I needed to regress to the pen so that I would physically get up and go retrive my pen to take insulin. And if I decided on more carbs I would have to "re-stab". I was hoping Sue-Lynn and I would see a little more eye to eye. And I think that has happened somewhat.
The room was full of pumps tonight. So you can imagine how many beeps I heard through out the class. I heard the short one - bip; the medium one - beep; and the long one too - beeeeeep. And a part of me missed my own pump, back at home in a drawer. Even though an entire month had passed without hearing that good old familiar beep, every time someone's pump in the room went off I subconsciously perked up a bit and almost reached for my ... um, pump? I shared that with the class and they were all pretty surprised. I explained my reasons for volunteering to go take 50 steps backwards to the pen and I hoped my reasons made sense. Hearing myself say them out loud though made them sound childish and immature. It was primary due to self-disciple? Really? It comes down to that?
What shook me up a bit was the part where we talked about basals (the background insulin that trickles in all day long). We were discussing how to tweak your basals so that it really works well for the different times of day (ie. dawn phenomenon). All I kept thinking was, well I take 14 units of Levemir (long acting insulin) at midnight and then it just does its thing until midnight the next day... but that's not what my body needs. My body needs more in the morning, NONE between 12-4 and a medium amount around supper then low need until the next morning. The Levemir was steady. I don't need steady. Why use this ancient method of handling my diabetes, when something much better is available and not just available but waiting for me in my drawer at home.
So I decided to go back to it. :) I can say with confidence I missed the techy and very *me-tweaked* pump. I smiled in Sue-Lynn's face, and I think she smiled back. I made the right decision. For once, we are both happy.
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