My new Cozmo Insulin Pump is here!

MediCare/MediCal finally realized that I was not going to shut up (they were right, I’d have appealed a negative decision on this up through the hearing and court levels) until they approved it and so a large cardboard box arrived via the brown truck today. I knew it was arriving, but I was afraid to mention it until I actually had it in my possession. I did not want to ‘jinx’ it!

I unpacked it, boy what a lot of strange looking stuff! (And I am very experienced with insulin and glucose meters!). As I was opening different boxes of equipment, just to look, I had to wonder if I would ever master it. Looks like it is going to take a lot of learning! But, of course, I will!

In fact, I am excited! Perhaps I will, at last, get my blood glucose under control. It has been a struggle for long years to get to here, losing almost 60 pounds (I was told my diabetes would either go away or get better with even a small weight loss. Hah!), trying different oral medications with the insulin I was taking, and lastly, Byetta. (For which I am still taking medications for Urticaria!)

Still, I think the Cozmo Insulin pump and equipment came with more ‘paper’ and manuals then you used to get with a new computer, and including two CD ROMs. I briefly read the ‘quick start, stuff, but I haven’t installed the software nor watched the tutorial yet, let alone read any of the manuals in depth.

Of course, it came with a ‘discreet’ ‘catalog’ list of accessories I could buy, if I had the bucks. I actually do not think an upload cable ($59), nor a case ($18), are accessories. I think they may be necessities. (As are a couple of paperbacks I will need to buy.) Looks like I’m going to be ‘pump poor’ for a few months.

But I don’t care. I am so excited! I am finally looking at a real improvement in my quality of life as far as Diabetes is concerned. There is even evidence now that some of the problems of Diabetes that I have developed, (Gastroparesis, neuropathy, frequent infections) can improve with good blood sugar control.

There have been so many, many fights with doctors, insurance, etc. this past 10 years. And with all the rare (and life threatening) difficult health issues I have had, Diabetes has often had to take a back seat. This was not because it medically should have, but because I am not a ‘monied’ person, and can only fight one fight at a time. (Had I had my ‘druthers’, I would have purchased a pump 10 years ago!)

I have my first appointment with the Cozmo Diabetes Educator tomorrow afternoon! Yes!

D O W DOW

D – O – W DOW!

If you are old enough to remember the stereo wars, raise your hand!

That media campaign, the fight for business by various stereo retailers drove me nuts! You could not pick up a newspaper or magazine without every other page being a full-page ad. And television and radio were almost impossible, commercial after commercial after loud, stupid commercial (this was BEFORE those terrific remote ‘mute’ buttons).

There was even a time when I wondered if anything else was being sold in America! The stereo ‘wars’ seemed to last forever, in fact I think it was at least a couple of years. By then you would have thought that everyone in the country would have had purchased several of them, one for each room. I thought it would never end.

I actually thought I’d never be as irritated or aggravated by ANY ad campaign again. Not so!

The ED, Erectile Dysfunction ads have filled that void. They are everywhere, all the time. There is no escape from seeing heterosexual middle-aged couples of all races, but only of upper classes, be touchy-feely for 60 seconds. Gag! (No pun intended!)

Not to mention that this class of drugs, by their very nature, discriminate against women. Do not women get diabetes or high blood pressure, or high cholesterol and experience a diminished sex drive and response? Of course they do. But no one cares about the female aspect of aging and sexuality, except women, and they do not have nearly the $$$ to spend on pharmaceuticals as do men!

It also irks me that the focus of these ads (indeed, of our society in general now) are on ‘having sex’. Whatever happened to making love? Surely, the romantic middle-aged couples featured in these ads make love, they’d probably never conceive (pun intended!) of such a relationship bonding act as simple sex...

The clincher, for me, of this massive media campaign is the listing of the many side effects of these drugs. They include but are not limited to: blushing (these ads make me blush!), feeling feint when going from a sitting to standing position, (hell, every time I stand, I feel feint, and it’s been that way for years now!), and lastly, if you experience an erection lasting more than four hours, seek immediate medical help (actually, if you experience an erection lasting longer than hour, give ME a call!).

Bladder Biopsy Results

I have been remiss on filling everyone in; I have been too busy basking in ‘relief’.

For the first time in the last five years, my bladder biopsies came back negative! All four previous procedures came back: Transitional Cell Carcinoma T1G3 – one ‘stage’ short of total removal of my bladder.

I was absolutely blown away. (Even my doc was surprised!) I had been dreading further treatment, been making plans for such though. Suddenly, all the worry and planning was moot!

Now, I have the next 6 months of summer to actually enjoy in ‘freedom’ before I have to go in for another office ‘poke & peek’ (cystoscopy), and whatever may then follow. I intend to take advantage of it. I have to admit that for me, the unusual feelings of calm and ‘normalcy’ is more than rare.

This does not mean that I will slack up on my health issues. NO! In fact, this ‘breather’ from cancer will provide the chance I need to better tend to health issues like diabetes, weight loss, keeping that Hemoglobin down to make sure my liver isn’t further damaged by Hereditary Hemochromatosis. And I will continue the ‘program’ I’ve developed for myself (and with my docs approval) to deal with the bladder cancer.

Basking is great! Basking is good! And I’m gonna do just that, including swimming, reading some good books (mysteries, poetry, memoirs), listening to some of my favorite music (modern classical & classic rock), and going to the pier! Just as soon as I pick the next project to work on (the mystery I think) and set a date to start writing again...

Same Day Surgery Perks?

Speaking of same day surgery, wouldn't you think in this day & age, when you are discharged from a Same Day Surgery Unit, you would be given a video of your procedure as a 'keepsake'? (I did get to watch some of it on the monitor as it was happening-but was a little drugged at the time.)

Post TURB #5

Today I finally found the strength to shower, order some groceries for delivery tomorrow, and get on the computer to bitch and moan to cyberpals a bit. This was all done between a lot of sitting and napping.

Though in reality, I am at that 'weepy' stage of stress recovery and am just feeling that I would like to get off this merry-go-round.

All this stuff is so hard to do when you live alone, when you do not even have anyone close by (or far away for that matter) that gives a damn. The only person who will make you a cuppa or hand you a Tylenol, or feed the cats, is you...

Makes that cup of coffee you managed to make, and sitting in your chair, in your own living room in front of the TV you managed to turn on, and trying to keep the cats off your sore belly, and letting that x-tra strength Tylenol and Xanax have time to work, seem like real miracles.

And bless the neighbor, Mary, who picked me up in her wheelchair van to bring me home last night, then bought me over some dinner.