Julia's blog

I Hate Change

Julia — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 15:16:09 +0000

It's been ages since I posted here. My life has been chaotic and, frankly, I haven't had much to write about anywhere online.

We had to switch endocrinologists recently because our health insurance won't cover Olivia's doctors at Joslin. Olivia and I both hate it but we can't afford to pay out of pocket to see Dr. R so we've switched to UMass.

Our initial appointment was with an awful doctor who left us waiting for three hours in the exam room and offered no apology when he finally came in. He got all snotty with me when I expressed my annoyance. He kept calling me "mom." Dood, unless you came out of my womb, you don't call me mom, capiche?

Can You Spare A Dollar?

Julia — Thu, 28 May 2009 13:54:35 +0000

I don't often think about how much mental energy I put into tamping down the thoughts that run thru my head about Olivia and how her diabetes affects her. I do bury those feelings because it makes me sad and angry and worried and a whole host of other, not-so-pleasant feelings and I just can't walk around all day feeling that way - it's too draining. Instead, I concentrate on working with her, figuring out how to handle the myriad situations that crop up every day without dwelling on the ramifications of the disease too much. I'll let myself touch lightly on it daily, but wearing all those concerns on my sleeve would send me to the nut house. Every so often, though,something will burst that dam and I'll sit down and have a good old cry about it. This morning was one of those days.

Scars

Julia — Fri, 22 May 2009 15:25:23 +0000

I talked to Olivia again about going off the pump and she's adamant about wanting to do it. We were changing her site because, once again, the site she'd had in got infected. She only keeps a site in for 2 days, but they often seem to get red and irritated. We use antiseptic wipes before inserting them - I don't know if she's just sensitive or if we're doing something wrong or what, but she's sick of it. I don't blame her; after looking at her stomach and arms, she's got a lot of ugly, raised white bumps, especially on her belly. We rotate sites all the time and go pretty far out on to her sides, but the scars just don't seem to go away.

I don't know if there's anything that can be used to get rid of the scars or if she's stuck with them forever. I just know they really bother her.

Fried, Frazzled And Frustrated

Julia — Tue, 12 May 2009 14:03:23 +0000

I've been feeling overwhelmed by life lately, not just on the diabetes front, but on all of them. My toddlers are making me nutty, my 20 year old son is making decisions that I think are really unwise and my job bores me to tears most of the time. The only thing not driving me nuts is Olivia. Considering she's a 14 year old girl who's just been dumped by her boyfriend of six months, she's been pleasant to be around most of the time.

Finally

Julia — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 18:33:31 +0000

Finally, finally, finally, we have health insurance again, which means I can get more strips and more insulin and don't have to go begging. I hate asking for stuff - it makes me feel like a leach.

I didn't realize how much it was stressing me out until those little plastic cards showed up in the mail. It was literally a weight off my back. My neck wasn't so tense and my shoulders weren't up around my ears. Such a relief.

Of course, Olivia's endo at Joslin isn't covered on this new insurance and most likely won't be, as their condition for covering out-of-network providers is that there can't be any such providers on their books. Of course there are two endo practices with them. I have a call in to Olivia's pediatrician to see what she thinks about attempting to get Joslin covered but I'm also going to ask for a referral to the endo group at UMass, in Worcester.

Skittles and IEPs

Julia — Tue, 06 Jan 2009 14:45:05 +0000

Oh, hi. It's been a while, hasn't it? Yeah. Slacker central over here. I read and I think about things to write but the motivation just disappeared last month (and the month before that, if I'm being honest). I'm hoping the new year will kick my butt into action a little bit and have me posting here more often.

On to the latest:

Olivia has been going to the nurse too frequently to treat low blood sugars. She usually has stuff in her bag to treat, but the nurse has been insisting that Olivia go down there for every low. In O's IEP it states that she can treat in class and there's a doctor's note in place, so I don't quite get what the deal is with the nurse.

Random Stuff

Julia — Wed, 26 Nov 2008 04:51:23 +0000

First of all, I would like to give a huge thank you to everyone who offered to send test strips and insulin to Olivia. The support that the diabetes community gives is just amazing to me sometimes and I find myself overwhelmed and a bit teary-eyed at all the kindness. Heidi, over at The D-Log Cabin sent us some Novolog and Scott sent a box full of test strips. I also bought the Reli-On meter and strips at Wal-Mart and so far, we've had no issues with them. I think we're going to be OK for now. We get health insurance in another 60 days and I have an application in for MassHealth - if Olivia is approved for that, she'll be able to continue going to Joslin. If she's not approved, well, we'll have to switch endo groups - unless I can convince the insurance comapny to allow her to keep going, something I'm told they never do. But I'll try. I'm a persistent pain in the arse when I need to be.

Insurance-less

Julia — Thu, 20 Nov 2008 16:40:37 +0000

It seems like we're going to be without insurance for a couple of months. The cost of going on now is astronomical but if we wait three months, the company starts to pick up half. I have an application in for MassHealth for Olivia, but it's going to take a few weeks to kick in, provided they approve it. Of course, in that time, we're going to need test strips again. (I have some extra insulin, thanks to Heidi, over at the D-Log Cabin - thank you, Heidi!!)

I've been checking around and it seems that Wal-Mart carries something called Reli-On strips and meters. Do any of you use these? They are far less expensive than the One Touch Olivia currently uses, which will be a big help as far as costs go.

Freakin' Health Insurance

Julia — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 16:42:12 +0000

My husband just switched jobs, which is always a headache when it comes to health insurance. If you are lucky enough to be allowed to start right away, with no waiting period, there's still that period of limbo when the old insurance has been cancelled (and man, they don't waste any time doing that) and when your new insurance is in the system.

Of course, Olivia needed insulin while we were in limbo. I went to CVS to pick it up and it was going to cost $335.99 for three bottles of insulin. Needless to say, we can't afford that.

Fine

Julia — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:17:33 +0000

I took Boo to Boston today, for testing. Everything was fine. Her fasting blood sugar was 71 and her 2 hour post-prandial was 84, so things are looking good right now. Big relief.

They are running antibody tests and a celiac panel, just to be on the safe side. I should have those results in a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I'm supposed to keep an eye on her and get some Diastix. If she starts showing symptoms again, I'll check her urine for glucose.

I'm relieved, of course. I just wish I knew what was making her pee so much and giving her stomach aches all the time. I'm going to follow up with the pediatrician tomorrow, to see if she has any other suggestions on that one. She doens't have a kidney or bladder infection, nor does she have a UTI, so I don't know. We'll see, I guess.