Additional considerations. Lately, they're making me crazy. Diabetes serves up a plate load of them. Every. Day.

The insulin pump at my hip - and how to keep it dry. The insulin that goes in the pump - and how to keep it cold. My hip-hopping bloodsugar - and how to make it sit somewhat still. The food I eat - and how to keep it from sending my bloodsugar levels soaring. And all the medicine and supplies - and how to pay for them all.

That last is a big deal. A really big deal. (READ MORE)

So I try to be a good person with diabetes who sees his doctor when he is supposed to. Who gets his lab work done every three months. One who checks his blood glucose level six to eight times a day. All that good stuff.

So as a pump user, I am told to order my supplies when I open my last box. That was almost a month ago and guess what I did when I opened my last box?

Yup. I went online and ordered my three month supply of infusion sets and reservoirs. I should be good to go. I pat myself on the back and wait for a conformation email to arrive.

Like a prom night flashback, I wait and wait to hear from someone while my heart sinks deeper into the "why me" realm as time ticks by. (READ MORE)

ldleeuw

When I was little, I imagined a perfect life. I picked careers, pretended to make life-changing decisions and pictured my future. Nothing was affected by realistic needs and the facts of my life. I could be anything and never worry about discrimination in the workplace. I could live anywhere and not stress over medical access or insurance. My mind was limitless.

Now I make these life-changing decisions for real: I pick future careers, places to live and potential spouses. Now I have limits. My decisions factor in my diabetes and my future with diabetes. I look at things like job requirements, insurance benefits and personal reactions to my diabetes. Everything is affected by it. (READ MORE)

healthwarehouse

Since I order new prescriptions usually once a month, I use an online mail order service. It makes it really easy to just type in some numbers and hit enter a few times to have my prescriptions mailed wherever I am at the time. This morning I went to refill my strips prescription (I'm on my last box so I'm a little behind). I know I've tested a lot more than normal lately and my prescription is on the low side (my fault for not updating it), but when I went to refill I double checked the dates to make sure I wasn't going to need to fax in a new prescription. I was fine, I could have ordered them two days ago if I wanted to. (READ MORE)

It's finally here: Jan. 1, 2008. There's really nothing all that significant about this day. I mean, it's the start of a new year and everything, but other than a day off from work there's nothing that special about today.

Except that today marks the first day of my new insurance coverage. Which means that as soon as I receive my new insurance card, I'll be calling insulin pump companies and fielding sales calls. (READ MORE)

Last week when I emailed my human resources rep about how to interpret the information I got from customer service about what is covered in regard to an insulin pump, the last thing I expected to hear was that as of Jan. 1 we'd have a new insurance company.

I really didn't think much of the insurance switch at the time. In fact, I never really have had such a vested interest in my insurance company until now. The biggest obstacle I saw when S. told me of the switch was that I might not get the same deal on an insulin pump as the customer service guy told me I could get. (READ MORE)