When I sat down in the exam room with the nurse she started asking me some typical questions but responded in a different way.

“So you are a type 1 right?”

“Yes, since I was 17.”

“And you are on a pump right?”

“Yes for just over 2 years.”

“Which pump?”

“I use a Minimed pump.” I answered although no one has ever asked me that question.

“Which model? The paradigm?” She asked

“Oh yes, the Paradigm 722,” I replied a little confused that she would even know model numbers and stuff.

“Oh that is the newest one. Very cool.” She said and then checked my blood pressure and temperature.

As soon as that was done she stepped out and told me that the doctor would be with me soon. I grabbed a Diabetes Self Management that was in the room and started thumbing through it. I got about half way through flipping pages, which is really only a few minutes, when the door opened up.

“Good morning. I’m Dr. Reece.” His hand stretched out offering a friendly shake. He looked nothing like the Doctor in my head but I already liked his personality. He sat down and dropped all of the forms and lab results from my doctor on the exam table and used it as a desk. He opened up my forms and we went through them. Line by line. I have never EVER had a doctor actually ask me about those medical history forms. They always file them away and get on with things. Dr. R was different.

He asked me which model pump I was using. “The 722.”

“Oh! The Rolls Royce! Do you have the glucose sensors?” He asked to my surprised face since my last endo said that the sensors were not available to the public yet!

“I wish but no.”

“That makes no sense to me. They give you a Rolls Royce but no keys. We may have to look into that.” That made me smile.

He asked about my job, the stress level at home, my children’s temperament, my exercise routine, my good and bad habits, any pain I am feeling, and anything else I wanted to talk about or ask him about. He even talked a good while about Symilin and how it works.

After all of that talking which lasted about an hour he said, “Alright well have a seat so I can examine you.” I was a little shocked but just hopped up on the table. He pretty much gave me a full exam. He checked eyes, ears, lungs, feet, legs, reflexes, and even did the “turn your head and cough” test. I just could not believe how thorough he was.

He ordered up a bunch of lab work and said, “Your insurance is not going to like all these tests but no one else will do it. They can fire me. You need to check this stuff out.” He said half jokingly.

All and all this was the best doctors visit I have ever had. At one point he called the local Minimed rep on his cell phone right in front of me because he thought I should be in contact with them about carb counting classes and such. It was very cool.

Two hours were spent with my new endo and as I left I saw that no one was in the waiting room. He asked his nurse who was up next and she said, “I blocked out the whole morning for Mr. Simmons so you would not be rushed.”

Eureka!