Upcoming Spinal Surgery

For some years now I've had spinal stenosis and two herniated cervical disks. Back in the late 90's, the pain with these conditions was horrendous. I suffered with severe headaches and neck pain. Then in 2002, the pain improved to the point where I no longer needed to take pain medicine and when I would have the occasional flare-up, Tylenol or aspirin did the trick. Fast forward to September of 2008 because this was when out of nowhere I started a pain flare-up that lasted more than 2 or 3 days and did not stop. I was pushed to seek out a doctor to help me. Doctor ordered a new M.R.I and told me the bad news which I had suspected before I went to the first visit with him. Ruptured C-4 and C-5 and 6 cervical disks as well as Degenerative Disk disease and stenosis in a few places along my spine. This general practitioner sent me on to an Orthopaedic Surgeon who told me that surgery was an absolute last resort and that Physical Therapy and medication was the ticket for now. I had hoped that the pain would get better as it had before back in the 90's but it wasn't to be. The pain kept getting worse and I finally was referred last year to a Neurosurgeon who promptly ordered a new M.R.I as well as a cervical discogram. The M.R.I showed and discogram confirmed that I would need a fusion surgery on my C 4/5 and 5/6 disks. At least I now knew what all this horrid pain was about. I am very please with my neurosurgeon. He seems very knowledgeable and yes I did check into his background before agreeing for him to do the surgery. Am I scared? I was but when you are in pain every day and having to down pain pills throughout the day and even with that the pain is not totally gone, it seems like a lot of the fear is taken out of the equation. At least that's the way it is for me. I was told if I did not have this surgery that any accident, even a small one, could paralyze me so it's pretty much a done deal. Add that fear along with being so weary and worn down from the pain and honestly friends, I say bring it on! I had my meeting with the surgeon around a week ago and he went over what he is going to do. I only have to spend one night at the hospital so that's a plus. I don't like the fact that I won't be able to drive for some time but I have recently been buying up plenty of D.V.D's and books. I hear walking is great for recovery so I'll be doing plenty of that as well. My pre-op at the hospital is in a few days so I might post again after that. Everyone is informed about my diabetes and at the pre-op we will be discussing that in depth. More later

Off the Insulin Pump and back on M.D.I

It all started around 4 weeks ago. I had been noticing that my numbers were totally out of control. Sky high glucose readings and no apparent reason for it. There had been 2 or 3 times in the past couple weeks previous in which I went to change my infusion set out and noticed that I had a bent cannula. This would explain my high numbers. I put in another set. But 2 weeks ago one day it happened to me again and I finally decided after giving myself plenty of correction boluses that it must be another bent cannula and sure enough it was. Well I put in another set and called my endo. I let him know that I was not going to be using my pump until I get in touch with Animas and let them know that I may have been sent a bad batch of sets. So the endo prescribed Lantus for my basal insulin and I would go ahead and use my Apidra insulin for my boluses and corrections. I was totally amazed at how well I did on the Lantus from the first day! I started out on 12 units even though my Endo suggested 15 units per day. I was NOT wanting to go through nightime lows so I started at 12 and adjust upward if needed. Twelve units was just right and seems to keep my numbers around 110- 114  on a regular basis. I tried to get in touch with Animas's support line to have them send me some more infusion sets but after an entire day of being on hold for well over 15 minutes each and every time I called them I finally gave up and decided to try them at another time. Injections don't bother me much, especially since I've been on the pump for so long. It's a strange feeling not being hooked up to something all day long. When I change clothes I am still thinking I have to avoid the site so I don't pull it out. Yesterday I went shopping and forgot to take any insulin with me so I had to come home earlier than I had wanted to. With my pump I don't have that problem :)

Review of Wavesense Presto Meter

In previous posts I've complained about the fact that I check my blood sugar often and because of this I always seem to run out of test strips before my insurance will allow a refill. Recently I decided I would have to choose a back up meter that used very inexpensive test strips. I checked out the reviews of the latest Wavesense glucose meters and decided on the Presto. Cost of the meter was $25.97 and that came with 10 test strips. I found that the Presto is very close in accuracy to my One Touch Ultra meter. The lowest strips I found online? 100 @ $39.99 from Drugstore.com. I've heard very good things about the Jazz and Keynote meters which are also offered by AgaMatrix. The cost of Jazz test strips are higher than the Keynote and Presto strips and this is why I decided not to bother with the Jazz.

What I love about this meter besides accuracy:

• For me, a backlight is a must and this one does not disappoint. I love the dark blue backlight!
  
• Averages the past 14, 30, and 90 day glucose levels.
  
• The way it feels in my hand, it is very small. I don't care for the larger, bulky meters and this one is a pleasure to tote around because of its size. I also love the rubber grip strips on each side of the meter.
• No coding- LOVE IT!
• Small blood sample (0.5 ul)
• Alternate site testing capability
  

Any cons?

• It took me a while to understand how to get the backlight to work. I finally discovered that I had not yet enabled the backlight in settings. Wasn't a hassle, just took me around 15 minutes.
• Battery type. I am partial to my One Touch Ultra because it uses 2 AAA batteries. The presto uses 2- 3 volt CR-2032 lithium coin batteries which were included. This is just a preference thing with me.
  
• Lancing device seems cheap but don't most of them these days?

All in all I love this meter! The savings was the main factor in the beginning but if a meter is not accurate, saving money doesn't mean much. With the presto I have found both.