Appointment Day

I did it. I kept my appointment. I made it on time, even though I went to the wrong clinic at first.  You'd think I have a serious phobia of doctors, it's just that I hate paying the co-pay and would much rather bless my hubby with a new video game, or sunglasses because he just lost his the other day.

Sooooo, I had an appointment this morning with my Endocrinologist (abbreviated 'Endo') . 

In all honesty when I first had to switch to her from my previous doctor a couple years back I was far from pleased.

Then through my pregnancy I started to like her a bit better, get along with her a little better. Of course, until the end when I was crazy hormonal and felt like she was just bashing all my hard work (which I can see now that she wasn't).

Finally getting along with my Endo we were able to talk about a lot of things today. Changing my pump rates up by 20%, to see if that will help with the funky blood sugar swings I've been dealing with these days.

I get to go in for fasting labs (the part where I go to vampires and willingly offer my arm so they can take umpteen vials of blood from me) where I'll also get my testing for Celiac.

When I mentioned what's been going with me on my doctor instantly said "Celiac, we'll schedule a blood test right a way" she also thinks that could be a major factor in my crazy blood sugar swings, if it does indeed come back positive. So, we'll see.

She is also sending out an appeals letter to my insurance company so :::hopefully::: they will cover the Infusion Sets I used to use and that never gave me problems like I've been having.

The bad news, which I guess I expected, is that my A1c is up to 9.1% which means my average blood sugar has been 240mg/dl over the last several months.

Of course that's something we're working towards fixing with the results of the upcoming blood tests. So, hopefully in the next couple days I'll be able to know better where to go from here!

Conundrums

A few months ago Rylee brought home a nasty stomach bug she decided to share with me and caused us both to be laid out flat for a week. She, of course, recovered quicker than I did so it was all I could do to keep her entertained and not be running to the bathroom to puke while Kenny was at work.

When I finally decided food would be awesome  the first thing I did was make myself homemade bread. It was YUMMY.

Then I got sick again. This has got to be the stomach bug from hell! I thought.

About a week later once I was feeling a little better again and I wanted nothing to do with bread a foreboding thought entered my mind: Celiac Disease.

I've known about it for years. When I was first diagnosed with Type 1 8 years ago there were very few websites for diabetics - especially for young diabetics. I spent tons of time on www.childrenwithdiabetes.com and there were a lot of things on that site about Celiac. So I learned just because I can and I love to learn anything medical.

I knew that being Type 1 was a risk factor for Celiac as it is also a Auto-Immune disease. As soon as that thought entered my head I then started thinking about all the other things that have been "going on" with me the past year and it all just fell into place.

As research addicts do, research I did. I found not only would I need a blood test to 'confirm' I would also need a biopsy of my small intestine to really know. ...So I've been putting it off. Still putting it off.

I hate co-pays. I know that the insurance companies deserve them, it's not a huge co-pay for the amount of 'costs' they cover. Yet, I hate them, so I avoid going into the doctor all the time.

So, there has been a tiny battle going on in my brain for the last couple months: Self diagnose and cut out gluten just to see, or bite the bullet and go in to the doctor? You have to have a minimum of 6 weeks of gluten in your system for the tests to reflect accurately. ...Self diagnose and cut out gluten just to see, or bite the bullet and go in to the doctor?

This week I've gone a couple days 'gluten free' and I've definitely noticed the difference.

With the recent event of my car blowing up I'm still not entirely sure what I'm going to do. I'd like to just have the diagnosis - because it's a huge lifestyle change and I'd love to not make it if that's not what the problem is. However that is a lot of money in co-pays that we won't have because of having to buy a new car.

I'm still debating this conundrum in my head even now. Maybe I'll have an answer in a few days! ...or maybe not...

Living to our potential

Wouldn't it figure that just as soon as we're able to start saving money, instead of spending to get ahead, everything would go awry?

I went back to work for the first time in nearly 3 weeks today. 

This payday I made the decision to buy curtains to finish off "the look" of our room (and hide my storage bins) to maintain my sanity. It was going to be the last thing I was going to buy toward that end for quite awhile. I'm sick of spending money on this darn little area. Upon bringing the curtains home it became evident that I bought them 2 feet too short.

I made my trip back to Target this morning to exchange them, in doing so I also found what looked to be the cutest tank top to wear at work because I had planned my wardrobe poorly for the newfound spring weather (AND it was 75% off!). Only to realize it was a jumpsuit tank top, not JUST a tank top! Haha!

My stomach has been having problems lately - serious frustrating problems. I've felt pretty sure for several months now that I have something along the lines of Celiac  Disease and have put off getting actually tested for it because I'm a cheapskate and don't want deal with the numerous co-pays it will take to get all the proper testing done. I have cut gluten out of my diet just to see if there is a difference and there certainly is. I resolved today that I'm going to bite the bullet and actually go to the doctor to have the testing done.

Go figure it would also happen today that my car just dies. Driving home about a mile and a half - two mils from home and it just quit on me. Not a battery thing either. The engine more or less exploded, probably due to a lack of oil because of an oil leak.

Now I'm carless and we're having to shop for a new one.

It's really inconvenient timing (as if a dead car is ever convenient!). With Kenny going back to school, we're trying to save money (especially for a new insulin pump for me with mine out of warranty), I'll be, once again, set back and continuing in my super cheapskate ways and delaying the blood tests a little longer. I'd really just love to get the Dexcom system I've talked about before and that's another huge Durable Medical Equipment co-pay, like my insulin pump.

I think God allows these things in our lives to encourage us to live up to our full potential. Taking life in stride as it comes to us. I try to do my best, and have taken the whole car-exploding-thing quite well this evening. It's "par for the course" and, well, doesn't phase me as much as it should.

Of course when I sit down and think it all out I get a little more depressed about it, knowing how much we'll have to spend to get a "new to me" car. We just paid off our credit card and I'm bummed about having to put money back on it. Tonight I feel like we have taken many steps backward and are gaining no forward motion, like we have planned on.

Again, we are being spurred on to live to our full potential. How will we handle this hurdle? How will we deal with everything that is thrown at us? I don't know! We'll take one day at a time. For now, I'm not sweating the car. It's just a thing. God knew this was going to happen. It will all work out somehow, though I have NO idea how yet!