This and That

As John leaves to play Tarzan in the woods for another camping trip, I'm again left behind to sit and whittle hours away thinking and pondering the wonderment's of my life.
So, as I sit here, whittling - if you will, I can't help but think of the "thing" attached to my abdomen.  It's a very impressive little insulin pump.  Meant to give insulin throughout the day and to give the diabetic more freedom to do more without carrying around vials of insulin and syringes (although I haven't done that in some time, I actually switched to pens, but the pump eliminates those as well) and to the freedom of not worrying about your diabetes as much. 
While it's only my first full day on it, I see many reasons why it will indeed give me that aforementioned freedom.  But, I also see a few flaws in it as well. 
Why can't they put a few more thousand dollars into a machine and let it read your blood sugar for you and give you that required insulin?  It makes so much sense to me.  The whole point of the insulin pump is to make a diabetics body more like a non-diabetics body - i.e., it gives you tiny shots of insulin throughout the day.  However, you still have to prick your fingers everyday, several times a day for your pump to know what your blood sugar is.  Now, I'm not a rocket scientist, but, wouldn't it make sense for a machine to take out that extra step? 
Maybe I'm not thinking clearly enough about it.  I know we have to be aware of what our blood sugars are, but, Medtronics charged my insurance company $7000 for this machine.  Now, for $7000, you'd think you'd get a lot more than just a form of insulin delivery. 
Anywho, I slept last night with this thing attached to me.  And I must say, I was really skeptical about it staying put all night long.  But, it did.  It really did.  Didn't budge.  And John even said to me this morning that I was having some f***ed up dreams last night, where I was talking and swearing and hitting and I guess I was a little restless as well.  And yet, the pump and tubing were still intact.  Bravo on that note.
Going to the bathroom was a little iffy.  I find that I have to take the pump off and either clip it to my shirt, or rest it on my leg, as my tubing doesn't seem to be long enough to stay attached to my pants.  That maybe just as simple as switching sites though, or even getting a bit more longer tubing.  I'll have to look into it. 
There's also the whole carb adding thing.  I am still not entirely used to doing that either.  While I'm happy that my machine does the hardcore calculations for me based on my particular needs, I still have to enter in the carbs that I'm about to ingest.  I'm not used to doing that.  But, with time, I'm sure that will become second nature to me as well.
I know it's way too early to give an accurate description of the Medtronics insulin pump.  I've only had it for a day.  And while I plan on using it from here on out, the more I use it, the more I'll get to know it, the more I'll blog about it. 
So, what else... what else...
I started aqua therapy.  Very fine therapy for someone in my physical condition.  Unable to walk any length and unable to stand for any length.  The water is a great way to burn some calories and strengthen some of my core.  Use some of those muscles I haven't used in two years now.  That will definitely add to my quality of life. 
Next Tuesday, we head to Philadelphia for a new test my neurologist wants me to have.  It's not an EMG/nerve conduction study either.  I have already had that.  Which of course showed neuropathy in both my feet.  But, something else to test for myopathy - or a muscle disease.  Don't know if I have anything like that, but again, we shall see. 
Oh, and we finally got Olivia into see her pediatric endocrinologist.  With all of Olivia's labs in her hands, including those from last year (the ones from last year, nobody ever told us about)... it turns out Olivia's GAD antibody test came back pretty over the top positive and that the testing her pediatrician just did showed signs that she is in fact a diabetic.  What type, we still don't know.  But, she still requires testing.  We're currently checking her blood sugars daily and I have to tell ya, she's getting some funky readings.  Her pediatric endocrinologist thinks Olivia may be one of those rare people with type 1.5 diabetes.  Ugh... just google it...

Anyway, that's it for now... 
Till next time, my few readers