Wednesday, March 17, 2010

My swelling/hurty brain

Last night I wanted to throw my brain under a bus. No kidding, I was peering out the window hoping for the freak chance a bus would drive by. I wasn’t picky on the type of bus…any ol bus would have done…and once I saw it I would have tossed my swelling/hurty brain right out the window under its big fat wheels.

Dramatic much?

Before you go worrying about me, I did recover. Nothing a bit of chocolate and a new episode of Lost couldn’t fix.

But I digress. I suppose I should start from the beginning. The beginning that begins with the CGM trainer coming to our house to train us. (I LOVE how stupid that last sentence was!)

YES!! We have received our very own shiny BE-A-U-TIFUL Continuous Glucose Monitor. Hooray!!

We got it a couple weeks ago, but I didn’t put it on J right away. I wasn’t overly impressed with the trial we had last month. The Continuous Glucose numbers were not even close to his actual Blood Glucose numbers. I was all kinds of hesitant after the trial, but decided that a CGM was better than no CGM. And if nothing else, it could spot the trends of his days.

Well this trainer woman quelled all of my CGM fears. She swooped in yesterday and literally saved the day. She was amazing! She was truthful! She showed me how to work with it correctly…and I am NOT exaggerating when I say his Blood Glucose readings and his Continuous Glucose readings have been literally, like one point off from each other since we were up and running yesterday. For example, this morning it said he was 112. His blood sugar reading was 111.

HOLLA!

I’m trying not to get my hopes up…but whatever…I probably will anyway, because that is how I roll.

You’re probably reading this and wondering…”Meri, why would all of this greatness make you want to throw your brain under a bus???” And I would reply…”Keep reading friend, keep reading.”

So before our trainer left, she mentioned the fact that we can download the boys pump information online, as well as the information received by J’s new CGM. We just needed to buy this expensive receiver called a “CareLink.”

I went to my diabetes closet, because yes, we require a closet for our supplies, and fished out a CareLink receiver that was sent to us free at least a year ago. Our trainer was thrilled! “Set it up, and you will be getting J’s basals into shape in no time!” SO since she was so enthusiastic about it, and since our nurse at the Endo has been begging me to get this set up for a good year now…I decided to bite the bullet and set it up.

(This is the part where my brain swells.)

So right away I had issues getting started. So I called Minimed and after holding for a good 40 minutes I got this INCREDIBLY nice man who was willing to spend hours with me getting this set up. It took awhile, but mission accomplished. All three pumps were set up online and all the information inside them from the last three months was there before me in graph, chart, list and every other informational form you can imagine.

And the charts I saw from the last few weeks were BRAIN BOGGLING! It gave a percentage of all the blood sugars that were in range, and all that were not. And it wasn’t pretty. Page after page of numbers and information!!!

Enough information to put a woman who lives on the edge…over said edge.

Let me tell you, sometimes too much information is a bad thing. A really bad thing.

Some of you reading this may think you really would like to know that information because…

“LALALALALALALALALA” (fingers in my ears I am not listening you!) BECAUSE, trust me…you do not want to know!

I was so horrified, I had all the boys come to me one by one and I upped all of their basal rates for every time of day, except when they were at school. (Which resulted in B and L going low last night, which thankfully Lawton awoke me for.)

So after I changed everyone’s pump settings my husband could see the muscle spasm above my right eye, so he went out to get some chocolate to calm my brain. (He is a good man…but when he was teasing me late into the night I threatened to expose his evil ways on my blog. I told him everyone thinks he’s wonderful…I could change that in an instant! He wasn’t afraid. He knows I adore him. But it was fun threatening him with blogger blackmail anyway.)

By this morning though, I have been able to completly process all the imformation that my brain indulged in last night, and now I am feeling better. Today is a NEW day!! Onward and upward!

So here is, the end of my post. I just read the entire thing back to myself and realize I sound a little mad, like Johnny Depp Mad Hatter Mad…but I’m ok with that…because A) I think when it comes down to it, we’re all a little crazy, and B) Who wouldn’t want to be put in the same column as Johnny Depp?

14 comments:

  1. haha...I started plugging my ears...saying "LALALALALALA"...well make that wanting to cover my eyes when reading the part about you setting up the CareLink thingy. That right there would send me OVER THE mentioned EDGE! You my friend are amazing and good luck with the CGM and all the data. Joe is going to trial Dexcom soon. I am cautiously optimistic. xoxo. Thanks for the beautiful new blog post. Love IT...and tell your husband he remains a stand-up guy in our blogosphere! BTW I am impressed it only took chocolates to decompress...I would have needed wine.

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  2. I hear you, woman!!!!!! I can only handle so much information...sometimes I avoid looking at Addy's info for fear of what you have just described. I can't imagine doing it X3!!!!

    I was completely overwhelmed with Navigator....information overload is one of the reasons I'm still NOT back in the CGM saddle.

    I'm THRILLED to hear the numbers have been SPOT ON for you guys!!!!!
    THRILLED!!!!!

    And, chocolate ROCKS :)

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  3. Reading this post, I felt like I was reading a good book. I thoroughly enjoyed your story. Can't wait to read more and hear how things go with the CGM.

    I hear you on the information overload aspect of it all. I am both eager to get Jack a CGM and also afraid!

    I love that Lawton caught B and L's lows and then woke you up. What a good doggie!

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  4. Meri - You ROCK! =) I dont know how you do it, x 3, but however you do it - you rock! =)
    I have been more and more and more interested in CGM since meeting all you wonderful ladies and hearing you (Tracy!!) rave about them.
    We have a mini med pump on Jacob too, and so the corresponding CGM would probably be our first choice. Please keep us updated on how you are liking it, Meri. Also my husband has been drooling over the CareLink since we got the pump as well, so I think I will link him to your blog so he can read this post. =)
    Love you and your honest humor, Meri!! =)

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  5. Hey Meri,

    Good luck. I couldn't agree more about processing the information. When Caleb started CGM, I referred to his initial graph lines as the "liars" like from a lie detector chart. It's overwhelming, but the information can be so helpful. Caleb's charts are much more honest these days. The thing I find so tricky is that because it is so hard to attain the numbers we all want (that's just a nature of the beast) the charts from CGM do not provide oodles of positive reinforcement. But they do provide oodles of useful information. I have learned so much over the past several months and it's resulted in a cumulative positive effect to his BGs. It's hardly perfect, but I'm happy to have this weapon in our arsenal.
    I hope you have continued success.

    Lo

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  6. Well since no one else said it, I will... I WOULD like to be in anykind of somethin with Johnny Depp :)

    Glad the CGM thing has been a little more positive than the trial. I would LOVE graphs!!!
    I keep looking at these new usb meters. I just don't want to spend the $80.

    Also, glad you never saw the "bus". We need your brain in tact to keep us in order (((HUGS))).

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  7. Oh Meri, as soon as you said 'cable' and 'download information' I wanted to run out in front of a bus. I don't want any more information!!!! I am sure you are drowning in information, some good, some bad, some so-so. I feel like we all are. The thought of connecting and getting more, in graphs and charts, makes me want to run screaming.

    You are such a good mom. Look at what you did with the information. You didn't crawl under a table and disown the kids, you got right to work. You go girl!!!!

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  8. Meri, I think it is safe to assume that we all are filled with awe and admiration for you! I completely understand your feeling of information overload. I felt that way at the Endo the other day just talking about basal rates and correction factors and translating diluted to regular insulin doses for the pump..I wanted to cover my ears too! I am sure you will adjust to the CGM and become a great pro that we all turn to for advice when we go down that path.
    And btw, Lost and some chocolate always helps me out.

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  9. You are SO GOOD to stick it out for hours on the phone to get it all set up on the computer. I tried one night....I gave-up and threw my brain under the bus!! We love the Dexcom though because it helps me see the numbers and trends....hope you fall in love with yours too!:)

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  10. So whats the trick to getting it so accurate? We had pretty good accuracy...sometimes GREAT, but not consistently. TMI, I agree!

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  11. Meri, I love you...you always make me laugh! As I'm reading this, I'm thinking...hmmmm wonder what happened to that CareLink that we have? We were also frustrated when we tried to set it up initially. Time to try it out again.

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  12. Blogger blackmail........

    love that term!

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  13. Meri, I live for CareLink info. lol It's so helpful and I've come to love it even when I hate all the information. Good luck!

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