Ok I know you are sitting there reading todays title going huh? Truth be told this is more of my tongue in cheek humor that goes seriously wrong. A couple of weeks ago I introduced you all to what would be my new insulin management system the One Touch Ping ( http://www.animas.com/). This is both a glucose meter along with an insulin pump, the two work hand in hand to help me manage my diabetes. The day before that original post I had just purchased an old Xbox 360 game, but new to me, Assassins Creed. AC is of course about living the life of an Assassin; well this is where todays tongue in cheek joke comes into play. The name of the machine that plays a key role to the game is the Animus. Well that Friday I met the first member of my Animas team Addie, she came by to let me know the Doctor was placing me on the insulin pump provided by her company. Later that day I realized the closeness of the names when I was making my first kill in the game for the day.
All joking aside Animas has been a dream team of people to work with in the management of my Diabetes. The ladies I have met and their natural caring ability about their patients I have found invaluable in the last three weeks. Addie has been a phone call away if I had a question that she was able to answer and when it came time for me to have more information that falls out of her range of expertise she informed me I would hear from another lady named Pam. Pam is a complete God send, I am sure through the many frantic calls the last week I have stressed her out completely but she has always dealt with me like some angelic being that has more patience than even Job conveyed.
Meredith was laughing so hard at me last Wednesday (Sept. 22, 2010) as I was calling Pam to ask if I had permission to have lunch prior to my pump training because breakfast was at 6 am and this was now noon. There were so many things that had to be done prior to the actual training that I had not stopped to eat and I was not sure if I was supposed to. We had even stopped and purchased Subway already when I thought about this subject and had to call her. I believe Pam even had to laugh at this but I was nervous. I had been looking towards this day for 2 weeks with hopes that this was the first step to having my blood sugars under control; not being able to go through the first insertion of the pump system because I ate lunch would have killed me. Poor Pam yesterday had to get another frantic call from me once I found out there were problems with insurance and my ability to get enough of the insets that I need for my daily changes. My insurance covers only 15 changes per month or once every other day and due to my level of insulin resistance I am changing them on a daily basis. Pam calmed my nerves and let me know that she was having Addie drop off enough supplies to my Doctors office today so that I would make it through the month. We would figure out what needs to be done and evaluate my settings.
Cathy is the newest member to my Animas team with being my actual managing nurse. She contacts me daily and evaluates my current pump data along with advising of any setting changes we need to do based on my blood sugars. We have already made the first adjustment lowering my basal rate over night.
So you ask what I learned from diabetes and Xbox outside of similar names. I learned that while I am an Assassin on the Xbox working inside the Animus killing individuals in a silent solo stealth, here in the real world I am not on my own. My Animas team is here and their goal is to save my life through healthier living and better control over my diabetes through the use of their pump system.
I am going to end here for tonight but this is really a two part post as tomorrow I will provide more information on the pump system itself and how it has taken the pieces of my life and started placing them back together. Remember please follow my blog and if you have any questions or comments please leave them. I would be more than happy to try and answer any question and I am always interested in your comments.
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