codyg1985’s Think Tank

I have lived with diabetes for almost 20 years now. Ever since I was diagnosed with this disease when I was four years old, I have had to deal with painful injections of insulin at least twice per day. Now that number has shot up to at least four times per day, and when my blood sugar is out of hand, it requires even more injections of insulin.

Up until this time last year, I have had a relatively complication-free life with diabetes. However, my A1c score had been running up in the 8% to 10% range for the previous few years. Anyone familiar enough with this disease will tell you that with A1c levels like that, trouble is bound to come soon. Surely enough, last year I found out that the beginning stages of diabetic retinopathy had began in my eyes.  I could see just fine at the time, but a closer look into my retina revealed numerous blood vessels that had grown as a result of higher blood sugars. These blood vessels are more fragile than the normal ones, so they are more prone to leaking blood. If my high A1c levels persisted, it would only be a matter of time before these blood vessels would leak, which would impair my vision.

I had to begin to try and take better control of this disease. I became a pro at carb-counting. I watched what I ate, and if I ate something, I took some insulin to cover the carbohydrates in it. Unfortunately for me, this did not prevent a blood vessel from leaking in my left eye last June.  I had to have laser photocoagulation performed on that eye.  What that means is that the optometrist would use a green laser to seal off those bad blood vessels inside the retina so that they would not leak again.

After the procedure, I was thinking about my insurance and how much they would pay for an insulin pump. For that matter, I was also wondering about how much they would pay for test strips. One of my problems with this disease had been that my previous insurance would pay nothing for test strips. That meant that I had to pay $1 per strip. That may not sound like much, but if you have to check your blood sugar at least four times per day, that adds up to about $124 per month. Often you end up checking your blood sugar more than four times per day if it is higher or lower than usual or if you have an illness or infection. I got some answers about how much my insurance I have now would cover the insulin pump, the supplies, and the test strips. I have decided to get the insulin pump and the meter that comes with that. It wirelessly sends the blood sugar results directly to the insulin pump. This particular insulin pump also comes with an optional sensor that continuously monitors your blood sugar. It doesn’t allow the pump to automatically adjust insulin dosages, but it does allow for a complete picture of how your blood sugar fluctuates through the day and night. I will probably get this later.

My left eye is doing better. It still has some blood left in it from June, but my optometrist said it would heal on its own. My right eye, on the other hand, will now need laser treatment just like my left one. I can see fine out of it now, but it could have blood in it at any moment between now and November 5th when I get treatment done on it.