Neither was impressed by the state of my diabetes. At one point they downloaded all the data from my blood glucometer, printed it on chart and then circled all the points they saw as potential issues. I think there were more circled values than uncircled ones. So once again it's time to mess with my insulin dosages. Big fun ahead -- but at least we're lowering the amounts which is a lot safer than upping the dosage.
Ah well. It seems this is par for the course when diabetes and cancer interact.
But boring dosage changes aside, there is one fun aspect to the current state of diabetes care: you get to play cyborg. Apparently, they now make a sensor which doctors can attach to your body for a few days. The sensor measures your blood sugar every five seconds, and then stores the average value every five minutes. Do that for a couple of days while recording what you eat and when and how much you exercise, and the doctors can get a pretty good idea of what your body is doing.
Now if they could just fuse the sensor with some sort of embedded insulin pump and they'd really have something.
Bionic pancreas notwithstanding, inserting the sensor takes another appointment, and then there's an appointment to remove the sensor and download the data, so I haven't been cyborged yet. That'll happen in October.
Oh yeah, I also learned that medical specialization is clearly going strong. Toward the end of my appointment, the doc asked what stage my cancer was in.* When I told her stage four her face sort of fell and she said, "But you look so healthy." Not really the response I'd expect from a doctor, but since she's an endocrinologist rather than an oncologist, it's not that big a deal.
* I'm sure this information was in my medical record, but I think she had a ways to go to master the eMR system.
Resistance is futile.
ReplyDeleteHi John, I think we talked about this before, but Medtronic actually came out with a sensor that coordinates now with their insulin pump. Omnipod, which my son likes because it is wireless and he doesn't like daily injections, doesn't have this ready yet, but it is the works. He's had to do the sensor as well because his H1C is staying too high. Anyway, thought I'd let you know that there is more out there that might help. I hope you don't mind me reading your blog! :) ... Pat Hemmen
ReplyDeleteMy problem is that I don't like having things attached to me. As I kid I wore head gear with my braces every night, and every morning I woke up with it on the floor. The infusion pump I had to wear for chemo is a huge part of why I stopped the aggressive chemo and started taking the pills. But if they could bind the sensor to the pump and then surgically implant it, now that I'd sign up for. (Docs have been trying to get me on an insulin pump for years, and I just refuse.)
DeleteHope the new technology works for your son, though. I can't even imagine what it would be like to go through the day not having to think about the diabetes.