This is My Meter - T1D Creed!

This is My Meter

Hooooo Raaah!, Semper Fi.

This is my meter. There are many like it, but this one is mine.

My meter is my best friend. 

It is my life. 

I must master it as I must master my life.

My meter, without me, is useless. 

Without my meter, I am useless. 

I must use my meter true. 

I must test to stop my enemy, diabetes, who is trying to kill me. 

My meter and myself know that what counts in this war is not the tests we do, the results, or the insulin we take. We know that it is the attitude that counts. 

My meter is human, even as I, because it is my life. Thus, I will learn it as a brother. I will learn its weaknesses, its strength, its parts, its accessories, its strips and its lancet. I will keep my meter clean and ready, even as I am clean and ready. We will become part of each other. 

Before my DSN, I swear this creed. 

My meter and myself are the defenders of my body. We are the masters of our enemy. We are the saviors of my life.

So be it, until victory is ours and there is no diabetes, but a fully working pancreas for all!

Hooooo Raaah!

NHS Direct - bless !!

NHS Direct - bless!

Right then, cut our sugar eh?  

Easy peasy.  Delicious supper of vegetable chillie and rice. Loads of lentils, five different kinds of beans, basmati rice - delicious!!

I love to cook, and as we grow most of our own veg we tend to eat relatively healthily (hides the crisps & chocolate behind the fresh fruit!).

It must be noted at this point that at no time did the GP show any interest in my description of the "loose stools" that I had been suffering from for the last four weeks.  No questioning about the debilitating and constant headache, no perked interest in my description of blurry vision coming on over the last six weeks or so, and no surprise at the sudden loss of weight. They must be all meaningless then, eh?

Dinner was delicious.  I forgot to test before dinner, but did take a metformin tablet as the GP had told me I would need to take them twice a day for the rest of my life.  Settled back on the sofa, watching telly, feeling really crap.  Mrs B says, why don't you do one of those tests?  Great - why didn't I think of that?

Test kit out, check strips, stab self with lancet (ouch!), too bloody right I don't want to do that often, it hurts! Drop of blood on strip, *BEEP* - "HI".

Wow, thats nice, it's saying Hi....very cool and a good sense of humour these meter companies.

Wait, wait, wait....hang on....must have done something wrong.  New strip, another stab (dammit!), another drop of blood and.....

"HI"

???

Where's the sodding manual, did I chuck it with the box?

Ooops, manual says that HI means over 33.3 mmol/l - crap!!

What to do - is it serious?  What does Professor Google say?  Holy Candy Floss Batman, this isn't looking good!  Now the GP had said to call them if it went above 20, its 10:30 at night, should I call?  Yes!

Ring, ring, - out of office hours message tells me to ring NHS Direct, so I guess I'll do that then.

Ring, ring, NHS Direct, how can I help you?

Utterly charming, very calming.  No explanation of what a BG of over 33.3 was, no advice on what to do, no idea other than "speak to you GP in the morning"

Back to trusty old #doc & Professor Google

Some of the best advice and most reassuring help I have ever had.  The #doc helped a very scared, worried and frightened person cope with a 10 hour wait for the GPs office to open.

Before bed test was still HI.

Next morning it was 19.6

Ring, ring...ring, ring,  "Hello, can I speak to the doctor please"

I described the test results, said I was very worried, was told that they now thought they could get me an appointment with a specialist within a week!  Why I asked, what's changed?  Why the sudden rush?  No real answer to that other than that it was me, the patient, who wanted to see a specialist and they were only trying to facilitate that.

What about the bg test results?  "Well they are coming down, so just keep an eye on them."

That afternoon I had my second call from the GP.  They had managed to get me an cancellation appointment with a specialist for the following day. Could I come into the surgery and pick up the referral letter to take with me to the specialist?

Have I mentioned the darkness of my mood and my mega sense of humour failure?  Imagine a very grouchy, very tetchy, very moody, irascible and above all tired, physically and mentally knackered, man.  Got it?  

Well that doesn't even begin to describe how bad I felt.

Tomorrow's appointment with the specialist couldn't come quickly enough.

Next instalment: Someone cares!

One Week In.....

I week in....

"But Paul" I hear you ask, "What happened in the 10 days between the General Practitioner (GP) telling you your fasting blood glucose (BG) was 17.6mmol/l and you being put on insulin?"

A very good question, and here's the tale:

I generally liked to think of myself as pretty fit.  Lots of walking with three dogs twice a day, running, cycling and the ever needy garden to tend to.

Sure I love my food and was perhaps a bit overweight, perhaps I drank a bit too much now and then, but I could also run an 8:30 mile, do hiking all day and cycle for hours without being knackered at the end of it.

In the twelve years or so that we have lived here I think I have been to the GP's maybe three or four times, usual stuff, man-flu (!), stomach bug, you know the sort of thing.  On each visit I have met a different GP, some I think were full-timers, others just passing through, suffice to say I had never met the same person twice.

So on Monday the 16th January when  I went into the surgery it was no surprise to me that I was seen by a temp GP.  She was lovely. I was asked for a urine sample and as soon as it showed positive for glucose I was asked to book in for a fasting blood test.  Fasting?  What's that I asked, and so the use of the word "diabetes" was introduced to my lexicon for the first time.

Having made a booking for the first slot available that Friday I was sent on my way.

Friday the 20th 09:30.  Fasting Blood Test, and cholesterol, liver function, kidney function oooh intriguing!

A Pint of Blood! That's nearly an armful!

Friday the 20th 16:30 - call at home from the GP's!  Some doctor I've never heard of, who apparently is the head of the practise. "Hello" he says, "it's the doctor here".

Now I've never been called by a doctor in my life, never mind at home and I don't know about you, but having his first word be "Don't worry" immediately scared the living hell out of me!

"Hello" says I, "What can I do for you?"

"Now I don't want you to worry, its nothing to worry about.  We have your BG results and they are a bit high so I thought I should call and tell you."

"Oh, how high?"

"Well, a bit higher than we would like really," pause, "so is your cholesterol and liver function and we'd like to check you kidneys"

SHIT!

"OooooKaaay - so exactly what are the results?"

"Well, your fasting BG is 17.6...."

I kind of stopped listening at that point, having been on Google for the last few days looking into what might be causing my symptoms and having a check list of a few really nasty options, a really high BG was not what I wanted to hear!

I was then asked to make an appointment for the next Monday to see someone at the surgery to go through the results, told to "stop eating anything with sugar in it" and "not to worry".

Monday 23rd January.  Another trip to the GP.  Another new face, and before I had even sat down, before even we had made eye contact, I was told I was overweight and needed to exercise, that I was a type 2 diabetic and needed metformin! Now, agreed, I could do with losing a few pounds, but overweight enough to become a T2?  My Body Mass Index was 26, I was 83.5kg, stocky sure, but WHAT!  I needed to "lose weight & exercise"!!

I was incredulous.  Here was someone who wouldn't be able to run down-hill for a bus telling me to lose weight.  Me!  Up until the last few months I had been training for a half marathon, running an 8 minute 30 second mile over 6 miles - bloody cheek!

Suffice to say I had a few questions, having spent the entire weekend researching diabetes - thank you the Diabetic Online Community (#doc)!

I asked for the basis of the diagnosis and the evidence to support it.  I asked for the tests and the data that discounted any other possibilities.  I asked for a copy of all the tests done to date and a full explanation of all of the results.  I wrote everything down in a notepad I had taken with me.  I asked for another opinion as I fundamentally disagreed with the diagnosis and treatment being offered me.  

I asked to see a specialist.

I was told that I could see a specialist in "a few weeks time" as the earliest slot on the system was well into March.  So I asked "does this practise have sufficient insurance to cover the unlikely event of me waking up in ER having been rushed in with Diabetic Ketoacidosis?" That got a response!

I was then give a blood glucose meter, told "not to go mad with it - there's no need to test all the time, a couple of times a day, and if the reading goes above 20, call us"

OK then - thanks!

So, home, open the meter, discover that there are only 10 test strips in the sample bottle and by the time you've figured out how to use the bloody thing you have 2 test strips left!  Back to town to the nearest chemist to see if they sell the test strips you want - they do!  How much!! Holy crap!!  Buy a couple of boxes and home again.

Lets see what happens!

Next instalment - First (Last) Supper, First Real Test & NHS Direct.