Time for another medical misadventure.
So I picked up my brand new no finger poking needed continuous glucose monitoring system the Newcomm G6 at the Regency Pharmacy today.
The pharmacist was very nervous because, as he admitted, he had no idea how the dang thing worked and neither did his staff, so there was nobody to instruct me.
So I had to do some social/verbal fancy footwork to keep him from making one of his underlings look up the instructions online and read them to me. Sheesh.
I assured him that I would figure it out. Honestly, I figured it would work just like the previous one[1], the one the Province won’t pay for (the pricks).
I just wanted to get back to Julian, who was waiting in the “ten minutes maximum” parking area right next to the building.
And I was eager to get home so I could play with my new toy – er, I mean, begin sensibly and maturely managing my diabetes like a sane and rational adult.
With my new toy. Yay!
Eventually I escaped and got home and started unboxing stuff. I had the sensors, check. A whole whack of them, more than a month’s worth.
With very cool applicators that look like some kind of pointing device from the future.
And I had a couple of the transmitters. Not something the Libre needed, but apparently the Dexcom design is not quite as elegant.
Whatever. As long as it works, I don’t care.
Yeah. About that.
So I had the sensor, and the transmitter… but no reader, or “receiver” as Dexcom calls it. And obviously, without that, the thing is useless.
So I call the pharmacy, figuring they forgot to give me something. They don’t know what I am even talking about at first. Sigh.
Then they figure it out and tell me that I have to call Dexcom’s 1-800 line (well, 1-844, technically) to GET my receiver.
They give me the number, and I dial it.
And get a Ford dealer in the Interior.
I try again. Same thing. What the intensely personal fuck.
So I call the pharmacy back, thinking I copied the number down wrong. Nope, all ten digits correct and in the right order.
So I try once again, and this time get the right people. I must have been misdialing or misreading the number before.
I lasted about twenty minutes on hold before I was completely out of spoons and had to hang up and take a nap.
I will try again tomorrow.
I figure they don’t give you a receiver with the rest of it because they figure most people will just download the app for their smartphone so why spend money giving people a separate device they won’t ever use?
I am such a dinosaur for not having a smartphone.
So I will likely have to wait till they ship me one of the damned things. Sigh.
Nothing is ever simple, nothing is ever easy, and now I need another nap.
More after the break.
Smoke on the horizon
So here’s what has me worried right now.
Last night, as I was hanging out with Le Gang sometime after midnight, I realized that my face felt really hot.
Really, REALLY hot. Like someone had locked me in a tanning booth and turned it all the way up. [2]
I immediately asked Joe if I was flushed. But nope. I wasn’t sweating or dizzy or hearing any weird sounds either, so it seemed unlikely to be a fever.
But the feeling persisted, and still hasn’t gone completely away. It just faded into embers like an underfed fire.
When I got up to go to bed, I realized that the backs of my legs also felt hot in the exact same way. I then checked myself in the mirror but I didn’t see any signs of flush or fever or anything else, either.
Now what the unanticipated fuck is that? I’ve taken my life in my hands and Googled it as a symptom[3] but I didn’t find anything that seemed to apply to me.
Could be clogged pores. I haven’t been able to shower for a while. Need to ask the wound care nurses to shrink-wrap me again.
Either that, or make peace with having to give myself a thorough “bed bath”, as we used to call it before that phrase made everyone mentally add “and beyond”.
That way I can at least flush out the scent traps and get everything from the waist up at least vigorously wiped down.
Another area of concern is my urinary system. I have been getting weird little twinges of pain in that area near my prostate where I had trouble before.
They are quite faint but still concerning. And that feeling of having to strain to pee is back as well, also suggesting a resurgence of the issue.
Oh, and (grossness alert) sometimes there is an odd odor to my urine. Sort of meaty. Possibly ketones. And my urine is extra yellow, almost orange, at the time.
So that’s another thing I should probably be telling someone about.
Like Doctor Caswell, for instance. Just saw her last Friday. Would have been the perfect time to ask her about it.
But there never seems to be enough time and I end up just going with the flow.
So to speak.
That’s my default mode : cooperative and eager to please. Asserting myself at the risk of disrupting, upsetting. or angering someone is hard for me.
Those of you who have seen my feistier side might find that hard to believe. But it’s true. I can assert myself intellectually with great vigor and skill. I can express and defend my position. I can even assert my own interests if something makes me mad enough.
But usually people are quite reasonable and I am left to my own wildly inadequate devices and there’s no real solution for that.
I want to learn to stick up for myself like I would stick up for someone I love.
Yeah… about that….
I will talk to you nice people again tomorrow,.