Busy Week!

You might wonder why my blogging has slowed down a little this year...I think about posting all the cool things we do, but never seem to have the time. This past week is a good example. I threw a bridal shower for my good friend Andrea, had our quarterly Enrichment meeting, am teaching the lesson on Sunday in Relief Society and had to prepare for those three large events all this week. Andrea is a friend of mine from BYU. We lived on the same floor our freshman year, but we really didn't become too close that first year. That following year, she ended up living with Monica, Kerry, Laura and I as well as Katie Bowman. We all had a great sophomore year. During our Junior year, Andrea moved out and moved in with some other girls in our ward. She moved a flight of stairs away from us, so she was within 20 ft of our front door. During my Senior year, I moved to another apartment complex. Andrea also moved into the same complex, but lived in a different ward. I graduated that year, and Andrea stayed another year to finish up her program. I got a job teaching in Phoenix, moved down here and a year later Andrea got a job teaching music, band and strings in the same school district that I taught in. It was always fun to have Andrea so close. She has such a great personality and can really just make you laugh. She lived with me for a while in Phoenix after I bought my house and before I got married. We have had many times over the years and I was honored to throw Andrea a Bridal Shower. She is getting married in August and is moving to Virginia with her man. I do not plan on moving there, so I think this will end our 8 years of living so close to one another. We had fun at her bridal shower! Here are some pictures from it:

Andrea and I

Watch out Ken...She is ready!

Good luck Andrea on the new chapter in your life. Being married is the best...I am proud of you for taking the plung and tying the knot.

In addition to all the happenings going on, there has been a fire burring for the past 3-4 days way too close to my house! It is burning on the mountains behind our house about 1-2 miles away. I took some pictures after Andrea's bridal shower and you can see how red the sky way. I think it was a reflection of the flames on the smoke. It is still very smokey..and still burning!

Insulin Pump!

About three weeks ago I had a doctor's appointment with my Endocrinologist (my diabetic Dr.). I have a check up once every three months or so. During this visit, we talked about how I get frustrated when some mornings I wake up and my blood sugar is high. I told her that I usually test myself before I go to bed, and my blood sugar is fine, then when I wake up, it has gone up by 100-200 points. This frustrates me more than anything because I am obsessed with having good numbers.
My doctor told me something that no one has ever told me before, after having been diabetic for over 13 years. She said that sometimes your liver stores extra glucose and then releases it during the middle of the night (usually around 2 or 3 AM). She said that the pump can help with this because you can program it to give you extra insulin around that time. We started talking about the pump, and let's be honest, the only reason that I haven't ever gotten one, was because I didn't want to wear it and be labeled by people as being diabetic and I thought it would get in the way and it just looks ugly!
The doctor pulled out this sample pump and showed me it wasn't that big (let's be honest, I knew how big they were before, but I still thought it was too big to wear all the time) but the best thing she showed me, is that they have a continuous glucose monitor that you can wear in conjunction with the pump, that transmits your blood sugar to the pump every 5 minutes. I got really excited about this. The worst part of being diabetic is NOT the shots, it is testing your blood sugar 6-8 times a day, pricking your fingers and carrying around that big tester in your purse. I had to upgrade to a bigger purse in March because my last one wasn't big enough to carry my tester and ended up getting holes. The doctor said that the continuous glucose monitor is not covered by almost any insurances. I asked how much it would cost to pay cash for the system thinking that maybe we could pull enough money together and make the sacrifice to get it, and she said it would cost about $12,000/year. That was sad, because that is WAY too much money! She said she would have the pump lady, Angela, check to see if I qualified for any kind of coverage from my insurance and we'd go from there.
I talked with Angela a couple days later and she said that I am 100% covered for the pump (which costs $6,000) and that my insurance was the only insurance that will cover the continuous glucose system completely!!! I was so excited!!! The only thing I have to pay for is a $12 fee every 3 months, plus the cost of insulin (which I have to pay for anyway) .
This last Tuesday, I had an appointment to learn how to use the pump and to get it all hooked up! It has been 4 days and I have loved having the pump already. It is nice to know that I just push a few buttons and have insulin. It hasn't been too hard adjusting to wearing it...although I am still not too crazy about the way it looks, but I guess you have to sacrifice sometimes. I am really excited about how much control I will have. One of the coolest things is that when you exercise, you can program the pump to give you less insulin. With all other insulin, you have to eat extra and make sure your blood sugar is high enough before you exercise. That almost cancels out the exercising if you have to eat before you do it. I don't have the continuous glucose monitoring system yet, but should be getting that within the next couple of weeks...and I can't wait!

Here is what the continuous glucose monitor and pump look like in action. D is the continuous glucose monitor and then your glucose shows up on the pump every 5 minutes which is obviously A.

I am just really grateful for the advancements in medical technology. I know we are all blessed today because of the great medical technology we have. I will give you an update once I get the continuous glucose monitor!