I’m in Australia and almost every piece of technology I have is Apple-based. I do run Windows via Parallels Desktop for a couple of business applications, but it’s a royal pain for a lot of reasons.

When I first got my Animas 2020 Insulin Pump, I religiously uploaded the data via Parallels Desktop and the Animas program for Windows. Sadly, the Mac version of the upload program that is available in the USA for the Animas Ping isn’t available in Australia for the 2020. No matter, I had a way to upload with Windows.

Eventually it became a chore and I ended up not doing it for the past year or so. I think I did it once in 2011, and no one looked at it anyway.

There’s a website: www.diasend.com, which I heard about ages ago that also takes uploads from my pump, but for some reason I didn’t pursue it. I can’t remember if it wasn’t available back then for Mac or for Australia or for what reason I didn’t do it.

Today I received a letter from AMSL, the Animas people in Australia. The letter said that it was introducing the Diasend website and upload program for Australia and that I could make use of it,  on a PC or Mac. I wondered how easy it would be…

Went to the www.diasend.com website. Registered. The system didn’t however have my blood glucose meter, so I just chose the closest one, and that seemed ok.

I then downloaded and installed the Diasend Uploader App for Mac. That was very easy, and requires a restart.

After installing the app, I grabbed my IR dongle – the one that usually connects my pump to the Windows program to upload the data. I wondered if I would have to go get an extra program for the dongle, which had to be installed on the Windows side. Nope!

Plugged it into the Mac, put my pump on suspend and positioned it over the dongle. Then I clicked ‘Confirm” on the Diasend Uploader App and away it went.

It was THAT easy!

Then I logged into my account at www.diasend.com and saw everything it had uploaded. Amazing! Really good reports, trends and more!

I can download reports in PDF and take them to my Endo, or the clinic can register and can see my data anytime I update it.

The list of compatible devices is here. Currently it includes the Animas 2020, Animas Ping and Omnipod insulin pumps in the clinic uploader and the Animas pumps for the personal uploader.

I’m SERIOUSLY impressed!

In the scheme of things, my HbA1C is fine. It’s under 7%, I’d like it lower (which I’m working towards), but now and then, I get times where I have highs that just don’t make sense until after I’ve solved the problem – either in my head or by doing something like changing my site. It’s these times that totally annoy me because they are a barrier to getting my HbA1C lower. Yes, it’s only a few hours in 3 months, but it has an effect nevertheless.

Now is just such a time.

I had what could be loosely called dinner around 9pm. It was a bit of mince, maybe less than a cupful, with some spices and less than half a Lebanese pita – probably 1/3rd. One pita (the large, flat kind, not the Israeli pocket kind) is about 39 grams of carb. So I bolused for 25 grams, plus another 5gr for the mince which had some tomato paste in it. I’ve eaten nothing since.

At 11pm I tested and was 12.5 mmol/L (225 mg/dl). Shocking, right? So I did a correction bolus. It’s 1:45am and I’m now still 12.4 (223)!!! The insulin has had no effect. I’m not entirely sure what my basal is doing either. Probably nothing much, but clearly some insulin is getting where it should be or my blood glucose would probably be much higher.

If it was my pump site, which was a new site yesterday, you’d think I’d have been high all day. I wasn’t.

This is just one of the mysteries of insulin, diabetes, food, insulin pumps. I’m fairly poor at the moment, struggling to get new clients in an area where no on knows me, so to waste a site by changing it so soon, has to be done with much thought and consideration, but really, I have no choice. If bolus and a correction has done nothing in 5 hours, it’s a foregone conclusion. Change the darn site.

I have to ask myself – what on earth could have gone wrong with the site 24 hours later? I have no idea! I haven’t yanked it. The line hasn’t got caught on anything. The site change went normally. I give up! I have no idea what the problem could be!

Right now, there’s nothing I want to do less than changing a site. I don’t want to change it because it’s too close to bedtime and I will now need to stay up to  make sure the site is working. I’ll also need to give myself a shot because my blood glucose has been high a bit too long, so I won’t know if the site is working or if it’s the shot. And I’ll have to use one of my last few Inset IIs, so I’ll have to order more earlier than I anticipated, which I can’t do right now.

Doesn’t matter how much you know, you never know what’s going to go right and what’s going to go wrong, or when! Isn’t it one of Murphy’s Laws? Things always go wrong at the worst possible moment.

Are you asking what a rage bolus is?

In case you are, it’s the act of giving insulin, often much more than you need, when you’re really angry at a high glucose reading that you can’t immediately explain, or one that refuses to come down.

If you read any diabetes blog or forum enough, or have it yourself, you’ll know that for many people with diabetes, in all its incarnations, it’s a 24 hour job to look after it. Yes, even when you’re sleeping you have to make sure before you rest your weary head, that you have calculated and mashed together, to the best of your ability, food, insulin, activity, stress and more, so that your blood glucose won’t go low or high overnight.

There are very few things in life that you can’t take a break from – even for one day, let alone a week or two of blissful holiday. Diabetes is with you 24 hours a day and it has to be managed 24 hours a day.

So now and then I get cranky with it. Even though I know a lot of the science, on occasion, diabetes doesn’t behave as expected.

I probably under report every last bit of the bad stuff here on this blog, but tonight I’m sorely tempted to put some very raw feelings on the screen.

It’s more than annoyance and less than outright anger – somewhere in between. Let’s see if I can contain myself.

Here’s the scenario:

Dinner: BBQ
Food: Hungarian cabbage salad (oil, vinegar and a tiny bit of Splenda – a scant teaspoon for a whole cabbage), steak, tomato, cucumber, avocado – just with salt, half a corn cob (as a treat) with some butter.
Drink: Water and some diet mineral water.

Easy to bolus for? Supposedly! On paper, other than the corn, it’s lowish carb. I’ve bolused for this kind of dinner a gazillion times and been fine. Hadn’t eaten for many hours before.

I calculated about 30gr carbs, figuring that I would probably have maybe 1.5 loosely packed cups of cabbage salad (I could eat that stuff all day long!), half a tomato, the half cob of corn (definitely not low-carb), 3 slices cucumber, plus I also bolus for protein and fat and a few extra carbs for the diet soda (the one I drink has 3g carbs per glass). It would easily be way less “carbs” if I didn’t add in 50% of the protein and 10% of the fat (TAG bolusing).

My BG was were I expect it to be when I’m not eating – perfect. Total already bolused for today 20gr carbs. Am happy with that.

I entered the carbs into my pump, went for a combo bolus of 2 hours (very thick steak with fat) and thoroughly enjoyed my dinner, with the steak rested well before I started eating.

I really thought I did everything right. Apparently not…

At 2 hours I checked my BG and it was fine – just inside normal and the combo bolus was just ending so the insulin should still be working and keep working for another 2-3 hours as the rest of my dinner hit my bloodstream.

At 4 hours I should have stayed within normal range yet I was way higher, totally on the wrong side of normal. Not too much but enough to make me cranky. Diabetes you are not behaving tonight!

Did I underestimate the carbs? I didn’t think so but I probably did – it was probably the steak that I didn’t calculate properly. I thought I did a small overestimate on the total I should bolus for, but thinking about it and checking some nutrition info, I’ve probably under-bolused for the steak.

Insert expletives, because I don’t want more fat-promoting insulin. More expletives because I must have screwed up. More expletives because I don’t want to be dealing with this right now. Rage bolus coming up!

At midnight, my angry fingers dialled up more than what my pump suggested.

Two hours later (2am) and I was back inside normal but not where I usually am. Technically I should have gone low.

Hmmm… more expletives. Another rage bolus, but this time more rage than bolus. It’s now 3am and I’ve stayed exactly what I was at 2am! What the bleep?

So what is it? Insulin not working? Pump site not behaving (it’s behaved fine the last 48 hours)? Total screw up on the carbs and how long they would take to hit my bloodstream?

It’s easily 7 hours since I’ve eaten. Seven hours for a steak to keep working? I’m not so sure about that but in case it is… holy cow (pun intended)!

So now I’m faced with changing out my pump site and going to bed. Never a good idea! It’s much better if you hang around awake to make sure the site is working and that you have a stable blood glucose before you hit the pillow. Or do I have another rage bolus? Maybe it was all that swearing that caused the stress that caused the BG to stay up. We all know how the just the tiniest amount of stress sets me off.

Don’t know what I’m going to do yet. I still have hope that all the insulin I’ve taken will do its job or the dinner I had won’t keep repeating the BGs I don’t want!