A relatively short 12 days will fly by, I know. I had a meeting with the diabetes educator last Monday and all is going well.

Next week we work out, via a formula, what my basal insulin will be for the pump. Then the following Monday, it’s pump-start day!

The protocol requires my starting basal insulin to be approved by my wonderful endo, who is 1 hour away. Faxes are still very useful, although not for me.

Failing any major catastrophes, it’s all systems go.

Someone else I know from two other internet forums started on his pump today. Here’s Henry’s blog.

I’m constantly amazed at what is to be learned in the field of managing diabetes. I’m more than convinced we don’t have nearly enough education about it. It’s definitely not just a matter of matching insulin to carbs. It’s so much more. So many are of the opinion (including me) that almost everything you eat can have an effect on your blood glucose. This is definitely true for me. Only 2 eggs in the morning, with nothing else, and my BGL will go up. I’ve proven this for years now. For me, a protein only meal still needs some insulin.

More learning about the incricacies of diabetes and more hoping that the pump-start day will be here really soon!

As the title says pump-start day is looming ever closer. Learning more and more every day by web surfing. I’m reading studies, forums, and generally paying close attention to others and their experiences on an insulin pump. Thought I knew a lot, but am constantly surprised at what I didn’t know about the finer art of diabetes management. But I’m definitely onto the nitty gritty of it all.

[Posted from my iPhone]

With 4 weeks to go until my pump-start, the hard work really starts 2 weeks before.

While I’m sure I know what my basals will be, my Diabetes Educator still wants me to document everything for the last 2 weeks – food, insulin and many blood glucose tests during the day and night. She wants the evidence, so I have to be hyper vigilant about writing everything down. I’m just not that kind of person, but I have to be.

Having recently swapped to my iMac as my main computer (PC for many years before that), I use Diabetes Logbook X to record when I’m home, and when I’m out, the equivalent for the iPhone, which hooks into the Mac and updates the records on the iMac. It’s really easy to use and is in a format I’m used to and like. The reporting is also fairly comprehensive and very easy to read for someone who isn’t used to the software.

I’ve had a persistent cough for a couple of weeks. I went to my doctor last week and he decided I had some strange fungal thing going on and gave me some medication. His conclusion just didn’t sit right with me.

After doing some research on something completely different I came across the following:

How conincidental it is that I was put on an ACE inhibitor just before this cough started? Fungal, my ass!

I am so anti-doctors and this is yet another thing that validates what I think. Why didn’t the doctor connect the symptom with a medication he just put me on a couple of weeks ago? Too concerned about dollars and getting me out the door, I suspect. If I can make the connection reading just one article which states that this is a common side-effect, why couldn’t he? He’s the one with the degree and the experience!

I’ve long believed that despite what some doctors think – that they don’t want us doing any research on the internet – we truly need to. As long as it’s done in an intelligent way and from a very trusted source. We need to be very sure of our facts before we go running to a doctor. Something as obvious as the ACE inhibitor thing, shouldn’t have needed any research, but the state of our medical system and the apathy and dismissiveness of some doctors, actually requires it! And we pay handsomely for the privelege of seeng a doctor for the 10 or 15 mintues we’re allowed.

Pity!