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Finally, It’s Over!

Chris S — Wed, 12 Nov 2008 20:20:00 +0000

Finally, it’s over. Whether you wanted him to win or you didn’t, it doesn’t matter now. It’s time again for us to join together again…. which we should have been all along anyway, but I’ll save that for a political blog. Since this is a diabetic blog, I don’t want to discuss politics, but what I will say is….. a lot has been promised, so like I said yesterday, I dare you, Mr. Obama, to do something to benefit the 23 million diabetics living in this country within your first 100 days.

But on to other things, my new insurance has kicked in and I am not paying a single penny for any of my supplies and I love it. Enough strips to test 8 times a day, enough infusion sets to change every 2-3 days, enough insulin to go through over 150 units a day if I wanted to. It feels great to be insured again. The best part is that I didn’t even have to change companies. The company I was getting them from while I was uninsured, just started billing insurances recently, so now I can stick with them and not have to deal with the headaches that I always go through whenever I go to a different supply company or pharmacy.

Well, this is going to be short and sweet today, but not too sweet because I don’t want all our sugars getting high. Have a superb day all!

Rainout and Endo Research

Chris S — Thu, 30 Oct 2008 13:43:59 +0000

A rain out are you serious? I can’t believe this. Philly has been waiting over a decade to win a championship and they have to postpone it another freaking night! And now, it feels like the Ray’s have a lot of momentum going into tonight’s game since our amazing pitcher is now out and they scored the last run of the night. But, my blood sugar didn’t go above 150 last night during the game, amazing huh!

It was 113 when I went to sleep, but after I had coffee and breakfast this morning and took some insulin, I tested an hour later and I was 227. I didn’t have a meter handy right before I ate, so I kind of “guestimated!” But I’m all good now. I am going on a cruise this Friday, so I am getting prepared for that. I know, I never told anybody about the cruise yet in here, but I don’t think many care anyway, ha!

I just received my new insurance card and everything today, so time for me to do some research on a new endo!

Weekend Full of Hits, Pricks, and Sticks

Chris S — Wed, 15 Oct 2008 13:47:55 +0000

What a weekend this was. It was filled with football, baseball, hockey, lancing devices, test strips, infusion sets, spilled insulin, high blood sugars, low blood sugars, alcohol, grilling, pasta….ohhh the life of a diabetic sports fan!

I had a goal of testing after every single quarter of every single game that I was watching, and I did! The numbers were high for a while, which I don’t know why, but I was able to bring them back down. However, the UF-LSU game is the reason I think they were sky high. My roomate is a Gators fan, and I hate the Gators, so that is why I was irritated. Yesterday was good for the Eagles, but not so good for the Phillies.

On to other things, I should know sometime this week a little more about my insurance coverage and what my next steps are going to be. I would like to get on the CGMS, but who knows what is going to go on with that. I don’t really mind testing my sugar, it is just that I usually forget to test, not that I don’t want to.

Waiting on my Certificate of Credible Coverage

Chris S — Wed, 01 Oct 2008 21:23:50 +0000

So, a whole new situation with the insurance. As of September 1, I was told by the insurance company that my insurance was cancelled. So all this month, I couldn’t re-order my insulin because I was waiting until I received my certificate of credible coverage in order to pick up another plan since I have a pre-existing condition. So, I haven’t received this letter yet, so I called them today and they tell me that it actually didn’t expire until today, September 30. So, I could have re-ordered it, and now I can’t!

So, I have to wait another 3-5 days to receive this in the mail, then I can finally pick up some coverage again. Anyway on another note, bad weekend for the Eagles, but what are you going to do? It was very nerve racking, that is for sure!

I was also then very sick yesterday, where everytime that I stood up for more than 5 minutes, I became very lightheaded. But I sucked it up and came to work today, you thought Monday’s are busy, try coming in on Tuesday after not working on Mondays!

Crazy!!! Have a great day!

A Little Better Response from Insurance Company Today

Chris S — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:03:04 +0000

After the rough 3-day weekend (Virginia Tech lost), I had to get back into the swing of things today at work and get busy doing what I do. However, I had to take a little time to make a phone call to Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Florida and talk about this conversion program someone told me about. Basically, what it does is that anybody who is losing coverage, and it is not by their own fault, for example, I just graduated college, so I am being dropped. I have 63 days to continue to get coverage, for a higher monthly rate.

The rep I was talking to was telling me that my rate would be based off of my medical history and records, so I said, “let me just make it easy on you, I’m Diabetic, so I know I automatically go into the highest price range.” She said, “Yes that will put you into the 100% range” However, the good news is that it is a lot more affordable then what I have previously thought it was. The bad part is that I am legally blind without my glasses or contacts, and I no longer get vision covered under this plan, nor dental, nor most importantly, emergency room visits. Hopefully I will never have to deal with an ER visit for a long time, so that wouldn’t matter. There were two different options that they gave me… BCBS Choice and BCBS Option.

Well, I have some homework to do on these two options, so I better get some good reading materials.

Have a great back to work day.

A Short 3 – Day Weekend and VA Tech Hokies!

Chris S — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:03:02 +0000

A short 3 day weekend is approaching. So much to do, but not enough time to do it. The extra day off of work should help a little bit, but there just never seems to be enough time to get things done. I got the A1C work done yesterday, still awaiting the result of it though. I think it should be a better number then before, but we will just have to wait and see.

In other news….. I sound like a tv station…. Virgina Tech Hokies kick off tomorrow, I am so freakin excited! It has been a long time with a bitter taste in my mouth since last year when Matt Ryan through a TD pass with very few seconds left in the game, to put Boston College in front of us, then losing a bowl game to Kansas. However, they don’t affect my blood sugars as much as the Eagles do though, and they don’t start until next week.

I can never remember to take my meter with me to the sports bar when I go to watch the Eagles play, so I always end up with a high. But, this will be controlled a lot better this year, trust me. Hopefully they will win the Super Bowl, so I don’t have to get all stressed up and have my numbers going all over the place.

Everybody have a wonderful Labor Day and long weekend!

A1C Test Tomorrow…No Insurance T-Minus 4 Days!

Chris S — Thu, 11 Sep 2008 16:02:44 +0000

So far with the new, some what of a diet, my blood sugar levels have been pretty normal. I had a bad high last night throughout the night, which I get those from time to time. I know it is not acceptable, but I just don’t know what else I can do. Except only eat the same thing every night before I go to bed, something that doesn’t affect my sugar too much. But with the diet, I really shouldn’t be eating anything before I go to bed anyway.

My move-in is almost 100% complete. There are still a few items that need to be picked up from the old place, but I didn’t want to get them until I had all the stuff already in my new apartment put away and set up.

Only 5 more days until the insurance runs out! I have been trying to get ahold of the Blue Cross Blue Shield Conversion program division, but have had no luck from them. I will try them again tomorrow. Speaking of tomorrow, it is time for my A1C test tomorrow, the last one with this insurance. Hopefully it is a good one.

Crazy Diabetic Week

Chris S — Mon, 25 Aug 2008 14:55:00 +0000

Well, what a week it has been. After coming back from a nice, but short vacation, it was time to get back to reality. First, I received the keys to my new apartment and started to move in most of my stuff, got all the big stuff out of the way first. This whole process of moving and getting the keys was very stressful, but didn’t have much affect on my sugar levels, which surprised me. Then yesterday when I was doing a lot of moving, I was doing it pretty quickly because it looked like it was going to rain, so I was sweating and getting a good race of the heart. My levels shot up though. Different types of exercise make my levels do something different everytime, I can’t quite figure it out yet.

I will be going to Daytona Beach, FL for the weekend and I always have a habit of not testing while away. It gets as bad as not even testing once in a 3 days period. I told myself that I will test at least 4 times a day still, no excuses, even if it means carrying a little bag around with me every single place that I go, I don’t care!

Lastly, I have another A1C test coming up pretty soon, so stayed tuned for the next round of results. I have to get the test done before my insurance runs out at the end of the month! Still haven’t found a conclusion for this yet!

BCBS Conversion…Another Insurance Saga

Chris S — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 03:27:35 +0000

Is anybody out there familiar with the BCBS Conversion system? I am insured under BCBS of PA until the end of this month, and BCBS FL will not accept me because I have the diabetes. However, they said I can keep the same coverage that I have but just convert it to BCBS FL, however it is pricey, and nobody would give me a price.

Is anybody out there doing this or know anything about this? Sorry this is such a short post, but I have a lot of phone calls and denials to go through.

Serious Insurance Issues, Please Help!

Chris S — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 21:30:26 +0000

This post is a desperate post. I am now getting closer to having no insurance coverage what so ever! I was already told by BCBS of Florida that there is nothing they can do for me. Please if anybody out there has some type of coverage in Florida, please tell me my options. I never really had to deal with anything because I was always fully covered.

Please help!!!!