Living with Diabetes: February 2024 check in

I haven’t written one of these posts in a while. Probably because I honestly haven’t done too well with things. My numbers are way higher than they should be and I’m doing, well, pretty shitty in holding myself accountable. 

But I have to look at the overall picture. Sometimes that can be really hard to do. 

For those of you who have followed my blog, you’ve probably seen these posts before. Though, to be fair, I’m usually doing *slightly* better. This time, it’s a mixed bag. I say that because I only can really tell part of the story. 

See, my A1C for the last several checks has not been good. So much that we’re getting to the point where my primary is talking about either having to change medications or talk about insulin. These are not things I’m interested in, especially the insulin part. 

Somewhere along the line I kind of fell out of being smart with things. Well not everything. But at least checking and holding myself to task. Instead, I stopped checking on a daily basis. I know when it happened. At some point the meter and strips I was using wasn’t being accepted by my insurance and the supplies just … stopped coming. So I didn’t really pay attention and the checking just kind of … stopped. 

That’s not good. 

Meanwhile, other things were fine. I was losing something, whether it was pounds or inches. I felt I was going in the right direction. But each time I had an appointment, though I thought my A1C had to go down, it either didn’t, or it stayed status quo. 

Again, not good. So here we are. 

This is my fault, don’t get me wrong. I haven’t been the best with eating smart and all that. Though I believe that you need to live life no matter what and indulge in things you love, you still have to be smart. Sitting down and pounding down a bag of candy or something junky isn’t smart. A lot of it for me is stress eating. 

Back at it is what has to happen. So I spoke with my primary and a diabetes educator I see. We figured out a game plan of sorts, and I also needed a new meter and strips. 

I asked for a certain meter and test strips. I need things to use, such as graphs and all. If I use the one meter and strips, it connects to an app I like. This will allow me to see trends and understand what is going on. 

Insurance denied it. 

It seems they won’t accept this unless you haven’t done well with the ones they want you to use. So I called and had to issue an appeal. The person I talked to was great and she led me through the whole process. The appeal was granted. But then I had to fight back and forth to make sure it was done correctly. Finally, it was and the prescription was allowed to go through. 

But that brings me full circle to the other part of this. It hasn’t all been bad. In fact, the numbers baffle me a little considering other things have been going decently. Most of the rest of my blood tests are great. My weight kind of hovers around the same … I usually lose a few pounds from each appointment to the next. 

Here’s the thing, though. I look back to photos and all of how I was 10-12 years ago and it’s bad. I know what I weighed at my worst, and I know what I am now. The gap between the two is well more than 50 pounds. 

The last year and a half, though, something else has happened. Though the weight itself is coming off slower, something else has happened — I’m losing inches. In fact, in the last 12-18 months, I’ve dropped three pant sizes. The one I am in now is one that I haven’t been able to get into in probably 12-15 years — at least. 

Three pant sizes. 

My clothes fit me better, too. Shirts, sweatshirts, jackets — everything. They all fit better. Even my primary said that it’s not always about just the weight (though I do still want to drop a bunch more. I have a weight I’d like to get to). 

Without a doubt, a lot of this is because of Harper. 

Before Harper, I walked. Quite a bit actually. But if there was a morning I didn’t want to get up, I didn’t get up until I had to. If I was tired from work and didn’t want to walk at night, I didn’t. 

I don’t have that choice anymore. Harper and I walk in the morning and we walk at night. It doesn’t matter if it’s raining, snowing, sunny, cloudy or what — we go. And it’s rarely less than a mile, and usually a bit more. 

A perfect example happened a couple of weeks ago on a Sunday. We did 1.75 miles in the morning. With the weather so nice — sunny and in the 40s, we headed out in the mid-to-late afternoon, which was a bit earlier than her normal “evening” walk. So many sniffs followed. We saw some friends and we wandered into places we usually don’t. In the end, it was just s bit over three miles. 

That was a good walk! 

We’ve been doing a lot more of these walks, and I’ve enjoyed it. The daylight keeps increasing and seeing sun is a good thing. It really can pick you up. Soon enough, we’ll hopefully be able to chill out in the yard and enjoy that aspect of life as well.

But back to the beginning — the numbers.

In the end, the insurance company accepted my appeal and granted me the ability to use the meter and strips I want to use. Now it’s time to get back into a routine of checking 3-5 times a day and seeing what is going on with me. This should help me stay more accountable to what I am trying to do. It will mean a few sacrifices, sure. But it should be good for me in the long run.

Here’s to health and happiness!

Feel free to leave a comment, or e-mail P.J. at hoohaablog@gmail.com. Also, please “Like” A ‘lil HooHaa on Facebook!