I went to see my PCP on Tuesday of last week. She checked my a1c, which is now 7.2. In January it was 8.9. So that's a nice improvement. But it's still not where I want it to be. Diabetic "normal" blood sugar average is 100-120. Actual normal blood sugar is 80-90. But a lot of doctors and the American Diabetes Association say that running higher is better. They act like complications are inevitable. Not true if you can actually get normal blood sugars. That is the goal, and the reason I'm on a low-carb diet. Unfortunately, I'm finding that I have to bolus for everything I eat, even things you wouldn't normally bolus for, like meat, nuts, eggs and cheese. So I'm still taking quite a bit of insulin, now it's more than before. I had to ask my PCP to change my prescription for more insulin each month because I have run out at the end of the last two months. I also asked for more that strips as I am actually working through my stash quite rapidly. My prescription for that is 6 strips a day, roughly 200 a month. She put in for 250 a month; hopefully insurance approves that. On Wednesday of last week I saw the new endo. He was very nice, asked a lot of good questions and listened to me. His staff was all very nice, and his office has free coffee! We talked a lot about my settings, and he asked me to make changes to my pump, which I did allow. He mentioned the newest system, and he seemed really genuinely excited, as am I He said if anyone could get it for me, it'd be him. He also mentioned the "professional" continuous glucose monitor that I would wear for just 1 week, and it would give us more information about my levels overnight and between checks. I'm still not sure how the whole "pump warranty" thing works, but I believe I have to wait until September to get the new pump, and he said it wouldn't be rolling out to the general public until June or July, so that time line works great. At the end of the appointment, he said he'd see me in 3 months, and I thought about it for a second and then agreed. I liked him a lot. I will see him again at the end of August. Now that he's made adjustments, I feel a little weird about making my own adjustments. He changed my overnight basal rates but now I'vebeen waking up kind of low, so I've been suspending my pump a bit instead of eating candy. I don't want to eat candy every time my blood sugar is just a little low. Butit's better than waking up high every morning.

Right now, the plan is to go see the diabetic educator Jackie (whom Dr. K, endo, mentioned that he knew her and liked her), on Friday, and talk to her about my settings and how the whole pump warranty thing works. I am thinking that I need to revamp all my night time basal rates to more accurately reflect when I am sleeping and when I wake up. Right now it's still based on what my old doctor thought was right, and this specific setting is basically the last thing I haven't changed from before.

All in all, I had two pretty good appointments, considering I was so nervous for the endo one.

Also upcoming is Owen's eye exam and hopefully new glasses. His current glasses are so incredibly scratched, I don't know how he sees anything. It's really affecting his lessons. I wonder if he just needs new glasses, or if he may have dyslexia. He switches numbers and letters around all the time. Doing a tiny but of research, his behavior fits the pattern of both dyslexia and needing new glasses. So when he does get them, hopefully we'll see if his reading improves or if he still has the same problems. He's remembering a lot of sight words and doing really well in general. The girls are also reading, writing and mathing better and better every day. We're doing lessons pretty much every single day of the week, but it doesn't feel like a lot of work. They enjoy most of them. Charlette and Kallista were even reading comics for fun. Now that I've been making an effort to do the lessons, do housework, keep things running, things have been better.

12:46 P.M. - 05.08.17