Hello! Please join us tomorrow at 2PM local time for The Big Blue Test: click here. It's World Diabetes Day and we will all post our blood sugar!

Your cat is so cute! I see I'm not the only one who thinks so too! :) Nice to meet you.

Hi, Liz! How's things going?

Alright...saw your cat and couldn't resist sending you this one!

Your cat is adorable!!

nice kitty!!!!

Thank you so much for the detailed reply. I have a hunch that we are dealing with two very different plans, for mine is not the HMO - it is the "100" plan, which haa $100 deductible for dr visits and another $100 deductible for meds. Then the rest is 90/10 for dr and (god forbig) hospital visits, plus lab tests.
Meds are $75 co pay for a 3 month supply of insulin and $12.50 for 3 months of generic oral meds. Plus $75 for 3 months of test strips. The rep told me that I shouldn't have a problem getting enough for 8 tests/day.
My current HMO pays 100% for test strips, and lab tests, so this is going to be very very different. I'm trying not to freak out about it, but it keeps creeping into my mind in the early hours of the morning........
Have a Happy Thanksgiving!

Liz, I just saw your reply on which insurance co covered your CGMS. I work in Minneapolis but for a company headquartered in NYC and my beloved HMO has been discontinued and I enrolled in Empire BCBS for '09. Now I know that each employer negotiates for each specific plan provision, but, in general are they easy to work with. I'm assuming that the CGMS is considered "durable medical equipment"? Also, do you use expresscripts for your insulin?
I am really stewing about all of this so any input you can give would be helpful. Thanks.

Hi Liz,

I had to comment 'coz that is such a cute happy kitty (as your profile picture)!

Farhan

Hallo Liz,
Reading your comments,I wondered how you managed diabetes for years without insurance.In third world countries,most people just manage by themselves,having to buy insulin or tablets and that is it!!!

Please help Chad reach his fundraising goal for the Death Valley Ride to Cure Diabetes!

Lyndsey,

I just test wherever I can find a flat surface. Newspaper boxes are good, and public phone booths. They're not the cleanest places but I only need something to hold my meter. In Manhattan I usually don't have any problems finding someplace to test and where I usually go for walks there are benches in various places. If my BG is really low I'll just stay where I am and eat something, even if I have to stand. I try to always have glucose tablets with me but if I don't there's almost always someplace to buy candy/food/juice within a block.

I have had to test a couple of times where there was absolutely no place to put my meter and it was a real pain. If I really think I'm low (it's very hard for me to tell if I am) I'll just eat something and test as soon as I can find a place to do it.

hey elizabeth--thanks for saying hi. yay for the outer boroughs! im living in brooklyn now and working in queens. im really loving nyc overall. do you have any tips for treating lows on the nyc streets? i always seem to get them when i am roaming around, but there are never any benches around for testing and snacking

Hi Elizabeth

Would you like to join the US Northeast group here at TuDiabetes? Look at the Groups page to get started.

Hi Elizabeth,
I saw your pictures on flickr. What a fascinating documentation of the food intake! What inspired you? I also have to say you're very creative in coming up with different choices of food for each day. I might even try some of your combinations :)

Welcome!

I was admitted on the last Monday of April and released the following Monday. I had finally made a doctor's appointment for that Monday and the weekend before was the worst in my life. I was pretty sure I was dying and I think I was hoping it would just hurry up. The doctor (one I had never been to before) told me I had diabetes and sent me to the ER where I got the official diagnosis, got hooked up to all sorts of tubes and machines and still had no idea exactly what it meant even though I was 19.

I got an Ames Glucometer when I was released. I had to get it at a surgical supply store. None of the drugstores then carried meters or strips, at least not where I was. Did you have the lancet device that kinda looked like a tape measure?

Well, if Monday was the 27th, then I was diagnosed on the 24th! For years I haven't been able to remember if it was the 21st or 24th when I was diagnosed, but I know it was a Friday. The only time I've ever been admitted to the hospital was Friday 4/24/1987 to Monday 4/27/1987. The Monday you were diagnosed was the same day they let me out to the rest of my life, complete with insulin, syringes, and Accu-Chek II in hand, oh, and the ancient medieval-torture-lancet-device of the mid-80's *shudder*

I could copy and paste your entire comment, and it would be true for me too, including month and year.

Nice to meet you online!