Morning blood sugar: 4.8
Episodes of low blood sugar today: None (yippee, 3pm though)
"C's" Mood today: Happy but a bit wheezy ( I don't like the wheezing one bit :( )
Donations today: 1, from a fab friend in Winnipeg :) Love her!
Awesome, delicious breakfast this morning: Almond Paleo Pancakes ...got this recipe from a magazine article I read in Running Magazine Canada about the Paleo Diet craze and actually made them for dinner last night. A hit with my son and who doesn't like leftovers for breakfast the next morning? Yummy.
So I ordered my pump today. Eek! I am excited but a little nervous as well. $6,600.00 later on the VISA. Yes, that is 6 thousand, 6 hundred dollars, not a typo, but the price you pay for a pump in Canada and 1 month worth of things called pods (those are the little devices that I wear on my skin which have to be changed every 3 days). All I can say is thank goodness for my husband and his sweet benefits at work because this amount will be reimbursed to us after we submit the receipt. His amazing insurance company will also cover the $300.00 per month cost of pods.
Not only is it expensive to be a diabetic with a pump, it is expensive to be a diabetic in general. Blood testing strips? They cost roughly $85.00 for a box of 100. I test my blood roughly 5-6 times per day (sometimes more, sometimes less depending if I have had lows or not), that is 35 test strips a week, or 140 per month. Insulin? I use Lantus for long acting insulin-$200.00 for a 4 month supply; Humalog is the fast acting insulin I use and it costs roughly $120.00 for a 5 month supply. Oh, and there are also needles to pay for; this is the cheapest part of supplies at $50.00 for a box of 100. I use 5 needles a day, thats 35 per week.
All I can say is thank goodness for insurance! And thank goodness for marriage! And thank goodness for spousal benefits! I myself am self-employed and have never had a drug plan but thank the lord that Jeff has a plan. Now I am very lucky that the insurance we have currently is covering the pump and supplies %100. Our previous insurance company would cover only %80.00 of my insulin, test strips, and needles. Believe me, that added up on its own.
I can't even imagine trying to manage my disease if I had no support from an insurance company. Jeff and I both have good jobs too. The stress of fighting a disease with no cure is stressful enough without the added financial pressure of budgeting for your supplies and insulin.
I remember when I first spoke to my doctor about a pump, I mentioned the costs and asked him how people afford it. His response was "People make it a priority. Maybe they don't take a vacation in a year" Oh, ok so people who are unlucky enough to have diabetes just never take vacations because their vacation budget is spent on test strips and insulin? No offense to my doctor, I know he was trying to make it sound possible to afford the expenses, but that was one of the more depressing things I have heard in the last 6 months! Even more depressing was that he told me that because Canada is a smaller market, pumps cost more money. He proceeded to tell me that you could likely purchase a pump in the United States for $1500.00. Awesome. Nothing like paying 4 times what your American counterparts are paying!
The worst part of all of this is that pumps are suppose to improve the quality of life of the diabetic. They are suppose to provide more freedom, less worry, and act more like a healthy pancreas than injections can. But I guess only if you have insurance or can afford the hefty price tag. Shouldn't everyone in Canada have access to the best healthcare options? I thought that was the way it was, but apparently not.
Diabetes is an expensive disease to have plain and simple. I consider myself very lucky that I have financial support through insurance and as well that I make a good income to be able to buy other things that help me manage like healthy foods and exercise equipment. Not everyone is as lucky as me though and I am very aware of this, yet another reason why my fundraising campaign has taken on a whole new meaning to me. So here is to being one lucky girl with insurance; hoping to make a difference for those unlucky folks 1 blog entry at a time. :)
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