Talking some Bionic Pancreas with the DSMA 'Rents Peeps!

About a month or so ago, Lorraine Sisto contacted Fred and I about doing a DSMA "Rents chat about Elise's experience wearing the Bionic Pancreas at Camp Clara Barton.  

"Cool!" Thought I.  "Must remember to blog about it."

So here I am.  Blogging about it.  Almost a day late and a dollar short since it's all going down tonight, but at least it's something.

It's all happening at 8:00 pm CT (check your local listings), so if you have a spare moment, have a listen.  Call in.  Join the conversation.  Click here to do so.

But we'd better not get a call from anyone named Hugh Jass.

I'm looking at you, Shannon or Katy.

Thanks for nothing, One Touch

I'm busy.  I'm sure almost everybody skimming this post can relate.  This time of year is especially exhausting; three birthdays in the span of a week, back to school for all three kids, soccer for two, birthday parties to plan.  Not to mention all the daily stuff that life brings.  

So it's no surprise that my to-do pile could only be described as the leaning tower of paperwork.  I think it's height now surpasses my youngest.  

I wish I were kidding.  

The other day I split it into three piles to try and make myself feel better.  It didn't work.

One of the things on that pile was a vial of test strips.  I needed to put a call into One Touch because these strips were reading dangerously wrong.  Like over 100 points over the actual BG.  Once I tested Elise and her meter said 230.  She was actually 108.  Thank goodness we have the dex and I didn't correct off of that number.

Just for chuckles, I also checked my BG with the bad strips... 198.  Oh dear...

Because we discovered the bad strips during a very busy time for us, I put the vial aside for when I had time to deal with it.  Because we all know that when we call companies about our supplies, they answer promptly and never make you wait on hold for 45 minutes.

One afternoon, when Elise was in school and the boys were napping, I tackled the pile and came across the strips.  They had expired in July and it was now August, but I didn't think it would be an issue.

Wrong.

When I got customer service on the line, I reported the issue and asked if they were the same lot number on some other vials I had called about a few months earlier.  Turned out, they were.  

Towards the end of the call, I asked about them replacing the vial of strips, which were a 50 count.  The guy said that because they expired, that they wouldn't.  I argued that they were not expired when I used them and he replied that I should have reported them when I called about the other lot numbers.  To which I replied that the person never asked me if I had any others and I didn't think to look.

Finally the guy (very reluctantly) agreed to replace them.  A few weeks later, I recevied this in the mail:

"Proven Accuracy"?  Yeah... right

Gee, how very generous One Touch. You replaced a weeks worth of test strips with a one day supply.

Jerks.

N-Style-ID: Speaking for my daughter when she cannot

Once upon a time, I never worried about Elise wearing a medical ID bracelet. She was always either with me or her Dad, and we figured it was just not necessary.  Besides, finding a bracelet that was practical for a baby was impossible.

But then one night, as I was trying to sleep, but couldn't, and my mind was racing a million miles a minute; it hit me... What if we were in a car accident and were not able to let the paramedics know about Elise's diabetes? She was on shots then and had no telling signs of type 1.  The next day I was on a mission to find something that worked for Elise.

The result was a very cute princess bracelet that had pink and purple beads, an crown, and fit her delicate wrist perfectly.  Unfortunately, she hated wearing it. I forced her to and eventually the ID part became so scratched up you couldn't even read the information on it.  As she got older, she learned to take it off herself and it was game over.  

But now Elise is older, and able to understand the importance of wearing her bracelet. So when N-Style-ID offered to send us a bracelet, I jumped at it.  Just in time for back to school!

I showed Elise the choices and she was immediately drawn to the Hoot Medical ID Bracelet.  It didn't hurt that it had one of her favourite animals, and it came in her favourite colours too!

One of the things I really liked was the engraving.  Earlier in this post I wrote how you couldn't even read the information on Elise's first bracelet.  The reason was the engraving was hard to see in the first place, and the scratches made it almost impossible. N-Style-ID uses a laser engraver (black ink) on all their non-precious metal ID's.  Plus, engraving is free with your order!

The contrast makes it easy to read

N-Style-ID was founded by Toni Bisell, whose daughter was diagnosed with type 1 at the age of 10.  She had a hard time finding a medical ID bracelet that her daughter would wear, so she did what any creative, driven Mama would do; she did it herself!  N-Style-ID was born and with it a line of fun, fashionable medical alert jewellery.

As well as a ton of different styles of bracelets, N-Style-ID offers necklaces, and pendants for woman, men, kids and teens. And they guarantee quality on all their items.

One thing I was worried about was the clasp, which is a plastic snap clasp (I have no idea what it's actually called, but here's a picture of it):

I thought Elise might have a hard time opening it, but it turned out to not be a problem at all.

The best thing?  She will actually wear it.  And now that she's becoming more independant, it's a good thing she does.

Both Elise and I are very happy with her new bracelet, it feels very durable and I love that the engraving is so easy to read.  If you are in the market for some new medical alert jewellery, you can check out N-Style-ID by clicking here.

***N-Style-ID sent Elise the bracelet pictured above complete with engraving for free, but did not tell me what to think or write.  All opinions are my own.  Elise may have helped too.***

Lucky Number Seven

It's been quiet around here.  Too quiet. Celebrating 3 birthdays in the span of a week will do that to you.  No matter, I'm hoping to get back on the blogging bandwagon soon.  

So many posts to write, so little time.

But for right now I'm just in shock that she's 7 years old.  Tomorrow we will host a joint birthday party for her and Mattias, as well as quietly celebrate the fact she's been not only living with, but living well with diabetes for 6 years.

September is crazy around here.