Blood Sugar Fun

[Drunk Monk]

[Greg]

Do you ever find yourself on the horns of a dilemma where you really need to email your doctor for new blood test strips but you also just want to punch your doctor because he is an ass? I'm afraid if I email him for the prescription I will lapse into swearing and won't stop.

The glucose meter I wear under my runs out in an hour according to the message that just popped out on my screen. I went back forth with the provider trying to renew the prescription. My doctor kept telling me he renewed the prescription while the supplier, Byram, had not notice of it. Byram suggested I contact the people at Kaiser who actually approve the third party prescriptions like my monitor. Sure, enough, they wouldn't approve it. They said they would be sending me a letter about the denial within 30 days in case I wanted to appeal.

To be honest, I don't really need the glucose monitor. It is a bit of overkill for my level of diabetes but my previous doctor thought I should have because of all the crashes and spikes I kept having. But she retired and I am on to the next doctor.

When I emailed the new doctor about the new denial, he said the denial of the prescription made a lot of sense. It is really only for people who regulate their glucose with insulin, something I still don't do and work hard not to do. He mentioned that I could pay for the glucose monitor out of pocket, if I really wanted to keep using the monitor. At $2000 for a three month supply, I will pass.

This was all fine and rational and did not set my blood to boil.

He concluded the letter by saying what I really should be doing is pursuing a course of diet and exercise so I can cure myself of diabetes, then I wouldn't need to monitor at all.

Cure. My. Diabetes. Sure. Why didn't I think of that? I should just diet and exercise and I'd be cured. Because for the last 20 years that's not what I've been trying to do. And the idea that there is a cure makes me extremely skeptical of his medical degree. I'm sure I can get my blood sugar numbers lower. But I don't think I can cure it. I always think of DM and his Diabetes? He exercises all the time. He is way smaller than me. Does this cure work for him, too? Grrrr.

I should have known this guy was bad when we first met and he wondered why I wore a mask in the hospital.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

At the Circle-K Health Ranch, you can switch buckaroos...?

[Greg]

I can switch buckaroos if there was another buckaroo to switch to. Small Kaiser is very small. I will keep checking until a new doc becomes available.

[Dr. Ivor Yeti]

I can switch buckaroos if there was another buckaroo to switch to. Small Kaiser is very small. I will keep checking until a new doc becomes available.

Understood.