On December 25th, 2007 I almost died. On December 29th 2007, I almost died again. My blood sugar plummeted into the low 20's during my nighttime sleep. On Christmas I woke up screaming incomprehensible words and flailing my arms and legs, waking my husband. On December 29th, my husband's birthday, he mysteriously awoke and found me passed out on the floor next to our bed, minutes from death. (Happy Birthday sweet heart) There is a technology available that can prevent this from ever happening to me again.
It is a frustrating thing knowing there is a technology available to help free me from the daily worry of going into a coma, or passing out because of my hypoglycemia unawareness while I am home alone taking care of my children. Or dying in my sleep because my blood sugar gets to low. Yet this technology is being denied by major insurance companies in many cases, stating that it is not "medically necessary." It brings me to the point of tears sometimes. I have been waiting and waiting and waiting for my insurance company to come through for me and approve my Dexcom 7 CGMS, so I can be freed from this worry. Yet they continue to drag their heels. I haven't gotten a denial yet, but it has been pending since January. JANUARY! Ridiculous. I encourage diabetics to raise their voices and post this video by Manny Hernandez of Tudiabetes.com on your blogs!
Continuous Glucose Monitoring Systems are approved by the FDA and are some of the best diabetic technology available to help control blood glucose levels. The JDRF is working on completing this technology by researching ways to create a closed loop system as a sort of external pancreas. We are making strides.
I am tired of worrying about if I will be around to watch my children complete their major milestones. Graduating college, getting married, rocking my grandchildren for the first time, retiring and traveling with my husband. I want to live to see these years.
So I beg you, Raise your voice.
Find more videos like this on Tu Diabetes - A Community for People Touched by Diabetes
Also see: Six Until Me's battle with CGMS approval
4 comments:
Hey Windy-
This is Carie--Garrett's wife.
Sorry to hear about your troubles.
I was reading one of your earlier blogs and was wondering if you could send me the link for the ING savings account. I wanted to look into it.
Thanks!
AMEN SISTAH! You know how this infuriates me. Meantime, I "feel" my levels changing, take my sugars, and I'm fine. Fifteen minutes later, I'm either nauseated from highs or incoherent from lows. And my doctor doesn't always understand my trends, either.
I will post this. Thank you so much! Love you bunches.
Holy crap! Scary stories!
Time to rally against insurance companies!! That's one of the reasons all these blogs & social networks are amazing -- they are connecting us in wonderful ways to make a strong stand. I hope the insurance companies take notice.
have you seen my post on tudiabetes yet. you can access on one of the top image links it says request for continuous glucose monitor denied. or you can access it from my blog www.diabetestalkfest.com/blog
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