A couple of months ago Jeff's endocrinologist suggested he start using a new glucose monitor...one that you wear on your arm all the time. That would mean he wouldn't have to prick his fingers multiple times a day to get a blood sample for a glucose reading. That seemed like the way to go, so he agreed, and she ordered it. His insurance company refused to approve the new monitor twice! Finally, the doctor wrote a letter to the insurance company and...Viola! the monitor/meter was approved. It took a couple of weeks to be delivered but finally it got to us, and we had an appointment to learn how to use it. Turns out it is quite simple to use. The sensor rides on his upper arm and the monitor in his pocket. The monitor beeps if his glucose level goes up or down and keeps track of the changes. He changes the sensor every 10 days, and he says it's easier than pricking his finger!!
This week he had an appointment in Cooperstown for a Lumbar puncture with contrast and a CT scan. He told them about the sensor, but no one seemed interested...they didn't cover it during the CT! The Lumbar puncture took about 9 mins and the CT about 45, then he had about 4 hours in recovery. They let me go in and sit with him after he had been in recovery about half an hour. When I got there his monitor was beeping! (Jeff can't hear the monitor when he's sleeping and the staff in Recovery didn't hear it because of the other monitors beeping.) I woke Jeff up and asked if he had eaten anything yet. He mumbled something I took for 'no', so I looked for and found his monitor in his pants pocket. His glucose level was 61 and I called a nurse over and showed her. They had offered him OJ and coffee but hadn't forced anything on him. She got him to drink the OJ and got him some cookies (Fig Newtons and Lorna Doones) while she ordered him lunch. The OJ and cookies got his glucose on the rise again, but I kept his monitor in my shirt pocket and kept checking it while he slept. He ate the cookies...and his lunch (turkey, mashed potatoes and green beans) and his glucose level continued to
rise. After 3 hours or so he decided he had to go to the bathroom, so a nurse walked him down the hall to it. When he came back to his bed, she said he could get dressed and he would be released shortly. I waited until I heard his discharge orders then I went to get the car to meet him at the door. The car and I made it back to the door at the same time as Jeff in a wheelchair, so I'd say I was hobbling pretty well! We had gotten to the hospital about 9:15am but the only parking spot we could find was in the middle of the parking lot! I was sure we would have found a space by the fence, but no such luck!
The ride home was uneventful and when we got to Herkimer Jeff suggested stopping at BK... he was hungry. The hospital lunch hadn't been enough for him! He was uncomfortable overnight and yesterday (he asked if the area around the band aid on his back was"black and blue" ...it's not but it is tender!) but today he is more like himself. I don't think he'll agree to another Lumbar puncture anytime soon.
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