Wednesday, July 2, 2008

Endo Appointment #2.....

Endo appointment #2.....new endo.....better results!!

Since our last endo appointment didn't go so well, we decided to go back to the endo we had in the hospital. It proved to be worth the extra drive to see her!! She is just kinder and gentler in her approach and extremely thorough. We will definitely stick with her.

She did ask about some of our numbers, but mainly to see if adjustments needed to be made in our dosages.

The great news is that J.J.'s A1C is 7.5!!! More in range!!! The endo said if we can keep him here for the next few years, that'd be great. She says for his age they're happy with 8.5, so to see 7.5 means we are controlling his diabetes fairly well.

Because of the control we are able to achieve right now, it's very hard to look at the pump and get excited. Our endo said, yes, 3 months ago they were pushing for it, but now.....it's not so necessary. I'm concerned that once winter hits we won't be able to get these results because of the decreased activity.

So.......here is the pump status.......

We still haven't heard from Medtronic about getting our pump supplies. Our clinic called and approved the donated pump use, and said Medtronic would be calling me to set up delivery of supplies. It's been 4 weeks today since that call!! I was beginning to think Medtronic was not going to work with us at all. In fact I was on ipump.org's website yesterday and it states that it's illegal to give medical supplies like a pump to someone. Today, however, when I was in the clinic our CDE says that I probably haven't heard from Medtronic because another form or a phone call from me was in order!! That was news to me!! She was going to make a phone call to the rep and try to get the ball rolling and he should call us in the next few days.

Now this was interesting.....both my CDE and Endo were in the room at the same time while we were discussing the pumps. At first the donated pump wasn't mentioned, I began talking about how if we were to get a pump I was going to have the reps from two companies in my home because walking around with a DUD pump is NOT a way to decide on a $6000 device. I told them I wanted to get a real feel for how the mechanism works----the electronics----the pros and cons, etc. My endo tells me she'd rather I not do that, but to rely on the CDE staff in the clinic to explain the pro's and con's because a rep will only give me the positive, but the CDE's will know more of the negative and give me a better rounded knowledge of the two. She did say both pumps are excellent whatever we decide, but she would have the CDE show us both.

So the CDE takes FOREVER to gather a few things and then hands us the latest model of the two pumps to "play with", but they would have to stay with the clinic. Then she hands us the two manuals for both and says we can take them with us but we would have to ship them back as soon as we were done. She was going to leave us in the room to "decide'. Here I am thinking...."GEE....that was really informative". She still isn't showing us the features, pros vs. cons.....etc!! We really had to be somewhere, so I told her she could have it all, but thanks anyway!! I already know this clinic leans very heavily toward one company, so I really didn't expect much.

I find it very interesting that the endo would discourage me from seeing the reps. Hubby is a manufacturing sales rep.....so of course he got in the van and said....."We're getting the reps to come out!! Let's see how well they sell their product. If they're good they'll tell us the cons of their product and maybe a few of the other product.....don't worry we'll have a well rounded knowledge."

Overall it was a good appointment. It was nice to come out with a smile instead of tears!!:-) We'll just have to figure this pump situation out.....but it'll happen eventually.

Happy 4th to all!!:-)

1 comment:

Lisa said...

I'm so glad that you guys got a new endo! I hope that it makes your visits easier and more worthwhile.

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