{"id":379,"date":"2011-01-03T18:12:44","date_gmt":"2011-01-03T18:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/buckroth.wordpress.com\/?p=379"},"modified":"2011-01-03T18:12:44","modified_gmt":"2011-01-03T18:12:44","slug":"medical-supplies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/?p=379","title":{"rendered":"Medical Supplies"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ooh bo-oo-oy<\/strong>. \u00a0Big stretch.\u00a0 Taking my time.\u00a0 Taking my time because\u00a0I do not want to do what I promised myself I would do today, something I have put off for months – months<\/em>.\u00a0 This particular task-to-goal involves organizing and getting rid of medical supplies <\/strong>that have gone unused.<\/p>\n

I began <\/strong>conveniently storing them in my bedroom closet for easy access some many, many, years ago.\u00a0 Somehow or another, more supplies ended up in a kitchen cupboard at the other end of the house if only because there was room.\u00a0<\/p>\n

You see<\/strong>, I am a diabetic and have been for almost 52 years (August, 2011 anniversary date).\u00a0 Having been trained as such to keep my life in and on\u00a0a\u00a0 tight schedule\u00a0with a tightly controlled (militaristic), regimented\u00a0daily routine, the present overbearing sight of unused medical supplies gave me a sense of un-ease with this disease.\u00a0\u00a0 Also, as these items began collecting dust, the fact of keeping them, hanging on to them\u00a0“just-in-case,” became unbearable,\u00a0analytically<\/em>\u00a0unnecessary.\u00a0 As with many facets of this, my life as a diabetic, the addition of\u00a0dust compounded unacceptance.\u00a0\u00a0 I have\u00a0rationalized the ‘collective’ matter and put it into perspective (reality).\u00a0 Simply, if this stuff is\u00a0literally collecting a fine layer of dust and I haven’t used this, that or the other for an obvious long time, get rid of it!\u00a0 \u00a0Phew!\u00a0 I am a realist.<\/p>\n

During the <\/strong>past sixteen years I have used four different brands of\u00a0an infamous invention\u00a0known as ‘the\u00a0insulin pump.’\u00a0\u00a0Sure, it’s a great BIG deal while strategizing life with this disease.\u00a0 But this essay is not specifically about or limited to\u00a0such mechanisms.\u00a0 Admittedly being a cyborg,\u00a0such machines have allowed me\u00a0disconcerting <\/em>flexibility.\u00a0 \u00a0 Also keep in mind that none of the pumps that I have used\u00a0are or were fool-proof.\u00a0 \u00a0While helping me to maintain\u00a0an\u00a0acceptable HbA1C\u00a0level (see definition further on) when\u00a0working properly (key words), all of them stopped working at one point or another.\u00a0 Therefore, another supply or another was given, purchased, suggested, forced on me to\u00a0troubleshoot this expensive ($6.5K+) machine.\u00a0\u00a0I am not cheap.\u00a0 Therefore, my medical supply collection is not as well.<\/p>\n

“HbA1c levels <\/strong>depend on the blood glucose concentration. That is, the higher the glucose concentration in blood, the higher the level of HbA1c.\u00a0\u00a0 Levels of HbA1c\u00a0are not influenced by daily fluctuations in the blood glucose concentration but reflect\u00a0the average glucose levels over the prior\u00a0six to eight weeks. Therefore, HbA1c\u00a0is a useful indicator of how well the blood glucose level has been controlled\u00a0in the recent past and may be\u00a0used to monitor the effects of diet, exercise, and drug therapy on blood glucose in diabetic patients.<\/p>\n

“In healthy<\/strong>, non-diabetic patients\u00a0the HbA1c\u00a0level is less than 7% of total hemoglobin. It has been demonstrated that the complications of diabetes<\/a>\u00a0can be\u00a0delayed or prevented if the HbA1c\u00a0level can be kept close to 7%. In general, values should be kept below 8%.”<\/p>\n

Okay<\/strong>, with that important information aside, it is still time to clean out the closet!\u00a0\u00a0 No procrastinating now!\u00a0 I’m on a roll!\u00a0 And, as joyously anticipated,\u00a0the closet looks so much better!\u00a0 There’s room –\u00a0open, cleared, cleaned out and cleaned off; room enough for seven hats, or many books, or blankets and pillows or board games.\u00a0 Good heavens,\u00a0knowing that I can’t decide, I decided to leave it empty.\u00a0 Gosh, that was\u00a0a simple decision.<\/p>\n

The supplies?\u00a0<\/strong>\u00a0Well, the inventory holds: 1 (one) Link Assist;\u00a03 (three) boxes of cartridges, 2 (two) of these are unopened;\u00a08 (eight) boxes of infusion sets, 3 (three) of which have been opened; 1 (one) software CD; 1 (one) “Quick Reference Guide;” 1 (one) “Pocket Guide;” 1 (one) battery cover; 4 (four)\u00a0hard plastic battery removers; 1 (one)\u00a0hand-held device; 2 (two) hard plastic insulin pump shipping cases;\u00a03 (three) glucometers\u00a0without strips; 4 (four) unopened boxes of lancets;\u00a0and menial additions of sundry medical supplies.\u00a0 Now, on to what\u00a0to do with this stuff…<\/p>\n

To pause, <\/strong>let me address readers that are totally unfamiliar with what I am writing on about.\u00a0 Non-diabetics are granted my utmost respect when caring for a diabetic which involves constant learning.\u00a0 It’s all tiring, fatiguing, boring and such.\u00a0 But facts is facts.\u00a0 Interested parties can easily, very easily, look up this stuff.\u00a0 And so…\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Of course <\/strong>I telephoned each of the responsible manufacturing companies to inquire\u00a0about ‘this stuff.’\u00a0 You know what I was told?\u00a0 Of course not, but I will tell you: “Throw it away.”\u00a0 T H R O W\u00a0\u00a0 I T\u00a0\u00a0 A W A Y.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Throw it away??!!! <\/strong><\/em>As this repeated phrase was and is not only unacceptable to me but flabbergasting\u00a0in itself, I was still on a pride-driven roll with a curve: give it to a person in need.\u00a0 Heck, it’s all paid for!\u00a0 With that in mind, I contacted my doctor.\u00a0 She told me to “put it [the inventory] on Craig’s list and give it away that way.”\u00a0 Wow.\u00a0 I was and remain floored, stunned,\u00a0with\u00a0her remark.\u00a0<\/p>\n

In my attempts <\/strong>to become\u00a0someone’s anonymous heroine, to give away, to donate\u00a0packaged, clean, necessary and expensive medical supplies is presently for naught.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Lovingly packed and organized, these boxes have since been carried and\u00a0tenderly placed in another room.\u00a0 Once again, I know what I must do but I cannot get myself to do it – post it all on Craig’s list.\u00a0 It\u00a0doesn’t seem right;\u00a0such an action makes me uncomfortable.\u00a0 I have also thought of contacting the American Red Cross, thinking – hoping – that, perhaps, a medical facility in Croatia, Poland, Greenland, Romania, Wherever would be excitedly appreciative of such items.\u00a0 Or is diabetes non-existent over there?!\u00a0<\/p>\n

Summarily, I consider this matter to be an undecided conundrum\u00a0with the addition of insult.\u00a0 I’m also sure that I am not alone and not the first to have faced this challenge.\u00a0 Things that make you go “hmm.”<\/p>\n

A. K. Buckroth, Author, www.mydiabeticsoul.com<\/a>, www.GlobalDiabetesAwareness.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Ooh bo-oo-oy. \u00a0Big stretch.\u00a0 Taking my time.\u00a0 Taking my time because\u00a0I do not want to do what I promised myself I would do today, something I have put off for months – months.\u00a0 This particular task-to-goal involves organizing and getting … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/379\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/mydiabeticsoul.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}