Diabetes is difficult, and I don’t think that any Diabetic or person affected by Diabetes will tell you any different. It also doesn’t help when outside forces (hello insurance companies, I am talking to you!) and to those challenges. It is so nice to know that there are those out there who understand and are willing to offer a helping hand. That is what I have experienced since joining the Diabetes Online Coimmunity, especially this past few weeks.

Just over a year ago, I made the jump to Insulin Pump Therapy and I am so happy I did. It has made a big improvement in managing my Diabetes. When deciding to start “pumping” I also made the decision to purchase a CGM even though continuous Glucose Monitors were not covered by my insurance at that time (unfortunately, this is still the case today.) I purchased the device and 1 box of sensors totaling $1000.00. Not cheap but I was confident that this would eventually be covered by insurance. Well, it’s one year later and still no coverage for CGM and its just a little too difficult to afford.

If that were not enough to make life with the big “D” challenging enough, over the past 2 months, I have found, the hard way, that I have been testing my blood much more frequently than in the past. Under my insurance, I am currently allowed a prescription of 200 test strips per month. While this has been fine in previous months, last month and this month I have run out of test strip almost a week early. Luckily last month, I had extra strips from my plethora of extra meters. Unfortunately, this month I was not so lucky. So, starting off a few weeks ago, I found out how truly wonderful and caring the Diabetes online community is.

About a month ago, I was having some BG control issues and it was frustrating because unless you are constantly testing or have a CGM, you can’t predict what your levels are doing. So, I was on Twitter voicing my issues and concerns. One of my fellow D-Twitters sympathized with my issues and the fact that even though I had a CGM, I was out of sensors so I couldn’t follow and predict what was going on, that she offered to send me a few extra that she had! Are you serious? She offered to send 3 sensors, not questions asked, no payment and I didn’t even have to pay for postage. With each sensor costing $35.00 a piece, that is like her sending me $105.00 check. Now you tell me, how often do you hear about someone that you have never met giving you $100.00 just because they can relate to your situation. That is what I call a selfless act.

Now fast forward to the beginning of this week. For the second month in a row, I am running out of test strips, no backups because I used them the month before and with my refill not available for another week, I was in a bind. Once again, I was on Twitter, voicing my frustration with my insurance company because they had not been willing to increase the number of test strips I was allowed per month, the Diabetic online community showed their kindness once again. My Twitter colleagues @cerichards21, @MyTypeOne, @Diabeticizme, @Wyldceltic1, @betizuka all offered and came through with sending me vials and boxes of their own stash of test strips. With the test strips that I use, OneTouch Ultra strips, being approximately $1.00 per strip, each of them were willing to just hand over anywhere from $25 -$100. Once again I was so touched and appreciative of the selfless support that each of these people, which I consider my friends, offer without anything in return. You really can’t ask for a better support group than that.

In relation to this, I was fortunate enough today, to get approval through my doctor and insurance company to increase the number of test strips alloted per month to 300. this will allow me not to have to take my fellow Diabetic on such kind offers and also, I hope, will allow me to return the favor to someone else who may need the help.

I just want to thank all my fellow Diabetic in the online community out there for being there for me and each other. It is your selfless acts that make dealing with Diabetes so much easier.

This entry was posted on Friday, January 23rd, 2009 at 2:47 pm and is filed under Diabetes. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.