Yes, that is what I thought, too!!
I just found my PDM (receiver). The batteries have corroded though! I put new ones in but it isn’t turning on. @Eric, any idea why it isn’t turning on?? If this one doesn’t turn on, I do have another receiver somewhere but I need to locate it!
@Eric PDM is working! I guess I just didn’t have the batteries in properly. It still has my settings so @daisymae will just need to change them a bit for her own requirements. It has been 3+ years since I used the PDM so we may need your assistance, Eric, for setup! I can bring a couple of boxes of Pods, too, when we meet, DM. I think you will be happy with Omnipod!! Let me know when you want to meet!!
I highly recommend doing a PDM reset before she starts! That wipes out all of your settings and let’s her start as if it was brand new.
Settings>>System setup>>Diagnostics>>Reset PDM
Ah, okay, will do!!
Okay dokey. I think we’re all on the same page with this. Its all very exciting. My only remaining issue is to find out if Medicare (those beasts) will cover the POD since I just began a new warranty on a brand new (and upgraded) Metronic pump. If Medicare won’t pay, im screwed until another 6 years when my warranty is over. Lets all keep our fingers crossed. 
EXPERIMENTING WITH MY ZERO BASAL TIMING, EXPERIMENT #1:
Today I tried a slightly modified version of my Zero TB. Instead of Turing off my basal for 45 minutes, I only turned it off for 30. I know that may not seem significant, but for me, personally, that extra 15 minutes of zero basal counts for something. Before my swim my BG was 106. I estimate how many carbs I will need to fuel my swim and I shoot for enough to bring me up to 140 (if I weren’t swimming), so I took 1.5 Gtabs (6gms); it worked out really well, and I had another great swim. Meditated the entire way. Enjoyed the cool water (its 101 degrees here in Brooklyn today!!!), paced myself nicely, felt remarkably stronger than I did just 1.5 months ago. Nice.
Because of my intense back pain (muscle spasms and terrible cramping), I do have a fear that something is not quite right. However, I did read up on detoxing from oxycodone symptoms, and the pain that I am experiencing is one of the bench marks. I pray and pray that is all that it is. The Medication Management team and my PT are all in agreement that I am healing very well and that I should not b worried, and that in fact, when I am thoroughly off the Oxycodone, I will feel even LESS pain.(what a paradox 
) I see my surgeon in one month. It will have been one full year since my surgery. At My last visit, everything was healing perfectly. Please keep me in your prayers 
Stats:
12am BG 86
2:30am BG 68 took 1/2 tab (2gms)
6am BG 72
7am BG 80
8:15am BG 79 bolused for 1 C Cottage cheese and bowl of fresh Walnuts
10:30am BG 100
12:10pm BG 111 turned off basal, waited about 10 minutes and walked to the pool
12:45pm BG 106
1:15pm BG 86 bolused 0.5U, showered, dressed headed home
1:40PM bolused 3.2U for Refuel Shakes
Feeling wonderful!!!
Signing out,
DM
Wow! Fabulous numbers for your swim!! Certainly keeping you in my prayers for no more pain!!
3 posts were split to a new topic: Inserting an Omnipod into scar tissue
A REAL STRUGGLE THAT WORKED OUT WELL, EXPERIEMENT #1:
All of yesterday and all throughout the night, my BGs were high no matter how much insulin I was dosing. I was pumping, I was injecting, I was doing IM shots into my thighs. Nothing I did seem to matter. I even took a CoVid test to see if I were sick or something without being symptomatic! . I changed my pump twice during the night. Checked for air bubbles in my tubing, opened a brand new vial of insulin…and on and on. This carried over through this morning. I was banging that insulin into my body like it was going out of style. I felt like I might as well be injecting water.
Needless to say, I didnt sleep at all last night, and by 5am, I was so miserably exhausted, but couldn’t sleep, I just dragged myself into the living room and turned on the TV. I waited to eat breakfast at my usual time. I double bolused for just 12gms of carbs and protein and it had absolutely no impact on my BGs. I watched my sugars climb and climb.
Finally, when I only had .3U IOB I decided I’d had enough and I would go swim it off. That no matter how utterly exhausted and whipped I was, the pool was indeed the one place that would fix it. when I left the house, my BGs were high and climbing; out of my personal comfort zone considering how much insulin I had been dosing. I walked briskly to the pool (kind of like a mad woman, crazy lunatic if you had been one of the people I passed on the way there)
One thing I have learned about doing any kind of exercise with IOB (including walking, for me at least) is that it can dramatically lower your BGs quickly. SO leaving my house with the .3U IOB definately helped bring my sugars down…this was even more effective than all of the insulin I had been pumping!
I HAVE A RULE: once I am in the pool, I do not allow myself to even think about being diabetic.I dont think about my numbers, I dont make mental calculations about if im gonna go high or low…nothing. My “self-talk” is easy. I do it like a mantra : " Breath out DISEASE, breath in LIFE." I say it over and over and over. I am not schizophrenic, I am not OCD, I am not a diabetic, I am not someone who has gone through major spinal surgery. I am whole. I am healthy. I am sane. I have gratitude. I have good friends, I have people who love and care for me. I am a kind person. ALL GOOD STUFF. And if a negative thought creeps into my mind, I acknowledge it and push it right back out. Breathe. In, out, in, out…
when I arrived at the pool, my BGs had dropped into a healthy TR. I even supplemented it with 1.5 GTabs (6gms) And I jumped right in. I swam as hard as I could. I focused on all the things previously mentioned. I pumped and I glided. Even the screaming children from the pools day camp did not bother me. I just remained focused and grateful.
when I got out of the pool, my BG was 82. I was very very pleased (I admit that I did sneak in an extra 5 minutes of swim time against doctors orders, but how’s he gonna know 
.) I bolused 0.5U to compensate for time off my pump, showered, dressed, walked home like a banshee woman. 10 minutes before I was approaching my house, I bolused for my refuel (it takes about 1/2 hour pre-bolus before I can drink it for whatever reason.)
No need to go into my crazy stats. Just to say that if my BGs pop up for what may seem out of the ordinary, I will turn on a TB for a few hours to see if that helps (its always nice to have a plan in place, but I am not there yet, so I will not live in the future just now.)
Have a wonderful w/end everyone. Its over 100 degrees here in Brooklyn. Ugh. And b/c of medical appointments, I will not b back in the pool until next Wednesday 
But I shall return, and it will be everything I could ever hope for! 
signing out,
DM
DM, great job! Your self talk is awesome… I know I can use more of that every single day!
Thank you for the inspiration.
Lisa 
MANTRA MANTRA MANTRA, EXPERIEMENT #2:
So I used the mantra again today. Breath in LIFE, breathe out DISEASE, in and out, in and out… wonderful. it kept me calm and focussed and helped me enjoy my swim to the max.
I didnt even know if I would be going to swim today bc I had had 2 nights of no sleep whatsoever and I was so physically and mentally exhausted, I truly didnt think my little body could muster up enough energy. But I told myself " SELF, there is nothing better than a swim to remedy anything that is off kilter. JUST GO FOR IT AND YOU WILL FEEL LIKE A MILLION BUCKS…and you can nap later ." and that is exactly what I did, and it worked like a charm.
I had some crazy BGs today after my swim, and I kinda overzealously overbolused my insulin. Right before I was getting into the pool, my BG was 113. I took 6gms of carbs and jumped right in. Post swim my BG was 96. great, right?! Nice and flat. so I did my usual routine of bolusing 0.5U after the swim to cover for time off my pump, and then another 3.2 U 1/2 hour pre-bolus before my Refuel Shakes. Well, that 1/2 wait time came, and my BG had spiked to 142. OMG, what happened? How Bizarre is that. I immediately changed my pump infusion site and bolused a correction of 0.7U to cover. But, neurotic as I am, I tested again in another 10 minutes, and my BG had come crashing down to 111. Ugh. Well, I drank my shakes and then tested again when I was finished. My BG was 45. Eegaads. I had a little Apple Cider. I didnt want to drink too much bc I had just finished my shakes, and I hadn’t digested them yet. But between the over bolus earlier and the low blood sugar, I didnt know what to do. I tried using the FORCE, and we’ll see how that works out.
Just rolling with the punches. I know it will all work out in the end, and I am looking forward to a nice healthy dinner later on. Ive been drinking so much water (I get so thirsty after I swim!)
I’ll be back in the pool on Friday. Hopefully without the glitches
signing out,
DM
PS: just got my latest A1c back: 5.1% and I am very pleased with that. I have been in TR around 85% of the time. Perhaps I should have a large slice of Key Lime Pie now 
Yes DM, the time is always right for Key Lime pie!
TOO MUCH TIME ON ZERO BASAL AND TOO MANY FAST CARBS, EXPERIMENT #1:
Not that my swim was unproductive by any means! But I learned that I dont need much time on zero basal, and when I have that much time on zero basal, I dont need to cover with many fast carbs before jumping into the pool. As Eric would say : “information gathering.” 
I had a really good night sleep, but at 4am I was awoken with my version of a high BG of 121. I did a correction bolus and did a TB of 110% for 4 hours. Worked perfectly. And when I was ready for breakfast my BG had come back down to 71.
At 11am, I made an error in judgement. My BG was 82. As I had spent All of yesterday battling with lows, I thought it wouldn’t hurt to take 1/2 a Gtab (I mean thats only 2gms of carbs, right) However, I do these things sometimes impulsively without thinking things through. Why correct anything that does not need correcting??? DUH. But I did it, and it was done with. And surely enough, within 1/2 hour, my BG had climbed to 103 and climbing. But at 12:15pm, I thought I may need a little time of Zero Basal, so I turned off my pump. Of course, I miscalculated how long it would take me to walk to the pool, and I ended up being on the Zero basal for 45 minutes instead of just 30 minutes. Now in my world, those teeny weeny 15 minutes, make a huge impact on my body. And although my BGs weren’t actually, in the real world, HIGH when I was about to jump in the pool, I took another 1/2 Gtab before jumping in. It was completely unnecessary. Before my swim, my BG was 118, and after my swim my BG was 101. I bolused upstairs in the locker room immediately, both for time of Zero TB as well as the time I was off my pump swimming. (0.9 U) showered and got dressed like a speed freak, and made a mad dash home bc it had started to pour.
I am really looking forward to Monday so that I get the chance to do it all over again, and try my best to b mindful of the power of both Zero Basal and tiny increments of carbs. Let me learn from my mistakes.
SURGERY SITUATION UPDATE:
On this Tuesday, I am going for my 1 year post-op X-rays. I need a clear look to find out that all of my new hardware is in its place and that I have healed well. However, because of the immense pain I have been in involving the muscles, their extreme tightness and spasming I am most likely going to benefit from Trigger Point Injections as well as some thing I cannot pronounce that is steroidal. (UGH, steroids and insulin resistance; not good bed fellows .) Thank God for my pump! I am anxious to see what is happening inside there. All of those screws and nuts and bolts and rods… But truly, the only pain I have had is in the muscles. My spine feels fine. Still tight, still working on my flexibility and how to get dressed, But, I am doing all these things I couldn’t do 2 years ago. AND I AM SWIMMING AGAIN! I will report back regarding both the X-ray results and the injections.
signing out,
DM
Nice work! Congratulations.
Yes, there is a huge difference between a few grams of carbs when you are on normal basal, and that same amount of carbs when you are on zero basal.
I am glad you got that locked down in your brain now!
My brain frequently malfunctions
A FANTASTIC CURE FOR DIABETES: SWIM; EXPERIEMENT # 2:
I was operating on absolutely no sleep…well perhaps 3 hours…and I just knew that no matter how rotten I was feeling, that swimming in the pool would make everything just right again.
Also, I got my Shingles vaccination over the weekend, and it knocked me for an extraordinary loop. everyone told me “oh, its nothing; dont worry about it; you’ll just have some soreness from the injection and perhaps a slight headache…blah blah blah…” Yeah, right. The first day I felt 100% fine. but by the 2nd, 3rd, and 4th day I felt like death.
Anyway, all better now. had a great swim, strong and getting faster than when I started. still lots of pain in my spine and back muscles.
went for spinal X-rays on Tuesday. Cant believe its been a full year since my surgery!! Am thinking that I havent been sleeping well bc I am so anxious about what the doctor will say about how I am healing. Of course my biggest fear is that something dislodged and I will need to have reparative surgery. OMG, what a nightmare of a thought. But its definately keeping me up at night swimming round and round in my brain. (no pun intended) I should know my results by later this afternoon.
some stats:
all morning my sugars were in the 80s, so unless I spiked, I knew I would have to do a ZERO basal before jumping into the pool. I was aiming for 30 minutes, but I got distracted and left the house a little later. but it was only an additional 10 minutes before I was detaching from my pump and sliding into the water.
AT home prepping for the pool, after 15 minutes of ZERO basal, my BG
had come up to 104. I speed-walked to the pool, and right before jumping in my BG was 101. I took 8gms carbs. When I got out, my BG was 96. Love seeing that flat line! AS soon as I got back up to my locker, I bolused 1U to compensate for the time off my basal (a total of approximately 80/90 minutes)
Also, just to note: since I began swimming again, my basal rates have come down SIGNIFICANTLY. It took me a while of futzing around, but I keep impeccable notes of everything (OCD style), so I had good references available. I think I found my sweet spot(s). I am literally on about 25% less insulin than I was just 2 months ago. (Maybe muscle v. fat ratio?)
I cannot believe that just 6 months ago I could barely walk down one city block without my walker, and now I am speed walking to and from the pool and swimming again. For all of you who have been rooting me on and praying for me, please keep it up bc its working! 
I’ll let you know how the X-rays turned out ASAP.
Have a wonderful weekend everyone!
Signing out,
DM
HEARD BACK FROM MY SURGEON: re:X-rays
Everything looks right where it should be and now I can go ahead and set up an appointment for the Trigger Point Injections. God, do I ever hope they will relieve my residual pain. chronic pain stinks!!!
Let’s look back into our time-warp crystal ball…
From June 21st…
Well, I guess I was wrong… 
It was actually only 2 months. 
NOT A PEACEFUL SWIM EXPERIEMENT#1:
I am not certain why, but all of last night my BGs were hovering in their 60s and I struggled to get them up. Then at 2:30am I shot up to 126. I did a small correction bolus of .4U and that seemed to take care of it well. When I woke up my sugars were 76.(problem solved, or so I thought)
I ate my breakfast as usual, but instead of BG stability, my sugars began to climb. By 11am, my BG was 137!!! Oh My. And I still had .6U IOB. I wouldn’t dare dash off to the pool with that much IOB (maybe Eric would, but I am not that experimental nor courageous.) I knew I would have to wait till I had between .3U - .2U left OB.
when I left my house my BG was 135 and I had .2U IOB. when I got to the pool, my BG was 146. I knew I would swim it off, so it didnt really concern me. What concerned me were the 4 lanes being used by the obese women doing water aerobics.( Koodos to them for trying to get healthy, but a real PITA for me) That left only 3 lanes open for lap swimming, and it was crowded today for some reason. I tried my best to enjoy myself and to meditate, but I was constantly being distracted by the other swimmers passing me. I was getting bumped by flippers, hand paddles, kickboards, and body parts that were not my own. Ugh. (again, a high class problem.)
When I finished my swim my BG was 108. although I usually bolus .5U to cover the time off my pump, today I bolused .6U with the idea that I could nudge that number down just a little bit.
on my way home, I bolused 3.2U to cover my refuel shakes (I usually have to pre-bolus 1/2 hour for them, otherwise I will spike.)
All in all, though, I do feel fantastic. I didnt criticize myself for my out of TR BGs. I just let it roll off my shoulders and moved forward.
some stats from last night and this morning:
10:25pm BG 61 took 6gms carbs
11:10pm BG 54 had 1/3 C apple cider
12am BG 68
1am BG 108 (Finally 
)
2:30am BG 126 bolused .4U correction
6:10am BG 65
got up, watched some TV
8am BG 76
8:20 BG 76 bolused for 1C Cottage Cheese
Then, BOOM!
11am BG 137 UGH. Oh well. Not every day is going to be perfect.
many talk about how hard it is to bring high BGs DOWN from a high. more frequently I have terrible trouble bringing my BGs back up. It seems like I could eat an entire birthday cake over the course of 4 hours, and still remain in my 50s…and then WHAM, all of that sugar has just been accumulating and hits me all at once and I spike.
Does anyone else have this problem?
well, I’ll b back in the pool on Wednesday, so I get to try it all over again. Like it has been said before by another FUD member : " I’ll still be a diabetic on Wednesday, with all of the same challenges. "
signing out,
DM