You know it’s not good when….

So I spent most of the day at the clinic, and I will likely spend much of the evening absorbing and processing what transpired. It felt like a lot to take in, but I suppose I’ll figure it out.

The endocrinologist got right into it. You know it’s not good when he says, “You’ve been so sick for so long….” He discontinued the Metformin and went straight into insulin shots. This is something I was hoping NOT to have to do, but there it is. 🙁

He did bring in a nurse to show me how and where to do the shots. Two different kinds of insulin at different times of day. And a recommendation/referral for the diabetes classes.

The G.I. guy was also pretty straightforward into scheduling a colonoscopy (early January). I did ask about my abdominal pains, and he did feel around some, but said we have to get my blood sugar down before we do anything else, because that is affecting all the other systems. It is “dangerously high”, so that is the Priority. Hence, scheduling the colonoscopy in January, to give my body time to get corrected.

The insulin pens at the initial prescription were $80 apiece for each prescription. But, she said for $100 each I could get enough for 3 months. $100 x 2 is better than $80 x 3 x 2. The box of needles to fit the pens was $6, but a 3 month supply was only $7.50. And I came home with a prep kit to be ready for the colonoscopy. So I spent a bunch of money I didn’t really have. The insulin cost will be recurring but thankfully the colon prep won’t be.

I have a lot of reading to do this evening to be sure I understand it. And I lot of pondering to consider how this will impact my days going forward. Since the insulin shots are taken just before meals, and they are supposed to be kept in the refrigerator it will certainly impact whether I go out to eat, but that doesn’t actually happen very often, so it’s not that big a deal in reality.

Tomorrow is a working day, of course, and I will try to get all the Blog Reader Specials reskeined and ready for shipping on Thursday. And then I will work on the custom projects some more. And then figure out how to increase my income to cover ongoing medical expenses.

I will say, however, that in light of news reports of people foregoing their insulin because of the outrageous expense, I am grateful my insulin expense isn’t quite as bad as others have to deal with.