Two weeks ago I was at a Birthday dinner when I realized my pump only had 5 units left - I know, total rookie move on my part! Speaking of rookie moves, yours truly was sans back up insulin to boot!
Since we were at pizza joint I knew that 5 units just wouldn’t do, so I excused myself - And assured my friends that all was OK in Busted Pancreas Land and that I was just being wifty in the diabetes department. Then I drove home to get a quick refill. Luckily for me I only lived a mile away so it was no big deal... Or so I thought.
When I got home I went straight for the fridge to grab my bottle of opened insulin....except I couldn’t find it. I checked on my nightstand and in my bathroom - even on my coffee table - And the missing bottle wasn’t in any of those places - It was no where to be found.
I had just crack open a new bottle 9 days earlier and I was pissed off at myself beyond belief!
That bottle had only been opened a little over a week and opening a new bottle meant that I would eventually have to throw some good insulin one way or another.
I could keep looking m and that's what I did, but after 15 minutes I caved and opened a new bottle.
Cut to the next day when I found my rogue insulin bottle - On my kitchen counter hidden behind a bag of Starbucks Medium Roast - exactly where I’d left it.
So what’s a gal with a busted pancreas do in this situation??
This gal continued to use the old bottle until 3 days ago and then started the newer bottle of opened insulin, which according to the 30 day out of the fridge rule will be toast by December 31st.
I HATE when crap like that happens. I hate wasting good insulin just like I hate receiving an error on my meter and wasting a good test - strip - Or having a newly minted infusion site and my tubing/infusion set get yanked out by a doorknob. And I hate that sometimes, even when we don't want to, we have change our infusion set with 10 units left because we have to.
My insurance doesn’t understand that “shit happens” when it comes to diabetes.
That sometimes a perfectly good opened bottle of insulin can smash on a tile floor or get lost behind the bag of Starbucks for a few days.
So has anyone else been forced to waste their precious diabetes supplies and felt like a complete jackass for having had to?
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6 comments:
The Error message/ wasted test strip scenario makes me batty. Even worse if I set up a new test and that prick spot has stopped bleeding and I have to prick a new finger. Seriously nutso! xo
Meter errors and ripping out 12-hour-old sensors are my two biggest pet peeves!
I dropped an unopened box containing novalog the other day. It fell in slow motion and then for a few brief seconds I told myself it would be ok - well until I bent over to retrieve it and smelled the all too familiar smell of life with D. Grrrr - hope you don't run short.
Yep. Have dropped onto unforgiving tile floor a Novolog bottle...not once, but twice in this past year. The first time I forgave myself. The second time I didn't...and neither did the insurance. They allow one replacement per year..so that second drop was a $150 mistake.
I've not had this precise experience, but I'm no stranger to doing things that leave me wondering how I'm bright enough to tie my shoes.
UGH completely! One that drives me nuts is when I put a ketone strip in the meter..thinking i pushed that sucker in all the way and its good to go....and realize after i have already squeezed my daughter's blood onto it, that NO...I didn't push it in all the way..the meter isn't on...and i just wasted a strip. :/
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