CGM Sensor Roller Coaster

Speaking of continuous glucose monitors, yesterday’s readings were like a wild roller-coaster ride. Here is the chart from the Libre 2 iOS app:

Let me narrate what happened today. Since I was meeting my friend for lunch at an AYCE shabu place, I did not really eat lunch nor dinner the day before. I had some neuropathy pain, so I was up until 4:00 am. I did not eat anything, so my blood sugar stayed around 160. When I finally fell asleep, the levels started to drop. At around 11:00 am, I left for the restaurant after injecting the morning and pre-meal insulin doses.

At the restaurant, even though we were eating for 30 minutes, I started to feel the signs of hypoglycemia. The reading was 60 so I quickly drank some sugared soda. My blood sugar stabilized but then started shooting up. I did not eat that much for an AYCE place, and it was mostly beef, vegetables, and fish balls. Anyway, we stopped eating around 1:00 am but my blood sugar kept rising. By the time I got home, it was approaching 300 so I took another insulin shot. I then took a long nap during which time my blood sugar dropped to around 180 then back up to over 300. I was sleeping so I did not eat anything. Was I still digesting food from hours ago? This random rise in blood sugar also happens occasionally during mornings. The readings would slowly rise during the last three hours of sleep even though I have not eaten anything for six to nine hours.

Another Bad Libre 2 Sensor

I had another Libre 2 continuous glucose monitor (CGM) sensor fail on me. The sensor was only two days old; they cost $100 and are supposed to last fourteen days. I made a good scan at around 7:00 pm, took a nap, and tried to scan at 11:00 pm and got an error message to replace the sensor.

I do not remember hitting anything with it. I have banged into doorframes before, but previous sensors always kept working. Since my pharmacy only gave me six sensors per prescription, I need all of them to last their full duration before getting another refill.

Last time this happened, I filled out a form online and Abbott sent me a replacement sensor. I went online, found a slightly different webpage, and reported the error. Unbeknownst to me, the form was for Abbott Australia. I just received an email notifying me about that fact, and that they are unable to help me. Ugh. I got back online, found the right webform, and filled it out again. Hopefully I will get an answer on Tuesday.

Neuropathy Weekend 20230528

My feet have been hurting all weekend. It is actually worse than that. My left big toe (#1) started hurting Thursday during the day. The attacks were pretty far apart, and the pain was not very intense. It was still bothersome, and I did not sleep well for a few days. Then the pain shifted to the toes in my right foot (#2) Friday night and was also very intermittent. The pain seemed more diffuse as I could not even pinpoint which toe was hurting.

Because of #2, I could not sleep last night until around 4:00 am. I was up moving some furniture and computers around in my home office. I finally fell asleep and just woke up 20 minutes ago. As soon as I woke up, my right big toe (#3) started hurting. The pain is spread out across the entire toe and the attacks are still minutes apart. In addition, each attack lasts about 3 to 5 seconds, which causes a lot of numbness as well. I am heading out to lunch with a friend; it would totally suck if this was just the beginning of another 24 hour painfest.

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Ugh, the pain jumped back to area #2 last night as I was trying to fall asleep, and I ended up awake all night. I am so tired. Luckily today is a holiday so I do not have to work.

Saving Money

I saved $1,700 yesterday by not buying stuff.

When my parents moved out, they took the 65″ TV from the family room. They also brought a 55″ TV with them, leaving me with a 50″ and two 42″ TVs. Yes, we had a lot of flat panel TVs. When I finally cleared out the family room and reconnected the home stereo system, I wanted to get a new TV. After looking at what was available at Costco, I ended up choosing a Samsung 65″ QN85B:

It was the low-end model for Samsung’s new QLED line and being sold for $1,200 at Costco. I even asked my dad to come by after church to help me buy it. However, by the time he got to my house, I changed my mind. I already have three TVs and it seemed like a waste to get another one. Long story short, I shuffled the existing TVs around and ended up putting the 50″ Samsung in the family room. It does look small compared to the 65″ TV that used to be there, but I do not watch TV that much anyway. This means in my bedroom I have a sixteen-year-old Visio VU42L paired with an original FireTV stick from 2015.

I also made several posts about my half-dead MacBook Air. Since the battery status is “normal” but will not charge, I am not sure a new battery will help. After debating for a few hours, I decided to get a new Mac mini with the M2 chip. They were being sold at Costco and on Amazon for $500. I already have several spare 1080p monitors and can set everything up in my old bedroom. I even got as far as putting the Mac in my cart, plus some monitor cables and a keyboard. Just when I was about to click the buy button, I reconsidered. Like the large number of TVs already in the house, I also have several computers already, including a newish MacBook Pro. Instead of setting up a second Mac, I will just put my MacBook Pro in the old bedroom and use it to record audio and mix tracks.

Two decisions not to buy = $1,700. I am fortunate enough that I can afford the money, but neither were necessary purchases. I can definitely understand how people get into consumer debt issues since e-commerce sites make buying on credit cards so easy.

New Old Bass

I got my bass back from Guitar Remedy. It took about a month and ended up costing about $575 to replace all the electronics. There were some additional issues when Paul finally got to work on it, and I had to pay an extra $75 during pick up.

Here it is. Probably would have been cheaper to just buy a new one. The bass is much louder and the two pickups sound very different as intended. I like the first/top pickup better but will need to play with it to get the sound I want.

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Hmm, prices are higher than I remembered. If I had to buy a new bass, I like this one:

https://www.fender.com/en-US/electric-basses/jazz-bass/usa-geddy-lee-jazz-bass/0197702806.html

It is a Fender Geddy Lee Jazz Bass. One of the churches I played bass in bought this bass for the worship band. This was a long time ago and the price was around $700. The list price is now $2,250 and costs $1,250 at online music stores. So maybe my $500 used bass that cost $575 to repair is not too bad after all.

Bad Insulin Pen

I had another Humalog insulin pen go bad on me yesterday. The dosage selector would stop working so I cannot use the remaining insulin still left in the pen. This is the third or fourth pen from Eli Lilly that has failed before all the insulin is used up.

You can see I still have nearly half the insulin left in the pen. The dosage knob also shows there are at least 60+ units remaining. A box of five pens costs about $2,000 so each pen is $400. Since I am unable to move the knob and plunger on the above pen, I had to throw it away with $150-$200 of insulin still left inside.

In comparison, I also use a long-lasting insulin from another company. The pen is a bit longer but feels more solid, and I have never had an issue with insulin injection using that pen.

MacBook Throttling

Shit.

It seems that a dead or removed battery will severely impact the performance of a MacBook. I replaced the battery in my MacBook Air about two years ago, but it is not charging and is sitting at 1% charge.

From the drop-down status, the battery is still normal, but is not charging. I downloaded another app that said the replacement battery only when through 17 charging cycles. That means the battery is still new. I am not sure what to do now. I cannot get the MacBook to start charging the battery, and replacing the battery likely will not solve the problem. I did a complete factory reset on the computer, so it is not a virus or other malware. The CPU throttling makes the computer useless since everything takes at least ten times longer to process. I also do not want to purchase another computer when the ten-year old MacBook was running fine just a few months ago.

Dead MacBook Air?

This is totally frustrating.

I purchased a new MacBook Pro about 18 months ago since my mid-2012 MacBook Air was close to ten years old. At the time, the MacBook Air was running fine, but a bit slow. It also did not qualify for the newest Mac OS so I decided to upgrade. I also backed up the entire hard drive on to a USB drive.

Since then, the old MacBook Air has been sitting next to my desk, plugged-in but never used. As I am reshuffling the furniture from my office, I decided I would use the MacBook Air as a music production computer. I tried turning it on last night and received numerous errors. Also, the battery has apparently died and is stuck at 2% charge. After messing with it for several hours, I decided to wipe the hard drive and reinstall the OS. Well, that took another six hours. The progress bars always lie about how much time is left. After everything is done, the computer is surprisingly slow. I did not feel the computer was sluggish when I used it a year ago, but now, every click or even scroll will take seconds to minutes. Since I deleted and reinstalled everything, there is plenty of room on the hard drive. Right now, I am trying to download and install Chrome browser, but there are constant errors in Safari so I cannot even download any apps.

I do not know what could have changed. Would I be in this predicament or worse if I did not buy the new MacBook Pro? Are these issues caused by the computer sitting unused for over a year? Whatever it is, it is frustrating to keep staring at the rainbow wheel.

Very Old PS3

I moved some furniture from the office to the spare bedroom yesterday, and today I set up my very old PlayStation 3 on an even older Visio VU42L TV. The PS3 still works, but unfortunately, Sony shut down many dedicated game servers so those games will not work online anymore.

This is part of the opening for Gran Turismo 6. I am only at 54% progress completion. The game server went offline in March, 2018.

I have an older PS2 that I want to connect to the same TV so I can play even older games.

Cheaper IKEA Furniture

I like IKEA furniture. Their products are functional and inexpensive. In return, I know I am getting cheap furniture made from particle board. No one expects most IKEA products to last more than a decade.

About a month ago, I posted that I bought some KALLAX shelves and a desk. I have since assembled everything, and I am now in the process of moving stuff to the new furniture. One way to use the shelf is to place it horizontally on a. base with legs The end product looks like this:

The nearest IKEA in Costa Mesa did not have any stock, so after church on Sunday, I drove all the way to Carson to pick one up. It is made of metal and cost $30. Unfortunately, the older KALLAX shelf I wanted to use with the base did not fit. The newer version of the shelf is made of thinner material. You can see the difference when the old and new shelves are placed side-by-side.

It is evident that the newer shelf (left) has thinner walls and ends. The difference made it impossible to fit the old shelf on the base, so I had to use one of the new shelves. The overall construction is cheaper as well. The particle board is now covered by a thinner veneer that came off more easily compared to the previous version. 😡

Pandemic Over?

The World Health Organization (WHO) released a statement saying that the COVID emergency is over.

The WHO Director-General concurs with the advice offered by the Committee regarding the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. He determines that COVID-19 is now an established and ongoing health issue which no longer constitutes a public health emergency of international concern (PHEIC).

https://www.who.int/news/item/05-05-2023-statement-on-the-fifteenth-meeting-of-the-international-health-regulations-(2005)-emergency-committee-regarding-the-coronavirus-disease-(covid-19)-pandemic

The logic is that hospitalizations and deaths due to COVID are low enough that it is no longer an emergency but a daily fact of life. Does that mean the most virulent strains are relatively harmless? Are recent mutations not as dangerous as previous strains like delta and omicron? Locally, I do not see many people wearing masks, even in healthcare settings, and the FDA/CDC has not approved the next vaccine booster for immunocompromised people

Per the WHO, there are still active cases and deaths from COVID, but just not like the past three years. This is data for the US:

Without context, the chart is just a visual aid. However, it represents three years of everyone’s lives, 765 million cases, and seven million deaths worldwide. I am sure the numbers are higher, mainly due to China’s fake numbers and underreporting by many other countries. That means on average, one out of ten people were infected, and one out of 100 people infected died.

Neuropathy 20230507

I have been telling people that I get peripheral neuropathy attacks monthly but since I have been marking pain points on a diagram, it has been happening weekly.

This one is a bit strange. I am supposed to go to church this morning since two brothers in our group are getting baptized. However, I was dreaming my foot was hurting while at church. I ended up sitting in a back room and did not see anything. When I woke up about twenty minutes ago, the marked location on my left foot was only sore. Soon, however, the real pain started. Was I experiencing the first few attacks while asleep and my brain converted that to a dream? Or was it something like PTSD since any nerve twitch will trigger a feeling of dread? I wish I understood the immediate triggers because it is literally random at this point.

Guitar Remedy III

When we agreed on what needed to be done for my bass, I told Paul that I was not in a hurry since I am not currently playing for church. That was a month ago. I do not know how long it takes to order the pickups and install everything so maybe a month is normal. I did pay the entire amount in advance even though Paul only wanted a deposit. Maybe that takes away motivation to get the repairs done and receive the payment balance? I sent a message on the webform so hopefully I will get a reply soon.

Freestyle Libre 2 Sensor Kit Refill

After dealing with Edgepark for an entire year, I was able to get sensor refills from my Express Scripts, the online pharmacy used by my work health insurance. I believe I had to go to Edgepark in the first place because my Medicare coverage only includes Part A and Part B. My endocrinologist likely sent the original order to Edgepark since Medicare Part B does cover medical devices, just not drug prescriptions. Anyway, I had to pay a large copay on my first order, and subsequent orders would also require sizeable copays.

Since I also needed insulin and glucose test strips (backup) refills, my endocrinologist sent everything to Express Scripts, including the sensor kit refill. Since my work insurance covers prescriptions, the kits were covered 100%. In addition, several other items that used to have $60 copays were 100% covered.

Only the long-lasting insulin refill had a $60 copay. I checked the invoice for this order and here is what my work paid:

  • Freestyle Libre 2 Sensor Kit (6 qty): $346.77
  • One Touch Verio Strips 100’s (3 qty): $207.36
  • Toujeo Solostar Pen 1.5ml 3s (3 qty): $1,102.44
  • Humalog Kwkpn 3ml 5’s (4 qty): $1,909.44

That is over $3,500 for just insulin and glucose testing for three months. For an entire year, this is over $14k and I have not included my other medications. I think I will have to move to Canada after I retire, at least until I qualify for Medicare again.

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Hmm, maybe Medicare coverage rules have changed recently?

https://diatribe.org/medicare-expands-cgm-continuous-glucose-monitor-coverage-type-2-diabetes

If type 2 diabetes was not covered before, how was I getting the first two orders partially paid for? Was I being classified as a post-transplant patient instead?

Neuropathy 20230501

Ugh, another peripheral neuropathy attack. The timing is terrible this time since I am visiting a software vendor this afternoon. That is going to suck if the attack continues until then.

This time the apparent pain point is on the outside bottom of my right foot as marked above. Interestingly, I can push hard on my calf muscle and trigger pain or numbness in my foot. However, I could not find the location that matches the current pain point. Instead, I am just making my foot number overall.

I hope this attack ends soon so I will not have to hobble around the software vendor’s office later this afternoon. I have been trying to sleep since 11:00 pm. It is now almost 3:00 am and I have not slept at all, and I am very tired.

Scurvy?

I was looking at the IKEA website for a small nightstand. I am trying to set up my old bedroom into a studio/gamepad. The furniture I have are a bit too large, so I needed a smaller nightstand to make everything fit. I saw this nightstand and it fits perfectly.

It is a bit pricy for $50 but everything is expensive nowadays. When I first saw the item, I thought the name was scurvy. The name is actually SKRUVBY so it sounds like scurvy when you say it aloud.

The definition of scurvy is:

a disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin C, characterized by swollen bleeding gums and the opening of previously healed wounds, which particularly affected poorly nourished sailors until the end of the 18th century.

Maybe SKRUVBY means something boring in Swedish.

Irvine Spectrum Apple Store

In my previous post I wrote about my ChargePoint adventure. The reason we were at Irvine Spectrum was to pick up a new iPhone 14 Pro Max for my mom. That is an expensive phone.

I have not visited Irvine Spectrum in a long time. Many years ago, I went with my dad to the Apple Store there to pick up an iPad Pro. I remember there was a lot of construction. I believe the current store was part of the new construction.

There is a reflecting pool right outside the store. Very pretty and lots of open space.

The store facade was all glass. I wonder if the sun shines into the store floor at some point during the day.

Lots of employees in green shirts. Most were just standing around chatting with one another. It looks like you need to have tattoos to work there. I wonder how much Apple pays their store salespeople. Maybe I can work here after I retire; I just want the emplopee discount.

ChargePoint

I went with my parents to Irvine Spectrum yesterday to pick up an Apple iPhone 14 Pro Max. My mom wanted a new phone, so I ended up buying it for her. I think I have purchased all my parents’ Apple devices over the past five years. We got the gold-colored phone with 256 GB of memory, and it cost $1,199 before tax.

Since it was early Saturday afternoon, the Spectrum was packed with people. After circling the parking lot then parking structure, I finally found an open spot, but it was for EV charging. No problem, I thought. I was driving my Tesla Model S. However, the charger was from ChargePoint. I set up a ChargePoint account when I got my Tesla in 2016 but have never used it to charge my car. Regardless, I put the card on the reader, and it said ready to charge.

Since I have never used ChargePoint before, I did not know how much it would cost to charge my car. At this point, I did not really care. I was simply happy to park somewhere. I then got a bunch of emails and text messages and saw this:

$0!? That is great. I thought Irvine Spectrum was paying the charge fees to attract shoppers. I also received an email saying the rate will go up from $0.00/hour to $3.00/hour after five hours. This was not the total cost.

This was a level 2 charger with output of 199 volts at 30 amps or about 6 kW. Since we were just picking up a purchase, I would not be parked long enough to get a meaningful charge.

In the end, I charged 25 minutes and received 2.16 kWh. I was still charged $0.63 for the electricity, but my card was charged $10 so I have some credits on my ChargePoint account. The charge cost works out to about $0.29/kWh, which is about the same as what it costs me at home. It appears that Irvine Spectrum adds a surcharge of $3.00/hour if you are parked for more than five hours to deter charger hogs?

It was a positive charging experience overall. If you are there less than five hours, the charging fees are reasonable. I still think Tesla should put an urban 72 kW Supercharger station in the parking structure.