Friday, February 4, 2011

A response from the MP : )

Today we received a personally typed letter from the local MP. We had sent him a letter explaining our situation and asking for his help.

Here's the letter we got back:


Typed version:
Dear [Hubby's name] and [Kaitake]


I have received your letter today regarding public funding for fertility treatment. I can understand this is a very difficult journey you are on, fraught with many frustrations as you have mentioned; you are subject to others decisions over something deeply personal that ought to be the decision of the couple concerned. Advances in medical science create many such anomalies where what is possible medically is not always possible financially - and this in turn creates deep disappointment, anger and many questions.


I would be very happy to meet with you both to talk through this more. Please contact my office and a time can be arranged. My office number is...


Kind regards
MP for [name of City]

Cool eh!?

So here's my plan:
call the MP and organise an appointment time for Hubby and I to go and see him
phone the Auckland fertility clinic, as so far the Hamilton one has been a bust. Ask for someone to help us, and for our case to be reviewed as we have serious concerns about how we've been treated.

Yup, so that's the plan.

Tuesday, February 1, 2011

Don't you just love doctors receptionists?

No. Not really. I don't love them much when they call me at work from a blocked phone number and won't take the hint when I reject the first 3 calls because I'm in a meeting. I don't love it when they keep calling anyway, so I answer just to make it stop!

I don't love it when the doctors receptionist is a newbie who's just read the "office policies and procedures manual" and feels it necessary to tell me, as a type 1 diabetic, that I need to come back and pay for an appointment with my GP because my "circumstances may have changed"

I don't love it when I have to tell this silly ditz 3 times that, no, I've not suddenly been cured, and yes! I still will need the prescription for insulin and test strips and all that other fun stuff we diabetics like to hoard.

I don't love it when I get told that "you've had a good run, it's not our policy to give more than one prescription without seeing the patient" duh. Diabetes ain't goin nowhere! You just want to make $40 off me!

Also, please believe me when I say that this is NOT the way my GP's clinic normally works, well, not for the last 28 years I've been goin to him anyway. I email my doc asking for a script, he or the nurse faxes it thru to pharmacy, I pick it up and pay $3 per item. Easy. But not right, according to miss uppity receptionist lady! Bah!

I told her twice that her request was ridiculous, and that her call was really upsetting me.

I said that unlike many other conditions where the doctor strictly controls the medication, in diabetes the diabetic is making daily choices about their insulin. And besides, my endo is the one who actually advises me on what insulins to use, I just get the paperwork done thru GP as it's much cheaper that way.

But silly receptionist didn't understand. And I gave her an earful. And she relented and said she would talk to my doctor and see if she could just fax my script to the pharmacy like normal. We'll see if that comes to fruition or not over the next couple of days.

Besides, why on earth would I want to see my GP? He obviously doesn't care for me, or else he wouldn't have behaved so appallingly last year when we told him we'd been denied fertility funding.

Speaking of which, I got busy with the whole crusade on Friday, posting our letter to the local MP, and also contacting an advocate at the Health and Disability Commission. The local HDC advocate called back this morning and she sounded really supportive and sympathetic to our case.

Although she said we are not a clear cut case where making a complaint to the HDC was appropriate, she still said she'd be happy to help us in any way she can. She suggested contacting a branch of the fertility clinic in another city, as the original one we got referred to "was known to them" - sounds ominous!

She recommended we ask for a review of our case, and gave me some good words to use.

So that was a little bit of hope to stop a crappy morning from caving in on me. :)


- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone

Friday, January 28, 2011

HbA1c results graph

Still under 7%
This is a screenshot of my HbA1c results over time, courtesy of TuAnalyze.

Gone up a bit over Christmas time, but so far still sitting under 7% which is good. :)

Thursday, January 27, 2011

A bit tired

I'm feeling a bit tired now, at 9.30pm. A quick glance back at what I've been up to today:

4 hours spent editing instructional mini videos for iPod learning, with crappy footage shot by a chef who thinks he's a whiz with a camcorder. Sigh. "Turd polishing" is the term that springs to mind :P

10 mins eating reheated pizza for lunch

1 hour meeting with IT dept to test the deployment method of the ebooks and videos I've been creating. Success :)

30 mins spent chatting with my boss

20 mins oohing and aahing at "Thrushley", the injured bird that one of the admin ladies at the office has been hand feeding catfood with tweezers, be cause he's too young and sick to go in the wild yet. Very cute. Today he got a new perch in his cage. He likes to jump around the office and get on the bookshelves!

Various time throughout the day spent going low (twice) and high (once). This has made me very lethargic and given me a headache. :(

45 mins cooking dinner: lamb leg steaks with chilli and soy. Baked potatoes and onions. Tomato, onion, cucumber, spring onion salsa with lemon and lime juice

2 hours helping hubby paint the walls of his new office. Another low.

20 mins deciding whether or not to ring the Health and Disability Commissioner's office. Decided yes. Now waiting for an advocate to contact me to discuss our case and hopefully get something happening regards ivf.

20 mins having a shower and washing hair

An un-measured amount of time stolen from the day in which I read various blogs and turn over blog ideas in my brain.

Now I'm hanging out on the couch, watching telly with wonderful hubby. Xxx

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone.

Sunday, January 23, 2011

A sneak peek preview

Today I celebrate 100 posts and 20 followers (Hi you lovely followers you!)

I am giving you all the opportunity to help me in my mission to get funding for our IVF.

This is my letter that I am planning to send to my local Member of Parliament. If you can spare me a few minutes to read it, and comment or email me with your thoughts I will be forever in your debt. I really need to know I'm doing the right thing here, saying the right thing. This letter could win the battle for us. What do you think?

Also, in case you're curious, here is the CPAC form as mentioned in the letter.

Thank you thank you thank you for reading and helping me fight for justice!

xxx

Kaitake

Friday, January 21, 2011

So proud! :D

This is my step-daughter Olivia singing with her two friends as part of the "Busting to Busk" talent competition in the Park. The song is I'm Yours by Jason Maraz.

Every year the park is lit up with thousands of colourful lights, and there are always plenty of things to see and do. This talent comp was for 13 - 18 year olds. Olivia is 13!!! Look at her go! [She's the blond standing on the right, with guitar. Sorry about bad video quality :(  ]



The girls chose the song that afternoon, so about 2 hours rehearsal and they're all ready to perform in front of 500 people. She's getting really confident now, and her pitch and timing are great, shame about the "interesting" drumming by her mate! haha

They won an award for Best Audience Participation. So cute! :D

Thursday, January 20, 2011

Sesame snack attack

Last night I had racehorse syndrome. And I couldn't figure out why.

I wasn't too high, I wasn't too low.

And then today it clicked. It was these:
Dark Chocolate Sesame Snaps from Golden Days
Oh my how they are tasty! And according to the nutritional info each pack of three slices was only 7g carbs! Yay! A tasty treat I can eat as a true snack!

NO.

That is not the case at all. Because you have read the pack wrong. For a whole week. Dummy. It's not 7g of carbs per pack, it's 7g PER SLICE!!! That means 21g carbs per pack! Oh woe!

On closer inspection, I also found that each slice has a whopping 10g of sodium, so that explains the racehorse: extra sugar, extra salt, extra tasty, extra-needing-to-pee!

*Marketed as a very tasty and nutritious, healthy snack. Unfortunately their website doesn't actually reveal the high levels of sugar and salt in their products. :(

Have you ever been tricked by food like this?