Down the drain

Kerri recently blogged about the cost of insulin, which truly is exorbitant. She touched on a subject I’ve wanted to write about before but never have. Waste.

Clearly, our healthcare system in America is broken. While I think the cost of my medicines are outrageous, on some level, I understand. Having been closely involved with JDRF through the years, I’ve seen the underbelly. Meds require human trials. Human trials require prior tests. Prior tests require lab time. Lab time involves equipment and testing. It’s not as if a medicine is discovered, reproduced overnight and on the shelf the next week. These thing take time and lots an lots and lots of money. And that’s all before the FDA makes sure we won’t die from a particular medicine. I get it. (sort of)

But because I don’t have lots and lots and lots of money, I’m extremely conservative with my supplies and meds. Conservative? With medicine? Yes. At close to $80 a pop, I wear my CGM site longer than seven days (although it’s only approved for that length of time.) I usually wear my pump sites twice as long as well, and I’ve been known to reuse a reservoir or two. When I was uninsured after college, I ate few carbs and was insanely meticulous with what I ate to make sure my insulin lasted as long as possible. A bottle of Humalog goes for $85 without insurance.

So here’s my issue… I waste a good 30-40units every time I change my pump site. There’s about 10 units left in tubing. There’s probably that much in the reservoir even though my pump says it’s empty. And when I fill my pump, it holds 205 units. But after priming, I’m down to roughly 175ish units. That’s a lot of wasted insulin people! I might as well through cash directly down the drain.

I’m thankful for my pump and the technology I rely on to survive, but I have such a hard time wasting so much insulin. It’s probably my biggest complaint about the insulin pump. I’m not talking about a couple of units. I’m talking about a day’s worth of lost insulin, and maybe two or three days for others. Throwing my tubing away knowing there is insulin inside is so hard for me. Makes me want to cry — or at least frown considering how much money I put in my FSA this year. And when I think about Life for a Child, it makes me overwhelmingly sad. Take a minute to think about that — people living around the world without access to the medicines we so freely complain about. If you’re able, please give.

And if you have extra supplies that remain unopened and not expired, find a place to send them. Through your generosity last April, those affected by tornadoes in Alabama, Missouri and Oklahoma all received D-supplies. And yesterday, another part of Alabama received meters, strips, glucose tablets, syringes and other supplies. Please, don’t throw away usable supplies if you don’t have to. There are needs — just look around.