Thanksgiving in D land!

I have successfully survived Thanksgiving (no leftover turkey, either). I drove to Oak Ridge, TN with my grandmother and we saw my stepbrothers and their wives and children. Had a fine time. Excellent food from excellent cooks. The insulin pump was put in overdrive. The only glitch in the whole trip was having my left hip dislocate and get severely inflamed. Had a trip to the ER to check if it was in. It was but very uncomfortable.

I also have had some changes in my diabetes arsenal. I changed my infusion set to the new Inset 30 from Animas, I got some samples and supplemental training from my new Animas Territory Representative, Holly Samples. We also reviewed my pump issues and she went through the site changes. Turns out the main problems with loss of prime was a major pumping concept, filling the cannula. I was never told you had to fill the cannula after you connected the infusion set. This caused a delay in basal delivery and air in the tubing. This and kinking in my cannulas explained my problems with losing prime. My trainer was only with Animas for a short time and training was just before a holiday at that 15 months ago. This visit was valuable and reminded me that having more training as a new pumper is valuable. My experiences are much better now and the IR 1250 is happy. My HbA1c was 5.4% so all is groovy! Holly was key to improvements in my pumping know-how.

It has been busy in the world of broadcast engineering. I have had a Vol Network football broadcast (the UT-Kentucky game we won by 2 points in 4 overtimes) 51-49. We are playing LSU in Atlanta, GA next Saturday. Go Vols!

Today, we had 4 FM exciters, 2 audio processors, and 2 FM multiplex generators fail due to a power surge. A 60 mile drive to Knoxville, TN again and a trip to Sharp's Ridge to the transmitter building to repair the affected gear. Many capacitors, resistors, diodes, transistors and a tube or two later WUOT-FM 91.9 was back on the air. Took 5 hours to repair all!

I am glad to have this week over due to the excitement and all the traffic and repairs attended too. Broadcast engineering never is dull, always repairs and maintenance to be done. Next week, I have to go get my new shoes and inserts. I had to get new orthotics and a new pair of modified New Balance 587 running shoes with them. I have a leg length discrepancy. My left leg is 5/8" shorter than my right. I need a built up left shoe. I was born this way and had to live with it 41 years of that before it was re-evaluated and compensated for. Very hard on backs and hip joints. My left hip was also cocked to the side a bit when I was born 11 weeks early in 1964. Also got club feet too with it. I get stiffer and more uncomfortable as I get older (I outlived my life expectancy 5 times along the way). Next week is going to be a slower one if possible.