Kevin B. Carpenter

Portable App’s and Pain Management Tracker

If you have a USB key and need portable software then portable.com is the place to go.  They have a wonderful set of tools that will install to a USB thumb drive.  When you plug the drive in it loads up its own portable start menu etc, and keeps all your data saved locally in the thumb drive.

In needing to keep my records with me I pasted a copy of the install directory on to the USB drive.  The next time I plugged the drive in it actually found Pain Management Tracker and added it to the Portable App’s start menu.

I wanted to make a version for Portable App’s but for now I believe I will continue to press on with features and stability.  If you need a version that is easy to use on the go, check out Portable App’s.  It gives a nice interface and then you can simply copy and paste the program from your hard drive after running the installer. 

Remember, Pain Management tracker’s only requirements are kept in the directory with the program.    Nothing is stored in registry everything is local with the EXE and files.

Pain Management Tracker BETA v0.41

Two new main features have been added that I think help significantly.  First the configuration of the ‘Last Medicine’ now works.  If configured it will pre-select your last medicine used.  Perhaps in the future I will make it so you can set a default.

The second feature is more dear to me which is Location Suggestion.  Having to do injections over and over I like to try to rotate throughout the body.  Its both more comfortable, and sometimes helps in distribution of the medicine.  Though I am not certain I feel a leg injection works faster, but stomach fat stays longer for example.

When you start the application if you have some history in, it will provide you with the three furthest locations since your last.  Furthest in this meaning is time based and not necessarily distance based.  This is important and an item I will work more with in the future.  Its not perfect, but far better.

Please note that this installer contains a Health Liability Notice.  I am not liable.  This program is not a replacement for sound medical advice from YOUR physician.  I am just a geek and this software is freeware provided AS IS with NO WARRANTY or GUARANTEE.

I still use it every day!  So that doesn’t mean its not good.  I just have enough problems already thank you.

You can continue to use your current DB from 0.35.  Download Version 0.41 HERE.

David May, thanks for the Onyx Theme

I kept one theme for a while and had been tossed as of late.  I like Blue Box, but have found issues with the widgets.  I also didn’t like the way it handled sub pages.  I also wanted something with a more smooth glass look and options.

Of course I like to tweak the stuff myself, so I made a copy and customized it.  I have no idea what else I will add to it but time will tell.  Till then, thanks David for another excellent theme.  You saved me a ton of work and I think it look great.

PM Tracker and Diabetes

I went to the beach for a couple days which was quite an experience.  Aside from having the motorbike get toppled by a wave, losing my wallet, and then having to donate to the traffic cop on the way home my spirits where good.  I had no Internet those days so imagine my surprise to see I had 40 new visitors in one day!

Two of my family members are diabetic.  Though I don’t know either would use the program (my Mom probably wouldn’t need it and is still learning the computer);  my older brother on the other hand might if he had it.  Either way I am sure there are others who could.

Searching the Internet I saw one offered by a company as a 30 day trial only.  Purchase is  a minimum of $20 after 30 days.  Considering the reporting, ability to control pumps, and such its in a different class then anything I have.  However what if that $20 is this month’s phone bill, or even your only movie night a month.  Something free and simple might do the trick yes?

I am not big on traffic here, I post for me.  If its good for you then we both win.  When I posted PM Tracker it was the same deal.  Any response at all is a boon.  To see that kind of traffic made me want to customize and give another one away.

If you are a diabetic please send me an example of the information you would want to track.  I can work on more of my code, and you can get a free application to help manage your medical situation.  In the end it could be a win, win, win, win, win, win, win, win (well you get the picture), situation.

Sofotex Awards PMTracker 5 Stars

How can free be bad?  For my first review of the software I will take it.  Currently it sits number two in the Medical software section.  Nothing ground breaking, but something I am proud of either way.

I have started looking at other download services to post the software on.  I just hope others find it useful too.  I realize this might just be the default review they give.  Perhaps in order to increase traffic to their own site.  Either way I am ready for the critic as well so no sense being pessimistic about the first.

Diabetics, if you are injection insulin dependent or just medicine dependent, please write me and give input on how this program can be made even better for you.

Pain Management Tracker Update

I updated PMTracker today.  It now has a configuration dialog where the Exit button was.  Since you can close the dialog with the available X or a simple ALT-F4 combination and I still didn’t want to add a menu it was the best option.

The new feature lets you edit locations and medicine types.  So now the program is completely configurable in terms of the types of medications you use.  For that matter, even Insulin could be tracked with this program.

Please check it out and let me know what you think. 

Download PMTracker2 version 0.35 BETA

Pain Management Tracker

As seen from the last couple weeks entries I had changes come to town.  They road in as the forms of Layoff, Injections, and New Opportunities.  Believe it or not this program is the culmination of those three.

Being laid off I needed to find a new position.  I wanted to move out of the industry I was in and back into something with more long term promise.  Don’t get me wrong, email marketing works in a BIG way but only when following all Best Practices.

New Opportunity was requiring me to do more MFC/VC++ programming.  The Doctors and Central America where offering me a new way to manage my pain.  Though sticking myself several times a day is less then enjoyable, the side effects on my body are less and the results are better.

After the fourth day of using a spreadsheet it was clear that there was a better way.  Being a data management geek, SQLite to the rescue.  Then I thought why not pull them all in and use my last few days before D-Day to complete some in house training?

PMTracker, a quick program that allows you to track medicine, notes, locations, pain levels, relief levels and more in a easy dialog based fashion.  Written in MFC it loads fast and is as simple as the EXE, Manifest, DB file and one DLL.  Source code is provided so you can learn as I did (it still has some polish needed).

For me the project has been a success.  My MFC is much more up to speed then it was.  I am ready to take the challenge of the New Opportunity.  Thanks to having to track my Injections and medicine helping more its all starting to come together.  I new the water below the plank wasn’t that bad.

I must say thanks to the programmers at MilanSoft for the SmartDB class.  It made using SQLite in MFC very easy.

MFC - More Fricken Code!

My new version of the acronym.  I enjoy the code and the ability to change the slightest thing.  However the amount of code I wrote yesterday to complete the same amount of tasks in .NET was about double.

The EXE is much smaller.  The dependencies I believe as well.  However in testing when I took a XP machine straight from load, it wouldn’t run a MFC app till I put on the VC++ redistributable.  I wonder what SP that is added to by default?

I was going to post my new project Pain Management Tracker today, however I have MFC (More Fricken Code) to write to polish it more.  It works for me to track what I need, but it doesn’t have the features needed to be completely useful yet. 

When I post it, it will be GPL so others can hopefully learn from the code like I did.  I have a opportunity to work on a much larger code set.  However I am below the curve and needed something to help bring things back up to margin.

Unease of Managed C++

Borland C++ Builder was my first application development environment that I really used.  I used it for over three years and three versions.  Because of that I never delved deeply into things like MFC as I was more into OWL.  However I used COM heavily with IE4 and DHTML objects.

Now as opportunity presents itself I am back into MFC.  To get more familiar with the VC++ in general I started a Managed C++ program.  Though it seem’s to link a bit more tightly interface design to the project then MFC it really wasn’t any advantage as a rapid type development environment like BCB was.

When .NET reached 2.0, XP was on most systems and even broke SP2 I used C# more and more.  It has the BCB feel.  It took the headaches of many details away when you needed to make a quick application.  However it provided a lot of power when needed.   Plus as .Net is already on most systems, distribution is a breeze.

When I started with BCB we had many installation dependency issues because the OWL libraries or the DB libraries weren’t already installed.  A reason MFC was a boon for that time.  Now as I have returned I wonder really how much further MFC will carry out. 

My favorite quote from a MS Press book stated something like ‘Programming in MFC and Visual C is inherently difficult and this will help guarantee your job security in the future’.  Its definitely more challenging code then the lesser languages in the Studio.

From my understanding the use of the Managed code options is more so to be able to link MFC applications or libraries to .NET and visa versa.  For now I will stick old school and not mix the two.

Resources for Subcutaneous Injections

Last night was a bit of a scare.  It seems I got a little to far to the inside of my leg when giving myself my injection and nicked a blood vessel.  Upon withdrawing the syringe I had quite a pushback of blood.  I was worried I injected straight to a vein.

Now I am far from opioid naive as the prescribing documentation calls it.  Having been on this type of medicine for almost four years now my body is quite the opposite.  I have been taking less then usual since moving to injections.  However that still doesn’t put the fears at ease when I consider the delivery of the medicine. 

Of course it was just Lauren and I here at the house.  Scared I was trying to call Christy.  I realized I was probably freaking myself out more but this is when ignorance is not bliss.  Respiratory depression/failure is one of the biggest issues with a morphine overdose. 

As I decided to lay on the bed for a few minutes, Christy pulled into the driveway.  So I calmly asked the kids to load into the car so we could take a drive.  As she drove I explained to Christy the reason I wanted her to take me down to CIMA.

I had all the proper symptoms…. of freaking out.  Sweating, hard time breathing, etc.  Christy and I are no strangers to anxiety and so as I talked to her calmly about my concerns she asks me control questions to help me ascertain the real issue.

Half way down the hill I was just fine, the shot was working as it was supposed to and not in any mal fashion.  So we turned the car around.  Apologizing to my wife and girls for the scare.

Living in Costa Rica with pain management.  Jobs are hard enough to get, even harder with issues like mine.  Fortunately in another year or so Christy will become a registered nurse.  She already gets to practice on me with the injection areas I can’t reach.

After last night, first thing this morning I went looking for even more resources on subcutaneous injections.  Here are a few more good ones I found:

• Drugs.com has a decent detailed text article How To Give A Subcutaneous Injection.
• Wikipedia also has a good article about injections.
• John Hopkins Arthritis center has a good guide as well.

With Images:

• HGH News has a good HowTo Guide that also has good images showing locations that are good for subcutaneous shots.  I do not endorse the site/products, but the illustrations and guide are good.

All information contained within the kevinbcarpenter.com website is intended for educational purposes only. Everyone is encouraged to consult other sources and confirm the information contained within this site. Readers should never disregard medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something they may have read on this website.