Any Type 1 Diabetics?

Hello everyone!

I've been a type 1 diabetic for 23 years and I just mailed in my paperwork to get my medical waiver earlier this week. So now that I've got that out of the way I'm at the exciting part...scoping out a good company that will fit my particular needs. That's what I'm hoping to talk with some of you about. I know I'm going to need an apu in the truck from the beginning so I can get a fridge setup to house my insulin but outside of that I'm not sure exactly what the right questions to ask a recruiter are. Would a company take it upon themselves to schedule doctor appointments for me? That's the part that kind of has me nervous the most. Is making sure the company I go with understands that if I'm requesting home time to attend a doctors appointment that if I miss that appointment it may mean that I lose my CDL for a number of months. This is even more true considering it's generally not possible to reschedule an endocrinologist appointment within a week, let alone a month.

I'm kind of rambling at this point but I've started my search with Jim Palmer and have reached out to a recruiter there but any advice from anyone who may have familiarity with my particular situation would not only be welcome but also greatly appreciated.

Thank you guys & gals.

Side note, I do not have my CDL yet nor have i held one previously. The medical waiver is needed before I can take that step. Any company I reach out to would also have to accommodate that which I know greatly shortens the list.

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

• Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
• Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

You won't necessarily need an APU to run a refrigerator. I always had a refrigerator and never had an APU. You can idle the truck when necessary and otherwise let the refrigerator run off the truck's batteries. So don't limit yourself to companies with an APU.

As far as scheduling doctor's appointments, that should not be a problem. You'll just request home time for a day or two (probably two) before the appointment so if you get delayed you'll still make the appointment. That's a common thing in trucking. No big deal.

Here are some great resources we have for choosing the right trucking company:

• Trucker's Career Guide: Choosing Your First Truck Driving Job
• Article Category: Finding The Right Truck Driving Job
• Forum Topics Tagged "Choosing A Trucking Company"

OOS:

When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

I do not know how often you need to schedule a doctor's appointment. How about as frequent as once a month? You could probably swing that without a problem. As Brett said, schedule home time to be a day or two before the appointment. You schedule your appointments and your company works around them. With the amount of notice you can give them, you should be fine. Just make sure you let the recruiter know what you have coming up in the next few months already so they can make sure that any training/schooling time will work with it and then double check once you actually get started to make sure the recruiter didn't screw anything up.

Since your home time will involve a doctor's appointment, and you can have it set up over a month out, I don't foresee you having any issues. The people who complain about not getting home when they wanted, when they share the details, often were springing something just a week or two before, or requesting home time that was nowhere near a terminal. Either find a company that has a terminal within a couple hours of Ann Arbor, or be prepared to travel back to your doctor's location with enough time to do it in, from wherever the nearest terminal is if things just get messed up with scheduling on your company's end. I can tell you from experience applying just last week that, while I didn't apply to any companies that had terminals on the east side of the state, there are multiple companies actively recruiting new drivers/students right now here on the west side, in the Kalamazoo/Muskegon/Grand Rapids areas where you would be more than close enough to Ann Arbor to make things work out for you.

The most important thing you can do when you actually start working is to keep in contact with your DM or FM. No matter who else you talked to, they are your scheduler once you start running. You need them to plan things out including your home time. Any standing appointments when you are coming in, let them know. Explain your situation and let them know that you need home time for medical reasons. You don't need to tell them the specific day/time of the appointment because the wrong DM could take advantage and schedule you too close to it trying to squeeze as much out of you as they could at a risk to your short term driving future and health. Just tell them when you need home time to start (day or two before appointment) and when you can be back to work.

Medical reasons will get you priority home time, or whatever the company labels it, which means they should not screw with it. Just remind your DM of upcoming medical home time frequently, like a weekly ritual. If you ever get a temporary DM while yours is out sick or on vacation, or if you get a new one all together, let them know right away that you need your upcoming home time for medical, it cannot be shifted or rescheduled, and that you need to make sure you are where you told them months ago that you needed to be when the time comes. You may even want to talk to their supervisor, with them being a new DM for you, and ask the supervisor to make sure to mention it to them so that the new DM is very clear on the importance of home time that is for medical reasons. Once you have been on the road a bit, you should have a good idea for how loads move with your company and be able to see when time gets close if something seems off about how they are routing you. Just double check if something seems off.

Because of the nature of your situation, as long as you keep informed, take your own responsibility to stay on top of making sure you get home time, and are always clear that this is a requirement for your health and for the DOT , you shouldn't run into a problem. If you ever do come across a DM that doesn't seem to want to be "with it" on the matter, remember that unless you are talking to someone with the title of Owner or CEO, there is always someone bigger than the problem person to go to. Since we aren't talking about you just wanting to get home here, I couldn't imagine any of the bigger companies causing an issue for you. Even with your situation, you should be able to apply to any of them and not run into a problem if they have hired you after you disclosed your very reasonable need.

That was a bit longer than I originally planned, but I tend to do that. For the fridge though, I can keep it short. You can always idle a truck if it does not have an APU , as Brett said. As Brett also said, you have batteries. Big trucks have big batteries, and a few of them. You can double check the power draw info on the unit to be sure, but a single 10 hour period shouldn't run a risk of draining your batteries beyond their limit for a normal mini fridge.

You could also just pick up a refrigerated travel cooler. You can get 12v ones for under $50 so no need for an APU or even a power inverter. Get one that is insulated well and it can keep cold just sitting overnight not plugged in if you didn't have working batteries or an operable engine/APU. Plugging it in for a short time will get it cold and it should stay cold for quite some time. They are small and convenient for something like insulin, and could be a great idea to keep one in your truck even if you do have a fridge in case your fridge dies and you can't get it serviced right away. Plus you have something then where you can move it with you if you get swapped to a different truck that isn't set up the same or need the mobility for some other reason.

Terminal:

A facility where trucking companies operate out of, or their "home base" if you will. A lot of major companies have multiple terminals around the country which usually consist of the main office building, a drop lot for trailers, and sometimes a repair shop and wash facilities.

DOT:

Department Of Transportation

A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.

State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.

Dm:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

Fm:

Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager

The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

You won't necessarily need an APU to run a refrigerator. I always had a refrigerator and never had an APU. You can idle the truck when necessary and otherwise let the refrigerator run off the truck's batteries. So don't limit yourself to companies with an APU.

As far as scheduling doctor's appointments, that should not be a problem. You'll just request home time for a day or two (probably two) before the appointment so if you get delayed you'll still make the appointment. That's a common thing in trucking. No big deal.

Here are some great resources we have for choosing the right trucking company:

• Trucker's Career Guide: Choosing Your First Truck Driving Job
• Article Category: Finding The Right Truck Driving Job
• Forum Topics Tagged "Choosing A Trucking Company"

Thank you for the links Brett, I'll be combing through those tonight after work. I also appreciate your words on home time, in the end it makes the most sense anyway. There's no reason to schedule it to start the day of an appointment, that smells like a good way to mess things up! haha

I do not know how often you need to schedule a doctor's appointment. How about as frequent as once a month? You could probably swing that without a problem. As Brett said, schedule home time to be a day or two before the appointment. You schedule your appointments and your company works around them. With the amount of notice you can give them, you should be fine. Just make sure you let the recruiter know what you have coming up in the next few months already so they can make sure that any training/schooling time will work with it and then double check once you actually get started to make sure the recruiter didn't screw anything up... ... ...

I know you said you wrote a bit longer than you planned but honestly this is all spot on information for me. Thank you for taking the time to write that all out, it gives me a lot to chew on. Full disclosure from the beginning is definitely the route to take, I didn't really think otherwise but your advice about home time and knowing who to speak to and how to impart to them the importance of specific home times is golden. I also hadn't considered the use of a cooler, it kind of makes me a bit anxious honestly. Insulin likes to spoil in the high 80's and if it does spoil, the idea of getting Insulin on the road is a bit intimidating not because it would be hard to get, but because a walmart or pharmacy might not be easily accessible immediately or even within a days drive if I'm headed west coast.

This forum is amazing, you all are really friendly. I appreciate the banter you guys, I have a lot to read through!

HOS:

Hours Of Service

HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.

OWI:

Operating While Intoxicated

OOS:

When a violation by either a driver or company is confirmed, an out-of-service order removes either the driver or the vehicle from the roadway until the violation is corrected.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.

Hello everyone!

I've been a type 1 diabetic for 23 years and I just mailed in my paperwork to get my medical waiver earlier this week. So now that I've got that out of the way I'm at the exciting part...scoping out a good company that will fit my particular needs. That's what I'm hoping to talk with some of you about. I know I'm going to need an apu in the truck from the beginning so I can get a fridge setup to house my insulin but outside of that I'm not sure exactly what the right questions to ask a recruiter are. Would a company take it upon themselves to schedule doctor appointments for me? That's the part that kind of has me nervous the most. Is making sure the company I go with understands that if I'm requesting home time to attend a doctors appointment that if I miss that appointment it may mean that I lose my CDL for a number of months. This is even more true considering it's generally not possible to reschedule an endocrinologist appointment within a week, let alone a month.

I'm kind of rambling at this point but I've started my search with Jim Palmer and have reached out to a recruiter there but any advice from anyone who may have familiarity with my particular situation would not only be welcome but also greatly appreciated.

Thank you guys & gals.

Side note, I do not have my CDL yet nor have i held one previously. The medical waiver is needed before I can take that step. Any company I reach out to would also have to accommodate that which I know greatly shortens the list.

Yay!! Another type I on here :)

I've had Type I for 12.5 years. I work for Swift and haven't had any issues. I try to take as few breaks as possible so that I'm not late to my appointments even if I have to stop for a bit for low blood sugar.

As far as getting home for appointments, again no issues here. I just remind them about my upcoming home time and tell them it's a doctor's appointment and what it's for. I also set my home time a couple days earlier than the actual appointment date so they have ample time to get me back in time. They've gotten me home on time for these every time. They even got me home for a day during training so I wouldn't miss my appointment.

I keep my insulin in my 12 volt cooler. Technically the insulin doesn't have to be kept cold--it just can't get hot--so the cooler is perfect.

You will have to wait the six months, but when it comes in the mail you'll be good to go. They'll send you detailed instructions with it.

Otr really isn't the ideal lifestyle for a diabetic, but it's doable. It's getting alot easier now that I'm on a dedicated account and have more of a routine.

Good luck with everything and hope to see you out here soon!

CDL:

Commercial Driver's License (CDL)

A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:

• Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
• Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
• Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.

OTR:

Over The Road

OTR driving normally means you'll be hauling freight to various customers throughout your company's hauling region. It often entails being gone from home for two to three weeks at a time.

APU:

Auxiliary Power Unit

On tractor trailers, and APU is a small diesel engine that powers a heat and air conditioning unit while charging the truck's main batteries at the same time. This allows the driver to remain comfortable in the cab and have access to electric power without running the main truck engine.

Having an APU helps save money in fuel costs and saves wear and tear on the main engine, though they tend to be expensive to install and maintain. Therefore only a very small percentage of the trucks on the road today come equipped with an APU.