Twenty Eight

I hope that this post serves as a source of hope to families that are newly diagnosed or still struggling to find calm... read on, I think it will.

Last Friday we were packing up and getting ready to enjoy a sleepover at Adventure Aquarium to celebrate Arden’s birthday. Arden invited two of her girlfriends and one of them arrived at our door as I was testing Arden’s BG.

Minutes before, Arden tripped while walking in her room and when I asked her if she was okay, she responded, “I feel dizzy all of the sudden”, we had just changed her DexCom an hour before so it wasn’t reporting BGs. As we made our way to the kitchen where her OmniPod PDM was I went over the afternoon in my mind and I couldn’t imagine that she was low. 

Test strip...

Knock at the door...

Blood drop...

“Hello, I’ll be right with you...”

Beep... and her blood glucose is 28.

So, there is a woman that I barely know in my foyer, sleeping bags and pillows all over the hallway and Arden’s BG is 28. Not just 28 but very unexpectedly 28 and she was still in the middle of a bolus and I expected (no DexCom) that she was falling.

This next bit is where you take hope from the story...

I didn’t flinch. No elevated heart, no sense of panic, I wasn’t upset and as a matter of fact I maintained a calming conversation with the woman in my house as she considering panicking.

I explained the situation to Arden, shut off her basal and she began eating and drinking. 64 grams later all was normal again - except, it never wasn’t normal. A sad statement perhaps that this all could be a normal part of someone’s life but what the hell, it is... When it was over and the mother left, I felt like I was ten feet tall. In the past I did my best to stay calm in situations like this (they don’t happen often thankfully) but I was doing just that, trying to stay calm. That is, in the past I wasn’t calm, I was frightened and I was trying to maintain my composure and stop Arden from having a seizure. I was scrambling to stay ahead of the situation.

Last Friday, I was calmer then George Clooney on an old episode of E.R.. Not ‘old’ George Clooney, the one that is starting to look like he doesn’t belong with those young girls... young George Clooney, back when he was bedding down those nurses in the break room. I was all suave like that, except instead of nurses, I was rockin’ the juice box and I’m fairly positive that the bottom of G.C.’s foot is more handsome then I... However, other then those differences, I was exactly like that. ;)

I finally have my 10,000 hours of practice and one day you will too. Moments that now may feel like they are happening at 100 miles an hour will slow down to a Matrix like kung fu speed and you’ll just move through the slow motion around you, completely in control. I bent the spoon baby!

Okay, I’m out of odd movie and TV reference so I’m going stop.

**

The following are archived comments from this post. You can post new comments below.

Bennet

Great post. "I love 64 grams later all was normal again - except it never wasn't normal." I appreciate the view that this is just life and you carry on a conversation, do what need doing and what the hell.

I am confident you can dredge up more old TV  reference. Maybe you and I should do #dsma chat with tv bits. I did one week strictly as Clint Eastwood titles. 

All the best for your normal and I suggest Netflix online as a source of lots of great vintage TV to get old into that new normal

Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - 10:44 AM

Stacey D.

Somehow it does just become part of our lives.  After almost 30 years, the ups and downs of diabetes has definitely become part of my life.  But we move on, adapting to it all.  And with that comes a sense of "normalcy".  Thanks for reminding the newbies out there about it.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - 01:15 PM

Penny

Great post Scott. It's amazing what becomes our new normal. It must look strange to outsiders who are not all about the D. I commend your calmness and zen-like approach to it all. Great advice to newbies.

Wednesday, June 1, 2011 - 02:42 PM

Anna

Thanks, Scott.  I had two Pods come off the other night (for seemingly no reason) and I had no idea what she had been bolused for, but we just put the new ones on and gave a wee correction and went back to sleep.  You just do what needs to be done.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011 - 12:44 PM