Party with the D

Today is Monday.  Let's talk about this weekend.

Where to start....where to start....

Let's start with my uncle, who was a fabulous man, and loved to say things like "I feel like Elizabeth Taylor's 7th husband - I know what to do, I just don't know how to make it interesting."  A man who loved people, family, and God, a man who made you feel like the most important person in the room just by talking to you.  He cared about everybody.  A LOT.

He passed away last week, succumbing to Parkinson's and Multiple Myeloma,  and so this weekend my husband and I headed to the yonder freaky regions of Los Angeles to attend his memorial service.  It was rough, but a lot of family was there, and it was good to see everybody.

And diabetes didn't let me forget that it was part of my life, even though, seriously?  This weekend would be the perfect weekend for it to take the back burner, thank you very much.

To catch up, transmitter died.  It has now been 10 days without a CGM.  This has been a party.

(In some good news, the insurance is paying for it, and once they found that out, the distributor emailed me to see if I wanted one.  To SEE if I WANTED ONE, and if so, what color?  To which the answers are yes, and black.)

And this weekend, we headed out Thursday to make the 8 hour drive to Los Angeles.  Thursday morning, without the benefit of knowing when at night I went high, (*fell asleep in the 140s)  I woke up in the 350s.  Like I say, party.  So I corrected and ran some errands, and by the time I got home, I was in the 50s.  It was SO AWESOME.

A CGM would have prevented this, waking me up and all.  I often go high at night, but not every night, so I can't really program my pump accordingly.

But it is what it is.  We took off that afternoon, and without incident, arrived that night at my sister's.  Fell asleep in the 160s, with a correction bolus "on board."

Friday morning, again, I awoke in the 330s, or the 380s, depending on which fingerstick you believe.  Either way, WAY TOO HIGH.  Bolused at 9:30.

So I correct, eat a high protein breakfast, with some potatoes thrown in because they are delicious, and we went to the family graveside service.  In the car, approx 2.5 hours after my bolus, around noon, I check again. 257.  So, this is good, I am dropping.

You think you see where this is going, don't you?  And yet...not quite.

The service was on  a small hill in the cemetery, not far from the car. There were a few chairs set up, and many people were standing in order to allow the older generation to sit.

I stood.  For about 2 minutes.

The dizzies were getting me, and so I sat.  It is now 1:00, and I feel terrible, so I check my sugars.  148.   Huh.. I'm way down from this morning, but not in any kind of danger at all, not like the day before.  The dizzies go away.  I enjoy the service, as much as one can.

Afterwards, I try to go talk to an uncle I haven't seen in a while, but I simply could not make it back to the car.  Standing up was not good.  Walking was not good.  I'm leaning hard on my husband's arm, swaying and wishing the dizziness would go away so I could, you know, stand upright and walk to the car. Seeing would be good, too, but all these dots are in the way. I eat a Starburst, (which my husband had to open for me) even though I know I'm not hypo, just in case. Midway down the hill, (keep in mind this is a small hill) I have to lie down, because this just isn't happening.  I lie there, clammy hands, sweating, SUPER dizzy, and they check my sugars again.  128. At this point my family has formed a small circle around me.

It was kind of embarrassing actually.  We were all there to celebrate Howard's life, and here I am lying on the ground.

 A cousin who is training to be an EMT kept asking if I was OK.  (He did ask me later if I had any insulin tabs, and I told him those don't exist, he was probably thinking of glucose tabs. It's OK, he's still in classes). I have an uncle who is a doctor and he was helping me out.  He said it was probably just that my blood pressure had dropped, and I needed to lie there until it equalized. I keep trying to get up, but no, the nice grass is better.  My speech got slurred, (apparently) and my sisters swear there "was a moment" where my eyes rolled up and I looked out of control of my body.  But a short one, they swear.

It was NOT a party.  

Eventually I made it back to the car and to lunch.  Sugars were 118 pre meal.  All that terrible-ness, and I never got below 100.

Did I faint?  Did I seize?  Was it diabetic shock from dropping too fast? Dehydration from the long car ride and the high sugars?  Was it even diabetes related at all?

Who the hell knows?

You?  Do you know?  Because if you do, that would be great.

Every night since then, I have set my alarm for 2 am to check my sugars.  And yes, every night I have been just over 200, but with a nice little bolus, I wake up just fine.

I can't wait for my new CGM to arrive.  It will hopefully make for fewer embarrassing moments and less flailing.  Less flailing would be good.