We have mentioned pets before, but we always said. 'no, they tie you down, and ...' there are a list of 'ands'. But I am a diabetic and had a scary event the night of April 19 - actually April 20 as it was after midnight. It started quite ordinarily, but escalated quickly.
As a diabetic, the problem at hand is managing blood glucose (sugar). I'll probably discuss that deeper later. Anyway, it is damaging for blood glucose to go TOO high, just as it is to go TOO low. Carbohydrates in food drive glucose high and insulin drives glucose low. I am not a doctor, but in my understanding, if glucose goes too high, you could end up in diabetic coma, and if glucose goes too low you could end up in insulin shock. Any event of high glucose I will call a hyper-glucose event and any event of low glucose I will call a hypo-glucose event. Either of these can happen day or night, but those at night present special evils and can more easily lead to death.
On the night I mentioned I had a hypo-glucose event. Over the years, I have often had hypo events and they tend to wake me up when I notice certain signs - sweating, confusion, shakes, etc. That Thursday, I awakened to those symptoms. I usually go in the kitchen, use my glucose monitoring device to obtain a reading (I am used to 70s, 60s, or even 50s) and then end up eating sweets, sugar, honey, fruit juice, or similar to up my glucose - then I go back to bed and live to fight another day.
That night. however, I went in to read my glucose. The next thing I recall was eight (that is 8, 1 more than 7 and 1 less than 9) EMS working on me. I had an IV in the back of my hand and they had nicely placed an afghan blanket, not a human, across my naked lap. I don't recall being able to speak while they were there, but I do recall some things said.
The bottom line is that Carol, my wife, realized I was out of bed and went to find me. On the SECOND trip to the kitchen, she found me passed out in my chair in convulsions and unresponsive. She called 911. I make no jokes about this, because it was a life-death crisis to her and remains such in her memories.
Carol told the EMS team (all EIGHT of them) that I am diabetic and they immediately saw that it looked like I had a severe glucose problem, either very high or very low. They did the glucose check I got up to do and I was at 18! Below, I am blatantly stealing from Healthline.com and Google to summarize...
Can you die if you have low blood sugar?
That is a lot of nitty-gritty and brutal honesty. I was too unconscious to show the fear, but I knew that this was even worse than my previous worse diabetic episode and I knew I had had a very very close call with death. I very easily could have died or ended up in a persistent coma (worse!). I also knew that Carol had gone through a Hell that nobody has the right to put someone else through.
I am going to make exactly one political statement or observation in this entire post. Diabetes makes me un-insurable because it is a pre-existing condition. The fact that an Emergency Room must treat me, does not cut it for diabetics. If I was uninsured I would have died. I would not have had lifesaving treatment for my chronic condition. I am on Medicare, but if Were younger and not insured, I would not be typing right now.
Back to non-political. The next morning we began doing things that would mitigate the danger we faced that night. And over the course of the next week or two, several plans fell into place to drive us to a safer life. Here are the major steps we took.
- First, we got a notebook and placed it permanently on the kitchen table. In it, every day, I enter my blood glucose readings for morning, noon, evening, and bedtime, and under each, I enter the amounts of any insulin I took. If EMS has to come again, this will enlighten them and help them communicate with the doctor they call to help treat me better. Carol and I regularly look at the book and the entries and discuss them so she can communicate them to EMS.
- I very kind friend, that will remain anonymous for reasons you will see in a minute, has a diabetic family member and mentioned to us that they use a DEXCOM device for their child. I am inherently opposed to implanted and attached devices, but I was intrigued and when we were offered the chance to use a Dexcom device, I snapped at it. The log book would help a lot, but this could help even more and I truly was/am driven to make life better for Carol. After 2 weeks on Dexcom, we began the process to become 'legal' and obtain a prescription for our own Dexcom. (I will write about Dexcom later, because it becomes involved in Coby's training.)
- Lastly, of the major steps, we heard about diabetic service dogs. In fact we know a family that has one and we were pleased to hear their story. When we heard about the capabilities, we decided, together, to give it thought in spite of our common hesitation to consider pets. And that brings us to (eventually) Cody.
Those steps were not listed in 3 days. Rather, we went through processes and paths to arrive where we are and I will mention the other steps, but this blog is about step 3, our service dog. Cody.
Please follow along. Comment. Ask questions. Criticize (respectfully). Join in and enjoy this journey. I have no idea where all it will lead, but I hope to enrich your imagination and since I like a positve outlook and a bright image of life, you should receive that as readers.
(By the way, I may, that is MAY, periodically go back and edit existing posts, but for the most part, what you see is what you get. The next post will be about Cody and I promise to tell about how he got his name, or how he got to keep it - and I will talk about the most important command he learrned within seconds of arriving at his new home!
