I had been raving, to anyone who would listen, about the Inset 30 for the last several weeks. No occlusion alarms, more stable sugars, comfortable going in, etc, etc…
So, yesterday AM I put in a new set and sugars are ok during the day, not great. I had a high after lunch and then over-treated resulting in a low. Overall, I though that the set was functioning ok. Last night I had tickets to the final Celtics game of the season. I can’t stress enough how excited I was. I’ve loved this team, through some highs and a lot of lows (see: Rick Pitino, Antione Walker, ML Carr, Reggie Lewis, Len Bias, LB’s back, McHale’s feet, etc), for 25 years. The last time I went to a game at the Garden was 10 years ago and they sucked, to put it bluntly. The tickets for last night were astounding. We sat in a box, with a huge buffet of food and drink. It was fan appreciation night and sort of a celebration of a historic season. What a great night to go.
Pre-buffet, I’m 110 and feeling good. I dig into a phat roast beef sandwich, potatoes, salad, cheese and crackers. Gave what I thought was an appropriate bolus and then upped it and delivered 25% as a square over 3 hours. 2 hours after dinner (around half time), I’m 390. I give a correction, minus the insulin on board, and cross my fingers. 1 hour later (3rd quarter) I’m “HI” (>500 for my meter). I go in the bathroom and inspect the site and find the unmistakable smell of insulin on my fingers. I couldn’t believe this was happening, and it couldn’t have happened at home, could it. I tell my buddy that I’m going to the first aid center to beg for a syringe. It took me awhile to find it; I was getting more and more nauseous and fuzzy. I could feel the ketones slapping my brain around.
Finally, I find the office. No syringes. They call their partner, down in the ambulance on the street to bring up a first aid box. She arrives about 1/2 way through the 4th quarter with her tackle box of supplies. No u-100 syringes. They do have 1 cc tuberculin syringes with 25 or 20 gauge needles. I opt for the 25 and draw out ~30 units of Humalog from my pump reservoir. It was not as comfortable as a 31 gauge needle, I’ll admit that, but at least I would have some insulin in me.
I get back to my seat with 1:25 seconds left. The Celtics are winning, going away. Nice game for the bench, as the big 3 rested for the majority of the game. The Garden rocks when the Celtics are good, and this team is great. I got a couple of bottles of water and we headed home to NH. The drive back was ok. I didn’t have to admit myself to some random hospital for my 1st ever DKA (in 30 yrs of DM1). BG came down to mid 400’s about 1 hour after the injection.
I got home and put in a new Inset 30. Bolus…more insulin smell!!! WTF, I can’t believe this. I tear that one out and put in a 90 degree set. Bolus again and another SQ injection. 1/2 later I’m 290 and feeling a little better. I drink ~2 liters of water, trying to replace all of the fluid that I’ve been flushing down the toilet for the last 4 hours. Ketones are trace. I woke up at 2 am with a 42 and had to treat, what a fun ride this has been. ;(
Take home messages for me:
- Bring back up
- Bring back up
- Bring back up
- Bring back up
- Bring back up
- I WANT MY DEXCOM BACK!!!
Thanks for listening.
Mick