My mother 20 minutes ago. Looked over at her during dinner, I know the look, the twitches. “Mom you want some juice”. A blank stare is all I got. Get a glass of juice while my dad tests her, 29. She is fine now just another day at my parents
I helped an elderly lady once on a plane. She was with her husband (both in their 80’s I’d estimate) and the flight attendant asked on the loudspeaker if there was another diabetic or a medical professional on the plane who would be willing to help a diabetic in distress. I went down and helped her test her blood-sugar (it was low but I don’t remember how low) while a nurse on the plane got some juice from the flight attendant and helped the lady choke it down. I’ll always remember that when I walked up she was sort of feebly trying to stick a new lancet into the test-strip hole of her meter. She was trying to do the right thing but her brain was all confused from the hypo, poor sweetie.
Her husband mentioned that she’d injected her Lantus that morning but had postponed breakfast because she wanted to eat on the plane – then the plane was late and everything got thrown off. Always carry some snacks, glucose tabs, etc. when flying, y’all.
I have to admit that it made me feel a wee bit proud to be of service, even if it was a group effort to get her stabilized. I love that about human beings: that most of us are ready to help one-another when we can. For that one moment, this nice lady was everyone’s grandma and we were all working together in concert to help her. Take a bow, humanity. ;0)
Yeah, yikes! My (internal medicine) doctor’s words to me last summer when I had an A1C come back at 10.7 (up from a 5.4 a year earlier):
“You’re doing GREAT – compared to my other diabetic patients.”
Sheesh – you’d think they’d catch a clue. Why don’t they?
You are a great neighbor; wished you lived next door! I periodically practice with my expired kits but so far I have never had to use the Glucagon. Thank God. And she has been very low before, in the 20s, symptomatic but still able to drink juice.
Yes, it’s vitally important to our mental health that we remind ourselves that most people are kind most of the time. Human kindness forms a bulwark against the negativity. A light shining the way for those who have temporarily lost their way.