Saturday, September 12, 2009

Guardian Angel


The public has no awareness of my diabetes. When you look at me, talk to me, or interact with me you do not know that I am diabetic unless I tell you or you are able to read my medical alert bracelet. Therefore I can not expect people to know about my diabetes and know how to react when my sugar goes low or high.

Today was the first time that my sugar went extremely low in a public setting. Of course I have had low sugars before but never as severe as the one that I experienced today. It started when I parked in the parking lot, so I took a few Dex tablets before running in to pick up a few things from Dollar Giant. As I walked down the isles I could feel myself shaking but I knew that it wasn't a big deal so I had a couple more Dex tablets. For those who aren't aware what Dex 4 tablets are, they are basically sweet tarts just bigger. After having about 6 or 7 tablets I checked my sugar and noticed it was still 3.7. I quickly walked to the candy isle and couldn't decide on what to get. I knew in my head that I was going low but it was like I had a thousands choices and all the time in the world to pick but really I had only minutes.

I grabbed a bag of Sour Patch Kids and looked at the line up. It was much too long to wait so I ran up to an employee blowing up balloons near the front windows. I quickly asked her if I could eat the candy before purchasing it and I explained that my sugar was low. I felt so shaky, I could barely think and I just wanted to shove all the candies in my mouth at once. I was scared.

Of course out of all the people that are employees at Dollar Giant I choose to explain my diabetes to a woman whose daughter, age five, has Juvenile Diabetes. It was almost like a guardian angel. It's so weird to think of it that way but it's like no matter where I go, there is someone there who understands and can look out for me. She explained what worked best for her daughter who has had diabetes for about a year and a half and how her daughter deals with the difficult disease. I sincerely felt a sense of comfort from this woman I had only met for a few minutes. We exchanged emails and names. I now have another branch of support.

It seems like today was a big trial. I went low twice and they were both extreme lows. It feels like my sugar just didn't want to cooperate or that my insulin was working very, very well today, or maybe my pancreas decided to work again! I really have been learning and any extra advice is appreciated.

Kayla

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