I take my diabetes quite seriously, manage it carefully and conscientiously, I have kept my blood levels at normal numbers for some time, but life happens, of course, and it happened to me Saturday morning. I went into insulin shock as Maria and I headed out to the barn for the morning shores, I noticed my vision changing first, it was as if the light was being processed through a film projector, and then when we came in the house, I began to feel dizzy and started sweating and was hit by waves of drowsiness.

Insulin shock is a form of hypoglycemia usually resulted from an overdose of insulin and characterized by sweating, trembling, dizziness, and if left untreated, convulsions and coma. I have never experienced this before, and I knew almost instantly what had happened. The night before, when I take my major daily dose of insulin, just before bedtime, I inadvertently reversed the gauge that measures the dose – my hands were wet and slippery and I reversed the plunger, lowering the dose. I had to guess what the proper dose was, and what I had missed, and I must have overestimated my mistake and given myself too large a dose. In the morning, I take a different kind of insulin before breakfast and other meals to keep my blood levels steady throughout the day. Together, these two doses sent me into insulin shock.

I didn’t realize how serious it was until I saw the alarm in Maria’s face, she was calling to me to wake up, I was falling asleep with food in my mouth, my face soaked in sweat. She was thinking of calling an ambulance, but I told her to bring me the special drink an glucose tablets that raise the blood sugar levels in just such a circumstance. She brought me tea, an apple, tablets, some hummus and bread. I was ravenous.  I took those things, drank some tea and in about a half an hour, I began to feel normal again, came out of my fog. I was a bit slow to pick up what was happening, but we both responded well. I had the appropriate remedy on hand, I took it quickly, it worked well.

I was scheduled to teach my Art of The Blog class, and I made it, just a minute or two late. Maria insisted that we tell the students what had happened so that they would know what to do if there was a relapse, but I knew it was over then.  I felt some fatigue but was otherwise well. It was a really good class, as always. (I am teaching a short story course at Hubbard Hall in the Spring, limited to seven students.)

We went to the dump later, and I raked a bunch of leaves out of the back yard. (Good friends, there is no need to urge me to take my diabetes seriously, I take it very seriously.) There are no lessons for me to be learned, this is life, occurring in it’s own way, at it’s own pace. We all make mistakes, misjudge things, diabetes is a complex disease with complex treatments – pills, injections, needles, strips, lancets – so many measurements and things to keep track of, especially for someone like me who has never experienced chronic illness.

I was greatful to get to my class, happy to have lunch at the Round House Cafe with some of the students, Scott Carrino had already heard about my bout with insulin shock (this is a small town) and was lovingly concerned, he is a good friend and a good man. More than anything else, I felt grateful – that I have an illness that is generally controllable, that I must always be careful and diligent. The worst thing about the episode was the look on Maria’s face, I don’t wish to see it again. She took great care of me.

Couldn’t wait to get back to my blog.