(As I write this, I am listening to Jeff Buckley’s cover of Hallelujah by Leonard Cohen, and then Bird On A Wire by Johnny Cash, and I feel like I’m up in the sky listening to the angels. What wondrous healing music).
I pride myself on taking care of my diabetes, my numbers are normal most days, and my doctors tell me I am conscientious and responsible at managing it well and thoughtfully.
Sometimes, I am reminded to be humble and remember that if you don’t take care of diabetes, it will soon take care of you. This morning was a perfect storm for a low sugar episode, and I had a doozy.
In the years since I’ve been diagnosed, I’ve had two low sugar attacks, I can’t remember the first one, and the second one was today.
I got up early, had an early breakfast, and then worked on my blog, and then went to the gym to exercise before the big snowstorm hits shortly – 8 inches to a foot, says the weather.
I take great pride in being the farm quartermaster, and all the way back to when I was caretaking my daughter Emma, I would rush out with all the other housewives to stock up on food before the storm.
It wasn’t as if we couldn’t find food in a storm; it was more about our love of nurturing.
So I went to Bennington to get some pizza, some sushi, two bottles of wine, and some cheese – good storm foods. I got Maria’s favorite wine. I’ve taken over the wine-buying because she’s too shy about buying her favorite wine, and I am not.
I had some oat bran cereal this morning, and that has a lot of carbs and means that after a while, the sugar level will drop. I also didn’t consider how extreme heat and cold affect diabetes, which is a circulation disease.
As I drove into Bennington, I broke into a sweat – a shocking thing in – 7 temperatures and began to feel disoriented and dazed, two sure signs of low blood sugar. I knew enough to get into a convenience store, get two nutrition bars and an apple, and some water.
Something was seriously wrong. I wondered if I might be having a heart attack, but I had none of the symptoms when I ran through them.
I managed to get the pizza and then the sushi and the wine, and I was nearly an hour from home. I had to pull over every few miles and rest; I was crashing. I made one more stop – to get some water – and called Maria. It took me about two hours to get home.
It’s hard for me to describe.
There is a sense of confusion, sometimes irritability, nausea, drowsiness, a lack of coordination, a loss of consciousness.
I knew something was wrong but wasn’t sure what. Fortunately, I remembered. I stopped driving and found things to eat – an apple, a nutrition bar with dark chocolate, and I knew not to drive until I was more alert.
I got out of the car and walked around and feel better, but I looked in a mirror and saw how drained and haggard I looked. I was near a hospital but decided I had it in hand. I caught it just in time, but not soon enough to completely block it.
And I did a mental check: was I aware of what was happening? Was it improving after I ate? Did I understand not to drive?
When I got home, Maria and I had lunch together, and I was stabilizing, but I was utterly drained and exhausted. I got into my recovery and reading chair, and Maria covered me with blankets and I just went to sleep, Leonard Cohen and the dogs keeping me company.
I was immediately surrounded by two therapy dogs, who refused to leave me for the next couple of hours while I stabilized.
We’ll save the pizza until the storm hits. I’ll share the wine, which is good for people with diabetes. I’ll be ready to snow blow in the morning.
Tonight, my numbers are great – 95 – and I feel strong and clear again. It was a disturbing reminder for me to be vigilant.
Today was an unusual day, I always carry snacks and glucose tablets, but didn’t this morning. All it takes is taking health for granted and forgetting to be careful. So I got a good reminder.
I didn’t put all the pieces together – the breakfast, the delay in lunch, the cold, the exercising on an empty stomach.
It’s easy to say anything can happen; we can’t be alert every second of every day. But why not? I plan on living a good while, so that takes some thought and care.
It’s on me to take care of myself. I appreciate the reminder, although I wish it could have been shorter.
I accept that I will die not too long in the future, but it doesn’t have to be now.
And I also appreciate two great dogs, Bud and Zinnia (Fate was in the studio with Maria). They stayed with me every second. They wouldn’t leave. Maria , who also took great care of me, took the photo.
That sounds like such a scary experience. I am just under the diabetes number, the pre-diabetes, and working on diet to keep the numbers low. Please take good care. We need you and Maria in our lives to make our community of positive hope.
Take care, my blood sugars are also peaking and dropping. We’ve had over a foot of snow and it’s still snowing so any exercise will be in house! Diabetes is a tricky “friend”. It keeps me grounded but very respectful….
I’m so glad this scary experience worked out in your favor. Please take care of yourself as you have many people who need you around. I personally would truly miss reading your blogs, I know selfish of me. Thank you so much for what you contribute.
I, too, am a diabetic. I’ve only had one serious episode similar to what you experienced today. It was the night before Thanksgiving. I had spent the week preparing for out meal so I was very busy. We had Chinese food for supper that night, and as usual I didn’t eat any of the rice, just the meat and veggies. I had two chocolate chip cookies before bed. I was very tired from all of the meal prep and we went to bed late. I had seen a new diabetes nurse the week before, and they put a sensor on me. Just as I was dropping off to sleep I felt “off” I was sweaty and woozy. I got out of bed to go get something to stop my crash, but I couldn’t get coordinated enough to get dressed. I woke up my fiance and he jumped into action. We finally got things under control with some juice. I scared us both and he set alarms throughout the rest of the night to look at the sensor data on my phone. I hadn’t taken my phone with me when we went to bed. If I had, the alarm would have woken me up before I got so bad. For me it was a combination of being very tired from running around all day and not enough carbs. Because of the sensor, the diabetes nurse lowered my insulin. All of my sugar cravings stopped once I had less insulin in my body. I’ve been a life long “sugarholic” so it feels very strange to not crave sugar.
I hope you recover well and enjoy using your new snowblower once this storm is over. The wind is battering my house now that the sun is down.
Jeff Buckley’s version of “Hallelujah” is the most beautiful version I have ever heard. I remember seeing his dad perform at Max’s Kansas City in New York. I wish I had been able to hear Jeff. You might want to listen to Kurt Vile and John Prine sing “How Lucky” – or better yet, listen to John’s last song – “I Remember Everything”. He was the best, in my book.
Thank you for the wondrous writing and photography every day. And don’t forget to carry those snacks with you! We all need you to stick around.
Rebecca
Feel better soon, Jon!
Very tricky indeed. I take care of my granddaughter(12) who is T1D and the lows can be scary. A 15 g juice pack is our go to-quick acting, easy to swallow and can suck it down quickly. We follow up with pretzels as needed. She always has her backpack with supplies loaded before leaving the house. Glad you got home safely!
So glad you’re feeling better. You couldn’t have better heaters than Zinnia and Bud.
Jon, not to intrude but you should probably make an appointment with your nurse , with all the surgeries and possibly new meds you have been put on may be affecting your blood sugar. If you have lost weight and now you are exercising regularly your old meds may need adjusting. Sorry it’s the nurse in me advising, I know you don’t like advice.
I talk to my nurse often, Chris she knows everything that is happening to me.
I love this picturing of your dogs watching over you. ♥️
Also a diabetic, at 67. Never have had a low sugar episode. When diagnosed I had an A1c of 13.4. My doctors were very attentive to me starting the daily shots, and were thrilled when I got my numbers down to under 7.5. And he has always told me a little high is way better than being low. So I hold my daily test numbers in the 130-170 range. And my doc does say that the older you get the higher the A1c can be. For 65-70 it is okay to be 7.5 , some even say 8. But do take care. We sure do not want to lose you!
Fabulous photo/Jeff Buckley rules!
Please take care Jon. It could have been much worse and you were lucky this time.
I spy a Calamityware Things Could Be Worse coffee mug (with a cavorting zombie poodle)….as I sip my morning coffee from mine and read your blog.
Mine came as a present to commemorate this awful and yet uplifting year.
Good morning.
Thank you for sharing about your episode. I am older than you (almost 80) and have been having some health problems that I and my doctors are trying to figure out. I have an appointment with my cardiologist tomorrow to make sure my heart isn’t the culprit, but I’m beginning to suspect I need to watch my blood sugar levels. Bodily maintenance gets tougher as we age!!
My husband is diabetic..and besides always carrying glucose tablets..we keep a can of frosting in the car and in the cupboard..fast delivery of sugar in an emergency.
Jon, that’s scary. Perhaps going to that hospital would have been better. Anyway, I hope your essay will help some who have diabetes or other diseases to understand the importance of being constantly vigilant about ones health.
For you, may you hear the chant of people in the film Gandhi: “LONG LIVE! LONG LIVE!