October 13, 2021
Did
a grown-up in your life ever tell you it’s rude to chew on your ice
cubes and then further threaten and scare you by telling you, your teeth
will crack or worse break? That hasn’t stopped me back when I was a
child … at the same time, I will tell you even at 50 plus, I still chew
on those ice cubes.
I am pretty sure I shared my biggest fear in
a previous post, you know the one, where I am found passed out because
my blood glucose levels dropped suddenly. I didn’t have time to act
upon it and now the responsibility falls into someone else to react to
it.
Last Thursday as I prepared for my workout with my
personal trainer, I checked my glucose levels to be in my “safe zone”
for working out (at least at 120) and normally don’t eat or drink
anything before as it makes me nauseous during my workout. I didn’t
feel off or anything out of the ordinary, other than being slightly
tired so I drove to the Y to meet my personal trainer for my 5:30am
session. After our usual morning banter and small talk, we began my
workout session. All depending how I awoke or my morning started off,
it becomes my hour dose of torture, or abuse, or medicine or motivation.
About halfway through my session, I told my personal trainer
everything feels strangely heavier than usual and my workout seems to be
more of a chore than feeling good after each routine. I was completing
my last rep, of the last set, of my last routine for the morning when I
suddenly felt as if I was going to pass out. The last thing I remember
telling my personal trainer in a weakened voice was to go to my car and
find my glucose tablets and mumbled with specific directions where in
my middle console to find it. I normally only carry them on me if my
blood glucose levels drop below my “safe zone” and when I workout either
intensely and/or alone
By the time my personal trainer returned
with my glucose tablets, I began to feel weaker and very lightheaded
and that I was ready just face my dreaded fear, head on. I managed to
muster enough strength to get up and sit bowed over on a weight machine
and vaguely remember her giving me almost my entire sleeve of glucose
tablets before I started to feel slightly better.
I sat there
for what seemed like hours but was only maybe a half hour before I was
able to make a planned wake-up call for my Mom and recover enough so I
could safely drive home. I managed to call my Mom, she immediately knew
something was going on with me … like all overprotective mothers, they
know when something is not right … so I told her I was fine and not to
worry about me. Despite being honest with her about what happened and
assuring her I was OK, she was prepared to cancel her own appointment
and drive me to her house to keep an eye on me. For her to not worry
about me was like asking her to forget about me even telling her about
the episode. After her appointment, she checked-in on me throughout the
day. When I finally felt well enough to leave, I drove myself home
where I took a long hot shower and ate some breakfast and proceeded on
with my day, just as if nothing out of the extraordinary happened that
morning.
Even with proper planning and when all seems to be
going well, it doesn’t take much for the bottom to fall out when it’s
least expected. I’ve always said the most frustrating thing about being
a person with diabetes is not always the constant blood glucose checks,
monitoring your food intake and taking insulin or other medication but
the unpredictability diabetes plays in my own life’s journey. I have
always thought of myself as always prepared for the worst possible
scenario, yet this episode proved me wrong. Even with the best
preparation you can still, literally, crash – pun intended.
As I
sit back in my recliner, sipping on my favorite beverage and chewing on
my ice cubes and begin writing my next post, the very one you are
reading now, I am compelled to remind you to allow your ICE (In Case of
Emergency) to get to know you and your medical condition. They should
know who else to contact, what to do to help you, when and where to take
you for medical attention if necessary. Much like how ice should stay
in your favorite beverage as to allow yourself time to sip the drink so
you get to know and enjoy the full flavors and not just taste the ice
cubes, your ICE needs to get to know you on that same level. They
should know when the flavor was not quite as robust as usual as they
should know you when you are not your normal self.
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