"Everyone stares at their band-aid"
The paramedic told me that everytime they're called out to treat a hypoglycaemic reaction (low blood sugar), patients are always fascinated by the plaster that's been applied to cover the prick on their finger where the blood has been drawn for the sugar reading.
The paramedic was next to me with his partner because my girlfriend, Angela had called 000 when I was non-responsive and apparantly had a blank look on my face, as if I was "looking right through" her. My blood sugar level was 1.9 (anything under 3.5 is low) when the paramedics arrived, a level that came about through thoughtlessness borne out of complacency - I've been diabetic for over 19 years, and it's been pretty well controlled so I'm fairly (over) confident that I know how much carbohydrate I need to balance my insulin intake, but this time I got it wrong. I had too much insulin and not enough carbohydrate, so I slipped into a diabetic coma.
Witnessing a stroke survivor slipping into a diabetic coma would freak me out, but thankfully my girlfriend is made of stronger stuff. Not only did Angela stay calm and make the the right decisions in what I can only imagine was a stressful environment, she went and bought me a coffee and helped me get to work 30 seconds early.
This incident has left me with a lot of lessons learnt:
- Diabetes can't be beaten. Whether you've had it for 19 years or 19 days, you can't get sloppy with your control or things might get ugly
- Rain falls on the just and unjust alike, but there comes a time when you just have to get over it and go and play in the puddles
- Give thanks for having good people around you - they might save your life one day.
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