Back to normal living

Every now and then, I would like to take a day off from diabetes-life. Most of the time, I cope well and I have incorporated D into my daily life. It's become such a part of me, that it's no effort to do whatever it takes to control my blood sugars. But every now and then, things go wrong. Because I'm distracted. Because of something I ate. Because of an unforeseen activity. Because of..

We were having dinner in a restaurant and I was enjoying the company and the food. Estimating the amount of carbs in my food, I gave myself a mealtime bolus. At least, that was the plan. My remote control decided otherwise. It said the bluetooth connection to my insulin pump had been interrupted. I checked the history on my pump and that's where I verified the bolus had not been delivered, since the symbol was colored grey instead of blue. I remembered the amount of insulin my pump had suggested and I gave the remote a second order. This time, I felt a vibration under my armpit, telling me that my pump was receiving the bolus of insulin. We went on with our conversations and I had another bite of Thai Pho. Life is swell and having a night out with friends is a true joy.

Later that night, we went to a nightclub where we could dance and enjoy good live music. I had to sit down. Wasn't feeling too well. My lips were stinging and I was shivering. I checked my blood glucose and it read 53. That was not a number I expected. Not at all, after eating a fair amount of carbohydrates? My friend rushed over to the bar to get me a regular coke and I tried to think about the reason behind this after meal low. I couldn't figure it out. The drink made me feel better and we continued to dance and have fun.

Later that night, we drove home. Being in the middle of a snowstorm, I did my best to focus on the road, so we wouldn't wreck the car. I felt dizzy and I stuffed several pieces of candy in my mouth. By the time we got home, I checked my BG again and it said 41.. What was going on??? I had some more candy and a cookie, before I went to bed at 03:30. Only to wake up a little later, feeling weird again. Another finger poke taught me my BG was not raising at all: 32 mg/dl.. I had some Dex4 before I laid down my head and tried to sleep some more..

The next morning I wanted to figure out what had happened. So I checked my meter history again and I was very surprised to see the outcome! My first mealtime bolus I had given, had allegedly been interrupted. I remembered giving myself another shot of insulin. The renewed bluetooth connection must have set that previous bolus to work as well. Because that's what the history showed: no more grey symbols, but 2 blue mealtime bolus symbols. Leaving me with 24 units of insulin instead of the 12 units I intended to give myself. No wonder my blood sugars were dropping like crazy..

D is full of surprises. All the time you have to be very aware of what you do. A moment of distraction, and the outcome can be completely different than planned. Life with D is not always that complicated. But it makes you aware of how vulnerable a human life can be. One has to be alert all the time.