When the "Blue Screen of Death" actually means... DEATH
While diabetes technology is great and all, it does have its drawbacks. Unfortunately, I had a meter give me an incorrect reading of 210 when I went to bed. 210 is not unreasonable for an after dinner reading in a patient with gastroparesis. I gave a correction and turned in for the night.
I was extremely thirsty, but I thought it was because I was coming down with a cold. Often, just before I get sick, I turn into the sahara desert, being very very dry. In hindsight, I should have tested again.
I woke up the next morning, presumably still at 210 given the meter's reading. I got dressed to take Kaylee for a walk. I made it about three blocks. Every muscle ached, so much pain. I turned around... Didn't quite make it home before I started dry heaving in the bushes.
Well... a different meter told me what I knew already by that point, I was over 400! And probably had large ketones (I peed before I realized how bad of shape I was in, so I didn't test that first drop).
I gave a large injection, which barely made a difference. I drank a couple of sips of water and took an anti-nausea pill. Both came back up shortly thereafter.
In the end, I was able to self treat, get myself back under control, rehydrate using gatorade and water, so it has a happy ending.
So what was the fatal mistake? Trusting the machine! Sometimes intuition (hmm, I feel higher than that) is worth more than numbers. This is why when I hear about closed loop insulin pumps, I cringe. Letting a machine do it? Too scary!
Much to our surprise, our intelligence-challenged daughter has learned "down". So we now know Sit, Come, and Down. She also responds to anh-anh, No, treat. What we really need to work on is Heel/Slow. She doesn't pull too too much, but man, cats will really get her going. She lags behind to smell things more than anything. She also hasn't growled at her reflection in the fireplace doors in a while ;)
As for the transplant, same old same old. "I'm on the list." Basically there is no update other than that until The Call comes!
I do finally have proof of my digestion woes. After like 10 years of negative tests (okay, I lie, I've had problems for years, had it looked at in 1999, and all those tests were negative), I finally have non-subjective proof of gastroparesis. It's nice to be validated sometimes. Anyways, my 'half-time' of solid-food emptying was 4.5 hrs. Normal is like 50 minutes. Liquid emptying was slow too. Hopefully that's not too slow for transplant meds to be digested.
Last night we took a break to see "Stranger Than Fiction." I actually really enjoyed it - it put a mildly amused smile on my face for most of duration, which says a lot! Last weekend we went out for Harlie's birthday, and saw a so-called burlesque show. Bit much for me!
Christmas was great - went back to GA for the first time in a looooong time. Saw my nephew tear into what seemed like entire rooms full of presents, rewired my brother-in-law's stereo surround sound, calibrated/configured their hdtv, laid around and did nothing, and saw a few old friends, including KimKim. I have the best picture of Julian and I and Luke, Kim's son. Good times, only Grandma was missing (from the immediate family anyways!).
Work is busy busy. Optimization is in full force, or rather I'm trying to make it be a top priority. I always did love a challenge...