Day 7: Diabetes is Stupid and Ruins Things, A Story

I skipped Sunday. Whoops. But here's a story from Sunday!

We went to see Moneyball on Sunday. We decided to go to a small theater near our apartment. One of those old-timey, two-screen deals. I purposely underate in anticipation of hot buttery popcorn.

We arrived and ... no popcorn. Sadface. Major sadface. But we were there for the movie, not the popcorn (well, maybe half and half) so I'd have to suck it up and go without. We settled in and the movie started and not too far into it ... it started.

The jittery shakes, the wandering mind, the buzzing tongue, the sweats.

Low blood sugar. I fumbled through my purse for my meter, memory catching as my fingers closed around my smaller-than-usual meter case. Damn! I had forgotten to put a new vial of strips in. I didn't need a meter to confirm, though. 18 years made me no stranger to the feeling. 95% of the time, when a diabetic is low, they know. There's no mistaking the feeling. Mild panic setting in, I tried to calm myself, groping around for glucose tablets or candy, coming up empty. Of course.

At the bottom, I found a crushed package of peanut butter crackers and stealthily opened the crinkling plastic wrapper. Greedily shoving the disintegrating crackers into my mouth, I willed myself to relax, to focus on the movie. Eventually the feeling passed and I got caught up in the movie. Which was awesome, by the way.

When we got home, I tested and found myself 55 points below where I should have been. Just as I suspected.

Now, both of the issues in this scenario were totally preventable with a little preplanning. If I had immediately replaced the vial of strips when I finished it, instead of planning to do it when I finished eating. If I had put the gummy lifesavers in this purse instead of leaving them in another.

This is the essence of diabetes. Tiny things that can have huge consequences.

Side note: Halfway through this post I started to feel low and as such I have no idea if this post even makes sense. I apologize if it's disjointed. Just call it another diabetes lesson! :)