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You ever have one of those moments of instant realization that you just screwed up royally? Not only did you just screw up big time, but you can’t unscrew it, and you know you just have to ride out the consequences. Yup, I had a night like that last night.
I was at the karate school, and the last class of the evening was about to end, and my fight team was about to start their closed door training session. It was around 9pm. My blackberry was buzzing, and the alarm update reminded me that it was time to take my evening insulin injection. Knowing how forgetful I can be, I had my diabetic supplies already sitting on top of my desk, ready to be put to use.
I was also in the middle of a conversation with one of my staff members, and getting offline at the same time. I have done this routing thousands of times, so no reason at all to suspect what would happen next.
Let’s back up for just a second. I take two kinds of insulin. The first is Levemir, which is my long term insulin. It is supposed to be a once a day shot that gives you a 24 hour baseline of insulin, to mimic what a normal, healthy pancreas does. I said mimic, because it is far from a perfect science. Anyway, instead of taking it once a day, I divide it up into halves, and take it twice a day, about 12 hours apart for better control.
The other type of insulin I take is NovoLog, which is a short term insulin, designed to be taken with meals, according to the amount of carbohydrates I eat. This is called a bolus, and can also be used to knock down a random high blood sugar reading. I test my blood sugar about five or six times a day to be sure.
The company which manufactures the insulin makes it in a ‘disposable pen’ form, so the two different types of insulin come in the exact same shape and size. To insure that the diabetic purchasers do not mix up their shots, they make the Levemir with a bright aqua colored label and end cap, and the NovoLog with a bright orange colored label and end cap. Since I am only blind in one of my eyes, the other one should pick up which is which.
Now here’s the rub. I typically take 20 units of my long term insulin twice a day. When I take my short term insulin, either to cover a meal, or lower a high blood sugar, I usually take between 2 and 6 units. Big difference in volume. Do you see where I’m going here?
Taking too much of the fast acting could cause my blood sugar to drop dramatically. In a mild case, I eat something sweet and wait to recover. In an extreme case, a diabetic could drop so quickly and so far that they slip into a coma, or have a heart attack and die on the spot.
Here’s my big screw up. You guessed it – when it was time to take my 20 units of the long term, slow acting Levemir, I inadvertently took 20 units of the short term, fast acting NovoLog. To make matters worse, upon checking my blood sugar at that moment, I recognized, that it was at a reasonable level, and did not need any NovoLog at all. Ugggghhhh!!! Things were about to get real hairy real fast. I also knew I needed some of the longer term insulin, so I played doctor on myself, and decided to take half; in my case 10 units.
I had done this once before, but that was about 30 years ago. At that time, to make sure I didn’t slip away in the night, my parents and sister stayed up with me throughout the night, shoveling ice cream and canned pineapple down my throat at regular intervals. Some things you don’t forget. The difference is now I am a grown man in my forties, with a family of my own to look after.
Well, sticking around for fight team training was definitely out, because I didn’t want to drop on the mat, and I had to get to where the food was. Walking my dog was definitely out, because that would lower my blood sugar further – normally a good thing, but the last thing I needed at the moment. So get someone else to walk my dog, go home, get comfortable on the couch, see what sweet things there are in the house, and what’s on TV.
Although it may sound like fun, believe me, it is not. Try to stay up as long as possible, when every ounce of your being wants to sleep, repeatedly shove the next high carbohydrate item down your throat, which you really don’t want, and you know as a diabetic you will pay for the next day for sure.
Without going into the gory details of the crappy movies I watched, and how much food I ate, I woke up on my living room chair at around 4-something a.m. only to realize I had conked out. Thankfully I was still alive and coherent. I ate one more bowl of whatever cereal was in the cabinet, and went upstairs to bed.
My wife, Yvonne, told me the night before that she would get the kids to school in the morning, which is usually my job, so I knew I would be able to sleep a little later. By some miracle, I woke up only about an hour and a half late, and instantly checked my blood sugar. The second miracle of the morning was that my blood sugar was actually perfect, as if nothing had gone wrong the night before. While the rest of the day should be interesting, to say the least, I was happy that it started out well. It is still morning as I write this.
The moral of the story? Three morals actually. One: Pay attention to what you are doing. Two: READ THE LABELS ON YOUR MEDS BEFORE YOU TAKE THEM! And three: When you screw up in life (which you will), don’t panic. Settle in to the idea that you are going to have to change your plans for a little while, and calmly make the necessary adjustments.
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