People sometimes wonder why I am so passionate about diabetes management so let me try to explain it.
I know how close I came to:
- Doing nothing because I got no help from the medical profession or
- letting it go because they failed totally in getting me to understand THIS IS SERIOUS, or
- how close I came to waiting till "IT GOT WORSE" because I "wasn't as bad as the other people there."
Item C is the classic denial syndrome that alcoholics use to show they don't really have a problem! Guess that put me in the Egyptian river, De-Nile. (denial).
I will put it bluntly because sugar coating diabetes kills. It is your life, not the doctor's. You and he are like the pig and the chicken in a ham and eggs breakfast. He and the chicken are involved, you and the pig are committed. You are like the pilot in the story about the pilot and the air traffic controller. If either of them make a mistake, the pilot dies. If either of you don't manage your diabetes, you die. You have an alternative the pilot doesn't have, he can't get another ATC, you can get another doctor. But don't shop for one who tells you what you want to know. The effects of diabetes on the body are for the most part not reversible. Once the damage is done you can't fix it. You know the line, "All the kings horses and all the kings men, couldn't put Humpty Dumpty back together again." You don't want to wait till it gets worse. Worse for the diabetic is blind, minus a leg or two, on dialysis or dead.
Few people die of diabetes, my grandfather was somewhat an exception but really he died from neglect. He went into a diabetic coma and wasn't found in time. If someone had gotten concerned he wasn't home at midnight and checked they would have found him alive but in trouble. He was at his shop working. He rarely worked after nine. When a diabetic doesn't show up where they should it should raise concern. This is something for those who are around diabetics to remember.
What do you do if something goes wrong? At one time I would have said this applies to anyone who is diabetic or those who around diabetics, i.e. family and friends. But today I see that differently. I believe there should be a one or two hour class on diabetes including prevention, treatment, and living with a diabetic as part of the health classes in school. They can teach how to put on a condom, let's teach how to recognize a diabetic who is in trouble. I had a brother in law who was diabetic and I knew if he got too much insulin we had to get him something. I read a lot on a lot of subjects so over the years I have read articles on diabetics who have gone into insulin shock and died for lack of someone knowing what to do. Diabetics have been mistaken for being drunk, thrown into a drunk tank and died there. This lack of help is what killed my grandfather. I would not have considered myself an expert on the subject.
In 1997 I was working on Y2K program fixes. There were four of us in an office cubicle, each facing a corner. I had a question for the gal who was directly behind me and said, "Hey Kim." (Not her real name.) I didn't get an answer for a couple calls. I turned and she was staring at her computer screen, I repeated the call and no response. I slid over to where I could see her face. She was staring, fingers on the keyboard but not moving, her body almost rigid. I waved my hand between her and the screen and she mumbled something. I asked if she was sick. She mumbled. My mind raced, she reminded me of my brother in law. I asked. "Are you diabetic?" She thought and then spoke a weak, "Yes." "Did you take insulin this morning?" Again thought. "Yes." Diabetics in insulin shock have to think to give even a simple answer. Don't confuse them with a complex question. Without that answer I would have done nothing but call paramedics. You don't want to give more sugar to someone who already has a 400 plus blood sugar. "Did you eat?" "No time." She had taken her insulin and not eaten. Her blood sugar was perilously low.
I turned to the other two guys, "Kim is sick, one of you get the boss, the other go to the cafeteria, get a glass of OJ and a couple packs of sugar." They got up and left, I started the process of getting the boss and something to bring her out. But I really didn't want to wait for the OJ. While they were gone I saw she had a cup of black coffee. I turned to my desk, I usually kept a couple packs of sugar, there was none there but there was a pack of pancake syrup. I opened it, stirred it into the coffee and started getting it into her.
