August 16, 2004

High Blood Sugar

I thought I'd try to do something 'normal' yesterday, and it backfired. My husband got tickets to the air show and I wanted to go so badly. I've never been to one. I brought insulin, water, sunscreen, light colored clothing...thought I was prepared. From the car it was about a half a mile hike to the airport. From the airport gates it was a mile and a half hike to the airshow (for security reasons) and when my blood sugar shot up, I knew I had no chance that day of having any fun. Thankfully there was a bus taking people to the airshow area, but it couldn't get you all the way. You had to walk probably a quarter of a mile on uneven grass to get to the place where we could sit. I didn't know there wouldn't be chairs....so I had to sit on the ground. It was a wonderful show, especially the blue angels! For those who don't know, the blue angels are an elite squad of jet pilots, usually from different branches of US service. (http://www.blueangels.com/) I kept chugging water, but my insulin had gone bad from the heat, and my blood sugar was going higher and higher. When your blood sugar goes high, it makes you very thirsty and dehydrated. Add that with being in a crowd of people, no shade, sitting on the ground roasting in the sun.....you have problems. Toward the end of the day, I wasn't sure I was going to make it out of there. I had a very bad headache and muscle cramps from the dehydration. The event staff were completely unprepared for transportation. They had trams that would take you to the busses, but they kept saying 'seniors only'. I kept trying to tell them I was very close to passing out. They didn't listen or care, not sure which. We finally got on a tram, and were taken to the busses. We had felt a sense of victory getting on a tram, but it faded fast when we saw the line for the busses. They had three busses for, I'm not sure how many people were there, but there was at least 25,000 people. I was really afraid then, that I wouldn't make it. A nice gentleman in front of us saw I wasn't doing well and offered me his water...I didn't take it, he'd need it himself. It took a long while before we got a bus and made it back to the car. When we got home I drank more water, took a shower and some advil for the headache. I just woke up after sleeping for 12 hours...I'm sure I needed it. I looked at myself in the mirror and I'm very sunburned. I had spf 45 sunscreen on, and reapplied it several times, but I guess it was no use. The more critical problem now is I have no insulin. All of the insulin I had left boiled in the sun, now is useless. So I am on a mission today to find insulin. I also feel now I'm beginning another flare of fibromyalgia, so this ought to be fun :)

When defeat is inevitable, it is wisest to yield.
~Quintilian

Posted by HeatherLeigh on August 16, 2004 05:36 AM