Saturday, May 05, 2007

A Series of Unfortunate Events

Wednesday night, 8 pm. Party at my house.

All the cool kids were there.

My parents.

My oldest brother.

The rescue squad.

The fire department.

And various neighbors, trying unsuccessfully NOT to gawk out their windows.

And so, apperently, was I (though the entire thing is somewhat of a blur).

No- I wasn't low. Far from it. I'd been a rocksolid 130-170 for a full 5 hours. My D, was behaving amicably. No suppertime bolus hanging 'round, my basal ran 0.3 units/hour.(hardly major insulin reaction material)

One minute, I was ironing, the next, I was doing a carpet burn 5 feet away. Electricity coursed through my body, and I briefly passed out. When I came too,my heart was beating funkily + I was shaking like I was having El Majoro insulin reaction. I knew I'd better get to the phone before I passed out for real so I went to the living room, grabbed my cellphone, called my mom, checked my blood sugar(170- no surprise there) and she called 911 as I wasn't thinking too clearly by then.

My dad and brother arrived first, minutes later the rescue squad/fire department/my mom/ landlady's daughter.
Blood pressure was high- pulse very high and the squad wanted me to go in but I decided to wait it out, see if it got any worse. The primary reason for this didn't involve any great bravery on my part, its more like when your family is standing around with disapproval written all over their faces (like, its just a shock, get over it already) -short of unconsciousness, there's no way you can agree to go in. You'd much rather be dead, then hear the resulting dialogue from making a decision like that.
Seriously. Not that they don't care, they just think its overkill. And while the squad is doing their utmost to convince you that you should go in, you know that you shouldn't/can't + the reason for this, you can't really
communicate that to the medic,you can'b be honest. Sometimes family,isn't
a great asset in such a situation.

My dad took the iron(to have it checked out), it was a new one(not like I was standing in a puddle of water to invoke all that). And my mom stayed a few hours, till I felt somewhat human again, less shaky/dizzy enough to crawl back to bed.

Something that could have happened to anyone, but it'll be chalked up in the "Diabetic Girl going into Coma" book by certain neighbors.

I was going to call my doctor about it Thursday, to get checked out but my cellphone has died(completely), for good. Had a battery replaced 2 days ago and they said it'd gotten wet and if the replacement didn't work it wouldn't work. So I'll have to get a new phone. And if my mom/anyone else calls to check up on me, well, I won't be able to answer them. I will have to borrow someone's phone, in the meantime.

Thursday's dinner was awesome- as we dined on prime rib, baked potatos, brocculi goulash, steamed shrimp, salad, rolls, and strawberry shortcake. It was the One Million Safe Hours (worked, w/o any lost time) dinner, which they'd promised to us a month ago. To top it off, the coffee machines were on free vending and we got these interesting weird little cooler/chairs marking this momentous event. Sort of useless (when you sit on them, they collapse)- but something else to add to the yard sale pile. The rest of the prime rib/shrimp were given to the supivisors to take home, which didn't cause a great deal of wonderful feelings for those of us on the floor. Supivisors get all the good breaks.

Now I have a cold. 2nd one in a month- didn't have a single one all winter, and now that its spring they just keep crankin' on out! Between that and the residual effects of being shocked,I feel a little loopy this weekend. Not so sure it didn't rewire something in there.I will be calling the doctor on Monday.

Be sure to check out Diabetestalkfests poem contest-and to vote for the best...(next month).

7 comments:

Minnesota Nice said...

OMG Heidi. So was it the iron and an electrical shock? Damn scary - it is a good thing that your family lives nearby - and yes, the neighbors peering through the curtains will come to their own conclusions, but, who cares?
(Also, I thought I was the only one who ironed anymore.....tee hee)

Kerri. said...

Holy crap, Heidi. Are you feeling okay now??

Drea said...

I am glad you are ok!! I hate calling 911 and have my co-workers come to the house!!

I will officially give up ironing in your honor :)

Scott K. Johnson said...

Wow! Scary! Glad that you are Ok!

Major Bedhead said...

Reason # 8,942 why I don't iron.

Scary stuff. I hope you're feeling better now. Did the iron short out?

Bernard said...

Heidi

That's really scary. I'm glad you were able to call for help.

OK, I have to ask. Have you done any ironing since? I think I'd be staying AWAY from that board for a while.

Glad that you recovered from it all. Maybe I can use this as an excuse not to do any ironing, he he.

Penny Ratzlaff said...

I'm glad everything turned out to be OK. How scary.