Flying Solo

"Is there a doctor or paramedic on board?" the flight attendants, moving around the mostly sleeping cabin, inquire.

My husband gives me a poke. "Ask if you can help."

"I'm NOT a paramedic."

But there are no doctors on board.

No nurses.

No paramedics. I believe that anyone with money would not be flying packed-rat class on the world's worst airline, red-eye to LAX on a Saturday night. Three hours delayed, to boot.

In the news, when people have an onboard emergency, a host of medical personal(physicians, surgeons, flight nurses, etc.) pop up from out of the woodwork and work feverishly to save that person's life while the pilot makes an emergency landing. Trained people, knowledgable people, people you WANT to be working on you. Not some petrified young EMT who has never done CPR solo( the codes I've been involved in, the paramedics were all over it and the best thing I could do was not get in their way and hand them the appropriate tools at the appropriate times). Except on Manniken Annie, and that hardly counts.

But I appear to be the only one. How can one just sit there and do nothing, and be able to live with yourself later on? Despite the incredibly poor timing (I wouldn't want anyone like me to be working on me) you can't just do nothing. I pledge not to lose them, or my own cool. (until later) I briefly consider the legal ramifications if this individual dies while under my offered services, no good Samaritan Laws protect you if you're a medical professional. Guess I'll be spending the next X years in jail.

Thunk, thunk, thunk. That's the sound of my own heart,racing fit to beat the top qualifier in the Indy 500. Dexcom blood sugars immeadietly begin to go up.

They aren't having chest pain, difficulty breathing, or a heart attack. Just an apparent run-of-the-mill stomach bug.

Thank you, God. Although I could do CPR, I would prefer the first time not be at 32,000+ feet, solo responsible for someone else's life.(aren't flight attendants supposed to be trained in CPR/AED? What do they think the doc/paramedic has, an advanced cardiac drug box with them?)

Finally my bg levels off at 250 mg/dl. I'm really not ready to fly solo on this one, the next person to have a heart attack would be me.

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).