It may be the weekend, but Diabetes Blog Week is still going strong. We officially have over 200 bloggers signed up to participate. I just want to send out a quick thank you to the DOC for all of the enthusiasm and support this week, and for all the time spent writing posts, reading posts by others, and leaving comments. I’m guessing I’m not the only one who has been wishing for a housekeeper and personal chef this week?Today it’s time to share some pictures for Saturday Snapshots. Back for another year, let’s show everyone what life with diabetes looks like! With a nod to the Diabetes 365 project, let’s grab our cameras again and share some more d-related pictures. Post as many or as few as you’d like. Feel free to blog your thoughts on or explanations of your pictures, or leave out the written words and let the pictures speak for themselves.
The subtitle for my post today is “FORCES BEYOND OUR CONTROL”. My pictures are proof that things can go wrong through no fault of our own. For example, a couple of Fridays ago, my high alarm went off after dinner. I thought nothing of it, because I’d had a sore throat all week and my high alarm rang every time I ate, no matter what I ate or how aggressively I bolused. I cleared the alarm and Pete and I settled in to watch some T.V. As usual, I fell asleep on the couch. But when I woke up a few hours later, things were anything but usual. My CGM showed a blood sugar over 300 with a rapid up arrow. I grumbled when Pete suggested I change my site - I had just put that site in that afternoon and had a low afterward so I was sure the site was fine. But I changed it anyway, and it turns out the site was anything but fine. The cannula looked normal when I pulled it out, but I looked down to see blobs of blood all over the floor. And blood streaming down my leg.
Definitely not what I had planned for a Friday night. After a correction by syringe, a ketone check (medium), lots of water and a blood sugar that topped off in the 400s, things finally started to settle down. I checked every hour until I made it into the 200s around 1 a.m. Knowing my CGM would alert me if I didn’t continue back down into range, I went to bed exhausted.
Then there was a mishap just a couple of days ago. Around 3:30 in the morning my CGM high alarm went off and again the screen showed rapid up arrows. When I got up to use the bathroom I felt my pump tubing smack against my leg, but the place it hit was far too low. You know why?
Because apparently the tubing was no longer connected to my site! I’ve never seen anything like this happen before (although I’m sure some of you have?). A 3:30 a.m. site change is never much fun, but I was thankful that my CGM helped me find this problem while my blood sugar was only in the 200s and my ketones were only “small”.
When you are dealing with diabetes, sometimes doing everything right doesn’t matter one bit. Sometimes things will just go to crap no matter what. We just need to learn to roll with the punches, adjust, and keep going.
What is Diabetes Blog Week? Click here for an explanation, and check out the list of participants over here.
Zoiks! That's some blood! That goes beyond "vampire cannula".
ReplyDeleteOof. Two site issues so close together! Beyond our control indeed...
ReplyDeleteI had the tubing come out of the set while I was sleeping too! I thought I was the only one!
ReplyDeleteI meant to add this link too. It shows when my site disconnected itself. http://pushmybuttonstoturnmeon.wordpress.com/2013/10/31/sugary-slug/
ReplyDelete"When you are dealing with diabetes, sometimes doing everything right doesn’t matter one bit. Sometimes things will just go to crap no matter what. We just need to learn to roll with the punches, adjust, and keep going." Yes. A positive attitude that will we can adopt to all other aspects of life.
ReplyDeleteThe bloody tissue is scary but the tubing being silently disconnected is terrifying.
ReplyDelete