For twenty-eight years I have been living with diabetes, I can honestly say it has been twenty-eight years of amazing. I have been very lucky when it has come to living with diabetes, I went far to long without taking care of myself but I'm still living. I was told I should be dead and an endocrinologist refused to care for me. Somehow, someway I pushed on and got my life back. I have turned into a decent cyclist and runner, I have embraced my life with diabetes and have never been happier with my life. I was then faced with a moment that scared me to death, what follows are my feelings and my experience. I share all of what I can do with diabetes on this blog and I feel that some people believe it is a lie, I'm human and far from perfect but at the end of the day I'm living with diabetes and not invincible.
Three days after running a 50k I played in a golf tournament for work. It would be a great day with coworkers that have become close friends in less than a year. One coworker that I have become very close with would be in the foursome and acted like a big brother when we signed in for the tournament. "They have some soda and water over there, grab four we will need them while we are playing" Why would I think he was looking out for me? It was in the low 90s and I figured I was grabbing fluids for the group. The round started perfectly, I was splitting fairways with mammoth drives, the drink cart brought us Gatorade and some food four holes in and I was laughing my butt of playing with my friends.
As we completed the 9th hole we headed to the clubhouse for lunch, I made sure to test my blood sugar even though my CGM said that I was 103. My blood sugar was at 92, a little low so I decided taking insulin for a hot dog, cookie and Gatorade would be foolish. Again I had just run a 50k and my blood sugars were staying at the lower end of my range for the past two days. We headed off to play the final nine holes and my blood sugar slowly crept up to around 230, nothing crazy but in need of some insulin to get back in range. With three holes left I took four units of insulin in my lower abdomen. I figured that this would cover the slight high blood sugar and the ice cream bar that was waiting for us on the 16th hole. I was feeling good, nothing could go wrong!!
As we pulled up to the cooler on the 16th hole we all jumped out of the golf cart like little kids and opened the cooler to find our ice cream treasure. The cooler was empty and my good feeling left with the guy that took the last ice cream!! Everything would be ok I though, I have soda with me thanks to a good friend, I also have candy in the car and I can get soda at the dinner just in case my blood sugar dropped. My blood sugar would drop and do so extremely quickly, I went from 230 to 100 in three holes of golf, taking an injection in my abdomen while golfing was dumb!! I drank my soda, ate my candy and headed to the dinner just down the road.
The foursome I was in found a table and I quickly excused myself to go get a soda to fix my blood sugar. As I payed I smiled and thought I'll be ok, just to be safe I grabbed three dinner rolls to help get my blood sugar back up. I sat at the table and drank one of the sodas in about a minute and started in on the dinner rolls. As I ate my roll I broke out in a sweat and felt sick to my stomach. I sat back and excused myself again, this time I was questioned by my buddy Matt "You ok?" I answered quickly "Yea just need to go to the bathroom" with that I was off.
Ten feet from the bar I knew I needed help as my legs started to feel like rubber and walking was becoming difficult. I leaned on the bar and thought to myself, please don't do this here. I leaned against the bar and asked for an orange juice, next thing I know my legs gave out and I was down on my back. I was conscious but not a 100%, this video shows how I was feeling as I laid on my back at a dinner with about 200 people. I was on my back and surrounded by 4 people very quickly, I pointed to my wrist and said "I'm a type one diabetic, I need sugar" Packets of sugar and my glass of orange juice quickly appeared, I pounded a packet of sugar, stood up and drank half of my orange juice. I then walked over to a side room with one of the greatest people I have ever met. For ten minutes she took care of me and made sure I was ok, we talked and I asked how she knew so much about diabetes. I smiled as she told me about her daughter that was my age and living with diabetes.
Obviously I was ok, I was embarrassed but I was good. The toughest part since that moment was telling my future wife, my parents, and my future in-laws what had happened. I honestly believe that it should have never happened, I thought I had done everything correctly. I didn't have glucose tabs on me because I was around soda, juice and food all day. I wasn't honest with my friends when I said I was ok before going down. I messed up!! To say this moment has changed my view on the world is an understatement, this was the first moment like this since I was ten. I felt invincible, I'm not going to sugar coat it. I thought I was better than my diabetes and I learned my lesson. I cut corners and paid the price. We only get one life, even if I'm surrounded by food and drink I need to take every step to make sure I have all of the diabetes supplies I would need if I was in an empty room for ten hours. Never ever think that you are better than diabetes!!
Three days after running a 50k I played in a golf tournament for work. It would be a great day with coworkers that have become close friends in less than a year. One coworker that I have become very close with would be in the foursome and acted like a big brother when we signed in for the tournament. "They have some soda and water over there, grab four we will need them while we are playing" Why would I think he was looking out for me? It was in the low 90s and I figured I was grabbing fluids for the group. The round started perfectly, I was splitting fairways with mammoth drives, the drink cart brought us Gatorade and some food four holes in and I was laughing my butt of playing with my friends.
As we completed the 9th hole we headed to the clubhouse for lunch, I made sure to test my blood sugar even though my CGM said that I was 103. My blood sugar was at 92, a little low so I decided taking insulin for a hot dog, cookie and Gatorade would be foolish. Again I had just run a 50k and my blood sugars were staying at the lower end of my range for the past two days. We headed off to play the final nine holes and my blood sugar slowly crept up to around 230, nothing crazy but in need of some insulin to get back in range. With three holes left I took four units of insulin in my lower abdomen. I figured that this would cover the slight high blood sugar and the ice cream bar that was waiting for us on the 16th hole. I was feeling good, nothing could go wrong!!
As we pulled up to the cooler on the 16th hole we all jumped out of the golf cart like little kids and opened the cooler to find our ice cream treasure. The cooler was empty and my good feeling left with the guy that took the last ice cream!! Everything would be ok I though, I have soda with me thanks to a good friend, I also have candy in the car and I can get soda at the dinner just in case my blood sugar dropped. My blood sugar would drop and do so extremely quickly, I went from 230 to 100 in three holes of golf, taking an injection in my abdomen while golfing was dumb!! I drank my soda, ate my candy and headed to the dinner just down the road.
The foursome I was in found a table and I quickly excused myself to go get a soda to fix my blood sugar. As I payed I smiled and thought I'll be ok, just to be safe I grabbed three dinner rolls to help get my blood sugar back up. I sat at the table and drank one of the sodas in about a minute and started in on the dinner rolls. As I ate my roll I broke out in a sweat and felt sick to my stomach. I sat back and excused myself again, this time I was questioned by my buddy Matt "You ok?" I answered quickly "Yea just need to go to the bathroom" with that I was off.
Ten feet from the bar I knew I needed help as my legs started to feel like rubber and walking was becoming difficult. I leaned on the bar and thought to myself, please don't do this here. I leaned against the bar and asked for an orange juice, next thing I know my legs gave out and I was down on my back. I was conscious but not a 100%, this video shows how I was feeling as I laid on my back at a dinner with about 200 people. I was on my back and surrounded by 4 people very quickly, I pointed to my wrist and said "I'm a type one diabetic, I need sugar" Packets of sugar and my glass of orange juice quickly appeared, I pounded a packet of sugar, stood up and drank half of my orange juice. I then walked over to a side room with one of the greatest people I have ever met. For ten minutes she took care of me and made sure I was ok, we talked and I asked how she knew so much about diabetes. I smiled as she told me about her daughter that was my age and living with diabetes.
Obviously I was ok, I was embarrassed but I was good. The toughest part since that moment was telling my future wife, my parents, and my future in-laws what had happened. I honestly believe that it should have never happened, I thought I had done everything correctly. I didn't have glucose tabs on me because I was around soda, juice and food all day. I wasn't honest with my friends when I said I was ok before going down. I messed up!! To say this moment has changed my view on the world is an understatement, this was the first moment like this since I was ten. I felt invincible, I'm not going to sugar coat it. I thought I was better than my diabetes and I learned my lesson. I cut corners and paid the price. We only get one life, even if I'm surrounded by food and drink I need to take every step to make sure I have all of the diabetes supplies I would need if I was in an empty room for ten hours. Never ever think that you are better than diabetes!!
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