The Walk.

"Expect the Unexpected."

     I like that saying for this post because diabetes has no rhyme or reason. And definitely not good timing. We've all experienced it a several times, and it can be terrifying. But when two of my friends and I clipped my dog into her leash the other night, I wasn't prepared.
     I started to feel a little bit off when we were about 10 minutes away from getting back to my house. But all three of us had been laughing and joking, so I tried to forget about it. A couple of minutes later, my arms and legs began to feel like a strange combination of lead and jell-o. Now I knew I was definitely low, and I reached for my meter. But it wasn't there. "Do you have any candy or something?" I asked my friends, voice quavering.
     "No, I don't."
     "Sorry."
     Great, what was I supposed to do? We were only a little bit farther than a block away from my house, so I opted to hurry up and test when I got back. "Hey guys? I think I'm low... Could we ummm, hurry up so I can test sooner?"
      They jokingly complained, but we picked up the pace. Every step I took, my legs screamed for sugar. When I finally opened the front door, I was walking so unevenly that I probably looked intoxicated. After unclipping the leash (I know!) I found my meter and flopped into a chair to test. Wipe off finger, pull back the lever on the poker, pop open the test strips and fit one into the meter. 5. 4. 3. 2. 1. 45 mg/dl.(2.5 mmol/l)
      I pulled out an unopened tube of grape glucose tabs and tried to tear off the plastic seal. I was too uncoordiated with the low, so I passed it around to both my friends, who weren't able to break it either. "MOM!" I hollered, "I'M LOW AND I CAN'T OPEN THE TABS! CAN I HAVE A JUICE?" In a sort of last attempt, I ended up ripping off the plastic and opening the glucose tabs. I chomped four of them and shouted, "NEVERMIND MOM!"
     I finally had sugar, and I was starting to relax (besides the jittery feeling of the low) when one of my friends asked, "What do the grape glucose tabs taste like?"

Normally? Kid's medicine. But right now they taste like heaven, my friend.