Like any good family with diabetes living in the house, we have a rule...Never Waste Blood! If you cut yourself, find a meter. Never waste an opportunity to see what your blood sugar levels are.
Yesterday I was drying off our blender and was stabbed by one of its blade. I could feel the piercing of my skin and began to squeeze my finger. Sure enough blood began to spill out of a small cut.
I was on the phone but headed to my son's room and said "I need a meter. I am bleeding."
He dropped the game he was playing, found a meter and grabbed a test strip. It was so odd to see him moving my finger to the meter the same way I have done with his for years. The role reversal was strangely sad.
I continued my phone conversation and he said "You are low. Its says you are 3.6(65)."
I told him I couldn't be low and walked away. The blood had dried up and I couldn't retest to prove to him the result was off.
A few minutes later my son followed me into the kitchen where I was still on the phone. "Mom, you are low. You should be having an orange juice."
I told him that I felt fine. Shouldn't I feel different if I was low especially since I don't have diabetes?
"Mom, everyone is different. Perhaps people without diabetes feel lows completely different than I do. The meter says low. Low is low. You should have some orange juice."
In the meantime from the other end of the phone I heard "or at least go and take a glucose tablet." I was speaking to my mother and she seemed to be enjoying the irony of this conversation.
I never did have any juice. The only "symptom" I had was a mild headache that had plagued me all day. I am going with meter error but his concern and his no nonsense approach to my reading made me laugh but it also touched me that he was worried too...only in a house where diabetes lives!
Beginning tomorrow, I will be re-posting blog posts from the not too distant and distant past. I hope you enjoy a stroll down memory lane with me. I will be out of the country taking in a vacation like I have never had before so enjoy and I am sure I will have lots to blog about when I return!
Hope you have a wonderful vacation-you made need to take along a few glucose tablets :)
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