Glued to Glucose

It seems like everytime I work its all about me and my glucometer.

This time the patient, who wasn't diabetic but was a transplant patient looked odd. When I entered his room to do routine vitals for new admits and he was sleeping, bundled under about 5-6 blankets. I heard him, and realized something quickly, something I will never forget. There's a difference between snoring (sleeping) and snoring (respirations). His was the second. I quickly left the room and for whatever reason grabbed my glucometer. The nurse stopped me and asked me what I was doing, and I informed her that I felt it needed to be done. She nodded and then grumbled about me as she walked away.

I tried to wake him, and he woke suddenly, but went immediately back to sleep. I took the finger prick and had to milk the blood out, but got the reading. The glucometer beeped frantically and his wife, a nurse came running to see what the reading was. I felt my stomach drop and quickly locked the glucometer and ran to the galley.

I grabbed two apple juices and a grape juice, then notified the nurse that the reading was below what the glucometer would read. The patient downed both apple juices and laid back in bed, falling asleep again. I opened the window to let in some light and turned on the televsion, then returned five minutes later to get a new reading; 52.

Handing him the grape juice I again notified the nurse, who then looked to me with worried eyes. "Looks like we're gonna give him the D-50." She said. "Page his doctor." I nodded and did so, then returned to his room for a third blood sugar; 70.

"You must be good with diabetics." The wife said to me as we stepped into the hallway. I sighed and placed my glucometer on the shelf and wrote down the readings, nodding my head.

"Seems like they are everywhere." I said, looking up to her, relieved that he at least had a reading. "Has this ever happened before?"

The wife shook her head. "No, he was just nauseated and vomiting all day." Stopping, I looked to her, watching her carefully.

"And the ER didn't check it?" She shook her head no and I sighed. A problem and an admit could have been prevented. A note to self was made and I charted his glucose levels, and strict monitoring from me all night.

I swear, I am glued to the glucose cases lately.

A Weekend I Needed.

I needed the break I had this weekend, even if it did start off rough. I needed to get my mind away from the test results that aren't coming and that intermediate book, both seemed to be taunting me, harassing me, calling me out, and I felt helpless, not knowing what to do.

Friday I got really sick, and it scared me, hitting me really hard while I was getting ready for work. I tried to shake it off, but after a long talk with my fiance and his input, I called in sick to my job for the first time ever. When I talked to the nurse, she was very understanding, and also seemed slightly concerned- another scare. I ended up sleeping about 16 hours and slept most of it off.

Saturday I promised my fiance I would go watch him march in a city parade. He plays in a traditional scottish band and I love going to these parades. The band played excellent and as we walked back to the car I found 5 or 6 of our fire trucks and ambulances were here, so of course I took a picture. (I can't post the others, they have the city name in them.)

During the parade, I had a chance to do something awesome. I was sitting alone, but was joined on one side with a mom with 3 kids on my left and a mom and her daughter on the other side. The whole parade I handed the kids candy, and the little kids gladly took it. The mom on my right stood up and left, and the daughter sat with me, cracking lame jokes about the floats. After a little bit she got quiet, got pale and looked sick. I brushed my hand against her leg and it was cool and she was shaking. I looked at her and noticed a medical alert bracelet. I flipped it over and it read 'DIABETES TYPE 1.' I then looked to her.

"Your diabetic?" I verified. She nodded. "Do you have your tester on you?" She shook her head no. I bit my lip. "Have you taken insulin today?" She nodded and showed me her pump, which had about 8 units on board. "How much have you had to eat?" She showed me the wrapper to a salt water taffy. I asked if she had eaten anything else, she hadn't. I turned to my other side. "I need a piece of candy." I said, remembering what I was taught. 'If they are high, give 'em glucose. If they are low, give 'em glucose.' After fighting the parents I obtained some Starbursts and I gave them to her, then took her to find her mom, her mom looked terrified and when we took her blood sugar it was 55. They both embraced me and thanked me, then gave her more carbs to balance her out.

I needed it, because it helped me get to today without worrying about the results. But alas, its back to worrying.