Saturday, January 10, 2009

I'm a moron....

No. Really I am. Don't believe me? Well, here are two "I'm a moron" moments that I've had in the last two weeks....




New Year's Eve. I spent the night by myself, hanging out and watching the ball fall on TV, while designing a cake that I wanted to make over the long weekend. It was already my third day, and I should have changed my pump site that morning. I knew I was low on insulin. I'd already had the beep for the 12.5 units remaining. This meant I'd have to do a site change before I went to bed. I don't like to do a site change at night, but even if I gave bolus insulin with a syringe, I still wouldn't have enough basal to make it through til morning.


I had resigned myself to a nighttime change.


Well, I don't typically stay up much past 11:00. I love my sleep. So I was already tired. The ball dropped and I was watching the after shows when I decided to take my BG. I was in the low 200s. I knew I needed a correction bolus. I used my bolus wizard and gave a bolus.


About twenty minutes later I nearly had a stroke! It just hit me out of nowhere: YOU DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH INSULIN IN YOUR RESERVOIRS TO BOLUS, MORON!


I looked down, and sure enough, for the first time since I started pumping, I had run my pump dry. Instead of a number in the spot that says "units left", it was "---".


Thus, I am a moron. I quickly did a site change and did a 3 a.m. wake up to check and correct another high. But, I couldn't believe I had actually run my pump dry! Wow.


Fast forward to Monday of this week. I had been fighting lows all night. I woke up that morning with a blood sugar of 75. I didn't correct, but instead turned my pump off and got ready for work. I also changed my CGMS sensor that morning. So I was essentially flying blind at that point. I tested before I left for work and was 79. I drove straight to McDonald's (yes, I know that's bad for me!) and got biscuits and gravy for breakfast. Usually, this spikes me to the high 100's, low 200's, so I figured that would keep me in the mid 100's on a morning that was already starting out on the lower side.


I got to work, and as I am carrying in my stuff, I get a "lost sensor" alarm from my CGMS. Basically, it was going to be a long morning. I reset my sensor and ate breakfast. It was a very busy morning at work, compounded by 3 more "lost sensor" alarms (sometimes it can take half a day to get it to "take", but I am too cheap to take it out and do another sensor). At 11:00 I realize that I am dying of thirst.


And then the light bulb came on. YOU FORGOT TO BOLUS FOR BREAKFAST, MORON! I looked at my pump, and sure enough, the last bolus was at 9 pm the day before. I checked my blood sugar: 369. Correction bolus, 7 units.


I spent the rest of the day, correcting and eating only jello, cheese, and almonds (basically, the lowest carb I could).


I mean, it's not like I haven't been a diabetic for 23 years. It's not like I don't KNOW that I have to give insulin when I eat. But I forgot.


So, you see, my lovely friends in the Diabetes OC.


I am a MORON!




Nuff said.

9 comments:

Scott K. Johnson said...

I know that I've done the exact same things, and even worse, many times over. Thus, I too am a moron. Let's start a club! :-)

I've even forgotten to put my pump back on a couple times! That's good stuff right there!

Hope you have a great rest of the weekend!

Cara said...

Glad to know I'm not alone. :P We do need a club! :D Oh wait....I think we already have one. It's called the Diabetes OC. Cause you know we've all done something stupid at one point or another. :D

Donna said...

I have a bad habit of forgetting to bolus - especially when I'm eating out. There's just too much to remember sometimes, isn't there?

I'm with Scott. We should start a club. :)

Lynnea said...

Cara--You are too cute!! Scott is on the right track...a club indeed! My husband has done more of the forgetting to bolus thing...for me it's forgetting to put the pump back on!! Of course the little squirt doesn't remind me....doesn't want to remind me I'm sure!!

So if we start a club, I hope parents of D's can join too, cuz we've done the same moronic stuff!!:)

Lee Ann Thill said...

I'm a moron too. I can't tell you how many times I've forgotten to bolus for meals, and far more often than not, it's at breakfast. I can only guess it's because I'm either not fully awake or I'm just preoccupied thinking about whatever I need to do for the day. Ugh, I get so irritated with myself when I do that!

Jill said...

We've all had "moron moments" at one point in our life ;) sometimes more (haha!)

Glad you're ok! Happy Sunday :)

k2 said...

k2 here - and I am a MORON as well - TOTALLY! Be it forgetting to bolus or cutting it way to close with the whole changing of the infusion set before bed. Maybe we could call ourselves the MORETICS! You know, Moron Diabetics ;)
k2

Layne said...

I can totally forget to take my insulin too!! And the crappy way I feel when I my BG skyrockets afterwards is like my punishment. I think the classic times I forget to bolus is A) when I'm in a restaurant. I always wait for the food to come because I don't want insulin on-board and then have the food to take forever. B) When I'm low right before a meal. I find that if I don't give the food a minute to kick in before I take insulin, the low just won't go away. Problem is, both of these set me up to completely forget about my insulin. And I definitely feel dumb when I do that. I guess it takes longer than 18 years of having diabetes to ingrain this stuff in my head! ;-)

Karen said...

Moron - NO. Human - YES!! We all forget sometimes. :)