Diabetic Comas . . .

I awoke this morning feeling inebriated. I felt like I had at least two glasses of wine. And I wasn't totally awake. I was somewhere in the Twilight Zone. And, no, I had not been drinking.

Evelyn says, and I remember this, telling her I needed a hat, when she awakened and had gotten up out of bed. She said she looked at me and asked, "what for?" I didn't answer . . . but I remember her asking me. I don't think I have ever worn a hat in my life . . . but, for some reason, I needed a hat at that time. Reason? I had to to to Temple (I'm not Jewish) for some type of celebration. It was someone's birthday, I don't remember now whose it was. I saw Danuta there. Danuta was a lovely blond lady with whom I worked while at KFMB Radio in San Diego. She did the news, I did the traffic reports. We became friends . . . and then lovers, for about nine months (Mary and I were separated at the time. I had a lovely apartment on the beach at Cardiff, Danuta had a lovely condominium, on the beach, at Coronado. We spent a lot of time on the beach. I would reconcile with Mary about a year later and we stayed together for a considerable time after that; Danuta and I remained friends and continued to work together, but the romance was over. She moved on to another guy, I had returned to my wife).

During this altered state I was in this morning (where I wore a hat like a rabbi and went to Temple), I remember going up to Danuta and telling her she was wearing way too much makeup. I was very diplomatic about it, but I told her. She was a naturally beautiful blond and did not need a lot of makeup. I remember she had gone way overboard on her eyeshadow.

I don't remember where this dream or hallucination went after that . . .but I remember waking up fully, feeling very weak, afraid to get out of bed for fear of falling down. I think I knew what was wrong.

I was in a diabetic coma due to low blood sugars.
I must have lain in bed for a good hour before finally getting up and going into the kitchen. I told Evelyn I needed honey, or some type of sugar. She had a whole carton of blackberries and I grabbed about two handfuls of them and scarfed them down. She also had already fixed me some oatmeal and it had yogurt, blueberries and strawberries . . . so I scarfed that down as well. (Fruits have natural sugars).

My mind slowly began to clear and once it had cleared sufficiently, I came to the trusty old computer and typed into Google "diabetic coma symptoms." Sure enough, the Mayo Clinic listed "confusion," the WebMD.com site listed "altered mental state."

I was both of those. Again, I felt as though I was somewhat inebriated. Pleasant, yet strange feeling in a strange, new world. But it's a dangerous place to be, in a diabetic coma. You can die from it.

I just recently saw an endocrinologist. She adjusted my insulin schedule and I simply misread her instructions and took 8 too many units of insulin last night.

Evelyn is now scolding me, telling me I absolutely must get my blood sugars under control and pay more attention to the insulin schedule.

And she's right.

Even if it means I probably will never see Danuta again.*

*(Just joking. Danuta now lives in Oregon; she is either married to, or living with some new guy, I'm not sure which. Doesn't matter. She was and is a great gal, and a wonderful memory. But she's part of my past, not the present, nor the future).