I know many of us have had experiences where we had to be helped by paramedics at one time or another. i have had many low sugar “episodes” and most of the time the paramedics are great and I would like to publicly thank them from the bottom of my pancreas. However, sometimes things go wrong.
I had woken up one morning covered in sweat, and just barely got out of bed, in route to the kitchen, to get some orange juice, because of my obvious low blood sugar. I made it to the phone, and dialed my sisters house first, since they lived right next door, in hope that they would rush over to help me. They picked up the phone, but all I could do was mumble incoherently, but they knew what was wrong, knew it was me, and said they would be right over.
I made it to the refrigerator, opened the door while on my knees, and spilled the orange juice all over myself, and the floor.
I then dialed 911. The operator understood me when I said I was diabetic, and sent the ambulance, which was a block away. My brother-in-Law and my niece showed up with a big glass of orange juice, and the paramedics got there at the same time.
The paramedics took the glass of juice from my niece, and dumped it out in the sink. Although I could not speak clearly, I tried and tried to tell them that I had orange juice all over my hands, but could not speak clearly and they ignored me.
The paramedic tested my sugar by poking my orange juice covered finger. The reading was “over 70” which meant that they had to take me to the ER, because if my sugar was “normal range”, over 70, then they think something else could have caused me to be in this condition.
On the way to the ER, the paramedic called someone and told them what they found. By the time I got to the ER, I could speak clearly again, BECAUSE they were told to give me half the usual dose of glucose. I told them about the orange juice on my hands and that they did not even clean off my hand before testing my sugar. By this time, my sugar had climbed to over 300, due to the glucose I was given and nobody ever questioned the error the paramedic made.
I still love you guys