Tuesday, July 30, 2013

Paying for the low

Grace's lows have been endless this past week. I cut her basals by about 30% and still they come on. I increased her I:C ratio incrementally, and still about 2 hours after she eats, she plummets. Not sure what's going on, but it stinks.

There was a low today in Walmart. Yes, Walmart. We rarely ever go, as the one near us is humongous and it overwhelms me - the people, the crowds, someone is always angry there. I find my comfort in Target, not Walmart. Hey, to each his own. But we found ourselves there.

BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ BUZZ

Dexcom tells me something is seriously wrong. It buzzes against my hip, as I threw it into my purse side pocket as we shopped. I look down and see a 49 with a southeast arrow. She is headed down.

Crap on a stick.

We are near the refrigerated cases. I look for some orange juice, as she would willingly, gladly, drink it. There are no individual bottles of it. Why not Walmart, why? You stock everything under the blessed sun, but drew the line at individual orange juices?

I spy a little 6 pack of Sunny D. Hey, it's either this or some awful chocolate milk by Nestle that I spotted out of the corner of my eye. That will make her sick, so 'no' to that.  It's too far to walk for the diabetes section and the glucose tabs. It's too far to walk for the candy aisle near check out. She's already dizzy and I have no glucose tabs in her kit. Yeah, it's summer, I am a slacker, I know.

I grab the small 6 pack of Sunny D and rip one out of the pack.

Grace looks at me like I came into the Walmart with a ski mask on, a loaded pistol and said 'I'm taking the Sunny D!'

Her eyes widen - 'MOM!!!!!!'

'I'm going to pay for it honey, it's only one of the juices, now here, drink it.'

'I don't want to drink it until we pay for it.'

Are you seriously kidding me? I applaud her honesty, I didn't raise a thief, but for the love of all that is holy - DRINK THE JUICE AND STOP REASONING WITH ME!

She drinks it down in three gulps. And tells me she is dizzy.

'Can you hold onto the cart? I will find us a place to sit.'

And I do, near a pillar, off of an aisle way.

And we sit in Walmart and drink the not-yet-paid-for juice.

And yes, I paid for it later, both in cash and a steady 96, straight-east arrow on that Dex.




8 comments:

50+ Ironman Goal! said...

I've always loved those...not until you pay for it moments.....for the love of god there are 4 people in line in front of us and your ready to pass out drink the silly juice...LOL

Jennifer said...

I drank a juice straight off the shelf in Giant yesterday, then paid for the empty carton. Gotta do what you gotta do.

PancreasticMom said...

I try to avoid Walmart as much as possible (alas, our town has no Target..they think we are too low-income for them, yet we support TWO overwhelmingly busy Walmart SuperCenters...sorry for the rant!)But--yeah, it seems EVERY time we go there she ends up low. We have done the sit-on-the-floor low treatments there, too...seems they tank so fast in that store! I applaud your quick thinking with the Sunny D !

Unknown said...

Way to go Penny and Super Grace!!! Love the pic of her on the floor. And...sorry...gotta love that she wanted to pay for it first. What a good girl you have there Pen. xo

Anonymous said...

We've been there before, too. As much as we dislike Walmart, there are probably worse places to be with a nasty low and no gluc tabs! I'm glad it worked out ok!

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To learn more about Walgreens Diabetes & You, or to see previous issues online, go to walgreens.com/diabetesandyouHey Everyone!
My name is Rebecca, I am an editorial intern for Walgreens ‘Diabetes and You’ magazine, and I wanted to share with you a link to the online version of the most recent issue of our award-winning magazine. Click here or pick up your free copy at your local Walgreens

rebecca said...

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