Thursday, January 24, 2008

2 Kinds of Crashes

Crash 1: The car.

I rear-ended the nicest old guy on the way home from a job interview the other day. I'm fine, he was fine, and our cars, for the most part, are fine and completely driveable. He was an older guy, in his 70's, and I knew things weren't going to be too rough when I asked if he was all right, and he responded, "The better question is, are you all right?" He was sweet and reassuring, even though I hit his nice-looking, most-likely-new car. As for my car, the front bumper cover is kind of scraped-up looking and has some holes where the front license plate holder was popped out. The garage says it'll be $650 to replace it, and I've got a $500 deductible on my insurance. Of course, that's $500 that's a little difficult to come up with right now. His Cadillac had even less damage, just a bit of a scrape on his rear bumper cover. It was a bit nerve-wracking, of course, but this guy's genuine niceness and humor was very calming, and I ended up driving off smiling.

I realize later that I'm lucky I rear-ended his car and not some big SUV. My front bumper hit the middle of his rear bumper, but had I run into a car that was much further off the ground, like a Hummer or one of those big Toyotas that people are driving these days, I might have caught my hood and really screwed things up.

Crash 2: The blood sugar.

Last night was a lot of fun. Matt and I went to our friend Mike's to play Spades, as we often do these days. It was a fun night of drinking and smack-talking, as usual. However, Mike didn't have any diet Coke, which is what I usually drink when I'm over there. I'll usually have one with rum or vanilla vodka, and one without anything. I still wanted to have a drink, so Mike busted out his bottle of meade. Matt and I had never had it before, so it seemed like it would be fun to try it. I liked it--kind of white wine-y with a honey aftertaste. Yes, I said honey. You can probably guess where this is going. Before bed, my glucose level is high, 286, so I correct. I should probably stick with the old standard beverages.

Matt gets up to get ready for work at 6am. I feel strange, and check again. 71. I chomp on 3 glucose tabs, thinking 4 will probably raise things a little too much. I go back to sleep. I wake up at 11. (Yes, having no job has its perks sometimes.) I feel strange, and check again. 71. Again.

Isn't it always weird when you get 2 identical readings in a row, hours apart, especially after you treat a low?

Off to Integrated Diabetes tomorrow! I can't wait to report back to all of you about it.

7 comments:

  1. Hannah,
    I'm so glad you're okay! I had two accidents within 2 weeks of each other last fall - they're no fun. But at least the man was nice. It helps the situation so much if everyone remains civil & even better when they're just plain old nice.

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  2. Glad that both of your crashes weren't bad. Waking up at 71 is my idea of a good start to the day. I can have cereal and not worry. Waking up at 11--wow! Lucky lady! Hey wait, I'm unemployed right now, too...but damn, busier than ever! Grr....

    btw, what is meade? is it a mixed drink thing?

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  3. It's so nice when others are genuinely kind hearted people. You just don't find that too much anymore. Glad to hear no one was hurt. More importantly, glad that you recovered from your yoyo blood sugar. 2 identical numbers 5 hours apart is pretty twilight zone.

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  4. Hannah! I'm glad you're okay from both of those crashes. As a new driver and veteran diabetic they are both scary things. The double numbers happened to me yesterday, only not so far apart. 58 gobbled some stuff down, 20 minutes later 58! Crazy.

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  5. I was reading your post, expecting to see that you went low at some point in the night, since that's what the post was titled. When I read the line "I woke up at 11..." my mind jumped to holy cow! I didn't even know meters read that low! I hope she was OK!!
    Glad to see you weren't actually that low, and that your fender bender turned out to be alright as well.

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  6. Anonymous4:49 PM

    I'm glad neither of the crashes was too serious! i actually had 2 identical readings today too.. 84 an 84, four hours apart

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  7. i never correct after i've been drinking it will always without fail make me low.

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