Tuesday, July 14, 2009

Et tu, Tuesday?

You know those infomercials where the announcer says, "but wait... there's more?" That's what I feel like my life has been like the last four days. Just when I think it can't get any worse, it goes ahead and does. But at least I can laugh about it.

It started this morning when Elise woke up with a BG of 252 and ketones at 1.6. Grrrrr. This is after we put her to bed at 186, she dropped to 81 about 2 hours later and hovered around there until 3:00 am when she finally went above 150 (our "safe" night time number). She had no carbs in her bedtime snack, so I can't figure out what the deal is there.

Anyway, I was still feeling horrible and we had to stay home from story time at the library, which Elise LOVES. Boo. I noticed her rash had come back, so I finally decided to call her pedi and make an appointment.

After the poor nurse listened to me prattle on for about 5 minutes (and I'm surprised she could actually understand me since I have almost no voice left), she let me know that Elise's pedi is away for two weeks in Africa doing mission work. WHAT? How dare she feel God's calling to a third world nation to serve others while I NEED HER HERE???

Okay, I'm totally joking. I did not know Elise's pedi did mission work, but it makes me love her even more... if that's at all possible.

Anyway, I made an appointment for the afternoon and the rest of our day was pretty uneventful save for the semi-low BG number of 71 that Elise woke up from her nap with (unfortunately, another 45 minute nap).

The fun all began when I went to leave the doctor's office. It was about 4:15, and as I was headed towards the freeway, my car started acting up. I was freaked out because we had just taken it in for service and the guy had some issues with it.

What you need to know for this story is that our gas gauge doesn't work. It always reads empty. Our car is 10 years old and paid for, and we will drive it until it goes to car heaven. We've never fixed the problem because they wanted $300 for the repair. As long as we know how many kilometers (we brought the car from Canada) we've driven since our last fill-up, we know when we need to fill up again.

I barely managed to drive it into a grocery store parking lot before it stalled out entirely. I didn't think we were out of gas because I still had about 75 kilometers to go before I needed to fill up. I checked my clock and started to panic. It was almost 4:30 and I needed to get Elise home for her insulin and dinner. I was also sitting in a black car in 105 degree Texas heat.

About 100 feet away I saw an answer to my prayer. A fire truck was sitting there with one of the firemen still in it (the rest were grocery shopping - am I the only one that gets tickled watching firemen grocery shop?). I took Elise out of the car and walked over. The very sweet guy said he'd help push the car into the gas station (that I missed getting to by about 75 feet), but he had to wait for his other firemen buddies to help. I explained my situation and that Elise had diabetes and he said that if she was going low, he had glucose tabs in the truck. He then invited us to sit in the nice air conditioned fire truck... Elise loved it!

Another answered prayer was that my husband was driving back from a meeting and was only 5 minutes away. He was going to switch cars with me, so I could get Elise home. I was worried about her dropping low again, so when my husband arrived we tried to check her BG, only the meter was acting all funky. And of course I had taken the back-up meter out to replenish the test strips and forgot to put it back in Elise's diaper bag. After messing with it for about 5 minutes we got it to work and she came in at 112.

The other firemen arrived and helped my husband get the car to the gas station, and at this point I book it home with Elise screaming most of the way home because we are in Poppa's car, but Poppa isn't with us. The only way I can convince her to stop is by singing "Wheels on the Bus" over and over and over. It was a 20 minute drive home. And did I mention that I have no voice?

The good news is, I'm laughing about it. Just another crazy adventure that I get to bore my blog readers with. It could have turned out a lot worse, but I really feel like God was watching out for me. My car made it into a parking lot and didn't stall out in the middle of the busy road. The wonderful, WONDERFUL guys from the Irving Fire Department that helped get the car to the gas station and kept Elise and I cool in the meantime. My husband being so close by just when I needed him. These are all signs that God knows what I'm going through and He's right there with me. Pretty cool, eh?

Oh by the way... I was out of gas. Apparently super hot weather make gas evaporate faster. Who knew?

4 comments:

  1. What a day you had, my dear! I love how God is ALWAYS ready for us- always waiting to show us that He's RIGHT THERE!
    I hope you can discover what's causing this rash! Poor little girl- feel so bad for her and for YOU! Keep us updated. Praying for you!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh....what does her rash look like? Maybe it or what it's related to is causing the ketones??

    ReplyDelete
  3. I’m so sorry that you’re having a crappy week (I don’t think this week has been “good” for any of T1 Mommies)!
    I just wanted to let you know how much of an inspiration you are to me right now! With everything that’s going on in you’re life you’re still in good spirits! I can’t wait until I can reach that point in my new life!
    Thank You!!!

    ReplyDelete
  4. wishing you a quiet, peaceful Wednesday!!!

    ReplyDelete

Comment moderation now in effect because of jerky comment spammers.

Now please leave your message after the beep.

Beep.