Dizziness and Disorientation

This virus has had a hold of me for about three days now.  Again, I woke up dizzy, with my blood sugar way too high.  Rainie had woken me up in the middle of the night for me to check, and my meter read more than 300.  Even when I got up four hours later, after giving myself many units of insulin in the wee hours of the morning, my blood sugar was basically unchanged.  And I’m dizzy!  Argh!  So, once again, I gave myself my more insulin, ate a light breakfast, and had my husband drop us off at Rainie’s and my latest favorite walk – a beautiful Redwood forest a few miles from where we live.  I figured that even though I’m not feeling good,  there’s no reason Rainie shouldn’t have a good time.

As we descended the steep trail through the trees toward the river, Rainie alerted me.  Finally!  My blood sugar was beginning to come down.  Good girl.  At the bottom of the path, about 20 minutes later, she alerted me again – my blood sugar was finally into the ‘safe’ zone.  Good girl.  As she was romping with another dog in the river, a very wet Rainie ran up to me, alerting again.  I discovered my blood sugar was falling rapidly.  In fact, too fast at this point – between the dizziness and the exercise, I had no idea.  Good, good girl!  I ate some glucose tablets (I hate them, but they work), and called Rainie to leave her friend and follow me back up the trail.  A few seconds later (well, probably a minute) she alerted again.  I still had the taste of glucose in my mouth, but reluctantly tested. My blood sugar had fallen to too dangerously low to be out in the forest by myself.  I was beginning to get worried and confused.  Should I eat more glucose and keep walking?  Or should I eat more glucose and sit down for a while and wait for it to work?  I put 5 more tablets into my mouth, knowing I had about 45 minutes of steep hiking to get to the top of the hill and back into cell phone service.  I proceeded to dizzily plod forward … until Rainie blocked my way.  She would not move or let me by.  When I finally figured I had no choice, I sat down on the ground, AND RAINIE SAT ON TOP OF ME!  She did not let me get up until the glucose had taken a hold and I was back into the ‘safe zone.

Here’s sharing my life with a low blood sugar alert dog with you.  Thank you, Rainie!