child at heart

This is a couple of days late but here it is just the same. Here is some background information, my father had gastric bypass in 2006. All of the medical conditions he had cleared up except for his diabetes. It actually got worse. Dad has the type of diabetes that is treatable with diet, but for that to actually work you must have a decent diet. You must take care of yourself. Be somewhat active. If he had been following this since 2006 he would have realized how much he could have prevented Saturday’s ordeal, as well as have a MUCH better quality of life these past 6 years. On to this past weekend.

Since the whole family had a 3 day weekend for Memorial Day we all kind of vegged around the whole weekend. Mom went to the lake with Cindy friday night and most of saturday. I didn’t get out of my jammies really and just lounged around – reading and watching the big bang theory. Joey was in and out with Laura and some other friends. Mom calls saturday afternoon and told me she wasn’t leaving the lake until after 5 and was going to stop by the hospital to visit a friend who had just had a baby and would be home later in the evening. Joey invited me to go to a part with him, Laura and some of his friends but my desire to be lazy (plus I didn’t want to have to shower and shave honestly) won so I stayed home. Dad had come home early from work, around 2:30, lounged around a bit and went to take a nap which is normal for him now a days.

Around 6 I got bored since joey was leaving and I went into my room to mess around with my kindle and Itunes. I looked in on dad before going in to my room and he was still sleeping fine. About 20 minutes later blossom, who is in the room with dad, starts whining which she rarely does. So I went in there to check and she was on the floor so I picked her up and put her on the bed with dad thinking she wanted to nap with him. I went back in to my room and cut some music on while I was messing with my kindle and noticed she kept whining which is just not like her. About 2 minutes later dad started grunting and moaning which got my attention. I went into the bedroom expecting to see him having a bad dream (he walks and talks EXTREMELY bad in his sleep) and he is sprawled in the middle of the bed. Arms splayed out. On his stomach. Jerking and twitching. His muscles looked like they were spasming. I tried calling his name to get his attention because if he was sleeping he can get pretty scary if you touch him but he would not answer. Nothing. At this point I’m scared out of my wits because his face is jammed into the blanket and I don’t think he is breathing. He is shaking all over.

So I ran into my room and got my phone and then ran back to him and grabbed his shoulder. At this point I’m yelling at him “What is wrong?” “Can you breathe?” “Answer me!” Nothing. When I touched him his head pulled up and he looked at me. His eyes were not focused and he looked terrified. Like he had never before in his life seen me and had NO earthly clue who I was. At this point I know, he is acting just like Beau when he has seizures so I’ve decided that is what is going on. I stand in the room door and call mom and tell her she needs to get home NOW because I think dad is having a seizure. Then I hang up call 911 and tell them they need to send someone immediately. Then I call joey who is only like 3 minutes away and tell him to come home NOW. I’m scared. At this point I’m running to get on clothes, my shoes, put the dogs outside and get the front door open. Joey walks in and a minute later tops the paramedics, fire truck and fire medic show up in front of the house.

We have 15 people in the house easily. Joey is talking to the medic, getting all dad’s medicine together for them. Mom’s calling me telling me the truck won’t start and she is stuck at the hospital. The dogs are going insane barking. I’m telling the paramedic what happened. His medical history that I know. Calling mom to see if I need to come get her and here come my grandparents from down the street walking up the front yard in a panic. They rush to the back and are trying to see what is going on, asking tons of questions. All I can say is I don’t know.

When the medics get to the house dad is still seizing but not near as bad as when I called 911. His hands and feet are grey. Literally the shade of grey of speakers. They ask what his job is and how long he’s been home. Ask if he has been painting. Are worried about his color. They start bringing in oxygen tanks and are getting some kind of liquid in him. He is drenched in sweat, his shirt looks like he just stepped out of the shower fully clothed. Mom is calling again and thankfully the lady medic went to school with my parents and is calmly talking to mom. One fire medic takes his blood sugar and says 26, the guy in charge says “you must be sh***ing me. Take it again. There is no way.” I said no sir, that is probably right. We will watch him and within an hour it will be at 50 and then to 250. And the medic says again 26.

He has had his first seizure, and it lasted about 10 minutes. I don’t know how much later it is but they get him awake. Not all there but awake enough they can start to ask questions. The head guy is worried because he is so confused. Does not know where all these people  came from. Does not know where the last 4.5 hours have gone. [he remembers eating and going down for a nap and next thing he knows he is surrounded by people in the bed room and joey saying dude, you had a seizure.] He is finally stable enough that some of the workers start leaving and they give dad the opportunity to stay home or go to the hospital and get checked out. He decided to stay home and I’m sure part of that is because he was so tired. Cut to about 830 and he is zoned out. Tired. Weak. Can barely make a full sentence. We finally talk him into going to the ER to get checked out but when he stands his legs go into cramps and he can’t walk. A few mustard shots later he is dressed, at least presentable, eating a little something and heading into the car.

I won’t bore you with the hospital visit because it was a lot of waiting for this and that. The short of it is that they are 100% sure his seizure was caused by hypoglycemia. Everything else checked out. He was still tired and weak up until Monday but he finally realized he CAN have control over this but has been stupid and just hasn’t taken the time to learn how. He told mom the other night that he only has glimpses of what he remembers from saturday and sunday. He realizes he could have died if no one was there to call 911. If your blood sugar goes to 20 or less you go into a coma. And most of the time you do not wake up. We also know that sugar induced comas are fairly rare which scared all of us even more. As sad and scary as this was, hopefully it was the catalyst he needed to change and start getting this under control.

Our dog Beau has epilepsy and has seizures, not much now thanks to his medicine, but I am scared for his life with each one. I always thought if I ever saw a human have one that it would not be as scary since we have seen A LOT of Beau seizures. WRONG. I have honestly never been so scared in my life. And thought, and still do, if he had died or gone into a coma it would have been my fault. I should have paid more attention to what he ate that day (Ugh, Peanut Brittle – idiot), or paid more attention to blossom’s weird behavior. I was so scared when he looked at me, and would be more than thankful if I never saw another person seizure in my life.

Also, makes me thankful that even though genetics are not on my side since diabetes runs so much in my family, that I am getting my junk under control now. Working at getting weight off. Eating better. Getting into a habit of exercise. I cannot change my genes, but I can help them not be under so much pressure.