Confession #11

I'm afraid to be left alone with my dad for extended periods of time.

My dad doesn't scare me, of course; I'm afraid of his diabetes. My dad is kind of stubborn about checking his blood sugar, so he doesn't always know what it's at, and because of some of the medicines he takes, he doesn't always have an appetite. When he doesn't have an appetite, he tends to skip meals. You can see why this would worry me.

Everybody knows that when I diabetic person's blood sugar gets low, you're supposed to give them sugar, but it isn't that simple. When their blood sugar gets too low, they don't function like they normally would, so you can't always just say, "Here, eat this," and think the problem is solved. My dad, for instance, has a handful of particular behaviors when his blood sugar gets too low.

Much of the time he gets really giggly and goofy, like a happy drunk. He'll make odd noises and say things that he finds hilarious but which make no sense to anyone else. When he gets like that, he's too easily distracted to focus on eating candy or drinking Kool-Aid that you secretly stirred a ton of sugar into. (Beverages get the sugar in faster!)

Sometimes he behaves like a two-year-old and gets really ornery. When that happens, he likes to slap your hand away when you try to give him candy or Kool-Aid, and he really likes to seal his mouth up tight and shake his head. Just. Like. A two-year-old.

Usually he just gets completely disoriented and becomes unsteady on his feet, but when you try to get him to sit down he insists that he fine. Once you get him to sit down, he'll try repeatedly to get up and walk around. He also tries to deny any candy or Kool-Aid, because he really does think that he's okay. Or, he puts the candy in his mouth but doesn't chew and swallow. Sometimes he doesn't even seem to register that you're speaking to him, so you have to repeat yourself and wave the candy or Kool-Aid in front of his face until he complies.

To add to all of that, my dad is more than twice my weight and almost a foot taller than me, so trying to force him to do anything is difficult. This is even scarier when his blood sugar gets so low that he has trouble just staying upright, let alone eating candy or speaking coherently. One time he flopped over on his bed, and before I could do anything, he fell off head first. I couldn't get him back up because he was too heavy. At that point, I felt completely helpless and on the verge of tears. (That's when you call 911 if the person's blood sugar isn't on it's way up, just in case you ever find yourself in that situation.)

See, just knowing what to do when his blood sugar gets low isn't enough, and I'm always afraid I won't be able to actually do it.

(I have found, however, that if I order pizza in the absence of my mom being home and preparing a meal, he will eat and his blood sugar will stay at a normal level. So hooray for that trick.)