Suspicions Confirmed
Two hours after everyone left for the hospital, my mother calls me and asks me to pick her up.
"He's fine, but the doctors can't really figure out anything that's wrong," she tells me.
Typical doctors, right?
Other than pumping him full of saline and giving him some Tylenol, there really wasn't much that needed to be done. He was home by lunch and slept for most of the afternoon.
Although it seems that this was pretty much just a case of dehydration and/or low blood pressure from being sick, the irony of it being Eric and not me didn't escape anyone.
And that I think is why I was more compelled to write about this whole experience. My brother, the "healthy" one, happened to faint in a house with three people. But I, the "unhealthy" one, the one with the far greater odds of that happening (although it has yet to happen ::knock on wood::), am about to move to the other side of the country.
"Are you sure you still want to move to the East Coast?" my dad joked. It's not too late to change my mind, of course. I'm still here, fully capable of turning down the job and canceling my plane ticket. Of course, I don't want to.
I know there are plenty of people who live successfully by themselves with diabetes. I've been doing it for awhile myself. But there was something unnerving about having that happened just weeks before I move across the country to live by myself.
For those who have lived by yourself with diabetes, what kind of safety precautions did you do to keep yourself as safe as possible? Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.
Edit: Comments are fixed! No idea how they got turned off for this post, but thanks to Bernard for the head's up! Okay - ideas please!
posted by Allison @ 10:50 AM
5 Comments:
Allison, I'm very sorry to hear about your brother, I hope he is fine now.
I think the accident should not stop you in pursuing with your move. It's not a problem to leave on your own for a while with diabetes; you just have to be more organized and prepared. See, you can faint in the house with three people and no one will notice anyway - just kidding :) You have to make sure that there is always someone nearby or a phone call away who can come and help you in case of emergency or just when you're being ill and don't feel comfortable being alone, someone to watch out.
I moved to another country when I was 16 on my own, I'm 24 now and still happy with my decission. It wasn't easy all of the time, emotionally most of all, but it's been great! I found myself and grew up that much quicker. My best decision ever. The first thing I had to learn though was self-discipline.
I don’t have much practical advice for you except for – finding a doctor and the rest of the medical team should be the first thing on your agenda. And for the rest, just trust yourself and put some money aside for all the moral support phone calls :)
Sorry for the long comment and mot much of advice. I just wanted to say that I believe you can do it and wish you all the luck.
Sounds like an action-packed weekend. I hope you're brother is okay.
From someone whose lived on their own, I say just keep in check with yourself. Sasha said it all best! One thing though, don't not live your life because of what if's. Make the most of it!
Wow - scary! Glad to hear he is Ok!
Late to the game here, hope your brother is OK.
I lived alone for years before getting married. Loved it and never had a problem with the diabetes. What I did: test regularly, keep packs of sugar (like LifeSavers) by your bed at night, and always have some juice or sugar in your kitchen. I used to buy boxes of sugarcubes and keep them on the shelf for when reactions struck. But test regularly and you'll likely catch any troublesome lows. You're going to love living on your own!
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