I had fun in college. My poison of choice was captain Morgan's spiced rum and Pepsi. There were quite a few Friday and Saturday nights (a lot of Thursday's too) spent with a drink in my hand seeing just how stupid I could get. I'm not proud, but I had a good time. Some of the most interesting moments were those that we caught on video. We would watch back a video from the party the night before and cringe. Adult men, well on there way to earning college degrees and being professionals, were acting like brainless morons. It was common to see someone talking on the video making no sense at all. We would laugh at that point because, at that point we were all ok. It's really disturbing though, the effect that being "drunk" has on your ability to function. It is just as disturbing to see similar effects from a 3 year old.
Joshua is a bright kid. I know that I am biased as his father, but 12 years as an educator in the schools, I know bright when I see it. He is very well spoken, and can have a conversation with the best of them. He is counting pretty high, and has an excellent vocabulary. This makes it even harder on us when he is experiencing "hypo-drunkenness". The other night, right before bed time, we noticed that he was acting strange. We tested him, and held our breath at the 59 that was staring at us with arrows down on Dex. We gave him appropriate carbs, then geared up to wait. He started talking about ducks following a pirate who was looking for a hidden treasure of race cars. He then proceeded to sing a song about how much he loves milk. This was cute because we were on top of the low, but reflecting on it later, it was scary. No wonder we hear stories of people being treated like drunk drivers when they hare having a hypoglycemic event. That terrifies me for him. How many times will a teacher think he is being silly when he is actually low. I know how he gets, and it isn't easy for me to know the difference. Have I mentioned how much I hate diabetes?
i love this post! it is great to see you writing again! It is scary you are right!
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing this, Brian. Yes, it can be scary. I've had those experiences myself, from my days just starting school to my adult years now. Back in first grade, I recall having a substitute teacher who didn't know anything about diabetes or the way we handled things. I went Low, and went between sleeping on my desk to trying to punch her when she was attempting to wake me up. She thought I was nuts, but a couple friends tried to tell her that I needed help - juice at the very least. She didn't believe them and they ran out of the room to the office and fetched someone. My mom later intervened to stop them from getting in trouble from this moron sub teacher. Education is the most important thing, whether it's from us, the parents, or some nearby friends who know the deal.
ReplyDeleteIt scares the bejeezus outa me...for when they are older and we cannot be there to protect them. Great post!
ReplyDeleteMy daughter is can be really silly and has wild stories, and is usually very coherent and "intact" with a hypo...until one day she started telling a story she believed was true but I knew was not. Turns out she was low. Ugh.
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