I hope everyone had a Merry Christmas! I also hope you were able to spend the day with people you love.
Ky and I were scheduled to fly from our home to visit my parents in Texas. Christmas Eve was spent packing and opening presents with DH and trying to remember the things that are so easy to forget. I received a notice in my email that I could check in both of us for our flight on American Airlines. I clicked the button and printed off the boarding passes. I checked to see when we'd need to be at the airport. The screen said "Departure: 12:30 p.m." so I planned to get to the airport by about 11 to be through security in plenty of time.
We arrived at the AA self-check-in screen and I scanned my credit card. It told me it couldn't find my reservation. I had it search using my name instead. Same error message. I looked at my boarding pass (for the first time, actually,) and it said, "Departure: 10:45 a.m."
Okay, you know the panicky feeling I had then, right? Ugh. I went to the ticket counter. This was Christmas day, so there were two ticket agents, neither of whom could do anything without checking with the other one. There were two families with multiple children in front of us, but we finally got to the counter. "Honey, everything today is waaaay overbooked." I was pleased that she called me "honey" since it sounded so young but the "overbooked" made me think of spending days upon days in the comfort of Terminal D. She told us the next flight was at 4 and gave us stand-by boarding passes.
DH kindly returned to the airport to pick us up again. We went home, where I cooked lunch since I really needed to do something that would seem productive and keep me from kicking myself repeatedly.
At 3 we returned to the airport, got to the gate and waited with about 30 others who seemed to have the same type of boarding passes as we did. The incoming jet was delayed, so the 4 o'clock flight became a 4:15 one, then 4:30 and finally, 4:59. Unfortunately, that gave everyone a chance to be on time for their flight. The plane left with me and my above-mentioned 30 closest friends still sitting at gate D71. The gate agent told us that she'd put us all on the 7:15 flight. Fine.
Ky and I grabbed our stuff and headed down Terminal D's wide passageway in search of food, drink, and a clean bathroom. They have replaced all of the convenience food joints with restaurants. What does one do with one's two carry-ons while one eats a meal at a sit-down restaurant? How does one actually have enough time to eat a sit-down meal? We finally found a Ben & Jerry's.
Okay, Ben & Jerry's isn't haute cuisine, but it was just what we needed right then. We both ordered a small of some variety of chocolate and ate. That just made the entire day much brighter. We bolused and headed back for the gate, stopping a couple of times to pick up a bottled beverage and hitting the bathroom.
We sat in Gate D 73's area for a while and chatted and watched people and wasted time. Six o'clock arrived and I went to visit the gate agent to beg for boarding passes for the 7:15 flight, since we still weren't assured of seats on that flight. I went back to sit with Ky and pulled out my testing strips and slipped one in the meter attached to my pump. The way the pump is designed, it is more convenient for me to hold the pump so that the screen is upside down to me. I read the result: 489. What??? I turned the pump so that the screen towards me and noticed that the pump no longer had any tubing attached to it! It was cleanly severed.
The panic that hit me then far surpassed any panic I had felt earlier. There are ominous physical symptoms that accompany such a high blood sugar. My stomach felt queasy and I felt very heavy and slow. Imagine your teeth at their dirtiest. Double or triple that feeling and you've got how my mouth felt. I've heard others describe it as their teeth hurting and feeling "hairy" and that is almost right. Terrible thirst, nausea, and someone has put weights on me. Ugh.
Ky rummaged through her bag and gave me one of her unused infusion sets and I dashed off to the nearest restroom. The gate agents were letting passengers onto the plane already. I quickly inserted the set into my abdomen and ran back to the gate. Ky was trying to gather up our things. I reattached the pump and programmed it to give me a huge correction bolus. Hooray! We got in line to board the plane.
I heard an alarm on my pump, signaling that the line was occluded. NOOOOO! When it rains....
On to Plan B. We found our seats and Ky got out a regular syringe and tried to harvest insulin from the old syringe. After several attempts, she had enough and gave me a shot in the arm. I knew that would buy me some time, but I still needed to get a new infusion set in.
The plane took off and as soon as we were allowed to get up from our seats, I grabbed my larger carry-on and found yet another infusion set. I went to the plane's spacious (and clean) bathroom and inserted it.
Meanwhile, Ky was refilling my pump with more insulin and filling the new tubing. When I returned to my seat, I connected it and sat back down to wait.
My biggest fear, I guess, was that I might throw up right there in the aisle. I remember the old days in the 60s and 70s when at least one person per flight threw up. (What happened? Did people evolve into tougher animals in the 80s?)
Alas, the excitement was over. I'm happy to report that my blood sugar returned to normal within a few hours and I was almost normal again at the end of the flight. I shudder to think how different things would have been had Ky not been there to help me. Thanks, Ky!!!
So, how was your Christmas???
Thursday's Things 8/15/13
10 years ago
