About Last Night

I have spent the better part of this past week decluttering in some manner and cleaning almost every single day. The truth is, I am going to be doing that again this week too but on a lesser scale. To say I’m tired when I lay down is the understatement of the year so far. However, Sunday night, around 12:30 in the morning, I noticed a light out of the corner of my eye. This light came from my dad’s room as I heard him moving around. As soon as I noticed this, I laid down my tablet and asked him if he were okay. He told me no.

He has never flat-out said no to me before. So naturally, I got out of bed and checked on him. His blood sugar was low. Not low enough to call 911, but as the early morning went on, I began to wonder if I was going to have to drive him to the hospital for insulin, and fluids for that matter. When asking him if he took his blood sugar before giving himself his insulin, he told me no. His bag was in the car, and he wasn’t going to go out and get it the night before. 

I told him that was no excuse. There are two other meters in this house at all times. Mine and his brother’s meter. All he had to do was ask to borrow one. This decision lead me down an early morning of figuring out what to give him. We do not have juice on hand like in Steel Magnolias, even though I think we should. They always end up going bad before we can drink them. Namely, we tend not to have a ton of juice because it typically brings your blood sugar up. Granted, in this case, it would have been great to have because it would have done so faster than a cookie or whatever else we had on hand.

We, oddly enough, had some sweet tea because he wanted chicken the other night when I wanted a salad. The meal came with a half-gallon of tea. So I immediately began to give him the tea. His hand was shaking, so he dropped the nutter butter cookies he requested, and I had to hold the cup and his hand for him to drink the tea. I even held it up to his lips and tilted it for him to drink it at one point. I’ve never seen his hand shake during this to this point until now. He said he expected such, but I hate that it is normal. I hated all of it because it went from 60 when I tested it to 53 somehow. 

I kept thinking, ‘I’m going to have to take him to the hospital tonight. I just know it.‘ Thankfully, after a peanut butter and jelly sandwich and some oat milk, his blood sugar finally came up to 114, so he could go to sleep. I wouldn’t let him sleep until it came back up to at least 90 and the third time I checked it, it had begrudgingly only come up to 82 about thirty minutes into all of this. At one point, he was trying to sweet-talk me into not taking him anywhere with a hug and a kiss on the cheek. He informed me that I worry too much and panic in these situations. I told him I do so because he’s my only surviving parent, and I’m not ready to lose him.

I’m hoping that hit home for him. I really do. I don’t want anything to happen to him for a long time, and sometimes, I don’t think he takes his health as seriously as he should. We talked that night about how I knew he was dehydrated too because we couldn’t get blood from his finger. He HAS to start drinking from the gallon water jug daily. He has to start taking better care of himself. We have talked more sense too. I’m going to start bringing him a Pedialyte popsicle daily soon. He’s going to dislike it at first, but I’m not going to sit around and not let him take care of himself. 

I also bought a dry erase calendar for the refrigerator to know their schedules better and keep referencing. Yes, I have these things in my planner too, but I want them to have something to depend on if they can’t reach me because I’m hauled up in my room writing or busy. Granted, busy right now means reading or something in my room, but I need that time for myself too. I have to remember that I’m a priority as much as he is a priority and my uncle. Because if I don’t put on my proverbial oxygen mask first, then I won’t be able to help anyone. Regardless, I want him to start taking it a bit more seriously, is all. 

I know this might end sound defeated, but I’m not. However, that’s all I have to say for now and I wanted to get it out.