Diabetes Bloopers - Oh, I have many!

Yay!  I have been looking forward to writing this post since I first read the topic briefs for D-Blog week.  Sometimes I think it's easier to look back at your diabetic life and focus immediately on the negative, scary times (the day you were diagnosed, the day you realise that bad control has seriously affected your eyes, kidneys, healing processes etc.)  HOWEVER, today is not one of those days!  Instead, it's a time for me to reflect on my days (dais) as a diabetic and have a good old chuckle.

Stuck and Stale
Most of my 'diabetes bloopers' have arisen as a result of simply being unprepared and most when I've been low (hypoglycemic).  On this particular occasion, my mum and I had been on a day-trip to Stratford-Upon-Avon (the home of William Shakespeare, for those of you reading from places other than the UK!)
It had been a lovely day; the sun had been shining from the moment I woke, we had been to see a play at The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, had a bit of lunch, done some shopping and the plus point was that there had been very little traffic on the motorway the whole way there!  Unfortunately, this did not happen to be the case on the journey home again.
I had eaten lunch at about 1pm and the time was getting on 6pm and we were still stuck in traffic.  All of a sudden, I began to feel low.  Reallyyy low (it was inevitable really, wasn't it?)
"Mum..." I said "have we got anything sugary in the car?"
"No, we haven't" she began to panic "why? Are you low?"  My heart probably skipped a couple of beats in that moment, out of pure and utter fear.  However, I didn't want to freak my mum out.
"Nooo, I'm fine! I'll be able to hang on 'til we get home!"  In my head I was thinking 'traffic please move!'  I have a very close relationship with my momma (in fact, she's my best friend) and she can read me like a book.
"No, you're low!  Look, you're pale and shaking!  Search the car and see if there's anything for you to eat!  Where are your glucose tablets?!"
Anyway, after several minutes of frantically searching the glove-box and under the seats for boiled sweets and chocolate bars, I finally found some food wrapped up in a plastic bag on the back seat.  Bread.  A whole loaf of it.  A whole loaf of stale, white bread.
It was the only food in the car and we were stuck on the motorway, moving nowhere fast.  Quickly (out of desperation), and probably with a look of complete and utter disgust on my face, I unwrapped the stale bread and began to eat it.  At the time it seemed like the most awful experience ever, but now I look back and laugh at the day that my diabetes forced me to eat stale bread.  Trust me, since that day it has been a rare occasion that I am not carrying glucose tabs.  Desperate times call for desperate measures!

The line of low diabetics 
I suppose this isn't much of a 'blooper', however it is a perfect example of how diabetes unites and puts people in some funny situations.
When I was 11 years old, I went on a diabetic holiday (organised by the diabetes children's unit at my hospital).  It was and still is one of the best experiences of my whole life, not just my diabetic one.  We ate together, checked our blood sugar levels together, did our injections together and took part in loads of different activities over a weekend in the beautiful countryside of Derbyshire (UK).
One of these activities happened to be absailing.  For those of you who have never heard of it, it consists of being attached to a harness and climbing up a very large rock wall.  Once you have done this, you gently lower yourself to the ground using the rope you are attached to.
The walk up to the rock wall alone was steep and tiring, not to mention the energy that was put into absailing!  Of course all of us had been eating the same food that day, giving similar doses of insulin etc.  What we had not taken into consideration was the amount of exercise we would have been doing.
Once the last person had finished absailing down the wall, someone piped up and said:
"I feel low!"  Then, so did someone else.
"I feel low too!"  And then another:
"So do I, actually!"  Until, eventually, everyone was claiming they were low.  We all checked our blood sugar levels and, sure enough, our diabetic intuitions were correct.
The diabetic nurses and helpers who were with us quickly sat us down and fished inside their rucksacks for sugary substances.
So there we were: 15, or so, diabetic children, sat on the top of a hill in Derbyshire in a row, eating Digestive biscuits to raise our blood sugar levels.  Now, there's a mental image for you.

There were a couple of my very many diabetic blooper moments.  I would like to thank Karen at Bitter~Sweet for today's topic - it's been up-lifting and thoroughly enjoyable :)  Hope that I have been able to make a few of you smile too! x