In early 2003 I had been exercising a lot and I seemed to be in pretty good condition. The weekend of Memorial day I had run out of my long term insulin and for some reason was not able to get more.
Sunday night I went to the bar and met some people that I went to high school with. (I only had a couple of drinks.) The bar closed and a friend informed me of a party out in the middle of nowhere. There was going to be a bonfire, drinks, and girls. I like all of those. So I went with him.
We got to this place and we had to walk a trail through the woods in complete darkness. After a while we came upon a fire. There were a couple of motor homes and a few chairs around the fire. Nobody was there. There were a few there just sleeping in the motor homes. No beer. No bonfire. No girls. I was very disappointed. The guy that I went with decided to go to bed as well. So I was sitting in front of the small fire all by myself with no way home. I couldn't sleep.
At this point I was not feeling ill. I felt fine just annoyed. I sat there stared at the fire then tried to lay in the dirt to sleep. I could not get comfortable. It seemed like forever but I started to hear the birds chirp. Soon after that the dark woods became lighter and lighter.
I was not going to wait. "I am going to walk home." This campsite was out in the middle of nowhere but my house was in the neighborhood of nowhere so I figured I could walk it. I got up and started walking down the trail soon I came to the road and started the long journey.
My mouth became dry my legs became heavy and I was feeling symptoms of a high blood sugar. I have to pee. Now I have to throw up. I positioned myself in the ditch so no one could see me and I did both at the same time.
All along the way I had stops to urinate and throw up.
I had traveled quite a ways an I realized that I needed to drink some water. I came to a bridge. I looked over the side and there was a stagnant pool of water calling to me. I moved to the edge of the bridge and made the decision not to drink the water and I kept on moving.
A car was coming! I extended my arm and my thumb in hopes that this person would take me home. It wasn't that far traveling by car. As the car drove by the driver motioned that he was going a different way than I was.
Now I am near an acquaintance of mine. It was a short distance from the path I was traveling on. I went to her house and knocked on the door. No response. I knock again. Still no response. All I want is a small drink of water. Nobody was home so I continued on my journey.
Finally I got home. I went to the garden hose. I gulped and gulped and gulped. It felt really good. That good feeling did not last. All that water that went in came rushing back out. I walked into the house grabbed a smaller glass of water and then headed for my bed. I found out later that the walk I took was ten miles long.
Every Memorial day since the mid 1980's I have gone to a service at a church. My uncle died in Vietnam and every memorial day at this church they honor all the people buried at the cemetery who fought in American wars.
This was the first one that I missed.
My parents were at a wedding some distance away from our house and they came home in the early evening on memorial day. I was in bed all day and would occasionally get up to puke. They tried to convince me to go to the hospital and I refused. I did not want to spend a holiday in the hospital.
The next day I was not better so I went to the hospital. I spent three days there. I had lost 20lbs. They got my blood sugar back in control and I felt much better.
I had thought that I was doing well. Exercising and doing alright with concern to my diabetes. It took just a few days without my long term insulin for all of that to unravel.
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