You Can Do It - Gina's Story
The Diagnosis
“We have to take a finger stick.” Those chilling words I heard on November 25th, 2000 would change my life forever. 
My sister and I both went to the doctor that day. I remember that it was a gloomy day, kind of rainy. My appointment was at 11am for a sinus problem that would not go away, and my sister was also going because she had a sore throat. The waiting area was jam packed, and I was getting very impatient since I hated going to doctors in the first place. My sister looked half dead next to me and she was getting impatient also. We both were huffing and puffing the whole time.
They finally called me in! The nurse came in, weighed me, took my blood pressure a sample of blood and made me go to the bathroom to give a urine sample. Finally I was done! I come out, my sister is next, and she was in and out. I remember saying that was fast. All of a sudden, the nurse comes back out and calls my name “Gina, the doctor would like to see you, again.” My heart dropped a bit, because I am thinking that something is wrong with my sister.
They put me back into a room, and right away my doctor came in and says, “We have to take a finger stick.” I say to him right away “Isn’t that for DIABETES!” I knew because my aunt was a type 1 diabetic so I was familiar with the term. He tested my finger and it felt like an eternity for the result.
“360”
“Gina you have type 1 diabetes.” “Are you sure?” was my response. My doctor said, “yes Gina, I am positive,” He also, told me that I had ketoacidosis. Which was the reason he called me back in. I had ketenes in my urine and needed to be hospitalized right away. He told me that I needed insulin to get my blood sugar down and wrote me a prescription for Humbling R, and syringes. He said, “Go to Genovese right now get your prescription filled and come back with an orange.”
My sister had already walked home because I took too long. So I was all by myself, and drove straight to Genovese without going home. My dad was home and my mom was working, I don’t know what made me go to the drug store first. On the way there I was numb and had tears rolling down my face, I called my aunt on my cell phone before I got to the drug store and was crying. I said Aunt MaryAnn I just got out of the doctors office, her next sentence was “ he told you, you have diabetes” she knew all along, she noticed my symptoms, but thought that I was anorexic from all the weight loss I had for the past year. I told my aunt where I was going and said, “I’ll call you later.”
I got the prescription filled. Went home, ran downstairs where my dad was, I was hysterically crying trying to tell him what was going on. He had no idea at first what I was trying to tell him, so he said “calm down, calm down.” “DAD, I HAVE DIABETES” I will never forget his face, he turned white and said “WHAT?” I repeated it to him, as the phone rang; it was the doctor’s office. I told them I got the stuff, and would be there soon.
I told my dad that I was leaving that they were waiting for me; he was going to pick up my mother from her job and would meet me there. He thought I was going straight to the doctor’s office. I didn’t go straight there. I picked my aunt up, and made her come with me.
I got back to the doctors office with my aunt, the medicine, syringes and the orange. The nurse saw me and said, “Your parents are waiting inside.” I walked into the room where the doctor and my parents were waiting for me. He said that he made a mistake by making me go to get the medicine and syringes, and that I needed to get to the hospital right away. My mother started shaking uncontrollably. The doctor told me that I needed an insulin drip and that I was very lucky to have come to him today, because, another couple of days and I would have been in a diabetic coma.
The Hospital
On the way to the hospital I didn’t say much, it was me, my parents, and my aunt in the car. Shock was not the word at the point. I didn’t really know what to say to anyone so just kept quiet. My mother and father just kept smoking cigarettes and my Aunt was holding me. We finally got to South Nassau Medical Center.
My doctor told us that we had an endocrinologist waiting for us at the hospital, but I had to sign all sorts of paperwork before being admitted. I saw the emergency room nurse and she did another finger test, checked my blood pressure and my temperature. She told me that my blood sugar level was 560 at this point. It was rising since the last test at my primary care physician. I started to feel like my world was turning upside down. What the hell is happening to me? I thought to myself. The nurse told me to have a seat and they would call me when a bed in the ER was open.
I didn’t wait long; she called me in about five minutes. They took me into the far right corner of the emergency room, with only one person on the left of me. I was kind of relieved that I wasn’t in the middle of the entire room. Another nurse came over with a gown, and told me to change into it so they could take blood, and would be putting in an IV drip with saline and an insulin drip. They kicked my parents out of the small section I was in, I remember telling the nurse that I didn’t want my mom to leave. I was so scared and was trying to keep as strong possible and could see that my mother didn’t want to stay in while I was getting the needles. So I told her to leave and that I would be ok.
Before they started taking my blood and putting in any IV drips, the endocrinologist we were waiting for came. He checked my heart and lungs, breasts and stomach asked me tons of personal questions and said that they would be putting the drips in. He was in and out. My mom and dad were outside of the curtain, as he started walking away I heard my mom ask him if they were sure I was diabetic and if I could take pills or a diet and he said No. I couldn’t hear much after that because the nurse came with all the IV equipment.
She told me that she was told by the doctor that I needed a special test to see if I had some sort of acid in my blood and would have to take it from the wrist and that it would hurt a lot. At that point any needle was going to hurt me so I swallowed hard, as she did it and tried to be as calm as possible. I felt like screaming, it hurt so bad. Keeping my cool I was holding the edge of the hospital bed so hard and just couldn’t wait for her to pull the needle out of my wrist. The nurse pulled the needle out and finally I was relieved of the excruciating pain. After that, next was the IV, at this point my aunt came in, since she was a pro at being in a hospital and nothing phased her she stayed with me. My mom and dad went to smoke another cigarette.
The nurse was going to put the IV into the crease in my right arm, but my aunt told them to put it into the top of my hand, that I would not be able to bend my arm and it would hurt more. Since she was hospitalized so many times I trusted my aunt more then the nurse. It didn’t hurt as much as I thought it was going to.
All I had to do now was wait for a room upstairs. My mom and dad were done talking with the doctor and at this point the IV was in. They opened the curtain and both of them looked at me, and all of a sudden I felt like a little kid.
My mom sat on the bed with me and looked so helpless staring at me. I could tell she wanted to trade spots. She had tears in her eyes the whole time, trying to hold back from crying, and my father just kept pacing back and forth saying this sucks. I was 25, but to them at that point I was their little baby all over again. I kept telling them not to worry, that I was going to be ok. I figured if I reassured them that I was dealing, it would be a little easier for them to deal with.
At about 10pm a transporter came to move me to a room. My parents and aunt came up with me till I got situated and then were going to leave. They brought me up and I was in the pediatric ward. My parents didn’t want me to be with all the old cranky people yelling all night, so they put me with the kids. I thought it was quite comical actually.
After I was all settled in the room, my parents kissed me goodbye and told me they would be in early the next day. They left and I was alone, scared and dead tired from the whole day. I was trying to sleep and couldn’t all these wires hanging from my arm, and on top of it my new doctor ordered my blood be drawn from my finger every hour and my arm every six hours. Torture.
The 6th hour after my parents left which was about 3am, I became very sweaty and started to feel as though my heart was pumping out of my chest. The nurses station was right across from my room so I called out to her and said “ I think I’m having a heart attack!” she asked me what my symptoms were and I told her. “ She said, sweetie you’re not having a heart attack you’re having a low blood sugar.” “A WHAT?” She had to explain to me exactly what a low blood sugar was and why I was getting it. Since I did not eat anything from 8 o’clock the night before and now it was 3am the next day, and I was on an insulin drip that I needed to have some sugar to raise my blood sugar level. She lowered the drip and checked my blood sugar (which was 60) and got me some juice. After about 10 or 15 minutes I was feeling better. The nurse then explained that sometimes that would happen to me at home and I would have to be prepared at all times for something like that happening again. It is called hypoglycemia, she said. After the commotion she told me to try and get some sleep that she wouldn’t bother me for a while. Thank god! I was thinking to myself.
7am on the dot, my doctor woke me up. He asked a bunch of annoying questions again, and told me that I would have to give myself a shot 10 pm tonight or would not be allowed to go home until I did. Well I wanted out of there really bad. I would do anything at that point.
The nurses were changing shifts and I wouldn’t see my night nurse till 7pm. I was feeling very comfortable with her.
My day nurse came in introduces herself and left, I didn’t her like as soon as I saw her. She had a cold look to her face, as though everything would get on her nerves.
I got out of bed to go wash my face and brush my teeth, took one look in the mirror and called the nurse, “Why is my face swollen?” I thought I was allergic to the insulin or something. I had no idea that the reason I was swollen was because, I had a saline drip that was helping to replenish my body of all the fluids lost from ketoacidosis.
People came to visit on and off all day. My mom stayed the whole day, and my father came that night.
I was stressing about giving myself the shot from that morning. My mom was going home with someone and my dad and boyfriend at the time stayed with me until I had to give myself the shot. You could see in my dads face that he didn’t want to stay to watch me shoot myself with a needle, but did anyway. I learned to draw the needle with insulin and then gave an orange a shot. I really didn’t think it was the same as giving it to my own flesh but kept practicing. At this point I was hysterical crying as I was doing it because I knew that soon I would be doing it to my own body.
Well, I finally got enough nerve, and the nurse said “READY” and I said “NO” but, knew I had to do it…So, I drew up the syringe without any problems. Pinched my stomach as hard as I could, went to do it and then pulled away the needle. I lost my nerve looked at my Dad with tears and he said “YOU CAN DO IT!” I pinched my skin again harder than before and gave myself a shot for the first time. It honestly was not as bad as I thought. From that day forward, I have been living my life as a young adult with diabetes. Which has not been that bad, seriously there could be worse things
to deal with in life.
I hope this story helps others to know that just like my dad said to me -
"YOU CAN DO IT!"
