My "Hand"

Back in March my blood sugar went low.  Too low.  My husband came home from the office to get a piece of paper and noticed the baby crying in his crib (not like me to let the little guy howl).  He went looking for me and found me, unconscious, on our bed.  He tried to give me honey hoping it would revive me (it usually does, as well as making me puke because I can't stand the taste of it).  Nothing.  He also tried to give me milk (which always shoots my sugar up), but I started to choke on it because of how low I was.  He called 911 because we didn't have a glucagon shot in the fridge (my mistake on not refilling it).  EMS came, as well as police and fire trucks (apparently nothing ever happens here in Wylie, Texas).  EMS gives a new form of glucose now.  Years ago they just gave us glucagon, but now its an IV in your hand with a sugar solution.  He put the syringe in my right hand.  Before long I started to come around.  Once my consciousness started to come back they tested my glucose: 12.  Who KNOWS how low I was before they got there.  I do believe I hold the record for lowest blood sugar ever.  Even my Doctor and Nurse had never heard of a sugar that low.  Not something to be proud of, but when you have this stupid  disease, these sorts of things kind of make you giggle when you look back on them.

I didn't need to go to the emergency room because I had regained consciousness and I promised to eat.  I kept my word.  I ate, rested, then went to bed that night.  The next morning I was surprised when I couldn't get my rings off my right hand.  I never take them off, but they were tingly feeling and I assumed they were just a bit swollen because of the needle yesterday.  Throughout the day my hand started to turn a reddish purple color and really began to swell.  I was using it as much as I could, but by the end of the day I couldn't open or close my hand at all.  Nick took me to a local emergency room that isn't attached to a hospital, its a nice little ER in our community.  The Doctor looked at my hand and said "I can't treat you here, you need to go straight to a big hospitals ER."  He said it looked like I had blood poisoning in my hand and suggested in-hospital IV fluid to help with it.  So we get back in the car and go to Presby of Plano (the hospital we really like).  The doctor there says I do have blood poisoning and it will take WEEKS to heal.  In the meantime, do not use my hand (HELLO, I HAVE A BABY!), and to keep it raised with hot compresses on it.  I would have thought ice, but no, hot compresses.  It would help circulate the blood.  I also got a couple prescriptions to help with the infection.  The Doctor drew a line to where the infection was and told me to come back if the infection (which was a reddness on the skin) grew any more.

Yes, these are both of my hands...Ew!

To make an already long story a bit shorter....here's the ending of the story:
*I couldn't use my hand at all for over a week.
*Could not open or close my fingers at all.
*It felt like my fingers were going to blow up because of how swollen  they were.
*The Dr was right; it took weeks to heal properly
*It is now August and I still get a sore, swollen hand when I'm in the heat outside or if I am dehydrated at all.
*I've tried to find a Doctor to help, but no doctor knows which kind of Doctor to send me too...