Diabetes Blooper #27534

The weather in Rome has been AMAZING the last week or so and we are getting a further taste of spring this week.  Thursday is supposed to be 69 degrees and sunny!!  Now, I'm a person who really likes winter, but all of the incredible things that Rome has to offer are much better when it's warm out.  I'm loving this weather!

To enjoy the gorgeous day on Saturday, Nick and I decided to rent bikes and head out on the Via Appia Antica.  This is where some of the catacombs which are open to the public are located, as well as several remains of tombs from antiquity.  We packed a backpack with our lunch, water, my Oxford Archaeological Guide (because I am a nerd), my OneTouch mini meter, two 10-count bottles of glucose tabs, and a juice box. While I would have preferred to have a CGM to keep track of things while biking for a couple of hours, we ate a big breakfast of banana pancakes with nutella and I set a temp basal rate that I thought was aggressive enough to prevent any lows.

Our first pause at the church of San Sebastiano

The Tomb of Cecilia Metella

And all was well!  I tested after an hour or so and was in the 160s.  I gave myself a quarter of the correction and hopped back on the bike.  After another 45 minutes or so of pretty solid biking, we stopped to have lunch.  I tested and up popped a 74.  Perfect timing!

After lunch we biked pretty hard all the way back to return the bikes, head home, clean up, and go out and meet up with some friends to watch a rugby match.  When that was over, we went home to catch some family on Skype and then met up with the same friends for dinner at our favorite pizza place.  After a wait of about 20 minutes, we sat down and I tested.  A completely symptomless 56 flashed onto the screen.  Not really phased, I opened up my supply bag to grab my glucose tabs, and discovered that those hadn't made it out of the backpack.  How can this be?  I've NEVER forgotten them!  I was sitting in a restaurant, now starting to feel shaky from the low, with nothing to treat it.  My friend offered me her granola bar, but I knew I needed something more fast acting.

Fortunately, I have an unflappable husband.  He asked what I needed and I told him either a regular coke or juice.  And ASAP.  He jumped up, grabbed a waiter in the super busy restaurant, explained the situation in his elementary Italian (he definitely learned how to talk about the 'betes, because he is awesome), and got me the first regular coke I've had in years.  Even before my diagnosis, I was a diet girl.  In Italy, though, they make it with real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.  And it tasted so good.  So good!

And of course it did the trick.  It was the most expensive coke I've ever had, clocking in at 2.70 euros!  But it was a lesson for me: always double check that I have my glucose tabs, especially after a day with a 3 hour workout.  All was fine in the end, thanks to a fast-acting husband who manages to understand this disease and what it needs.