Low Blood Sugar Episode and New Year's Resolution to Take Care of Myself

2025-01-05

My mom wanted to go to an Indonesian restaurant. She said she was hungry and sounded rather impatient. I wasn’t sure if there were any within her walking radius. We started in the direction of the closest one. I started feeling my muscles contract when we were about halfway there. Part of me knew my blood sugar was low. I started stretching my limbs in directions. I’m sure it looked very strange to passersby. Eventually I sat on the sidewalk. A woman asked me in Chinese if my blood sugar was low and if I had candy with me. I said yes, though I was too confused and distracted by the tightness in my muscles to act. I may lay down on the ground for a bit. My mom stood by me in silence.

Medics came and took me and my mom into an ambulance. They asked me if I wasn’t feeling well and if I knew what had happened. I told them I had Type 1 diabetes and probably had low blood sugar. Something about the change of scenery cleared my mind. After doing a quick finger prick and blood test on a glucose meter, the medics gave me an IV infusion of sugar solution. They were quick to let me know and remind me this service was free.

At one point, a police officer boarded the ambulance and confirmed with the medics that low blood sugar was the issue. He asked my mom how old I was. She said I was in my forties, and then changed her answer and said: twenties. I didn’t realize she had lost track of my age. She denied that I was diabetic. I was relieved she was able to answer his question about the name of her nursing home. The policeman called them to let them know what had happened and told them I would bring my mom back when I was able to.

The medics checked my blood sugar again after some time and let us go after I signed some documents about not wanting to go to the hospital. We ended up changing our plans and going to a Thai restaurant nearby. I’d been back in Hong Kong for about a year and had experienced four episodes of low blood sugar that affected my activities. The most serious incident was passing out in Times Square. A man with an American accent ask me in English if I was okay and if I lived in Hong Kong. He had a teenage boy with him. After I had some candy, they waited, circled back to check on me. The boy told me I kept saying “I’m okay, I’m okay” when I first got up. I need to be more careful about taking care of myself, particularly when I’m walking around the city, which could lead to blood sugar lows.

New Year’s Day I visited SGI (Soka Gakkai International) 創価学会 at my friend Judy Juanita’s suggestion. One of the first things I noticed was the SGI logo, which looks like a lotus flower and reminds me of the nuclear physics logo at the same time. I admire SGI’s activism against nuclear weapons and am curious about their history, particularly during the Second World War. Tsunesaburō Makiguchi 牧口 (Makiguchi) 常三郎(Tsunesaburō) and Jōsei Toda 戸田 (Toda) 城聖 (Jōsei), two leaders of a precessor organization, were imprisoned, which led to the death of Makiguchi. Their daily practice of chanting doesn’t appeal to me, though I appreciated being in the presence of others who are vocal in their support of world peace. The woman sitting in front of me was wearing a jacket with a cool message: She brings the rain.

An altar build around a sheet of Chinese calligraphy. A lectern with a flower logo labeled HKSGI in front. Faded white letters on black fabric: SHE BRINGS THE RAIN

I found the waterfront promenade in Shau Kei Wan bustling with birds and people one warm, sunny afternoon. Bird traffic varies highly from day to day, though I continue to be surprised at how closely they let us humans approach them and how much more I am able to see here than anywhere else I’ve been. I was about fifteen or twenty feet from the great egret poking at the red fabric on the roof of a boat. Again, there was a great egret riding around on the roof of a moving boat. A bird, possibly a night-crowned heron, flew into a tree right above my head. A brief bird fight happened and was over in a few squawks. Gemini-1.5-pro-002 tells me the birds may have been immature black-crowned night herons. I saw a spotted dove well camouflaged next to the cracked and bespeckled concrete they were drinking from. I wondered if they chose the spot knowing they would blend in. The same question came to mind when two spotted doves met in a legume tree.

An egret taking off. A green boat in the background. An egret flying over water towards the camera. An egret with fully stretched wings and a curved neck flying away from a burgundy colored boat. An egret poking their beak into red fabric hanging on two poles. An egret flying away from the camera, legs hanging over water, rows of feathers on their wings, back and tail. An egret(?) flying towards a pier and another one on a boat in the background. An egret on a pier, another on a boat in the background, a third on the roof of a boat in the foreground. Boats in the background. An immature black-crowned night heron behind branches and leaves above the camera. A bird on the left attacking another one on the right. Both have tan feathers with white streaks and brown wings. A low concrete wall in water, some rocks and a mountain in the background. A male black-crowned heron landing on a railing. Three yellow and green boats in the background. An immature black-crowned heron with fluffed feathers leaning forward, facing a male black crowned heron holding his head low. Boats in the background. Male black-crowned heron taking off, legs hanging. Boats in the background. Spotted dove standing in front of a splash of water on cracked concrete with similar colors and patterns as the dove. Spotted dove standing on metal gate. The top of their head is light gray, light reddish brown neck and breast, tan and brown wings, brown tail, red feet The silhouettes of two doves in a tree with legumes similar to the shapes of their tails.

Tag(s): life, eldercare, diabetes, birds