GETTING CLEAN IN SIN CITY #2 (STORY OF MY LIFE)

2 of 3

And now for the second part of "getting clean in Sin City (story of my life)"...

I need to set this up correctly (taping finger). My girlfriend and I decided to take a weekend trip to see my sister in the early months of 2002. My sister had lived in Huntington Beach, California since 1984. I was very familiar with Orange County and loved visiting her as much as possible. We would be staying Friday night with her, cruising up to the Hollywood area for one (Saturday) night (hit up a few cool thrift stores and hip bars) and then jet back down to the Huntington Beach area spending Sunday night with my sister again, leaving for home on Monday. Simple enough, sounds like a fun little weekend getaway, right?

Friday night, my sister had planned a wonderful night out starting off with Rock & Roll Sushi and finishing the night with an Elvis impersonator down in Newport Beach....yes!... too cool, all of my favorite things in one night. We arrive at the Sushi restaurant, I started the night with a tall Sapporo Beer and a insulin chaser.... well the booze kept coming and coming, sushi rolls turned into shots of sake and sake shots turned into more beer...oh boy. We moved the party to Newport Beach (my sisters boyfriend rented a Limo for the night, so no one was drinking and driving) to watch the Elvis impersonator, his act was so terrible it made it that much more fun, "hey bartender another round"... I decided to have several more mixed drinks and many more shots of Tequila. I know, I know this sounds terrible but this was my standard way of living at this point. I think the last call time in California is 1:30am ( I never had to worry about this in Vegas), my girlfriend and I finally returned to our room upset due to the last call rule (lol)... where I decided to pass out until morning.

Saturday morning, ah, beautiful hangover day. I had been through this hundreds if not thousands of times before...easy as *snapping fingers* 1,2,3. I check my a.m. blood sugar, a little high, 190 but not too bad. We proceed to get ready for our fun filled day of thrift store shopping on Melrose and another party extravaganza in the evening. So, we leave my sisters house late a.m and arrive before lunch at Melrose. We start window shopping a little bit, but I was stopping to rest every few minutes, not normal for Danny, at all. I think we all know that Diabetes dehydrates you, plus my over the top binge drinking (alcohol also dehydrates) the night before did not help. My body was not feeling well at all at this point, I am not talking the "normal" hangover here... it was like my body was shutting down. We decided to pack up and start towards the hotel room where I could rest this off before our big night out. After quickly checking in, we finally made it to our room. I still felt terrible after being in the room for some time, I had the feeling my body would not be able to go on, It had been through enough abuse...deep down, I knew on this day, I was literally going to die.

As I said above, I had done this routine for years, who could stop me?....the answer has six letters, have you ever played hangman? _ _ _ _ _ _! MY BODY stopped me on that day.

My girlfriend had never seen me not be in control of my situation (Diabetes and alcohol)...this was uncharted waters for the both of us. Time for help (sirens sounding), yes we called the paramedics. I was out of town and going to the hospital. They brought me down from our hotel room to the Ambulance on a gurney (everyone watching) and as I was put in the back of the Ambulance, I looked at the fright/concern on my girlfriends face and thought to myself, "time for a lifestyle overhaul change, Danny". It's kinda hard for me to talk about (so I will write it in this blog)... I promised myself from that day, just as I did when I was a 13 year old boy to take care of my Diabetes and quit the Alcohol abuse.... I did not want to end up like "that guy" my mom worked with so many years ago....and if I continued on this path, that is exactly who I would become.

All of my blood panels at the hospital were normal, four hours later and well hydrated we would head back toward the hotel room, where both of us would spend the rest of the night being thankful I was alive. I would call my sister and tell her we would not be going back on Sunday to see her... rather back to Vegas where I was going to "Get Clean". It has been approximately 7 & 1/2 years since that ambulance ride, I am happy to report I have not taken another one since. In the first part of this blog (#1) I asked the question (when I first began my binge in 1993), "could life get any better than this?"...my answer, sixteen years later is YES.

If I may, before I write my 3rd and final blog on the "story of my life" I would like to take a few more moments of your time to add a couple of thoughts. I know deep down there are many other Diabetics out there that have been or are going down a similar path that I have taken... this is why I wrote this particular blog. In some way it might help another lonely late night Diabetic blogger find some type of glimmer of hope and show them that they are not alone in their fight. Honestly, I will have a glass of wine or maybe one mixed drink a few times a years at most and only for a special occasion. During my 10 year binge, I always managed to take my insulin and check my blood sugars constantly. My A1c would never go higher than 7.2. I would not go back and change my life at all, it is what it is. I wanted nothing more than to be like my non-diabetic friends in my 20's and do what they were doing at that age. I do have a few minor complications that I believe are due to my lifestyle finally catching up with me. I play the cards I was dealt when I was diagnosed at 12 and now 25 years later the same way...with a big fat smile on my face....what else am I going to do, boo hoo hoo my life away?... sorry, not my style. I can only say I am blessed to have been able to live on this beautiful planet for the past 37 years, minor Diabetic complications and all.


Below is a Royal Flush, the best hand in poker... this is the hand I was dealt in life... no if, ands or buts!

Keep your eyes peeled for the last installment of my blog, in my opinion the most important part which was the effect all of the listed below would have on my body...nobody warned me nor did I read it in the Diabetic handbook I was issued when I was 12, "cleaning up my act" could make my life worse?... which I do not believe is discussed enough in the Diabetic community.

quitting the alcohol + normalizing my blood sugars + low carbohydrate diet + exercising + going on the insulin pump + switching insulin = disaster.