I had a pretty eventful week to say the least. Mommy arrived in St. Kitts Thursday afternoon. I let her take it easy that day, so I cooked some coconut rice and fish, fed her some yummy mango bread and relaxed and caught up. The next day, we started around 8 am and I dragged her along to about 3 meetings and didn't get home till around 12 hours later. Saturday, I took her on the hash (it ended up being an intense 2 hour hike with a mixture of beach and uphill through random rainforesty vegetation) and even got her to hitchhike on the back of a truck! Ok, fine it was only with a fellow hasher and Mike was with us but still. That was followed by a waterfront dinner at SpratNet with Anne and George, and Eddie even joined us after. We stayed up talking that night.
And then there was Sunday. I left early that morning and somehow managed to catch a bus on time to the airport. I had a little drama with my reservation because it wasn't paid for under my name (it was by the PC, trust LIAT to be efficient when it doesn't suit you). After checking into the hotel, a couple of us went to watch the world cup final at a bar/lounge. I was the only one cheering for Spain from the group. We got back in time to quickly shower and all the VACs head out to Pigeon Island for dinner at Jambe De Bois where we enjoyed the mismatched twig chairs, obscure tables, local art and live jazz band by the water.
Now I've been running low on my glucose meter test strips despite reminding our medical officer, and had gotten down to my last one that night. I decided not to do my nightly bed time test and save the strip for the morning, after which I was hoping to receive my test strips at the office. I ended up having my first severe hypoglycemic reaction (low blood sugar) in years; I can't even remember the last time I had one, proving how long its been. Kelly woke up after hearing me fall out of bed at 2.00 am and called Geoff and they then called the paramedics. I have some battle wounds, bumps and bruises from the paramedics attempts to get me into the ambulance. I woke up around 4.00 am and my first thought was 'Do I have to miss the meeting?'
Long story short, I ended up being admitted in the hospital and missed about an hour and a half of my first VAC meeting. A mixture of contributing factors culminated in a unfortunate night including my lack of test strips or a glucagon emergency kit, being in a hotel room without access to food, crashing from a couple of long tiring days worth of late nights and early mornings, overcompensating with too much insulin for my dinner, and the lack of understanding of diabetes in the Caribbean. It was not cute. But I have NEVER in my life been hospitalized for a hypoglycemic reaction and iA it will never happen again. I am totally and completely ok and my diabetes is in control and there is absolutely nothing to worry about.
The VAC with Margo and Elizabeth =)
Monday was the VAC meeting, and we discussed a lot of issues such as communication between volunteers and staff, office equipment, volunteer finances, sustainability, and the 50th anniversary, just to name a few. Kelly was elected as chairperson and I was elected as secretary (Go EC-80!) During our discussions, one of the topics that came up (especially when we talked about the sustainability of our projects and work) was comparisons. One of my fellow VACs quoted someone and said that "comparison is the thief of joy". And I completely agree. You should never hold yourself to anyone elses standards because that will only drive you crazy (spoken from experience). I've spent too much of my life caring about what other people will think and say, and trying to make everyone happy. We need to do what we can, with what we have. And do our very best to OUR abilities, and no one elses.
Yesterday, I returned from St. Lucia and took mommy to two more meetings. We got poured on and experienced waiting in the rain for a meeting that never took place. She's really getting to experience my life here. After running some errands today she got some local food, including Mrs. Moore's amazing johnny cake saltfish sandwiches, passion fruit juice and iQueens softserve mango ice cream =) Yummy!!! But I made her hike up to Ocean Terrace Inn for our DASKN Think Tank afterwards, which had a much better attendance than expected. However, I've learnt that here in St. Kitts, we discuss a lot and decide very little. One of the DASKN members thinks that volunteer organizations here are essentially a 'mental masturbation' that stroke our egos and make us feel like we're doing something and making a difference when what we need is 'real intercourse with the population'. Despite that, I personally think that there were a lot of good points brought up with a great free flow of information between a lot of people.
I think the hardest thing in life to learn is which bridge to cross and which to burn. And I've always hated making decisions. But you really do have to pick and choose your battles.
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