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If there was one thing Scott hated the most, it was being woken up by his youngest brother’s dog. He’d been having the most amazing dream, sitting in a heart shaped hot tub with the lady of his dreams sharing a glass of wine and gazing into each other’s eyes. They’d just been leaning in to kiss when he could have sworn the lady in his dreams started licking his face. But as he became aware, he clamped his mouth shut and sat bolt upright when it occurred to him that Franny wouldn’t be licking him or in his room for that matter unless there was something wrong.
Scott didn’t even pause to rub the sleep from his eyes before he had grabbed the miniature poodle and set her down on the floor only to watch the dog spin in a circle amidst caterwauling before she sprinted from the room with Scott hot on her heels. You see Alan was a type 1 diabetic and had been since he was five. Only in the last two years had their father gotten Alan a dog that was trained to detect changes in Alan’s glucose levels. Alan had over the years since his diagnosis proven how badly he needed a service dog especially when Alan hated being a diabetic so much that at one point a few years ago he’d managed to convince himself that he wouldn’t remain diabetic if he got rid of his glucose meter. Scott would never forget coming home to seeing Alan behaving strangely and out of habit had asked Alan for his meter and Alan had declared happily that he wasn’t diabetic anymore since he threw his glucose meter from the window of the bus. Scott for that matter was like a boy scout having an extra meter on hand in his own bedroom. That day had been one for the record books because Alan’s blood sugar reading was well below 75, but that would best be a story for another time.
At this moment though, Scott had no idea what was going on with Alan, but he was about to find out. Franny was trained to retrieve a member of the family if something was wrong with Alan, and she’d never done this until now.
Running through Alan’s bedroom door, he immediately went to Alan’s side – feeling his forehead for fever and was surprised to find Alan cool and sweaty. Knowing instantly that Alan was having one of his extreme lows, Scott immediately started trying to wake Alan, but he was incredibly difficult to awaken. Digging through Alan’s nightstand, Scott managed to find the little black zipper book that contained his lancets, lancing device and an alcohol prep pad. Scott tapped the base of Alan’s lamp, and he sat on the edge of his brother’s bed.
“Alan, come on little brother. Time to wakey-wakey.” Scott tried cajoling Alan and when that proved worthless, Scott turned to Franny and gave a command. “Go get Virgil.”
The little brown poodle took off like a rocket and Scott immediately set to work on prepping one of Alan’s fingers to be lanced. Scott wasn’t worried about Franny being unable to get into Virgil’s room, the family had started an open-door policy when Franny became a part of their lives so she could get to them if Alan needed them. Scott continued talking to Alan trying to bring him round, despite his brother not being aware that Scott was talking. His eyes kept opening and closing the more Scott talked and the oldest brother had no intentions of not talking until he got Alan’s sugars under control.
Scott prepared the lancet and placed it on the pad of Alan’s middle finger before pressing the trigger and hearing the click as the lancet did its job. Dropping the lancet on Alan’s bed, Scott squeezed his brother’s finger to get the blood to come to the surface. Just as Scott was testing Alan’s blood sample, he heard the jingle of Franny’s collar followed by the thumping of fast-moving feet. Moments later Virgil ran through the door, wide awake despite most likely being sound asleep prior to Franny’s wake-up. Scott watched the screen of Alan’s glucose meter and gulped when the only reading he got was the word “LOW”.
“Hey, what’s the prognosis? Is the kid high or low?” Virgil inquired as he crouched beside Alan’s bed, and he frowned when Scott showed him the meter.
“He’s too low, his meter can’t get a reading.” Scott said as he set the meter aside and started patting Alan’s face in another attempt to wake him up. “Come on kiddo, wake up for me.”
“I’m going to go get him one of his glucose gel packets.” Virgil said before he stood to run to the bathroom down the hall. They kept a stock of all of Alan’s diabetic necessities in a general location so everyone could access it if they found Alan during one of his highs or lows. Scott continued trying to awaken Alan if only to make him aware that they were going to treat him in just a few moments.
“Franny, juice.” Scott said, watching as Franny’s ears perked up before she turned to run from the room again. Right about the time Franny left and Virgil returned, Alan’s eyes opened, and he mumbled something unintelligible. Scott watched his brother raise an arm to cover his eyes and without a doubt knew his brother was likely feeling woozy. Virgil grabbed the twist top off the glucose packet and crouched beside Alan just as he put the packet to his brother’s mouth and gave it a squeeze. Alan’s eyes opened, revealing how dazed he was when his eyes couldn’t focus. Alan swallowed the gel and Virgil emptied the packet.
“Now we wait.” Virgil said as he changed position and sat on Alan’s bedroom floor. Scott stayed where he was sitting, and he kept an eye on his watch. Both older brothers talked, not bothering to keep their voices down so they could keep Alan talking.
After a few minutes, Alan turned his head to the side, and he just looked wiped out. But he seemed to be a little more coherent than when Scott initially arrived. “Sorry, I don’t know what caused my numbers to get so low.” He didn’t know what he’d done differently that caused his numbers to faceplant.
“It’s not your fault Al, these things happen. It’s just one of the many struggles of juvenile diabetes…or any diabetes for that matter. You have your highs, and you have your lows.” Virgil said just as Franny returned to the room and bunted her cool wet nose against Virgil’s knee to get his attention. The medic gently took the juice box from Franny’s mouth and unwrapped the straw before handing it up to Alan whose hands shook a little. Scott figured it was time to test Alan’s sugars again and he helped himself to selecting one of Alan’s fingers and prepping it. When the eldest lanced his brother’s finger, Alan didn’t even flinch. He’d gotten so use to it over time that now he rarely took notice when either he or one of his family had to check his numbers.
“Still a little low, but I’m sure it will come up as we get some food and juice into you.” Scott remarked as he swiped the alcohol pad across Alan’s finger to clean any residual blood off. “Do you feel okay to walk or do you want a piggyback ride to the kitchen? I’m not leaving you here, it was hard enough waking you up this time and I don’t want to take a chance of your sugars bottoming out.”
“I’ll walk…I’m fine.” Alan said as he threw his legs over the side of his bed and sat up. He wobbled a bit as he regained his equilibrium and both Virgil and Scott steadied him. Alan waved them both off and he started to walk while Virgil urged that he take it slow.
Once Alan was upright, he walked between both older brothers as they led him to the kitchen. Franny ran in figure eights around the brothers and kept her eyes on her human charge. Once the boys made it to the kitchen, Virgil coaxed Alan to sit with him in the breakfast nook while Scott prepared something for Alan to eat.
Alan took to holding his head up at the table, feeling incredibly tired despite having finished the juice. Virgil was watching Alan closely not liking the change in Alan. He rubbed Alan’s back and felt a minute tremor. Franny whimpered under the table before she gave a small bark. Scott turned to look over his shoulder, knowing Franny was trained to alert them of Alan’s wellbeing. Reaching into his sleep shorts pocket, Virgil grabbed Alan’s meter, fully prepared to test Alan’s sugars again despite Scott having just checked them barely fifteen minutes earlier. Alan shook his head with a yawn before he leaned over and rested his head on Virgil’s shoulder. He was so incredibly tired, it felt like he was losing the battle to keep his eyes open. Virgil poked Alan in the ribs and made Alan sit up.
“Keep talking Alan, don’t go to sleep.” Virgil insisted as he split his attention between Scott and Alan. He was hoping Scott would hurry, especially knowing that Alan’s sugars were likely going back down if he was behaving like this. Their older brother turned about that time and came over with a bowl of yogurt with granola and berries mixed in. Alan looked at the bowl with a bit of disgust, but he set about eating it. Alan hated yogurt, having never been able to tolerate the consistency. But it usually worked to raise Alan’s blood sugars when he was having one of his lows. Scott sat down with a small bowl of yogurt as well. He handed one to Virgil so they both could eat with Alan. It usually made Alan feel a little more comfortable and less scrutinized if he ate with one or all his present siblings. The boys all sat up until they were sure that Alan’s sugars had leveled out. Scott suggested they check Alan’s numbers one last time.
Knowing it was inevitable, Alan held out his hand and gave Scott the opportunity to prep his finger. They all waited and watched as the numbers loaded. Scott and Virgil both heaved a sigh of relief as they saw 105 come across the screen. Alan gave a yawn and shook his head to ward off his growing fatigue. Both older brothers recognized that Alan desperately needed to get back to bed and they coaxed their baby brother to get back up to his feet. Leading Alan back the way they came, they eventually made it back to Alan’s bedroom. Alan stopped in his doorway and turned to his brothers.
“Thank you both.” Alan said, despite knowing he didn’t need to say thank you. His family always brushed it off as just being family, but Alan still appreciated it, nonetheless. Scott and Virgil, both gave him a hug before gently pushing him to go back to bed. They both watched as their kid brother crawled back in bed, patting the mattress beside him, and watching Franny get snuggled in close beside her human. They both knew this wasn’t going to be the last extreme low that Alan would have, this was just a day in the life of Alan. But they were more than willing to be there every step of the way. Alan was their kin and having juvenile diabetes would never change that. They were family and family stuck it out through thick and through thin.
END