Episode Transcript
[00:00:10] Hello, friend, and welcome to Imagine the Possibilities.
[00:00:14] Skip here. And I'm really glad you chose to join me today.
[00:00:18] I want to talk about something that happened to me, and I truly didn't realize the seriousness of when it started.
[00:00:29] I had started on two new cancer medicines for my prostate cancer. It had flared up, and one of these cancer medicines caused you to not have an appetite.
[00:00:42] And somehow, and I don't know which one or a combination or whatever, I also couldn't taste food.
[00:00:50] It was just blah.
[00:00:53] But anyway, I had taken it for about, I think, three weeks.
[00:00:59] And because I didn't have an appetite, I didn't eat like I should.
[00:01:06] So about a week ago, I went to the grocery store and I bought, I don't know, four or five things, and I had three bags.
[00:01:20] So while I was in the grocery store, I started sweating.
[00:01:25] And I'm not talking about, like, a little bit of sweat. I started sweating profusely. I guess that's the word.
[00:01:34] And when I checked out, the girl even asked me if I was okay. She said, looks like you're just burning up. And I said, I'm fine. I said, I just do this sometimes.
[00:01:46] I said, I think it's the medicine I'm on.
[00:01:49] So she checks everything out. I pay her and walk out the door of the store and look for my car.
[00:01:59] And I'm a bit disoriented already.
[00:02:03] So I see the car and I go over to it, and the door's unlocked. But the odd thing was I was gonna put the groceries in the back seat, and when I opened the back door to do that, the seats were let down. We've got an equinox, and the seats were let down. And I thought, well, that's odd. But I didn't think anything of it, really. After I said, it's odd. And I went on, put the groceries in. I put the seat back up and set the groceries in the seat, took the buggy back up to the store and parked it, and then walked back to the car, opened the front door and got in.
[00:02:46] And when I got in, I realized it was the wrong car. Like I said, we have an Equinox, and this was a Ford.
[00:02:56] So I walked back and very carefully, because by then I was getting a bit shaky. But I walked back, got the buggy, put the groceries back in it, looked around and saw my car about three rows over. Now, I was able to spot it because we support the National Eagle foundation, and we've got an Eagle license plate on it. And that stood out. So I knew where it was now. So I walked over to it, and the closer I got, the more weak I felt in the knees and that kind of stuff. But I put the groceries in the buggy. There was a buggy return thing right beside the car. So I put it in that instead of walking it back up to the store, got in the car and started it. Turned the air conditioning on, and I sat there for maybe 10, 15 minutes with the car idling and the air conditioner on, trying to get cooled off. And finally I did get cooled off some.
[00:03:58] So first. Next thing I did, and there was no common sense or cowboy logic applying here, I drove home.
[00:04:11] Now, I drove, okay. I didn't speed. I didn't run across the yellow line.
[00:04:19] I stopped at stop signs and everything. I got home, back in my garage, went to get out of the car and felt like I was literally going to collapse.
[00:04:31] So I got back in the car and sat for a little bit and finally felt a bit better. So I got out the car, got my groceries and walked in the house and put the groceries on the kitchen table. And by the time I'd done that, I was feeling like I was going to collapse again.
[00:04:55] So I went and sat down at our dining room table and sat there for, I don't know, five or 10 minutes. And my wife heard me come in. And then she.
[00:05:07] Then I didn't show up in the bedroom, and she checked one of the cameras and saw me sitting there, and she said something and hollered at me.
[00:05:17] So I got up and went into the bedroom and started talking to her. And I guess I was coherent, but she noticed that the way I was talking was kind of odd. And she wanted to know if I was all right.
[00:05:35] And being macho man, I said, sure, I'm fine.
[00:05:40] And she said, well, you don't look fine. I said, I'm fine. I said, I just got.
[00:05:48] Anyway, I didn't truly feel fine, and I was still a bit disoriented. And I had a doctor's appointment two days. So rather than to do what I should have done, which was go to my doctor and have her fit me in or go to the emergency room, I didn't do either one of them.
[00:06:09] So I got to feeling a bit better and everything. And the next morning when I got up, I wasn't disoriented, but I felt like I could fall anytime.
[00:06:23] So I was very careful. I generally walk with a cane, so I was very careful to do that.
[00:06:31] Fixed a cup of coffee and my water and came in here and sat down at the computer and was going to accomplish all these great things, but I couldn't.
[00:06:43] She'll had a doctor's appointment the next day, so. And it was 8 o' clock in the morning.
[00:06:49] So I get up, I get dressed, I have a bite to eat and I go to the doctor.
[00:06:57] And I told her pretty much the same story I've told you.
[00:07:00] And she said, that's not good.
[00:07:04] She said, I think you've got low blood sugar hypoglycemia. And I said, why? And she said, well, some of the signs you're having are classic signs of it.
[00:07:15] So she ran a couple tests and stuff and she said what I really want to do, and I don't know the name of the device, but she put a device on the back of my right arm and it actually takes blood samples, I guess 24 hours a day.
[00:07:32] And it's good for about two weeks. And my phone is attached to it and it records where I am and when it's high or low or whatever. So she said, two weeks, I'll have you back.
[00:07:45] She said, in the meantime, if you have another spell like that, either come up here if we're open and just tell the girl that you need to see me right away, or go to the emergency room if we're closed. And I said, okay, I'll do that.
[00:08:04] So I started trying to figure it all out. I knew I didn't have an appetite. Still didn't have an appetite.
[00:08:11] Nothing tastes good, still didn't taste good.
[00:08:15] My wife was worried that I would have another attack. And my doctor told me, said, here's things you need to do. Get some almonds, get some bananas, get some fresh fruit, even get some gummy bears.
[00:08:34] And she said, put them in different places. Put the fruit stuff obviously in the kitchen. Said put the gummy bears somewhere between the kitchen or in your living room or wherever, and put the almonds in the bedroom or wherever you want to put them, but put them in different places. And she said every time you go into one of those rooms, eat something, whatever's in that room, eat half a dozen or so. And I said, okay.
[00:09:01] So I started doing that.
[00:09:03] And she'd also told me that if I felt like I was going to have another spell to eat, immediately eat one of those things. And she said, if it's really bad, eat a banana because that'll help you quicker than any of the others.
[00:09:18] So. So I said, okay, well, that was about a week and about a week ago now.
[00:09:26] And it's affected me. Matter of fact, I Wasn't sure that I could even record this podcast, but I decided I really wanted to because I want to try to let everyone know that if you have something that happens that's out of the norm and creates some physical issue, then don't do what I did.
[00:09:55] Just go to the emergency room or go to the doctor you see and let them know that you don't believe it's an emergency, but you need to see the doctor right away. And if you can't, you're going to go to the emergency room. But don't, don't put it off.
[00:10:14] Don't do what I did.
[00:10:16] Because driving home was.
[00:10:20] How do I want to say this?
[00:10:23] Stupid.
[00:10:25] If I had had that same spell driving home that I had going from the store to the car, I probably would have run off the road, had to stop in the middle of the road or I might have had an accident and hurt someone, but I didn't think about it.
[00:10:51] But take care of yourself. Do something immediately.
[00:10:57] I'm a week, I guess, into this thing and I've watched the graph on my phone and for the most part it stayed in the normal range. A couple times it's kind of dropped down and when it has, I'd eat something part of a banana or some banana chips or something and it would go back up.
[00:11:22] So I've done what the doctor said. Now if I walk into where my computer stuff is, I have almonds in that room and I'll go get four, five, half dozen almonds or whatever and eat them.
[00:11:36] And by doing that, I seem to have it at least in the area where it's supposed to be.
[00:11:46] I don't know how long it's going to take.
[00:11:49] I've done what we all do, I guess. I've googled it, read all about low blood sugar and what it can cause and all the things that I need to do. And I understand it now and I don't know how long it's going to take to get it straightened out, but I have been eating and I have done everything the doctor told me to do.
[00:12:14] And still there's times that, like when I first get up, or today I went to my barber and got a haircut and when I sat in the car before I walked in, I felt funny.
[00:12:33] And when I walked in I was still feeling a little bit funny, but I felt like I was alright. I didn't feel like I was going to follow or anything.
[00:12:44] So I'm going to see where this takes me.
[00:12:51] I can't not take my cancer medicine.
[00:12:54] I Can do what my doctor suggested at this point. I know this device I've got on my arm is recording all the ups and downs and everything that I've gone through for two weeks. And the doctor will take it and I guess read it somehow. And it is recording on my phone, too, so she'll have the information and can make a more informed decision about what I need to do moving forward.
[00:13:22] The real point in this is don't do what I did.
[00:13:28] And I know I'm going to repeat myself. But if you feel funny, if you feel out of the ordinary and you can't explain it, you know, attention, headache is something that probably we can explain. A normal headache, there's a lot of stuff we can explain, but if you can't explain it to yourself and understand what's going on, then seek medical help.
[00:13:56] Don't try to be macho man like I did.
[00:14:02] If I hadn't been able to drive home and tried to and had an accident, nobody would have thought that it was related in any way to what my problem was. More than likely they just chalked it up as an accident. If I didn't hurt anybody or hurt myself, you know, it's all right, you're good to go. Here's your tickets and, you know, call your insurance company and all that.
[00:14:28] I don't know what would happen.
[00:14:31] And I spent some time groveling and begging my wife to forgive me and promising her that I wouldn't do anything like that again. And I won't. I understand it now.
[00:14:51] My insurance covers the emergency room, covers ambulances. I could have easily taken my cell phone, dial 911, had the operator send an ambulance from the hospital and take me to the hospital.
[00:15:05] And they would have been able to figure out, I don't know how because I don't fully understand it yet, but they'd have been able to figure out what was wrong with me and treat it, and that would have been great.
[00:15:21] I just think that sometimes we as human beings don't want to admit that we've got a problem.
[00:15:34] And that probably especially applies to our medical issues and things like that. You know, we get sore back. We think, you know, oh, I just, you know, I spent a lot of time or I lifted this or whatever.
[00:15:46] Your knees hurt, you know. Well, I'm 78 years old. They're going to hurt.
[00:15:52] You know, you get repeated headaches and you don't think that they're related, but they are.
[00:16:00] I guess again, like I said, I'm going to repeat myself. But if you feel funny you're better off seeing your family doctor or going to the emergency room if they're not available and figuring out what it is.
[00:16:18] This whole low blood sugar thing, if it went a bit lower than it was, I would have probably blacked out sitting in the parking lot of the grocery store, and nobody might have paid attention to it. I could have sat there for, I don't know, till the car ran out of gas or whatever, or somebody finally noticed that I wasn't moving or whatever. So don't put things off when it comes to your physical. Our mental health, for that matter. But when it comes to your physical health, don't put things off.
[00:16:56] If you get to feeling bad and it's not something that normally happens and you can't.
[00:17:04] I don't want to say if you can't explain it, because we as humans are really good at rationalizing stuff.
[00:17:12] So if you can't explain it normally and you've got to rationalize it and try to, oh, yeah, it's this, and I'm okay, and I can do this and this and this.
[00:17:20] Don't seek help.
[00:17:25] And once you're where somebody's going to help you, you got to be 100% honest with them. You got to tell them what you're feeling like you got to tell them what happened.
[00:17:38] Don't sugarcoat it.
[00:17:40] Let them help you.
[00:17:45] I can't stress it enough because I did probably half a dozen really stupid things before I got home, and one of them was driving home. Now, I had people that in five minutes or so, they could have been to that parking lot, taken me home, and had somebody else drive my car home.
[00:18:13] Didn't do that.
[00:18:17] If something like that happens to you, do that. Get help if you're.
[00:18:22] And I don't just mean medical help. Get help physically to take you wherever you need to go. Don't try to drive it. Don't try to do anything.
[00:18:31] Because after I started getting better with it and started reflecting on what I did and what could have happened, I got upset by what I'd done. I'll just say it that way. I got upset enough that.
[00:18:51] Just leave it at that. I got upset.
[00:18:54] So here's the thing.
[00:19:00] Take care of yourself.
[00:19:03] Pay attention to your body and what it's trying to tell you, and don't hesitate if something's wrong to go get it checked out.
[00:19:16] That's why we have doctors. And I have.
[00:19:21] I think my doctor is the best doctor on the planet.
[00:19:26] She takes really good care of me and my wife, both, Brenda, both. And it would not have been a problem to go see her.
[00:19:36] It wouldn't have been a problem to go to the emergency room. But I didn't do either thing. I just pushed through it. So don't do that.
[00:19:44] Take care of yourself.
[00:19:47] I always, and I probably will this time, but I always tell you to live life to the fullest.
[00:19:55] Well, you can't live life to the fullest you. If you've got a medical issue that you're not taking care of.
[00:20:02] So take care of yourself and enjoy life to the fullest.
[00:20:11] I guess that that's really all I wanted to say.
[00:20:16] And I do appreciate you listening and hopefully.
[00:20:22] I don't know if you want to call this advice or. Or just experience. Hopefully you won't experience what I did. And if you do, you'll do the right thing. You'll get help immediately.
[00:20:35] Anyway, I hope all of you, hope you take care of yourself, enjoy life to the fullest.
[00:20:44] Love people unconditionally, have fun, be happy, be kind.
[00:20:54] I hope you have a super day, and I pray that God blesses you in a super way.
[00:21:02] God bless.
[00:21:05] Thank you.
