Name: Karis Buice
Email: [email protected]
Date: August 8, 2022

My name is Karis, I am 17 years old and I was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes when I was 8 years old. 1
year after I was diagnosed, I still had no CGM of any sort, no pump, and I only used a meter.
My doctor had prescribed a new long-acting insulin for me to try. So, one night I gave myself the
long-acting insulin and went to bed like normal. The next thing I knew I was woken up by loud voices all around me. I had a diabetic seizure. I couldn’t
see anything so I thought it was dark, in the middle of the night. My dad, holding me in his arms, started
asking me questions. I was alarmed by all the loud voices of people I didn’t know. I asked my dad who
they were and he said, “You can’t see the paramedics in front of you?” I realized that I was blind and
went into a full panic. They loaded me into the ambulance and by God’s sovereignty, I regained my vision
within an hour.

Many years later, in November of 2019, I was traveling with my family and friends in Scotland. The flight
was long, and my body was off schedule, which can REALLY mess things up, especially when you are
diabetic with a pump.

We decided to go on a walk after we got to the hotel. My Dexcom alerted me that I was dropping, so like
normal I ate a nutrition bar and thought I was fine. My mom asked me if I wanted candy to help and I
said no because I truly felt fine even though my sugar was rising.

All within seconds my vision started going black and I grabbed my mom’s arm with a terrified voice,
screaming, “Help!” I went into a full diabetic seizure. My mom realized my glucagon shot was back at the
hotel and there was no time to get it, time was key in this situation.

My parents began to realize there was nothing they could do, knowing those were possibly my last
moments. After a few minutes, a medical doctor driving by saw the commotion on the side of the road
and jumped out of his car. His being there really calmed the whole scene down. Within minutes I woke
up and was ok. After a hospital visit and check-up with doctors, I returned to normal.

Having this constant fear and anxiety of lows has been detrimental to me over the last few years. For the
longest time, I never kept my sugar under control. With the business of life, I never managed it as I
should.

One day I woke up and my blood sugars had been around 380 all night. I began to feel extremely sick. As
I started throwing up, it would not stop. My stomach kept pumping and pumping, I was dry heaving, and
puking stomach bile. I had never heard of Diabetic Ketoacidosis (DKA) before. I genuinely thought I had a
stomach virus. After hours of being extremely sick, I kept getting worse. My eyes were caved in and black all around them, my body was aching, my heart beating out of my chest, fever and headache. I told my mom how bad I was and she took me straight to the hospital.

There they told me I was in DKA, and after a night in the hospital my BG was normal and I was able to go
home. I never wanted to experience this again.

A few years later, I was white water rafting with my youth group. I was unable to connect to my pump for
4 hours. This made my sugar around 400 for a long period of time. I got back into our bus that we took and my pump would not give me any insulin saying “blockage in tubing.” I knew it was about 3 hours until we got home and this wasn’t going to be good.

Within minutes my stomach was flipping. I ran to the front of the bus and threw up 6 times within 2
hours into a garbage bag. The same symptoms from my story above started again. I felt like I was literally
dying. My heart felt like it was exploding and my body ached. I came home and treated it from home by
taking anti-nausea medicine, administering a TON of insulin to break down the ketones, drinking fluids,
and resting.

The recovery process took about 3 days. Due to all the bile, I threw up my throat felt like shards of glass
every time I swallowed. I could only eat soft foods for days.

Now, I’m at a place where I am disciplining myself into becoming someone who manages their sugars like
no one’s business. I don’t want to be known as “the girl with diabetes who always has issues and ends up
in the hospital.” I look toward my future and want only the best for my body and my future kids.
I pray that I can keep my levels the best I can, knowing I will make mistakes and have bad days. As
diabetics, we need to make an impact, and show others that we CAN do anything!!