0400

0400. I just finished a report and updated the log. If I try to go back to bed, I will likely toss and turn until 0600, then fall asleep. The wake-up bell will ring about 0615 and I will feel worse than if I stayed up. I usually stay up.

I am up because we just got back from seeing one of our regular customers. As with a lot of our regulars, Larry has a myriad of medical issues. That he is confined to a wheelchair and is a raging diabetic are two of the main reasons that we know him so well..

Larry's dependence on us is cyclical. We will go on him several times in a two month period, then we won't see him for eight or nine months. Most of my contact with Larry has been to assist him in getting up off the floor, after he has slid off his bed or fallen from his wheelchair. 

Larry has a reputation of being a total jerk when his blood sugar drops below 80. He tends to be verbally abusive to his wife and to us when we arrive. I must admit that until this morning, I had never seen this side of Larry first hand. Luck of the draw I guess, he has always been pleasant when I have been around him.

Due to his physical disabilities, he doesn't pose a real threat when he is combative, though people who have seen the ugly side of Larry keep an eye on his arms and hands.

He took a swing at my medic a few years ago. I was on vacation, but my crew told me of the event. The swing missed and the momentum of the movement caused him to fall off of the bed and onto the floor. My crew let him lay there for a minute or so as they continued to get info from his wife. After a short while, Larry calmed way down and asked my medic for "a little help". They picked him up and placed him on the gurney, a more subdued Larry than before.

We could hear Larry yelling at his wife as we approached the door of his home. She was waiting for us on the porch, two leashed yellow labs by her side. As she knows we know where they live, I have to think that she was outside more to be away from Larry, than to wave us down.

Larry was in his bed, conscious and calling his wife names as we entered the room. He recognized us and knew what we were there for. He let us take vitals and test his blood sugar, all the while insulting his wife. Larry didn't want the first treatment offered to him, nor the second. Trying to avoid a confrontation, we offered a third, one that he accepted.

After a short time Larry stops calling his wife names and calms down. He agrees to eat some cereal and his blood sugar is soon within normal limits. Of course now he doesn't want transport, so he has his wife sign the appropriate forms and we left him alone.

As we had not been on Larry for quite some time, I wonder if we are starting a new cycle of visiting Larry. If so, I will be sure to keep an eye on his arms and hands. After all, no one wants to be known as the guy who got his ass kicked by a guy in a wheelchair.

Thanks for reading,
Schmoe