As a type-1 diabetic, in my experience it is perfectly possible to end up in a situation like this even if you are responsible. Remember, type-1 diabetes is a condition that requires your attention tens if not a hundred times per day. This is not just on good days, but also on your very worst days when you are juggling everything else that life throws at you and you may not have slept properly for days. So, maybe you had noticed that your emergency glucose was low, but in this instance out of a hundred you forgot to replace it when you came home because you were exhausted and then overslept and had to rush out in the morning. What makes type-1 diabetes challenging is not that you can not technically manage every single one of the decisions and actions that it demands out of you, it is that you must carry them out under all conditions and largely without fail for every day in your life or you will suffer both short-term and long-term consequences. Everyone I know has had a nightmare episode.
Just a final recent anecdote to illustrate some of the complexity. It may look like maths on the surface, but even something like "carbohydrate ratio" is a fluid concept. Yesterday for example I was out and about in the sun and had the very same bottle of sweet tea that I have had for months. Given that I knew I was physically active and it was hot, I reduced the usual dosage for this specific drink by 80% to be on the safe side. To my surprise, on this particular day for whatever reason this was still far too much and I pushed myself into hypoglycemia in little over an hour. We humans are highly dynamic and complex systems and this is me failing with the very best technology we have available: Insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor.
Yes but there has to be a reason why the nightmare scenario existed. For example in the article it was because the author had hubris over 20+ years of the pump never failing. It's a good admission of cause. I certainly can't blame them for it. They also admit they didn't have a backup plan packed. It's a humble article if you see through all the anger. Your scenario was caused by trying to do the right thing and it was still wrong. Again, great reason. Was the other commenter exhausted and overslept before the trip? We don't know. Did somebody steal their supplies? Did they fall in a vat of toxic waste? All we know is that they were on a trip with no packed way to increase blood sugar and I think we all agree that's not the expected plan. But they also say they're usually very good at feeling their blood sugar and were bait-and-switched by the trip organizer, so it's not unreasonable to assume they assumed they could catch anything early and just go buy something. Which isn't really a plan, again as we learned from the article.
As the saying goes, "The graves are full of hindsight."
In twenty years of living with diabetes, I've made an unbelievable number of mistakes — enough to fill a warehouse.
Every one of them became a lesson, provided it didn't kill me first.
One of the biggest lessons, in fact, was learning to be extremely organized and always prepared.
Yes, in that particular case I had already used up my supplies (and during a three-day trip I hadn't thought about bringing a refill), and, rather stupidly, I wasn't carrying glucagon with me.
I've never claimed to be smart — just a survivor of my own stupidity.
Just a final recent anecdote to illustrate some of the complexity. It may look like maths on the surface, but even something like "carbohydrate ratio" is a fluid concept. Yesterday for example I was out and about in the sun and had the very same bottle of sweet tea that I have had for months. Given that I knew I was physically active and it was hot, I reduced the usual dosage for this specific drink by 80% to be on the safe side. To my surprise, on this particular day for whatever reason this was still far too much and I pushed myself into hypoglycemia in little over an hour. We humans are highly dynamic and complex systems and this is me failing with the very best technology we have available: Insulin pump and continuous glucose monitor.