IheartDDuck
DIS Veteran
- Joined
- Sep 20, 2009
Departure Day Thursday June 28 and Friday June 29, 2012
***Real life update first: I wanted to give you guys a little real life update. This TR update will be a little short because I'm just exhausted today honestly. We had a little bit of a scare yesterday because my Dad woke up in the morning and told my Mom that he was having chest pains. Not severe ones, but enough that they made him concerned. Obviously, no one messes around with that so she gave him an aspirin and took him to the ER.
They saw him immediately and ran an EKG within a minute. Thankfully, he was not having a heart attack in that moment. However, they still were doing a full blood workup because they wanted to see if he had a heart attack at any point. Well, when they came back with the results of the bloodwork, his blood sugar was 487.
He has diabetes. They think hes had it for some time and didnt know. He does remember having a blood workup like 2 years ago, so it must have happened between then and now. Diabetes does run in my family as well, so this isnt completely crazy and surprising. However, it was quite a morning and quite a scare for us.
They did keep him overnight, because they wanted to see if there was anything additional behind his chest pain and also get his sugar levels under control. He wasnt thrilled, but knew that it was necessary. So now, hes on medication that hell have to take daily as well as checking his blood sugar twice a day as well. However, were grateful that it wasnt a heart attack. Apparently, when your sugar levels get so high, it can mimic the feeling of a heart attack. Hes home now and feeling better, so were happy about that. But what with my stuff with my Grandma and now my Dad, I think my mom and I can only take so much combined.
Heres a little PSA for everyone. Diabetes is a disease that is affecting everyone and its getting out of control. Do what you can please please please to educate yourselves on it and learn how to change your diet to prevent it if possible. I had been trying to get my Dad to change his diet out of fear for something like this before. Its so important that were educated on what we can do to prevent it. We are working towards a goal of getting his diabetes under control with diet only.***
Onward with the update! When we last left us, I was here:
Enjoying my wee little champagne. We took off right on time and we were soon up in the air. I took some time to write the first notes of my TR while we were up in the air.
I received a nice little travel kit for being in Premium Economy. Free stuff! Cha!
It had an eye mask, a pen, socks, a tiny toothpaste, and a tiny toothbrush. We were also given blankets and pillows. Sweet. Yup, I stuck everything in my backpack. (I think that they restrict the weight on our carryons because they give everyone THESE!.....Just sayin).
After a little while, we were given our menu and perused it (I have to use words like perused, because we were upgraded), to make our choice.
Pretty good choices overall, but Im pretty easy to please also. It honestly doesnt take much when it comes to food. Its sad.
International Travel Tip #3 The serving sizes on the airplane meals on international flights are a little chintzy, so if youre a big eater, make sure you bring snacks (a la my Dad, the human garbage disposal).
For me, the serving was just right because of watching what I eat and the calorie intake.
Mom was happy.
Heres my pretty serving. The cutlery was really nice, I must say. Again, easy to please.
Dad and I had the beef tips with leak and potatoes. There was a tart crumble thing for dessert that was good. However, per my new motto, it was not good enough for me to eat anything more than a few bites.
Mom had chicken stir fry. She liked it as well.
After dinner, I took two sleeping pills, because I really wanted to try to get some sleep. I dont do well sleeping on planes, so this was my last ditch effort. Would it work? I think you can tell from my title that it didnt.
Before trying to get some shut eye, I went into the bathroom, removed my makeup, and did my normal nightly skin routine. Im not kidding, it is even that much more important on a plane. Our skin needs 40% humidity to stay hydrated. On a plane, you only get 8%.
International Travel Tip #4 If youre female (or male if you take good care of your skin), do not stop your skincare routine on the plane. Remove your makeup for long haul flights, and moisturize your skin. Your skin will be so so happy and it will prevent any breakouts. Makeup + long time + air travel = Not happy skin.
I tried my hardest to sleep, I really did. I even busted out the iPod mix that I have that I call sleep just to relax me and soothe me (and no, Metallica and the like is not on my sleep mix, duh!). So the sleeping pill was for nothing. Great, thats just going to make me groggy later.
Soon they were waking us up for breakfast. Which is funny, because it was 12am to us technically. But they have to get you on their time right away, because wed been in the air for 6 hours already. It was 6am in London at that time. Thats okay, Ill eat again!
This time, full English breakfast with eggs, ham, sausage, mushrooms, and tomato.
It was very good, but Dad got all of the ham, because Mom and I dont really eat it.
International Travel Tip #5 Even if you dont think youre hungry, eat the breakfast that they provide on the plane. You will be happy that you are on a normal eating schedule when you arrive in your destination country.
After that, it was back in the bathroom for me to wash my face one more time. I was washing and moisturizing to prepare my skin for makeup. Nothing fancy, but I dont like being makeup free and looking like the schlub that I am. If you dont know already, I am super anal retentive about skin care. I wash and moisturize every morning, wash my face every night and do not sleep with makeup on EVER. I also do face masks twice a week. What can I say?
Very soon, we were descending into London. Woo hoo!!!
Up next: How long, oh how long does Passport control take?
***Real life update first: I wanted to give you guys a little real life update. This TR update will be a little short because I'm just exhausted today honestly. We had a little bit of a scare yesterday because my Dad woke up in the morning and told my Mom that he was having chest pains. Not severe ones, but enough that they made him concerned. Obviously, no one messes around with that so she gave him an aspirin and took him to the ER.
They saw him immediately and ran an EKG within a minute. Thankfully, he was not having a heart attack in that moment. However, they still were doing a full blood workup because they wanted to see if he had a heart attack at any point. Well, when they came back with the results of the bloodwork, his blood sugar was 487.
He has diabetes. They think hes had it for some time and didnt know. He does remember having a blood workup like 2 years ago, so it must have happened between then and now. Diabetes does run in my family as well, so this isnt completely crazy and surprising. However, it was quite a morning and quite a scare for us.
They did keep him overnight, because they wanted to see if there was anything additional behind his chest pain and also get his sugar levels under control. He wasnt thrilled, but knew that it was necessary. So now, hes on medication that hell have to take daily as well as checking his blood sugar twice a day as well. However, were grateful that it wasnt a heart attack. Apparently, when your sugar levels get so high, it can mimic the feeling of a heart attack. Hes home now and feeling better, so were happy about that. But what with my stuff with my Grandma and now my Dad, I think my mom and I can only take so much combined.
Heres a little PSA for everyone. Diabetes is a disease that is affecting everyone and its getting out of control. Do what you can please please please to educate yourselves on it and learn how to change your diet to prevent it if possible. I had been trying to get my Dad to change his diet out of fear for something like this before. Its so important that were educated on what we can do to prevent it. We are working towards a goal of getting his diabetes under control with diet only.***
Onward with the update! When we last left us, I was here:
Enjoying my wee little champagne. We took off right on time and we were soon up in the air. I took some time to write the first notes of my TR while we were up in the air.
I received a nice little travel kit for being in Premium Economy. Free stuff! Cha!
It had an eye mask, a pen, socks, a tiny toothpaste, and a tiny toothbrush. We were also given blankets and pillows. Sweet. Yup, I stuck everything in my backpack. (I think that they restrict the weight on our carryons because they give everyone THESE!.....Just sayin).
After a little while, we were given our menu and perused it (I have to use words like perused, because we were upgraded), to make our choice.
Pretty good choices overall, but Im pretty easy to please also. It honestly doesnt take much when it comes to food. Its sad.
International Travel Tip #3 The serving sizes on the airplane meals on international flights are a little chintzy, so if youre a big eater, make sure you bring snacks (a la my Dad, the human garbage disposal).
For me, the serving was just right because of watching what I eat and the calorie intake.
Mom was happy.
Heres my pretty serving. The cutlery was really nice, I must say. Again, easy to please.
Dad and I had the beef tips with leak and potatoes. There was a tart crumble thing for dessert that was good. However, per my new motto, it was not good enough for me to eat anything more than a few bites.
Mom had chicken stir fry. She liked it as well.
After dinner, I took two sleeping pills, because I really wanted to try to get some sleep. I dont do well sleeping on planes, so this was my last ditch effort. Would it work? I think you can tell from my title that it didnt.
Before trying to get some shut eye, I went into the bathroom, removed my makeup, and did my normal nightly skin routine. Im not kidding, it is even that much more important on a plane. Our skin needs 40% humidity to stay hydrated. On a plane, you only get 8%.
International Travel Tip #4 If youre female (or male if you take good care of your skin), do not stop your skincare routine on the plane. Remove your makeup for long haul flights, and moisturize your skin. Your skin will be so so happy and it will prevent any breakouts. Makeup + long time + air travel = Not happy skin.
I tried my hardest to sleep, I really did. I even busted out the iPod mix that I have that I call sleep just to relax me and soothe me (and no, Metallica and the like is not on my sleep mix, duh!). So the sleeping pill was for nothing. Great, thats just going to make me groggy later.
Soon they were waking us up for breakfast. Which is funny, because it was 12am to us technically. But they have to get you on their time right away, because wed been in the air for 6 hours already. It was 6am in London at that time. Thats okay, Ill eat again!
This time, full English breakfast with eggs, ham, sausage, mushrooms, and tomato.
It was very good, but Dad got all of the ham, because Mom and I dont really eat it.
International Travel Tip #5 Even if you dont think youre hungry, eat the breakfast that they provide on the plane. You will be happy that you are on a normal eating schedule when you arrive in your destination country.
After that, it was back in the bathroom for me to wash my face one more time. I was washing and moisturizing to prepare my skin for makeup. Nothing fancy, but I dont like being makeup free and looking like the schlub that I am. If you dont know already, I am super anal retentive about skin care. I wash and moisturize every morning, wash my face every night and do not sleep with makeup on EVER. I also do face masks twice a week. What can I say?
Very soon, we were descending into London. Woo hoo!!!
Up next: How long, oh how long does Passport control take?
Although having said that, I am slowly improving at sleeping on overnight long-haul flights.
There are several members of my extended family with diabetes - some type 1, some type 2. We're always trying to get my aunt to eat better. Best of luck to your dad for getting it under control with diet only 
Not easy - my dad has been diabetic for many years now and I have to say he is very militant about his carb intake/ exercise and has managed it very very well. Not such an easy adjustment though - hope your dad's health improves and he can get everything where it needs to be. 
so I have been reluctant to take the plunge - shouldn't let one bad experience put me off forever though.
You'll be in Europe just after I leave!
