118

Well I got to have a little adventure today. Kaite, the diabetic, has three times before gotten so low on her sugar levels that she slips in to a mini coma and won't wake up. I'm usually called in to shake her awake, make loud noises, and have her get up. She will be pissy, but after a few glasses of OJ her sugar levels are back up and she is good to go.

Well today, after 25 mins of yelling and shaking, she still wouldn't respond. I sat her up and proped her against my knees so she was sitting. After another 20 mins, 2 glucose pills, and me acting like Mama Bear by putting honey in her mouth, we finally called the ambulance. Turns out the number is 118.

Really, I called the woman who is our Venice laison here and she called the ambulance- I had to make sure to preface the conversation with, "Now we're not panicing yet, but Katie is having a moment." But werid thing, turns out that the emergency people will take a cell number and call you as they are coming. I kept getting these calls from the EMT's asking what was happening and where we were. Of course, I have no idea how to say any of this in Italian.

The other girls got a little jumpy, this possibly being the first time they have dealt with a none responsive person. It was really similar to dealing with a passed out drunk- lots of dead weight and no response. Anyways, she finally wakes up about 5 mins before the EMT's show up. For the next hour they use her as a human pin cushion trying to find a vein to give her glucose. It took a while, but everything ended up okay. Tonight we all treated ourselves to Chinese Buffet on the mainland.

Only bummer (which Katie now jokes about) was we didn't get all the way to the hospital, which would have been awesome! The ambulances here are boats- how cool would that be? Also, the hospital is an old confertteli building, which looks like a gaint fancy church. Seeing inside would have been sweet.