Stash
Misha is prepared.
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Emergency snacks and drinks on hand is always important if someone is diabetic. Misha thinks ahead.
Yeah, in the fan novel that was written about her and Mandy, she learns about this, so I wanted to include a bit about it in the chapter ^^
Where is this side story about Mandy and Misha?
It’s in the literature channel in my discord. If you’re not on it yet, you can find the link to that to the right. Kaya is holding a large discord icon ^^
One might even call it a Disc-orb.
Story is a bit of an understatement. It is an actual novel/book with about 150,000 words.
Pretty much the entire Backstory of Misha, where she comes from, how she got to hybrid city, found Mandy etc. and Became her girlfriend.
If anyone is wondering, you’ve gotta read this. @LordTylus did an excellent job with this. I’ve read it all the way through twice, and can hardly wait for Mandy to show up. Misha is a very lucky girl.👧
A lot of thinking ahead is reacting to past crises. People with diabetes generally have a lot of emergencies early on, until they learn to do this kind of “thinking ahead”. Her friend helping out I’m sure mitigates this, but Mandy having a crisis where she needs Misha’s planning is still an emergency she wasn’t herself prepared for.
Oh it’s VERY important, especially if it goes way out of range.
Your body normally makes acetone as a ketone body (especially during exercise, where the cori cycle keeps supplying the muscles with fuel and the liver reprocesses the ketone bodies to glucose). Too much blood sugar, though, and the acetone levels spike. Diabetic ketoacidosis.
Now, the brain normally runs on glucose, but if sugar levels drop, it can switch over to ketone body metabolism. However, this takes time, so when blood sugar levels drop WAY too fast, that can cause a seizure. Insulin crash.
Popcorn is glucose-rich, so it’s safe. Throwback sodas (using cane sugar) are only okay depending on the condition and may also be used in an emergency (the fructose half provides quick relief, the glucose half is regulated by insulin), but that depends upon the patient. Conventional sodas use high fructose corn syrup and are NEVER okay, because fructose uptake is unregulated by insulin.
Misha has her tricks,
hidden behind the box.
She looks like a Canine
but’s as cunning as a Fox.
She’s gotten a raise,
in rank if not in money.
She just fought her fight
and ended it being funny.
Did they bring any books
or anything to study from?
They’re going to ace the tests.
These guys are the bomb.
Huh. Yeah, I could see Mrs. Miller making an exception for medical reasons, if necessary. Still, Misha seems to be sidestepping a lot of rules. Seems like she’s good at it, too. Guess it was just bad luck that Mrs. Miller caught her this time.
Misha seems to try and plan ahead for her friends, taking their needs and restrictions into account. The twins might be able to help with that, since their mom already knows her and their dad is a chef, they could learn a few tricks to help her out and maybe learn how to make a variety of snacks to help with different sorts of health needs.
Wouldn’t it be funny if the the twins started their own snack company that caters to health needs, especially those of hybrid? I get the feeling there are certain dietary requirements that different groupings of hybrids probably have to take into account to maintain a moderate level of health, so having snacks that take those restrictions into account more than other options could be fun alternative to see. Of course, it could start as just something they do for their friends, and maybe some people adjacent to their friends, and a few other people they know that could later expand out a bit; especially after they give some of the snacks from their first few batches to Clem and Zeke, the two using them for a sort of filler episode on different snacks for different situations or something to that effect, only to have that endorsement suddenly turn into an impromptu summer businesses, maybe even with Cleo getting them them a truck and getting it set up somewhere their parents indicate. Also the image of the twins and their friends brainstorming different names for both the snack brand and flavors could be a fun set of scenes for a few different pages.
Sorry about the ramble 😛
Misha the medical service dog Hybrid! Wearing a first aid kit and a cask of emergency soda around her neck!
Today, we learn more about diabetes and methods to treat it. And where the twins found the popcorn. It’s adorable whenever we see the twins in sync. Misha’s comment about Mrs. Miller reminds me of Rex, they both look like they’re angry! Now, on to the studying!
I appreciate the logical explanation for the popcorn – couldn’t think of one myself
Anything with high levels of carbs or starches aren’t good, the body converts
both to glucose (sugar). I was diagnosed type 2 about 14 years ago, I had
to learn the rules quick, read below) plus after I was on chemo a couple of
years ago and it has made it worse. Proteins is better for snacks, there is
some sugars in those, but far less than popcorn. I’m not on a pump yet, but
I use a constant monitoring sensor on my arm now.
I suppose when you ARE on a pump, what you need is to keep the sugar-in-blood level steady. As Misha said, both high and low sugar is problematic, actually both can kill you. The natural insulin producing cells are very carefully maintaining the level of insulin to match blood sugar, at least when healthy. The pumps unfortunately can’t do that … yet (there is active work on integrating continuous blood glucose monitoring system with pump, but apparently it’s not so easy).
The problem is that it’s not failsafe enough. You can kill yourself by dumping too much insulin with the pump, so turning over control of a device like that to an automatic system is risky. Imagine if the glucose monitor is misplaced or gets moved in such a way that it signals abnormal values— It might dump too much insulin or too little without the user being aware of the problem.
All-Purpose Guru: My brother uses a pump and sensor that talk to each other. I use a pump and sensor that don’t. His pump uses his sensor data to adjust the amount of insulin that he receives, and he’s required to “calibrate” (check his blood sugar with an actual meter and input it into the pump) every so often to make sure the blood sugar readings match up. It’s useful for him because he wasn’t managing his blood sugar very well, but I haven’t switched to it because my current setup gives me more of a sense of control (personally). The technology we both wear has gone through testing in order to be approved for use by people like us.
@ivoryphoenix: that’s very interesting. I wasn’t aware of that. A friend of mine who has the same system as you + a diabetes service animal was giving me the skinny on it. I guess things have advanced beyond what he knew about. OTOH, his service dog is actually more accurate than the sensor, giving him warnings far in advance of his phone going off. I can totally see Misha acting as an “early warning system” for Mandy.
Panel 6: “…both low and high sugar /are/ problematic.”
Hello. Shini here. I am one of Robin’s proof readers. The reason a lot of Misha’s speech is incorrect is because English is not her first language. She is in fact from Russia and is still learning English.
Unrelated question to those of you who had bought the calendar (especially from outside the USA): Did you get it yet?
I’m still waiting for mine, which started its journey 8 weeks ago and is still expected to arrive between 1.1. and 12.1. (not that I ever believed in that – based on my experience mail-delivery-time from the US is best measured in months).
You are not the only one. Something must have gone wrong at the sorting center or something because you are the 8th person that has this happen. Please contact me at dreamytwincomics[at]gmail[dot]com so I can sort it out for you.
Question, Have we met Mandy in the comic yet, or is she someone we might be meeting in the future?
We haven’t met her yet. Things will be cleared up in next week’s page ^^
I’m diabetic, “problematic” can be an understatement. When I was first diagnosed with it,
I had to go to the hospital because it was over 600 which nearly caused me to have a
heart attack. later on my lowest was 42 (normal is between 80 and 120) and I had tunnel
vision and had to be helped to the break room to get some OJ and a candy bar. I’m glad
Misha understands, not many do that doesn’t have it. FYI, popcorn is bad for a snack, it
has high levels of carbs, the body converts it to sugar… Protein is better, like beef jerky
or peanut butter.
Thanks for the info! I only know things through research, so it may not be 100% accurate. I was under the impression that popcorn is a decently safe snack if you keep your servings in mind.
I have thrown in some Google search to verify just now. Multiple sources state that it’s actually not too bad if made yourself, serving sizes are kept in mind and people go easy on the toppings.
https://www.usenourish.com/blog/popcorn-and-diabetes
However the site above also states that freshly made popcorn is better than packaged one, microwaved one, or pre popped popcorn. So I guess Misha had the right idea in mind. Her execution is a little flawed though.
I am diabetic as well, but i from Europe, and we use a different measurement system for it. As far i know, in the USA it used as mg/dl – we here use mmol/l. As 1 mmol/l equals approximately 18 mg/dl, that would mean you had about 33,3 mmol/l when you were first diagnosed. Lucky one – mine was 42 mmol/l – wich is approximately ~750mg/dl.
Also, protein doesn’t get turned into sugar, so you can eat beef jerky as much, as you just can (if it doesn’t bother you, that you doesn’t eat anything else with it). Peanut butter has some carbs in it as well, so you need to calculate that in your limits! Eggs are “safe” to eat as well. Cheese and most of the vegetables (tomatos, cucumbers, salads) are “borderline” safe, as they contain some, but you need to eat a lot to cause any significant change on your blood sugar level. Sweet fruits (peaches, watermelon, grapes) on the other hand way more limited, or sometimes even better to be considered forbidden. (Grape’s sugar level is extremely high compared to their other qualities… Not advised, except at really low sugar level.)
There are also problems with too much protein. In many people, over long periods, it can lead to gout and/or kidney stones; both quite painful.
So popcorn could be a good source of carbs/sugar in a pinch, so it could work for Mandy if she needs a little blood sugar boost.
…I feel like I’m missing something, were we ever introduced to Mandy and why do the twins seem to know who she is when Misha brings her up?
No, she hasn’t been introduced yet. It will be clear in next week’s page. You didn’t miss anything :p
I’m not seeing any indications that the twins “know who she is”; Kaya is just making assumptions about effects on a diabetic after Misha explained Mandy was a diabetic.
Kaya also did not ask for any clarification on who Misha was talking about. This implies at least some knowledge of who the mysterious “Mandy” is, even if -we- don’t know..yet. 🙂
As someone who’s behavior resembles a not hyper Kaya, I can confirm that asking who this random person you’re talking about is, is somewhere between question #5 and never asked because I forgot
As some, who has Diabetes from when i were only 10, i can relate to that situation. You take your food with you any time, you leave your home (sudden circumstances can delay your planned arrival to your home, so “emergency rations is a must), had to learn a few extra charts, which food contains how much carbonhydrate (thechnically that’s what sugar mostly constituted from), also some of their fiber and fat ratios (as they can effect to how fast said food can be absorbed by your body). For example, pop corn has a naturally high starch amount, which the body turn into carbonhydrate, so it can cause high blood sugar level, but it doesn’t have a really fast absorption rate, so if the correct medication is in progress, it should be safe. (Not the best by my opinion, as i simply cannot satisfy my stomach with it – but that’s maybe a personal problem.)
The sugary soda, in fact, even better than the normal sugar for emergencies. Liquids absorbed faster by the body – but after that she will still need to eat something with a slower absorption rate, otherwise the sugar gives her a high spike, but after a while it will go down – might be even lower, than the initial blood sugar level, what caused the problem.
Also, never EVER should eat caramel/toffee. Those have not normal sugar in it, but one, which was melted in heat, decreasing their low water content even more, which bring their blood sugar level to deadly heights, even if before that critically low.
That’s interesting. When I was a kid my boss was diabetic, and he used to carry caramels around with him “just in case.”
I love soda
My grandmother on Dad’s side had some growth on her pancreas. For several years, no one knew what or where it was. But, she would occasionally have “fits,” as the family called them. Her blood sugar would get so low that she basically started having a seizure; just without the convulsions. When that happened, they would give her some milk, and the sugar in it was enough to bring her around.
Exploratory surgery is what the doctors used to find the growth. The surgeon said that when he removed it, the growth was making a stream of insulin, the size of the lead in a #2 pencil.
Low blood sugar is no joke!
Insulinoma.