Stephanie is a type two diabetic. After feeling crummy for a few days, last night she woke up several times vomiting. She got dehydrated. Imagine boiling a pot of salt water. The salt-to-water ratio gets higher. Blood sugar is like that. The more dehydrated she got, the higher her blood sugar went. For a while I was telling her she just had the flu, which may have been the case. But when her blood sugar hit the 450s, when it was in the 470s after I gave her insulin, and when she became delirious and incoherent, I decided we needed to get her to the ER. Continue reading “My Wife is in the Hospital”
Author: davidjdunn
On Having “Too Much Style”
Today, I published an article in the Huffington Post in which I describe what would happen if God made a “your momma” joke. This got me thinking about feedback I got on a presentation this week; I was told that the levity in my presentation was incongruous with the gravity of the content. Continue reading “On Having “Too Much Style””
Work Woes
Work has been kind of a struggle for me lately. Working at Vanderbilt has been a blessing, but over the past couple years I have watched my primary job responsibilities become my secondary job responsibilities. I was initially hired as a “term” position to help bridge the academic and residential sides of our flagship summer program, and later took a permanent post working almost exclusively with academics—recruiting, training, and equipping instructors to teach academically gifted youth. But now, through a series of accidents, I am mostly tech support. Continue reading “Work Woes”
Back from Germany
I am back. I stopped trying to blog about the trip after Day 5. There was just too much traveling after that. I will be processing this trip over the next few weeks, I am sure. But for a few highlights, keep reading. Continue reading “Back from Germany”
Germany Day 5.1
Well, Mom’s out of the tournament. Right now she is off somewhere beating herself up, which makes me sad. I am not sad that she lost. I am sad that she does not seem to realize how badass she is.
Everyone I spoke to about Mom says she is a better fencer than she gives herself credit for. I don’t know a thing about saber fencing. But I could see how she was getting in her own way sometimes. It’s what I do. Even in rounds she won, she would be disappointed for not doing better.
It’s imposter syndrome. When something goes wrong, you replay your mistakes over and over again in your head. When something goes right, you attribute it to luck. You credit all the bad things to yourself and all the good things to something else.
Mom has a great coach and is a strong fencer. She just needs to give herself more credit. It will help her relax. That is what I heard her coach explaining. She gets frenetic and makes mistakes. The more badass she realizes she is, the more badass she will be, which is kind of a scary thought, actually. I am not sure the universe could handle all that badassery.
Germany Day 5.0
(Written 10/14/2016) My plan today was/is to take it a little bit easier. The Team USA dinner was last night, and I am feeling it.
It was great to see my mom “in her element,” so to speak. People knew her. She knew people. They talked about fencing and other things. I ate some kind of fish called “Dorscht,” which tasted fresh, and chicken, which tasted like fish. I also had some very good scwarzbier and some less good weissbier. One had notes of coffee and chocolate. The other had notes of cough syrup and licorice. Continue reading “Germany Day 5.0”