What We Can DO

This blog entry is dedicated to all of the loving families and friends of diabetics everywhere and to my Illinois caravan.

Last week at ACT1 women’s support group, Katie proposed a question to all of the attendees.

“If you can change one thing about your Diabetes, what would it be?” The answer to this question could not include “I want to change not having it”. The goal was to think and reflect on things that could make living with diabetes easier. After leaving last week’s session, I continued to think about the many things that could make life easier for all diabetics.

This past summer I went on two vacations. The first was in June. I flew across the pound to England for 15days. So I needed to pack 15days worth of diabetic supplies. Ok to be honest I had enough for 2months. Hey anything could happen!

Getting through JFK with sharps, insulin pens, strips, lancets, an extra glucose meter and the Glucagon kit (white powdery substance in a bottle) was a great adventure. Once my carry-on bag and I went through the metal detectors and x-ray machine, I was asked to step aside and was questioned. I explained I was a diabetic and these were my meds etc. I pulled out my letter from my doctor and I thought all was well…from establishing I was not a terrorist or a criminal. But I guessed wrong…

I was being asked “What does this do? And this? Oh what about this?” So after 10minutes of answering questions, I asked “I am cleared to proceed to my flight?” They stared at me and said yes. I was so irked and annoyed. I am a Political Science and History major. I get the whole security process. But after I had explained I am an Insulin dependent Type 1 Diabetic and showed documentation for it, I wondered how much of it was a security screening and how much of it was to satisfy the curiosity of others. Although that was 10minutes of my life, I do not think it was for the safety assurance of my fellow passengers. One of the guards even told me “Oh someone in my family had diabetes. They were on insulin.” So clearly my supplies were not that strange.

I wish I could change the thoughts on diabetes, the public education and awareness of it. Maybe this is not something major or puts our lives in jeopardy. But it might make me and other diabetics more at ease when we are doing such simple things such as traveling.

In August, I traveled by car to the Chicago area with very close friends. The total travel time was a little over 16 hours. There were six of us. We packed the cooler with drinks (diet and regular) and loaded the back seat with tons of snacks for the road.

During our travels I felt nauseas because of the Symlin (Amylin). So we had to stop at rest areas a few more times than we would have otherwise. I felt terrible. I was annoyed with myself as well as the situation. Here were my friends trying to get to Chicago by car through 6states, and Venus needed the van to be pulled over just for her. Thankfully I have wonderful, caring and loving friends who did not care how many times we needed to stop. I was sweating it way more than they were. Had one of them been sick or needed special accommodations, without any thought or hesitation I would have given the same courtesies and had the same concerns for them as they had for me.

But still. I did sweat it. “Why Symlin after a few months of being on you, were you being so unpredictable?”

Diabetes in general can be so unpredictable at times. It can be frustrating when sitting on the train or bus in a busy city like New York and your glucose level drops so low that you feel like you must be the slowest moving thing in the world sweating as if it is 100degrees in an air condition area. Or what about those times you are sitting in a movie theater or a lecture and every 3minutes your diabetic bladder sends you flying to the rest room? How many times have you said; “Hmm. How many carbs does that have?”

Wouldn’t it be nice to change these things?

The fact is we can’t. This is our lives and this is what we live with everyday. We can’t control or change how we feel when we have low and high blood sugars. But some things we do have a choice about and have control over. We can educate those who are unsure what the daily tasks are for those living with diabetes. We also choose to have others who love and care for us. We let them into our lives and hearts. We share with them our difficulties and frustrations. They are those who want to be there for us always by giving us an ear so we can vent and a shoulder to cry on. Of course they are also the ones to pull over when we need to stop at rest areas.