Sismoon

As a diabetic, I often feel like my life is an "Emergency Preparedness Commercial." You know the kind of commercials during hurricane season or right before huge winter storms? They tell everyone to have water, candles, nonperishable foods, a first aid kit, etc. That seems to be my life: constant preparedness.

Over the years, I've come to realize the absolute importance of being prepared for those diabetic emergencies. I've had lows while driving in the middle of nowhere with nothing to sustain me until I find the next town (definitely not the safest way to drive). I've gotten low at friends' houses who only keep Diet Coke and beer in their fridge. I've been so low in classes that I barely could make it to a vending machine. Then there are the many highs on long drives or during seminars where there's no water to be found (and often no bathrooms in sight).

So how do I stay prepared? I keep a package of crackers in my backpack and only eat them when I'm low (beware: not an afternoon snack!) I keep glucose tabs in my purse. There is an AAA battery, a spare bottle of Humalog and a few syringes in there also. I stock all kinds of juice and soda at my house. I even have a mini-fridge in my bedroom so I don't walk down the stairs low (or fall down them low!) Under my bed, there's a kit with glucose tabs, gel icing, my glucagon and crackers for the times I can't even make it to the mini-fridge.

In every classroom, I sit in an aisle seat or on the last row so I don't disturb the entire class when I leave to treat lows (I even have to request these seats sometimes.) In every classroom building, I find the vending machines on the first day of class (I'm slowly memorizing where every soda machine is on my campus). I keep about three dollars in quarters and five one-dollar bills in my wallet just for those machines. I wear my medical ID bracelet at ALL times. I keep a couple of bottles of water in my car for unexpected highs on the road. When I'm driving long distances, I unclip my pump from my belt so it's no where near my seat belt (I do this in case of a wreck so that the pump isn't crushed into my hips on impact.)

This is only a small glimpse of my "Emergency Preparedness Commercial" life. But as a diabetic, it's all a part of staying alive and well. I do these things without even thinking most of the time. It's all second nature to migrate to the right seat or automatically search out a vending machine. Sometimes it's easy to forget the crackers or glucose tabs, but those times I do forget brings me back to reality. The reality that this is a way of life: the diabetic life. Simply put, I just have to be prepared.