Prepared For Nothing
I can’t say that I’m the most “prepared” person when it comes to my diabetes.
I remember being asked where my blood glucose meter, insulin pen and jellybeans were in one of the first sessions with my dietician shortly after my diagnosis. “But what if you need to test?” She asked. “What if you have a hypo?” Naturally being the stubborn person that I am, my answer went something like “I’m not going to have a hypo” or “who can be bothered carrying around all of that crap!”
I never wear my Medic Alert bracelet, much to the delight of my parents. Every May, I fork out the annual membership fee of $30, so that I can easily be identified in an emergency by a bracelet that I never even wear. I still get nagged by Mum with “what if something happens.” Dad then chimes in, more to agree with Mum than anything else, with “son, you should really wear your bracelet.”Again, my answer will go something like “as if anything is going to happen” or “as if I’m not going to be able to at least say diabetes to the medic after a car crash.”
These days I am getting better at keeping an insulin pen and meter handy when I’m going to be away from home for a few hours. Jackets are great for this, especially for guys. Sometimes at parties I’ll even carry my jacket just for the sake of disguising my diabetes crap. Other times the meter stays in the car, which is still better than being all the way back at home.
However, I still rarely keep hypo treatments on hand. At work, for instance, I normally have plenty of food on hand. Coffee capsules, Bananas and Carman’s Muesli Bars are often stashed hoarded in my locker. And there’s almost always a ham and cheese sandwich in the fridge with my name on it, waiting to be toasted at lunchtime. Except for Friday, that is. Friday is my slack day, where I buy everything. And last Friday morning, I found myself hypo and paying for my stupidity.
I was pretty sure that I’d finished that box of Muesli bars in my locker, but I went to check anyway. I fumbled around, praying that my fingers would reach a muesli bar that wasn’t there. As a last resort, I ate my shabby banana that should have been eaten a few days ago. There were a few brown patches that had to be picked at and thrown in the bin. It wasn’t my finest moment, but it was enough to do the trick. And it was enough to make me do two things.
I’ve brought a bag of skittles for the ol’ locker.
And I’ve set up Medical ID on my iPhone. Not quite a Medical ID bracelet, but it’s a start, right?