Day 12 - the ridiculous situations in which I've found myself

Have you ever had to administer medication in the middle of Target? Have you had to chug a juice box while paying for food in a drive-through? How about using dollar tree candy to save your life?
Did you know that you can freak out workers in a retail store when your medical device fails and shrieks loudly and insistently-because it is humiliating and hilarious.

I have had infusion sites ripped out while at the grocery store and for me it was not an option to just wait til I get home to replace it, so I've had to lift my shirt and expose my belly to place new medical equipment on myself in the grocery store. More recently, I had omni pods fail in Target, Dollar Tree, the movies, and thrift stores. I've injected insulin to combat a raging high blood sugar in public, and it's simply irritating. I know there are others out there who hate the stigma and attention garnered by doing something so out of the ordinary for those without knowledge of Type 1. Personally after 17 years with this pain in the ass, I really don't give a rip most days and try to be a good "ambassador" to those without T1D.

Just today, I had been running high all morning, drove around the metro area with my family to an emergency dental appointment and shopping until we were able to head home. We had to stop to grab a bite to eat and in the drive-through I felt that sickly weak knee feeling and knew I was low. My Dexcom had just alerted reaffirming my feeling of being low. I grabbed a juice box and bit open the foil hole because I lost the straw. As I handed over payment I was pounding back the juice. It was embarrassing but a medical necessity.

T1D allows very little in the way of modesty sometimes. It's made it to where I've exposed my belly in a grocery store, placed new pods while in the kids clothing section of Target, and tested my blood sugar in so many places, I can't even remember them all.

If you are reading this and don't have Type 1 Diabetes, please make sure you let others know that we don't want to draw attention to ourselves, that we are simply doing what we need to stay alive, and that making a big deal out of it is not the best course of action if you see someone caring for themselves in public. Some of us welcome questions, especially to educate misconceptions and myths, but others prefer to keep their journey with T1D to themselves and dislike the extra attention.