Laughing Over Diabetes (Beats the Alternative)

The funny thing about diabetes is that it can actually be, well… kinda funny! Although diabetes on the whole is no joke, there are plenty of moments in living day-in and day-out with this chronic illness madness that provide some chuckles. This month’s Diabetes Social Media Advocacy (DSMA) blog carnival is all about the lighter side of diabetes. Laughter certainly is one of the best medicines for PWDs. Here are Allison and Amy’s answers to this month’s fill-in-the-blank question:

If I didn’t laugh about _________ then I would ________.

Allison’s take:

If I didn’t laugh about pump tubing then I would die of embarrassment.

When I was 15 years old, I joined the ranks of insulin pumpers. At the time, there were only two options: Medtronic (then just called Minimed) and Disetronic (now owned by Roche, and called the Accu-Check Spirit). My pump of choice was (and still is) a Medtronic device, which of course meant I had to contend with plastic tubing. Over the last 10 years, I’ve grown accustomed to dealing with tubing, but that doesn’t meant it’s always easy. I’ve had my insulin pump tubing catch on doorknobs, chewed in half by my cat, and caught on a door hinge and sliced in half.

But nothing compares to the time in high school when I got caught on another kid’s backpack.

It was between classes, and I was rushing through the busy hallway on my way to French class. All of a sudden, I lose my momentum. I’m being pulled backward! I turn and look… My insulin pump tubing is wrapped around the straps of some freshman kid’s backpack! I reach out and grab his arm.

“Hey! Hang on! You have to stop,” I say. The kid turns and looks at me.

“Huh?” he asks. But rather than rattling off a very bizarre, confusing explanation, I quickly unsnake my tubing and mosey on to my class. Nothing to see here, nothing to see here… 

Amy’s take:

If I didn’t laugh about stray test strips then I would be pissed off and disgusted most of the time. (Are you laughing yet?)

OK, here’s the deal: I have yet to find a glucose meter case that has a reasonable spot sewn in to house used test strips. You know, an easy place to stick ‘em when you’re done, until you get around to emptying the whole pile into a trash can.

As a result of this ridiculous oversight, test strips seem to follow me everywhere. Little bunches of them gather in the corners of the bottom of my purse (because they’re always falling out of that outside pocket on the meter case). I find them on the bathroom floor, under my pillow sometimes, in my shoes, my makeup drawer, and on the kitchen counter. Did I mention under the gas peddle of my car? How in the #$@! did that get there? I’m usually a very neat person.

“I am not alone”

As a consequence, my kids like to say I “leave a trail” around the house. They can tell where I’ve been when they spot those little white strips! Hah, hah, right? (Yes, I know: used test strips are kind of disgusting if you really think about ‘em. I try not to.)

And here’s a true confession: my mother was visiting recently, and now that she’s been told she has pre-diabetes, she’s started using a glucose meter in the mornings. When she pulled out her meter to test at the breakfast table, I was actually… I can’t believe it either… grossed out!  For some reason, someone else’s blood glucose testing is much more disgusting than your own. I wanted to say, “Put that away!”  But I choked on those insensitive words. Or maybe it was a stray test strip in my omelette …?