My GTMH Bag... That Goes Inside My Big Bag

We all have our own diabetes idiosyncrasies - I certainly have mine! 

They make us feel safe, keep us organized - even if they can occasionally annoy the crap out of us!

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I was leaving a meeting the other night — walking down the darkened hallway, the last out the door — besides the organizer and a couple of stragglers. 

I reached inside my work bag to make sure that I had my Omnipod PDM before walking out the door and to my car. 

I’d tossed my PDM (in its funky Owl PDM case),in my work bag after checking my blood sugar during the meeting, but hadn’t placed in the zippered “Go-To /Must Have,” bag 
( and which shall be referred to as my GTMH Bag for the rest of this post), I keep in my work bag. 

My GTMH Bag contains my phone, wallet, pod ppm/test-strips case, an extra tube of glucose tabs, and lipsticks in various shades because I'm all about options.

Yes, bags/cases, inside bags. Say what you want, but that medium size, cheapo, zippered bag keeps all my important must-haves in one spot and prevents them from spilling all over the inside my jam-packed big-ass bag. And that works for me. 

Also: D-Bags are important!

Also: HA-HA  

Earlier, I'd checked my blood sugar during the meeting and on the sly and hadn't put it back in the GTMH Bag.  

  

I felt around my work bag and knowing it wasn’t in the GTMH Bag. 

I couldn’t find it. And I started to get a little nervous, but I played it cool. 

“Wait one-second and sorry guys, let me just make sure I have my insulin pod’s PDM,” I said all nonchalant and while my heart was beating a million miles per minute  

I knelt down, slightly embarrassed and full on determined to be quick about it. 

I stuck my hand in my bag and felt around, finally finding my pod case next to my notebook and a KIND bar — safe and sound and exactly where I’d put it. 

Me: FOUND IT and sorry for the hold up, guys.

Sally: That’s OK - it took 10 seconds! It must be hard always having to carry stuff around.

Me: Nahhh, not hard. Well OK, sometimes it is. 

But it's a luxury and a necessity that I’m grateful to have - even if it comes with some crap annoying moments. We all have stuff to deal with— mine happens to involves extra electronicals, food, and other D stuff. 

And then we said our goodnights, walked to our perspective cars and  people started driving off.  

Right after I locked my doors and put the key in the ignition, but before I put my car in DRIVE and headed home, I took a beat.
Then turned on the overhead light and made sure that all my important items were in the my GTMH Bag.

Phone, wallet, extra roll of glucose tabs and lipstick case — all exactly where they should be.

Then I grabbed my pod PDM/test-strips case, tucked it in my GTMH bag, zipped it up tight, and placed it back in my work bag.

All was right in my world and I was good to go~

What Is This "Traveling Light," of Which You Speak?

My  niece & I, & my ruck sack stratigically out of the pic

My friends who are family~

I went to NYC this past Saturday with friends who are family to once again see my niece Cristin’s B’way play, ONCE.

We left to trek up to the city at 8:30 a.m. and the minute I got in the car my friends asked: What’s with the ruck sack, Kelly? Come on, do you really need all that stuff?  Can't you just travel light? 
And I was like: What is this 'traveling light' of which you speak? 
But I had to admit, my day bag was big and bulky - But I needed everything in there. 
So  I explained the contents of my bag. 

1. My iPad. My printer was broken and I’d downloaded the train schedules and had another page completely devoted to places to eat in a 6 block vicinity of the Bernard B Jacobs Theater.  Also, I LOVE taking pictures with my iPad so I needed that. 

2. My DBag with my glucose meter, full vial of tests-trips - Can’t not bring them.

4. Lets not forget the forget the four KIND bars I had just in case I got low - which I did on the drive home from NYC. 
FYI: KindSnacks send me those bars to review - I am not being paid to mention them, but I do like them  - A LOT.

 5. An umbrella because it was supposed to rain, instead it snowed. 

6. An extra pair of pseudo fluffy black socks because sometimes my Princess & The Pea feet need extra cushioning when I walk around the city.  And since I was walking in my leather/waterproof/snow proof fake Doc Martin Sketchers I definitely needed the extra pair of socks option.

7. Did I mention my back up insulin pump batteries, bottle of insulin, back up pump  reservoirs & infusion sets that were in zipped up tight in a zip lock bag? NO BRAINER.

8. There was my 16 ounce bottle of water - Because I drink more water than anyone I know.

9. My wallet/makeup bag - They are one in the same and I won’t leave home without that!

Hairbrush - Self explanatory

10. My cell phone - DO YOU EVEN HAVE TO ASK? 

 11. My hat - which I eventually put on when it started to snow.  With that being said I should have left the umbrella in the car.

12. My Sephora Time Square purchases - Added later that afternoon, but no less important. 

So when I was done going through the content of my bag my friends said: WOW  - You really do need all those things. 

And I was like: Yeah, I really do because diabetes never allows you to travel light. 

And then we starting talking about ONCE and Cristin and everything else under the sun and when we finally arrived in the city, fabulous time was had by all. 
 The play was amazing, I loved spending time with my niece and my friends, the food spots we hit were damn tasty and  & there was even a semi Naked Cowboy sighting in Times Square, which is something you don't see everyday. 
Well, maybe you do, but it's something I don't see everyday. And for the record - he picked me up - I didn't ask to be picked up~  ;) 

Who didn't know that traveling with Diabetes is a bitch?? But at least now we've got a CNN Vid to back us up!!!

Everyone of us out here in "Diabetes Land" knows that traveling with Diabetes can be a challenge.....Ok it's a bitch.

Technically, we should at least be allowed an extra carry-on for all of our Diabetes crap we have to lug around.
We need our pump and the insulin to put in it; our pump supplies,batteries, test strips, our blood sugar machine, ice packs for the insulin, RX's for all our meds, and backups of absolutely everything I've just mentioned. We also need to bring extra food for the plane, train, boat, and or automobile that will take us to our vacation destination.

Mentally, we have to prepare ourselves to deal with the mess that is airport security, and in the back of our minds, we always have the fear that someone (I'm not pointing fingers here, BUT they usually operate the x-ray machine) will want to take away our Diabetes accoutrement. Or worse - they feel the need to say, "You must have Diabetes real bad to take insulin. My Grand-Ma has Diabetes and she lost three toes! Have a nice day!" Thanks Trixie, that's just the visual I needed.

Well, someone must have told the good folks at CNN about our "Diabetic Lament" and they actually did a little video segment on the subject. I would have shot it differently, but my style is a bit more Film Noir meets "Old School." But hey, I'm just happy that CNN is helping to spread the word. Yes....it is a a bit ironic that the next story is about "Cookies helping kids with cancer," but that story is important to.

Anywho...Check-out the video link listed below.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/health/2007/11/26/body.of.knowledge.diabetes.travel.cnn?iref=videosearch