Man, I really meant to get this post up last Wednesday, but in my crazy packing extravaganza, and then traveling to Colorado for a wedding, I totally missed it! Colorado is gorgeous by the way :) But don’t worry, this post works for this week too as I will be traveling yet again this weekend for ANOTHER WEDDING! ‘Tis the season...
So...traveling with the Beetus! As if I didn’t have enough anxiety traveling in general, diabetes adds a whole new level to this game! Traveling with diabetes forces you to think a lot about all the things you need to consider, whether it comes to packing, getting through the airport, sugar highs / lows and so on.
When I was first diagnosed with diabetes, I was horrified to travel. What if something happened? What if I forgot something? Unfortunately, or maybe fortunately, I didn’t really have “time” to be afraid, because soon after I was diagnosed I had a wedding to go to in Pittsburgh, which is about a 7 hour drive from Connecticut (man it's always weddings isn't it!) Rather than do the whole trip in one day, Mark and I had decided to make a pit stop at Penn State for a night, and then continue on to Pittsburgh the next morning to get to the wedding in time. This would at least help break up the long drive. This was the first time the anxiety of packing came into play. I had never traveled with diabetes before, barely even knew what the hell I was doing. So, I packed what I thought I needed, insulin pens, glucometer, snacks...that was it right?
Well WRONG. We arrived in Happy Valley, so excited to be back (I went to Penn State so this is like, home away from home) and eat some dinner, when I went to test my sugar and I didn’t get enough blood on the damn test strip. I went to grab another strip, only to find out,
THERE WERE NONE LEFT.
ZERO.
What have I done?! I need to test my sugar! How am I going to calculate my carbs? How will I know how much insulin to give myself? What if my sugar goes so high and I have to go to the hospital? What if my sugar goes so low, and I don’t feel it, and I pass out?! I was FREAKING OUT. Tears were streaming down my face. I didn’t know what to do. We ran to the emergency room, hoping they would be able to give me some more test strips, but they couldn’t. They said they would have to admit me in order to do anything, and likely would only be able to test my sugar, but not actually provide me more test strips to go with my specific meter. Well, I wasn’t going to admit myself back into the hospital -- that wasn’t going to help me long term, and I didn’t have time for that. They advised that I go to CVS and see if they could do anything. We bolted to CVS, and entered just as the pharmacy was closing down. I explained my situation through tears, and said I needed help. Luckily, I had my prescriptions filled at CVS at home so they were able to lookup my account in CT, and see that yes, I did have a prescription for test strips. Unfortunately, of course, it was not time for a refill, so the only way they could give me a small bottle of 50 strips was if I was willing to pay an arm and a leg for them. Well...I did ...because what else was I supposed to do? This debacle definitely put a halt on our fun evening that we had planned, but this obviously shed some light as to how traveling would be in the future and was a huge learning experience. Now I double, triple, QUADRUPLE check that I have everything I need, and then some.
So, as you can imagine, there’s a lot of stuff you need to bring when traveling! Here’s just a little list of my must-haves -- and sadly I'm probably still forgetting things...
Pump sets
Pump reservoirs
So the thing with sets and reservoirs is that you actually have to predict about how many sets/reservoirs you will need for any given trip. So say I’m going away for a week -- a set lasts 3 days, so I would need at least 2 (I usually change my set right before leaving), and then I always bring an extra, just in case. But MATH.
Test strips
Alcohol swabs
Doctor's note (that lists supplies I may be carrying -- I've never had to show this, but again, just in case!)
Extra pump batteries
Lancets *Though I rarely change my lancet, always good to have handy just in case...
Insulin
Depending on the length of the trip, I may also bring a Frio Cooling pack, or even a little freezer pack to keep the insulin cool
Sugar tabs
Glucometer
Depending on the length of the trip, sometimes I bring an extra gluc
Charger for my glucometer
Glucagon
Free Style Libre sensor
Free Style Libre scanner
Snacks
Waterproof pump case
Leg strap
Container to hold my sharps
Backup insulin pens *only if traveling for an extended period of time, or somewhere where I wouldn’t be able to get help with my pump*
Back up syringes *only if traveling for an extended period of time, or somewhere where I wouldn’t be able to get help with my pump*
Looks like a lot to remember, right? What I do now to make sure I have everything is just make a checklist and go through it with a fine toothed comb, laying everything out before putting it all in my diabetes travel case. These items ALWAYS go in my carry on and really don’t leave my sight until we are safe at our destination.
As if packing wasn’t enough, flying is always interesting! I never know what to expect when I go to the airport, as sometimes my pump doesn’t go off when going through security, and sometimes it does. Sometimes I’m able to just walk right through, whereas other times, I get the full pat down and hand swipe -- or what I call, the bomb test. Most of the time, all of my supplies go through no issue, but of course, when I went on my honeymoon, they had to go through my entire carry-on because I did bring some ice packs to keep my insulin cold (we went to Bali so had a longggg travel day ahead) and TSA did not like that. They let me go, after going through literally everything in my bag even though I had flagged them about the ice pack. I get checking the bag, but maybe look for that first? It’s always an adventure going to the airport, that's for sure.
Really, the most important thing when traveling is to try your best to stay calm. This is way easier said than done as I have serious anxiety, but getting anxious is not going to help your blood sugar! When traveling internationally, it’s really important to make sure you have plenty of backups, but when travelling domestically, I always know I’ll be able to find a pharmacy, doctor, or hospital that will be able to help. It's always good practice to also know where the nearest hospital is, wherever you're going, in case of emergency.
And since I mentioned being in Colorado last week, here's some pics from that trip! Might as well share what I was up to since I missed my post!
Off to Virginia I go this weekend!
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