How many times have you heard yourself use this phrase, or something close to it? Sometimes I use words a little more intense then idiot. I don’t like to call people idiots because you don’t know there education background and where they grew up. So they may have never heard of diabetes, I know I knew nothing about it before I was diagnosed. But there are times when people just piss me off about it.
Last week when I went to a country concert and was patted down because God forbid you actually sneak in some liquor instead of paying $12 for one beer. He felt the insulin pump and asked me to take it out and I explained it’s an insulin pump. This guy was trying to do his job, I understand, but just because you are wearing a yellow jacket that says “Security” doesn’t give you the right to act like a flat-top cop and think you control things.
I took it out of my pocket and he actually touched it to feel it, for what, I have no idea. When he handed it back to me, I noticed that a button was pushed. What if he pushed the button 3 times and set a bolus for me, who knows, maybe a max bolus of 25 units and I had no idea about it? Then I’d have to go and knock down about 5 hot dogs and 5 fries which would probably be more expensive then a trip to the ER!
I’d love to hear your experiences of people giving you problems of an insulin pump, or when you have been asked if it’s a “pager” and to “turn it off”.
Have a Great Day!
I’ve been lucky. The most I’ve ever had to deal with was airport security and they were pretty cool about the whole deal. Although I do think that the patdown at the concert is absurd. It happened to me when I went to see Kings of Leon in October. The funny thing is, I don’t even think they felt my pump, which was just hanging out in my pocket. LOL
At the airport, I just do a quick disconnect anyway to avoid any potential issues and to speed up the line. It’s only about 5-10 seconds of a disconnect. Sometimes they even freak out and tell me to keep it in.
I always hated the new college semesters. Going throught the whole taking a test in class and being told to “(teacher) hand in my cell phone”, thinking I had a text message, and having to go through the “(me) It’s an insulin pump” – (teacher)”Can you silence it or turn it off?”-(me)”Silencing now” routine.
I didn’t even think about those days in college when it would go off in the middle of a test. It was embarrassing at times because I always gave weird looks to people whose cell phones went off.
I had a soldier at a smallish airport in India start to get really nervous about my pump while I was going through security. He didn’t speak English very well, and my Hindi is really basic. It all turned out fine, but I did have to relent from my standard “I can’t take it off” line.
I was a rollercoaster at Hersheypark once and the ride operator told me to take my “phone” out of my pocket. I told him it was my insulin pump. He said “take it out of your pocket.” I said “I can’t.” And he then tried to reach down and take it out of my pocket. I FLIPPED OUT! I told him to get his green tag (Hersheypark employee code for his supervisor) who explained to him that it was attached. Overall it was pretty dramatic/traumatic.
Wow! That is scary and glad they didn’t go those few extra steps to send you to low blood sugar land. I’ve never had anyone touch my pump when going thru’ security at airports or any security pat down. I tell them what it is as the alarms go off. I raise my arms over my head to reveal my hairy armpits (hey I live in Canada – we need hair to stay warm … KIDDING). I then get whisked away – bing bang boom – 5-10 minutes later – I’m off. No security member has ever fondled my pump!
I was at Disney back in March, and went on the rides with my pump, and no security issues. Usually I don’t wear it on rides, but that day I forgot, no biggie, but it’s not recommended by Animas.