Back from the travel front

Yes, I'm alive. At least, I think so. We went to a family reunion and baptism (my darling niece!). It was fun, and a great chance to reconnect with extended family. It was also exhausting - mainly because we were in a multistory house that H loved to run up and down. Hence, I was running up and down - not constantly by her side, that would be impossible, but arriving in time to, say, keep her from falling off a bunk bed or walking out an open door to a balcony. Despite everyone's best efforts, kids get themselves into compromising positions astonishingly fast (kids do, as well as say, the darndest things).

My BG went high at first (little did I know, my hormones were also ahead of cycle and contributed to this). Then, with all the running, they went low. In fact, I had my first-ever double-dip low: Down to 40, then up to 90 with glucose in about 20 minutes, then back down to 38 within another 20 minutes, despite additional food and no extra insulin. I got my glucagon kit out of my purse (where it normally resides), set it on the table, and told hubby what was going on. Fortunately, with a little more glucose, things normalized. I think the combination of a slight time change (meaning a 1-hour delay in meals), the extra exercise of chasing H, and my hormones gave me a triple whammy (I refuse to call it a perfect storm!). I only realized the hormone piece of it after the fact, one week later (ladies, you know what I mean, right?).

The other "fun" was going through airport security. As always, I had a letter from my doctor explaining that I need to wear the pump at all times and carry supplies (insulin, syringes, sugar, etc.). I liked that the doctor also wrote that I can't go through the x-ray machine because it can erase the pump's data. I've known about this for a while - it's really rare, but it can happen. It doesn't "kill" the pump, per se. But pump users know how bad it would be to lose all your data: Some settings you could easily reprogram, but others are ones that you constantly change, it would be nearly impossible to keep a separate record of these to be able to reset them if they're lost. What's more, you would almost certainly miss your flight because of the time it would take to reprogram. And no, Virginia, it's not a good idea to wait to reset the pump; you can go for about an hour at a time without the pump, but that's it.

Besides, my pump always sets of the alarm anyway. After the first three or four times, I decided it wasn't worth it because of the risk of lost data, and I'd have to get a pat-down anyway. But I have actually never gone through airport security without some security person saying "Oh, you can go through the machine, it won't set it off/won't harm the pump." They obviously need educating on this matter. ADA, where are you on this? It's time for me to write to them.

So, here was my experience this time (on the way home): I tell the initial security person I will need a pat-down and ask where to go. He narrows his eyes and says, "You can go through the machine." I pull the doctor's letter from my bag and say, "No, I can't. Here's a letter from my doctor about it." He waves the letter off (no one has ever actually read one of these letters, but they are useful for making people take me seriously), then tells me to speak with the personnel at the actual machine. I put my purse, carry-on (with all my supplies), shoes, H's food bag, diaper bag, and stroller on the belt. Hubby holds H's hand during this, while she's saying, "Mommy! I want to stay with Mommy!" I explain that I have to go through separately but that Daddy will be with her and I will be back with her soon. She, looking doubtful, goes with Daddy, after he puts all his items on the belt.

Meanwhile, I ignore the man waiting behind us who mutters several times, "What's taking him so long?" (meaning my husband; he doesn't see hubby is with me and H). He says to the narrow-eyed security guard, "When I was in the army, we got on and off those planes in no time. Why can't this guy do that?" I bite back my comment - "Since when have two-year-olds been in the army?" - and carry on. (Note to airport security: Don't send people with young kids through the military personnel line. You're asking for trouble. It was a shorter line, though, so thanks for the thought.) I step up to the x-ray machine, tell that person I have to get a pat-down. A small conference between guards, then I am let through a side gate and taken over to the pat-down area.

I won't describe the pat-down routine in detail; it's slightly different every time. You've probably seen it, or experienced it. I just endure it, explaining calmly that I have the pump, it's attached to my body by a catheter and has to stay that way, and offer to show it - but I don't just pull it out of my pocket, until they ask me to. During the pat-down, I try to keep an eye on H and on my belongings. The latter tend to get opened and rifled through - er, checked, simply because I'm getting a pat-down, or perhaps because the security personnel get suspicious when it isn't picked up immediately. In this instance, the woman puts my carry-on back through the x-ray because she saw H's (empty) sippy cup in it.

At the end, I struggle to make sure I have everything I came through with, because other people were annoyed that my stuff was holding up the line and tried to shove it aside, and the security folks also shoved it along (that is, the stuff they hadn't opened). So some of my stuff is with the security folks, some is on the belt, H is clamoring to be picked up, and the security folks are telling me to hurry along.

But all in all, this was a relatively incident-free trip (don't even ask!). We had some fun, we're back safe, and we're mostly back into our routine. My BG is much better. I wish I could say the potty-training is going well, too, but travel always throws that sort of thing off. I'm sort of grateful to be back at it, though.