Diabetes, Travel & the TSA Part II

 Greetings from Cuernavaca, Mexico!

I am in Mexico helping my mom, aunts and uncle pack up my grandmother's house. It is bittersweet. This trip has been fun but also emotional. Not to mention throwing in a cold, stomach flu and wacky 50% decrease in insulin needs but those are stories for a different day.

My trip out here involved me flying from Dulles to San Diego, being picked up by my aunt and uncle and driving to Tijuana and then flying from Tijuana to Cuernavaca.  So I went through security in two different airports in two different countries. And let's just say two totally different experiences.

Dulles is making full use of the body scan machines. While I was in line one of the TSA agents started chatting with me. I asked him what I should do with my insulin pump. I knew what to do but figured I should ask. He said to just let the person know and I'll have to go through the pat down. FUN. Well he saw which line I got into and went over and told the person I had an insulin pump. So by the time I got to the body scanner they just told me to wait for a female TSA agent.

The actual pat down wasn't terrible but not comfortable either. Each step of the way was explained in detail before anything was ever done. This was nice considering the places they touched. The process is long but only an extra 5-10 minutes depending on how long you have to wait for an available TSA agent.

The agent I had was extremely nice and polite. Her job stinks. As uncomfortable as it was for me I am sure it wasn't comfortable for her either.  I kept reminding myself of this.

Security in Tijuana was a totally different experience. Like majorly different.  No worries about liquids in your carry on or taking your shoes off. I went through the xray machine and the two security guys kept telling me to take my pump off. I explained to them over and over again in spanish that it was not a cell phone as they kept saying but an insulin pump and in fact could not be disconnected. After a few minutes of back and forth they let me through the machine and then when I set it off they just wanded me let me go. No big deal. Just like what security was like in the US prior to 9-11. No getting groped for the second time in one day!

So what advice do I have for you? Hmm. Well,

• Make sure you pack well (see this post for my packing tips)
• Go into security with a positive attitude and and open and understanding mindset.
• Pack your patience. You will need it!
• If you are considering passing your insulin pump through the xray machine or have any questions regarding how the xray or body scanning equipment will affect your pump or CGM please contact the manufacturer.

I'm getting ready to fly back home so I'll do another post about my experience with security at the Mexico City airport this weekend. I've gone through security there hundreds of times so I'm not expecting anything too different but still I think it would be good to have a write up of what happened and what to expect.

After 2 weeks here I am very ready to go home. I love Mexico and I love Cuernavaca but man, oh man, do I miss being home. Especially since I'll only be home for 10 days before I am back on another plane flying west to San Diego for Christmas. Oh lordy.

Diabetes, Travel, & the TSA Part I

Unless you are living under a rock in the United States everyone has heard about the new security procedures travelers in the US are facing: full body scans and more extensive body pat downs.

What does that mean for those of us with diabetes, specifically those of us on insulin pumps and CGMs?

While I am not traveling until Friday (more on that later) I thought I would do a post today on what I normally do going through security. Having been a pumper for 18 years and having lived across the country from my family for 15 years I have lots of experience traveling with an insulin pump. In the last two years I have not traveled as much as I used to but I still do travel.

Going through security stinks especially during this busy holiday season. The lines. The people. The hassle. I like to think of myself as the queen of security efficiency. Two things to remember: 1. Dress efficiently and 2. Pack efficiently.

So Dress Efficiently. You know you are going to have to take your shoes off so try not to wear shoes that are too big of a hassle to take on our off! If you wear a baggy sweater or sweatshirt they are going to make you take it off so wear something underneath. If I'm wearing jewelry I put it into a ziplock baggie in my carry on so I can put it on at the gate and I don't loose anything to the bottomless pit that is my purse. This baggie trick also works well with anything you would have in your pockets like wallets, keys, change ect.  Pretty simple, right?

Ok, so now Pack Efficiently. I make sure that I have one baggie with my insulin and one baggie with my carry-on liquids I'm allowed to take and I put both of them at the top of my bag so it is super easy to pull out and put through the xray machine.

Now here is the tricky part. Over the last few years I've noticed that my Animas Ping pump makes the metal detector you have to walk through alarm. Every. Single. Time. It didn't used to but it always leads to me having to go through secondary (a pat down and them testing the pump for explosives). It was driving me nuts especially since I worked so hard to do everything as efficiently as possible. So I started disconnecting right as I put my bag through the xray machine and connecting before even gathering my things. Max I was disconnected is maybe 3 minutes. This week I read that Animas says the xray machine isnt good for the pump but I've never had a problem. So I will not recommend this to anyone but I will say that I have done it before and not sure I will do it again.

For the sake of everyone's sanity this holiday traveling season please take your stuff as quickly off the xray belt and carry it over the chairs or benches and organize yourself over there instead of at the xray belt. You hold up the security line that way. If people did that and followed my efficient packing/dressing guide the line wouldn't be as bad. 

Now to my previous question, what do these new security measures mean to those of us with diabetes. Here is what I'm planning on doing on Friday when I travel:

1. I'm still going to dress efficiently. I have a long trip ahead of me so I am dressing super comfy and putting my jewelry in a baggie in my purse to be put on at the gate.

2. Packing efficiently is probably even more important then ever. I am also going to make sure all my d supplies are easy to pull out in the off chance they stop me. They never, ever have but just in case.

3. If I have the regular old metal detector I will probably just wear my insulin pump and let the person know I have an insulin pump (if I don't and it alarms they make me walk through the machine again and again so this just speeds up the process). At this point I'll be prepared for secondary.

4. If I have to choose between the full body scan or the extensive pat down I am going to let them know that I have two medical devises (insulin pump and CGM) and no I cannot disconnect. Chances are they'll make me do the extensive pat down. I'm preparing for this as all the airports in the Washington DC area are utilizing the new full body scan machines. Sigh.


This weekend I'll report on how security went.

For now I'm off to start laundry so I can pack and get ready for Thanksgiving. Mmm.

Are any of you traveling this week? What are your "tricks" to help get you through security?

Travel Observations

As I've mentioned before I've been doing a lot of traveling the past few weeks: Colorado then California for family and then Florida for a project I am working on. This has translated into a lot of time on airplanes. On my flight back from Florida last week, which was majorly delayed, I wrote down some observations.

• Maybe it was just my flights but I can't remember the last time a pilot made an announcement about landmarks we were flying over. Remember the days when the pilot would say "the passengers on the left side of the plane can see the Grand Canyon" or something like that? Very impersonal now. 
• Seat belts are longer! I've gained a lot of weight in the last year so I know 100% that it isn't that I'm smaller. So sad that so many Americans are so overweight that the airlines have had to install longer seat belts. 
• Travel brings out the worst in people. Not that I can blame people after dealing with all the fees (see bellow), going through security, ect. That still does not excuse the big chip on so many travelers' shoulders.
• Travel brings out comrade. During my delay last week because of a mechanical it was interesting how despite people being p.o'ed they still bonded together.
• All those fees! Need I say more? Ugh.
• Carry-on bags that should never be carry-on bags. I saw a man carry on an old school no wheel suitcase as his "carry on." Yeah. Thanks to all those fees we now deal with people taking carry-on bags that are not meant to carry-on making it harder for all the bags to fit in the overhead compartments.

Travel used to be fun. Now it's just a hassle getting to the fun part. Not to mention all the stress and consequently the high blood sugars from all that stress. 

I know there are a lot more travel observations out there but I had to stop somewhere! What travel observations do you have to add to my list?

Taking Diabetes on the Road

Update on Dexcom: Despite sitting in a bag of rice for 26 hours the receiver has not dried out. I'm going to call Dexcom and order a replacement receiver. I miss it too much! I woke up feeling fine and tested to learn I was 63. Dex would have alarmed and woken me up!

Last week Steve had Friday off so we decided to go on a last minute road trip. We planned to be gone just one night so I didn't have to pack as many  diabetes supplies as I did for Vegas.

We packed up the car and headed down I-95 South on our way to Charlottesville, VA.

The drive was fun, but long since we decided to explore and take back roads. Once we got to Charlottesville we needed to walk around. We walked around the downtown mall and then drove around the town trying to find a hotel. Once we found one we had an amazing dinner and came back to the hotel to watch movies.

On Saturday we woke up early (for us) got some fresh fruit from Whole Foods for breakfast and drove over to Monticello, Thomas Jefferson's home. We walked around the gardens for a bit before our tour started.

Halfway through the tour of Jefferson's house I started to sweat like crazy. Then I started to get a little dizzy. I pulled out my dexcom and saw I was in the 70s with the arrow pointed straight down. UGH. I disconnected my pump and hoped the tour would be over soon. There was no food or drink allowed during the tour. Luckily the tour was almost finished and as I stepped outside I fumbled around and downed I don't know how many glucose tabs. Several minutes later Steve and I were able to get away from the group I tested and I was in the 60s. I must have been super low if I was only in the 60s after  bunch of glucose tabs!

 Once I was ok Steve and I got on the shuttle bus down to our car and we drove over to Michie's Tavern for lunch and a tour of the tavern. Next we headed over to Ash Lawn, James Monroe's house for a tour.

After the tour we went to Kluge's Winery to taste some wine and cheese. We split a flight of wine which was a good thing since we had a 2 1/2 hour drive home.

It was a fantastic weekend and even better since we had Sunday at home to run errands and relax. The only time the big D was an issue was my low at Monticello. I love road trips!

Diabetes meet Vegas

As I mentioned in this post Steve and I were off on a long weekend trip for his 30th birthday. I surprised him with a trip to Vegas where my best friend S and her husband J were meeting us. All of us, except for Steve had never been.

We got there around 10pm Vegas time which was 1am for us. First thing we did after checking in was go to Margaritaville for a late dinner and margaritas. I opted for a Pomegranate Margarita and bolused. I ended up running high the rest of the night. Didn't have another margarita the rest of the time I was there. And I love margaritas!

I was prepared for lots of walking but boy oh boy was it tough on my feet but awesome on my numbers! We ate a lot but it didn't adversely affect my numbers which I was so happy about.

I had one of those I can't believe I'm doing this moments when I got low as Steve and I walked through Casino Royal. They have $1 margaritas so Steve went in to get one. As he was paying I felt like I was dropping, fast, so I checked out my Dexcom and low and behold I had a downward arrow and I was already low.  We were walking to the food court in the back of the casino but I needed something quick.

I grabbed Steve's margarita and took a few sips. Yes, I used a margarita to help raise my blood sugar. Not my finest moment but whatever, it worked. Especially since Steve was in the process of grabbing me some food and juice.

It was a great trip! I'm so glad we went despite my sore feet and blisters.

What crazy things have you done to raise your blood sugar during a low?

Traveling with Diabetes

Tonight Steve and I are meeting at the airport and taking off on Steve's 30th Birthday Surprise Trip. He has no idea where I am taking him. Since he doesn't know where we are going I need to do his packing. He's going to pull out some of the basic (boxes, undershirts, ect) but I need to do the rest for him. He is a lot easier to pack for then me and my plethora of diabetes supplies, clothing, and shoes.

We are only going to be gone for 4 nights and 4 days so I won't need that much extra supplies but you can never be too careful.

Diabetes supplies for the trip:

My supplies include:

• Meter
• Back-up meter
• Batteries (for pump and meter)
• Test strips
• Alcohol swabs/skin-tac
• Medical tape
• Pump Resivours
• Infusion Sets
• Novolog insulin
• Lantus insulin for emergency
• Syringes 
• Symlin
• Pen needles
• CGM (Dexcom Seven Plus)
• CGM Sensors 
• Dexcom Charger
• Pump (of course!)
• Glucose Tabs (ugh, hate them but easy to travel with)

I am so excited for this trip I can hardly contain myself. It has been so hard keeping this a secret from Steve for as long as I have (bought tickets 3 months ago but have been planning for at least 6 months.) I hope my diabetes cooperates with me during this trip!

What supplies do you take with you when you travel?