Around 7am we leave his house headed to my parents’ house because my dad offered to drive us to the airport. When I got into my car I heard a “rrrrrrrrrrrrrpppppppppppp”. Panic sets in and I check the seam of my pants and just as I predicted, I ripped my pants from the back seam across the fabric that covers my left butt cheek. I run back inside to change my clothes and we start the whole process of getting to my parents all over again. Once we got there we loaded the luggage into my dad’s truck and drove off to the airport, every other light I was checking my carryon and my purse to make sure I have all of my diabetes supplies, which of course, I did… every time I checked. I like to call it the ‘betes panic- where you know you have everything but you also keep checking because you have to try to convince yourself that you saw what you saw, and in this case, leaving the state without your supplies would be a medical fiasco.

We arrive at the airport around 7:45am with a groan from The Boyfriend. He’s one of those frequent flyers that have no problems with going through security, so arriving 45 minutes before his flight is the norm for him and our flight didn’t leave until 10:15. Don’t worry, I expected him to groan and moan over arriving way early. Why arrive so early? Well at the airport we flew out of, its really a crap shoot on how they treat passengers with diabetes, especially if you are carrying extra supplies in your carryon. There have been flights where I walked right through, like the time I flew to North Carolina for the DS conference, but there have been times when I was stopped for an hour or more, like the time I flew to Washington D.C. or California (those two times I was using a pump that had a tube and the trip to California I didn’t have a doctors note with me). I line up to go through security and the lady who checked my boarding pass and ID had the most amazing blue sapphire earrings and they matched her TSA officer uniform perfectly so of course I commented on how cute she was with matching her earrings to her uniform. I don’t know about you, but when someone makes a positive comment about you while doing a mundane task (like checking ids and boarding passes for hours), it makes the day a bit better and the employee gets a glow to them and perks up a bit, potentially making the rest of their day a bit better. We chatted briefly, her birthday is 3 days before mine… we totally were rocking the Libra-ness. I get in line to walk through the metal detector. If The boyfriend was there, I should have betted him $20 on if I would be stopped or not. I tiptoe across the floor barefoot until its my time to walk through. So far no problems, awesome. I was on the other side waiting for my purse, shoes, and carryon when the agent grabbed my tub and asked “Ma’am, is this your property?”… UH OH! “Uh yes sir, that is my stuff. Is there an issue?” Panic has fully set in by now as I think “Oh I’m going to be detained… its apparent that they stop me every other flight…They must know who I am…” He looks at me all serious “We need to test the liquids you have in this bag”. Oh no you don’t! This bag contained only my insulin pens, back up insulin pump, unopened vial of insulin, sealed packages of jelly beans for lows and about a month’s worth of extra sites for both pumps. “Sir you can not test the liquids in that bag. You can not open the vials or pens to test it. It is insulin that I am carrying on me, it’s a hormone that I need to live and if you open it all up, I will not be able to use it”. (Last time I was detained for hours when I was flying out to California they decided to “test my liquids” and destroyed my vials of insulin and made me open my pump, granted, this was almost immediately after 9/11 happened, but still.) He puts my tub down on top of the x-ray machine and looks at me like he was disappointed he wasn’t going to be able to open everything. “Fine, well, I’m still testing the liquids”. Holy panic attack! “Sir, please do not open the liquids, please do as I request”. He doesn’t say a word and I’m watching him like a hawk because I don’t want him to open everything and if he even attempts it, I will yell for a supervisor. Lucky for him, he pulls out these reactant strips and does a little chemical concoction on it, opens the bag and shoves the strip deep down into the bag and jumbles everything up (irritated me a little, it was perfectly organized to fit into my carryon but now it’s a mess) and he was done. The officer made it seem like it was such a huge deal and totally put a panic into me only to send me only my way in about 15 minutes, half of the 15 minutes was us going back and forth on if he is going to test the liquid or not.

After the officer dismisses me, I was on my way to vacation. I met up with The Boyfriend and we found our gate and relaxed for a bit, a long bit at that. I know we got there really early relative to our flight time, but what if the officer decided to detain me or something? With diabetes, you really have to be prepared for the worse.

We arrive in Columbia, South Carolina a little past noon and his uncle was there waiting for us. After all the commotion with TSA this trip has been a breeze, a relaxing hot and humid summer breeze.

Day one was a success…. Updates from South Carolina to follow!

In good health and DSLove,

Sarah