(yes this was a response to the mother in law thing but thought it was a good topic on its own merits)
My spin on the entire thing, true or not, is it does go to show you that theres still stigma against being diabetic… If this is true, could she have been better prepared, Yes, but even so. I know there have been times i’v not thought, or wanted to kludge everything with me… Or it was urgent enough to not grab something or other… (recently had a panic call from a friend and didnt have my full bag with me just a meter and strips… ended up buying some glucose tabs and a granola bar at a pharmacy before i was going on a 2 hour drive…
In all seriousness, we can’t always predict what our blood sugar will do or what we are going to do and its affect on blood sugar entirely … Something you think might bring you down a little, might bring you down a lot, and you cant plan for every contingency… Least I can’t… Try ro be prepared but stuff happens… and gotta roll with the punches… For instance how many pump people have a spare bottle of insulin with them, knowing full well if they leave it in the car on a warm/cold day, it could go bad? I usually dont, but i have a spare syringe in my meter case… Its actually quite difficult to guess what level of contingency you can be prepared for without the possiblity of wasted/damaged supplies, or the reverse, not having everything you need for the situation.
I agree it’s good to be prepared. A lot of the reason I am sort of compulsive about knowing what my BG is doing is because I don’t want it to complicate my other activities more than it has to. A runaway BG is invariably more work and a distraction.
I think I missed out on the original thread with the “should have been prepared” comment.
But maybe a little more generally… we all try to be superman and power through anything even though we have diabetes needs and maybe low blood sugars but sometimes after 30 years I get sick of having to power through all kinds of crud that wasn’t my fault. Maybe I just have to accept that maybe my bg might be above optimal sometimes when dealing with a house full of screaming kids because I don’t have time or energy to check my bg every hour.
I often consider how long (and how far) I expect to be away from home when figuring out how much backup stuff to bring. If I’m staying relatively local (within 30 minutes) I’ll just take my meter, and (hopefully) remember to check that the vial of strips is full (I do combine them, in violation of manufacturer’s rules). If I’m going farther or longer, but for the day, I’ll take my ziploc with infusion sets, insulin, and syringe. I always try to keep a tube of glucose tabs in my pocket, but I do keep a larger container in my car’s glove compartment. Sometimes I take a granola bar or two with me as well. Only if I’m on an overnight trip will I take more than one set of backup equipment. When I worked in an office, I left some supplies there.
After 9/11 and the 2003 blackout happened practically in my backyard, I sometimes worry that I still may not be able to get home, but you can only prepare so much. I just hope for the best and sometimes take my chances.