Thursday, February 21, 2008

Aunt Minnie and me.


The "etiquette" of testing your blood sugar.






Here's what testing involves, in my world:





Lili said...

I'm in the middle - I don't think it's rude to test or inject at the table, but I also do it discreetly. I know another diabetic who always does it really obviously, and this is someone with a needle phobia themself, so I don't understand that. I try to be respectful of people with needle or blood phobias by being discreet. I would never go into the bathroom to test or inject, though. I mean, unless I was at a job interview.

Kendra said...

I am in agreement with you lili, in that I don't think it's necessary to be obvious. "HAY GUYZ HERE'S MAH NEEDLE! Watch me jam it into my flesh!" Nah, that isn't showing any class. I just don't think that the default etiquette ruling on testing/injecting in the presence of others should be "Rude!"

feya said...

You know me, I don't care when you do it :P Half the time, I don't think I even noticed it, even when we were living in the same room. Seeing as how you could die otherwise, I'd much rather you do that at the table than the hacking up of phlegm example.

Never understood how anyone, especially a female, could cringe at the sight of blood anyway. Don't we do it every month? And don't men have to live with it? Yeeeah.

Scott K. Johnson said...

I'm a licker too!

I think most of the time someone would have to be paying pretty close attention to notice me doing my thing.

Kendra said...

Hi there, feya! ;D

Scott, I'm glad I'm not the only licker. I'm not a PROUD licker, but I don't think shame will stop me. We're all a bit too germ obsessed these days . . .

Jeff said...

Hi Kendra.

Often, people who take offense at another person maintaining his or her own health are actually LOOKING for something to be offended by. They simply aren't happy without something or someone to complain about, and that's an awful lot of power to give to someone else.

They're OK with someone using crutches, someone using an oxygen tank, and someone wearing an eye patch. Just don't you dare check your sugar.

I'll do my part by testing as inconspicuously as possible. But why should I be concerned if someone happens to catch a glimpse of my tiny drop of blood? Their problem is seeing blood, my problem is checking blood. We've all got our problems now, don't we?

On a packed flight from Providence to Philly yesterday, I was the lucky contestant who got the aisle seat across from Mr. Cough. Why is spraying germs for an hour and a half on everyone in the area more socially acceptable than doing a five second blood glucose test?

Thanks for writing about blood sugar "etiquette," and for letting me vent. I'm glad you're posting here again, and I look forward to stopping by often.

Kendra said...

Jeff, always feel free to vent. I feel like I complain a lot here and I hope it's not too off-putting...but since I don't know that many diabetics "IRL" it's definitely a great outlet for me.

A couple of points you made really stand out to me...


Haha, yes, absolutely. I agree! I think a point made on E-Hell was that seeing blood was terrible enough, but the FACT THAT IT WAS BLOOD was the real kicker. (A poster who worked in a hospital and did "150-200 tests a day, so I know what I'm talking about" was very adamant on this point. Yeah, but did he/she know the difference between a hospital testing kit and mine? Holy heck, they leave huge bruises on your fingers in the hospital and get blood EVERYWHERE! That doesn't happen to me at home.)

Anyway. Maybe I just don't get it. Sure, a diabetic could have a serious blood-borne illness - I understand that. But that guy sitting next to you could also have e. coli all over his hands, and the woman you sat next to on the bus could be harboring the flu and be point was, we're surrounded by everyone else's body fluids and germs all day long. It's inevitable. I don't understand how my bodily fluid happens to be so much more dangerous or volatile just because it happens to be blood.


I feel this way about a lot of etiquette rules and rabid etiquette nerds. The point of etiquette is for everyone to be as comfortable as possible - treat others as you would like to be treated, etc. However, I think some common sense and decency is often lost in translation when interpreting etiquette rules - and even etiquette mavens lose a sense of empathy when faced with the unfamiliar. I would rather be treated with pity than a cold, "polite" shoulder because I wasn't following the rules, and that's saying something.

Jennifer said...

AMEN, sistah! I totally agree. I'm a plop it on the table and do my test as I need to kinda gal. I've been doing this since I was 6-freaking-years old for God's sake. I will not hide my disease. All those complainers should go donate $10 to the ADA so that we can get rid of it! Oh, and vote for someone who supports stem cell research from now on, please!

Bernard said...


I'm with you on this one. I've got a pump, so shots are no longer an issue. When I used to inject I could do it into my thigh and most people didn't even notice it.

When I test I usually keep my meter and strip on my lap and I hope that only those sitting right next to me would notice it at all. I lick my finger, but the amount of blood on it is probably not noticeable to anyone.

If I'm in a public place where I'm likely to be shaking hands, I will test on my left hand. That way I don't have to worry anyone that I may be passing some disease to them by shaking their hand.

This is something we have to do. We try out best to be discreet. If we get it wrong sometimes, that's a pity. Next time, look away.