What's that on your waist sir...? Please step over here sir!!!!! Flying while Diabetic!

Ahhhhh, the joys of flying while D.....

Sir you're gonna need to remove your pager.....Ummmm it's an insulin pump. Oh....Ok, take it off please..Ummm, Id really rather not if I don't have to...as I unclip it and show it to him. .Ok, I guess. You need to put everything else including your pager in the xray machine. Ummmm...its a glucose meter....A what? A glucose meter, I'd rather not run it through the xray machine....(I understand you probably can, but as I am gonna be on airplanes for the next 5 hours, I'm not really willing to chance anything....including it happening to alarm while being off my body. I probably would be hog tied and tasered ...lol)
Ok , Sir, Please put it in the basket and come with me..... says the security lady after I walk through the xray machine.)
I am directed to a little holding area off from everyone else right by the xray machine, and told not to touch anything and to keep my hands out of my pockets. A little holding area "fenced in " by ropes....as I stand there with my shoes off and feeling like a square peg in a round hole.

The following is Loudly announced by the female security officer who is not allowing other folks to proceed..... to the other 5 security folks and the 50 people now starting to back up in line....
WHITE MALE...NO ALARM.... No response...
WHITE MALE...NO ALARM.!!!!!....as she holds up my cgms in the basket
WHITE MALE....NO ALARM.!!!!!!...again, no response
For the fourth time....WHITE MALE !!!!!.....NO ALARM.....
Ok, now I'm starting to feel like a suspected terrorist...
WHITE MALE....NO ALARM.....!!!!!!!
At this point I'm starting to think,,,,jeeessshhh , it isn't bad enough that I have to deal with this in my own way 24 hours a day and struggle to stay motivated, regulated, and healthy, ...Now I am being treated like a domestic terrorist....

At that point, a man comes over and and says he wants to wand me.... Sir, I need you to hold your hands out and spread your legs....Ok, fine...go ahead.... I say in my sock feet and assume the crucifixion position...Ok great.....Sir, I'm gonna need to pat you down.....Ok, as he feels anything that could be in any spot on my body. ....now I'm starting to feel like I am being singled out because of my diabetes needs and am starting to take offense.
Sir keep your arms up, don't touch anything, and keep your hands out of your pockets.
Ok, great! he says after he pats me down.
Step over here please sir, and don't touch any of your stuff and keep your hands out of your pockets....Dont touch anything sir....
I now move to the "other" holding cell of ropes...as I slough over in my sock feet.
Sir, I'm gonna have to wipe down your insulin pump and your glucose meter and place it in this chemical reader over here to check for traces of potential chemicals...Please keep your hands out and stand in place...Please don't move and keep your hands out of your pockets....
At this point, I truly was having emotional feelings.....I understand that they have a job to do, but I was really feeling denigrated. I remembered at that point that I had been shooting targets at the gun range the day before, I was hoping I wouldn't have a problem with gunpowder on my cgms or pump.
I imagine I would have been gang tackled if the chemical reader had had a problem...lol

The man wipes down my cgms with a cloth on a set of tongs and then wipes down my insulin pump....He wipes the whole outside of each, front, back, and sides. He puts it in the chemical reader, and we wait.....hmmm hmmm hmmmm
hmmmm hmmm de hmmmm
woo doot doo hmmm de hmmm hmmm

After what seems like a minute.....beeep Ok, sir, you're fine....thanks for your cooperation....Have a nice flight....

No problem I say as I put my shoes on and collect my stuff which has been seperated by itself in it's own area. .................I gather my belongings and try to put everything back as it was......but as I walk away, I really wasn't ok...
I was very offended and upset .....and I'm not the type to feel that way.
Hey thanks for degrading me in public before I get on the plane,.....No problem,,,,just one more thing I will have to accept that goes along with being D.

I sit where I can, put on my shoes....reorganize, regroup, and recover mentally.
I'm not sure why it hit me so hard, I've been through this before...maybe it was just that I was "In a fish bowl" in the middle of the crowd and being singled out.....for something that I don't have a lot of options to control....
The whole process was probably less than 5 or 6 minutes, but it seemed like forever.
Oh well,,,alls well that ends well. After a day of flying, I got to come home to my kids and wife and give them all a hug. I realize that I am very in love with my family...especially when I am separated from them on my business trips.
Life goes on......However, I am guessing I will probably cringe next time I hear.....

Step over here please sir!!!.....