It's really amazing how our radar goes off when we see an insulin pump on someone's hip. I believe this remarkable ability is universal amongst our friends in the diabetes community.
In a crowded room, our eyes just lock onto it. If Where's Waldo wore a pump, we'd be all over it.
There it is! Ooh! And there's an air bubble!!! Ooh! And look over by the ancient mummy exhibit. I see four test strips on the ground!
The one I spotted the other night, however, was low-hanging fruit.
The supermarket cashier moved my items along the conveyor belt and placed them in plastic bags.
"These mini pretzels mixed in with the ice cream ... " she said. "Mmmmm. Awesome!"
"Oh yeah, "I said, in agreement.
And then I zeroed in on it. And spoke without thinking.
"My son has the same pump."
Immediately after it left my lips I was thinking maybe I shouldn't have.
"Oh," she said. She seemed surprised.
"I'm sorry," I said. "I hope you don't mind ..."
"No, no," she said. "I'm just not used to people knowing what it is. Most people think it's a beeper."
She was likely in her mid-40s and had a pleasant smile.
She asked about Charlie's age and how long he had been on the pump. She sighed and shook her head when I told her. She told me that she was 17 when diagnosed but just recently started with the pump. She asked about the CGM and I told her Charlie has it but it's a lot for a little kid to wear. She didn't seem to be in any rush to get one for herself.
"Oh!" she said, as if we were old friends, "I have to tell you something!"
She told me about first being outfitted with the pump. She recalled going home and showing her husband her "circuits" around her waist as if she was a robot. She laughed with that pleasant smile, demonstrating the tubes shooting out from every direction.
She seemed excited to be talking about diabetes. Maybe it wasn't too often that the topic came up in the supermarket.
And if not for the pancreatically flawless man behind me in line organizing his pile; blissfully ignorant of the number of carbs he and his family would be consuming in the coming week -
I could have talked to her for hours.
The joy of finding like-minded pumpers
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