Ok, this current setup is partially just amusing me tonight, but a serious question - how/where do you all store/organize all your d supplies (and what do you like to keep on hand in what quantities - currently on MDI/Afrezza and doing finger pricks)? I have yet to set up any sort of system, so…
And this basket by the counter is a disaster (don’t ask me why there’s a bottle of lime extract in there - I don’t even know; I’ve never bought lime extract and don’t know where that came from ).
So. Ready for a more long term solution. What’s worked for you?
I have a plastic bin with drawers in my cupboard where I have medical supplies, and I stack all my pump and CGM supplies on the shelve above the drawer bin. I’m considering getting a second bin with drawers, because it’s so useful. I keep the supplies in my linen closet next to my bathroom, so they’re accessible but out of the way.
I’m currently on a two-month internship away from home, so I bought an entire bag of pump and other supplies in addition to an insulated lunch bag that I keep emergency supplies in. Typically, I keep the lunch bag in my earthquake kit and if I’m only travelling for a few days to a week then I bring it along as my travel supplies. But my current trip was long enough that I packed the entire extra bag with three months’ worth of pump supplie, test strips, insulin, and other medications.
I also have a small kit (old meter case) with a few emergency supplies in my backpack (which I use on a daily basis), such as an extra set and pump cartridge, extra insulin penfills, ketone meter and strips, extra lancing device, pump batteries, and alcohol swabs and various tapes/adhesives.
I use individual Sterilite-type boxes on a dedicated shelf in the bedroom closet. One has all the stuff I need for a car trip–g-tabs, candy, pre-cut Opsite patches, test strips, receiver and charger, alcohol wipes, extra sensors and Pods–and I restock it after each trip. In the summer, when it gets too warm in the closet, I move sensors and test strips to the basement landing.
I’m definitely low tech. I use a cardboard box in the linen closet in the bathroom. It’s labeled “BeetusBox”. I just have extra pen needles, syringes, test strips, eight or nine meters, sensors, lots of unopened boxes of lancets, a couple of novolog reusable pens. I have never messed with alcohol wipes, adhesives, gtabs, ketone strips or the like.
Extra insulin is in the refrigerator on a shelf in the back.
Current supplies are in my “BeetusBag”, which is an old soft meter pouch from when they were pretty roomy. I keep meter, one container of strips, poker, extra penfill cartridge, extra pen needles, a couple syringes, control solution, Ventolin inhaler, a roll of lifesavers, and an extra lancet. The bag goes with me wherever I go.
Hey !!! We have the exact same one. Pretty funny. I like the clear drawers as it makes it easier to see into the front.
We keep meter strips and some meds and the 1 current opened vial on insulin and opened box of lancet drums in the top drawer.
Second drawer is for older CGM and Pumps parts and pieces that I am emotionally not ready to part with yet.
Bottom drawer is for misc stuff that probably we don’t need? Good surprise drawer.
Same closet shelf with the ClearView 3-drawer unit has all of the pump supplies we are currently using. Open boxes and containers only. No closed boxes. All opened boxes have the lids ripped off / removed.
Next closet shelf above that has closed boxes up to 4 months supply plus empty box to hold cardboard and paper to be recycled. Old meters are stored here also - not ready to throw away yet.
Highest shelf (need a chair to get to) holds original boxes from pumps, cgm, meter (not sure why I keep that crap from th meter??) plus all closed supply boxes more than 4 months out with label w/ lot & expiration facing outward to be visible without need a chair or to take down.
Emergency / Travel Kit - Kept packed and ready to go on my bureau with everything needed for 1 wk except insulin.
Oh, I forgot to mention that I also carry an extra insulin pen in my bag. But it doesn’t fit in the little emergency pump kit (though I do have a few pen needles in there, which I also forgot to mention), so I keep it outside the kit but in the same pocket of my backpack. I’ve also got a roll of glucose tablets, a salbutamol inhaler, two epipens, and a pill strip with a week of my prescription pills in there. One of these days I’ll find an actual case that fits all of that stuff.
I also have a dual-pocket SPIbelt (that I call my “utility belt”) that fits one or two epipens, a salbutamol inhaler, a roll of glucose tablets, and a pouch of glucose gel (and I always have my Dex receiver in my pocket and my pump clipped to my other pocket). If I’m going to be away from my backpack for any length of time (such as while teaching an hour-long lesson) I wear it under my shirt. I was in a school once that went on lockdown and was separated from my medical supplies because they were down the hall in another room. Luckily it was just a drill, so it only lasted five minutes. Another school in the same district went on a real lockdown (false alarm, thankfully) that lasted for seven hours. I want to have access to my emergency medical supplies should I ever be in that type of situation.
I would inquire about procedures for medical conditions during lockdown. There has to be protocol and procedures in place. It would not be possible to assume every person in a school district was medically able to remain locked in a single room for seven hours.
I suspect that staff and students within a single school have procedures worked out. I know that many students with severe allergies or asthma or diabetes do carry emergency medical supplies on them at all times, as well as having backup supplies in the classroom and office. I work for a provincially-run special education program where I serve schools across the province, so I’m always in different schools and different school districts. So I’m a bit of a unique case compared to most teachers who are stationed within a single school or, at most, stationed within a single district.
What is the smallest bag you would need to have enough for a day? I don’t mean luxury items, but just bare necessities? Either a vial w/ a couple syringes or a pen, and a tester and vial of strips, and some gtabs or sugar source? Something like that, always within arms reach. The alarm goes off, you grab it. It wouldn’t need to be big.
How about hollowing out your cane and filling it with gtabs? I could rig something up like that if you wanted me to. Hollowed out with a plastic insert that fit inside that the gtabs fit into…
At a bare minimum, the medical supplies that will stop me from accidentally dying are:
glucose
insulin
inhaler
epipen
Of course there’s also prescription pills (especially thyroid), but I can skip a day or two of those without dying.
The SPIbelt works well for me because it fits all of those and is fairly discreet when work underneath clothing (though not the most comfortable worn that way). I think there are other belts, such as the Flipbelt, that may be more comfortable, but I haven’t checked them out yet.
On a regular day I end up carrying a backpack to fit all my stuff, because I pack my own meals to bring everywhere and I almost always have additional stuff to bring to work such as a laptop or else want to pick up something at the store that I then have to lug home on the bus. So the easiest way of accomplishing all that is to just use a backpack.
As to my cane hiding supplies, I don’t think that would be possible. Remember that it’s a white cane, not a support cane that most people think of when they think of canes. So it’s quite thin — if you have a Fastclix, my cane is about the thickness of the narrow end of that lancing device. The cane is already hollow, too, but it has an elastic running up the middle to facilitate folding, which I do when I’m not using it. The handle (at least on mine and most I’ve seen, including the brand pictured above, though it’s not visible in the picture) has one flat end for the index finger to lie along as the cane is being used. I just compared my cane handle to a glucose tablet and the glucose tablet is wider than the outside of the handle itself.
I also do a lot of travel and have to send it through the x-ray scanner, and I’m sure airport security would not react well to seeing something hidden inside a white cane.
This is what the SPIbelt does for me. The thing with my job is that I’m always moving. Often I’m not staying within one location within a school but am moving around from place to place. Sometimes I am in one room, and in that case I just put my backpack nearby and no problem. I didn’t want to have to carry a bag with me from place to place, especially while teaching, so I tried the SPIbelt and can wear it and basically forget it’s there most of the time. I’ve gone up to people and asked, “Can you see my belt?” and they don’t know what I’m talking about until I point it out, so it’s pretty discreet. I count my pump as my insulin source and my CGM as my meter.
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I count my pump as my insulin source and my CGM as my meter.