Glad everything worked out alright!!! That must’ve been very stressful for Cody.
Situations like this restore my faith in humanity a little bit. It’s terrible that the person stole his pump, but clearly once they realized how important it was they gave it back. I had a similar incident happen with my meter when I was a kid, and I remember feeling relieved when they gave it back and I realized that the thieves weren’t terrible enough to steal something I needed to be healthy.
It’s obviously terrible for someone to steal from a locker period, but at least they returned it (left it out to be found) when they realized how important it was to the owner.
You sound like a really nice person. My wife has a similar outlook. My take is a little more suspect than yours. I think they heard about or saw the cops, realized they had just committed a serious felony, spent a few minutes trying to figure out who would give them any money for a used insulin pump, and returned it so they didn’t get arrested.
Perhaps! When I was a kid, my bag with my meter was stolen at a small amusement park by a couple kids. They ended up personally returning it and apologizing about 30 minutes after it was stolen.
It was reckless to leave it unattended, but I wanted to go on the roller coaster ride…
Mine is far from yellow anymore, @Michel It’s more orange! LOL. I use a gel case, that I like a lot, but it doesn’t do anything to keep me from getting blood all over the back.
I’m so sorry this happened, Chris, and relieved to hear that the pump was returned. My daughter’s sports teams do the same with their belongings and things get stolen all the time - so frustrating - but for it to be a medical device, and for it to have been sought out… Just a relief that it was left to be discovered and that it’s still functioning! For labeling, I am not a pump user so not sure that this would work, but for all of my kids’ clothes, we use Mabel’s Labels or IdentaMe Labels - small super sticky personalized labels. I have our last name and my cell phone # printed on them. They’re small enough that I’m guessing they could fit on any of our devices. And maybe it’s the “chair of the green committee” in me, but when I come across anything these days that has a label and phone number on it, I’ll give the owner a call and let them know where to pick it up!
Thank you for the kind thoughts and suggestions. On his pump we have affixed 3M labels with his name and phone number. Of course no one called. But it was indeed a relief.
My wife is like you, she thinks everything needs a label. So his dia bags, pump bands, insulin pump, meter bag, all have tags. She is definitely my better half.
Well, this is just awful! So glad you have recovered it, but that is just horrible!
Doesn’t this make a second round of stolen diabetes equipment for you? Why does the vision of a restaurant booth come to mind? Am I misremembering that this isn’t a first for Cody? As my kids would say, “why are there bad guys?”
No you are remembering correctly. I am actually impressed you remembered that factoid. The first year he was diagnosed he left his bag on the back of a restaurant chair and someone stole the bag, insulin pens, meter, strips, glucagon, etc.
After reporting that to the police he learned that he should have gone straight to the bathroom and checked the trash since they said most people steal the bag, head the bathroom, grab what they want and then dump the rest in the trash.
At 16, he now understands that a small part of humanity looks at him like a checkbook rather than person. Makes the optimist in me sad, but he at least understands a small part of the reality of life.
