Tonight I was called “rude” for setting my “paraphernalia out for all to see.” 💉 I was getting ready to discreetly test my blood sugar under the table. I continued without apology and gave myself 2 pen injections also under the table & under my shirt.
Most people don’t even know what I’m doing. I did offer Negative Nancy* context and that was I check my blood sugar on average 5 times a day (!) and getting up to go the bathroom are painful steps that my feet can’t take right now because of diabetic nerve pain. 😭
What I didn’t say…are my thoughts on hidden disability, shaming and its impact on me.
Sure I’m an Italian-American 🇮🇹 who loves a good bowl of pasta, 🍝 but I didn’t eat my way to Diabetes II. Even if I did that’s for me to live with-not you. I have no shame that I’m diabetic.
If Negative Nancy must know, I woke up from my coma after my heart transplant with my feet on fire! 🔥 A few months prior to my transplant, I became insulin dependent because of an IV medication known as “rocket fuel,” which kept me alive until my gift of life arrived. I sleep with lidocaine patches on my feet & take medication for nerve pain, but sometimes none of it works. I cry from pain sometimes.
I have a rigid medication protocol each day that I must do to stay alive post transplant. But hey, I got out bed today…so that’s good. 🙄
Luckily during this debacle, I was surrounded by an amazing, supportive group of Euchre friends that have my back. I’m grateful for their kindness. ❤🃏
Finally because I’m polite, I also didn’t say: I’ll do me & you do you.
#sorrynotsorry #lipstickon #diabetes #anewheartrocks #hearttransplant #hiddendisability #namechangedtoprotectthestupid #euchre #cardplayer
A New Heart Rocks 
Your encounter reminds me of the scene in “Terms of Endearment” where the women in NYC are happily talking about all sorts of very personal things, but couldn’t say the word “cancer’.
The bathroom is a very dirty place for someone with immunosuppression in the middle of pricking their finger to test their blood sugar!! Good for you standing up for yourself and not taking on the shaming!
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