Being OK with shooting up
Today diabetics use insulin pens (this is what I do)
Or they wear an insulin pump
But when I was diagnosed in 1989 we only had one way of delivering insulin into our system:
I had to learn right away that shooting up in public was okay. I never really wanted to be private about it, but I also never wanted to make anyone else uncomfortable.
So at first I would excuse myself and shoot up in the bathroom. Isn’t that MORE like what a junky would do? What’s the right thing to do?
For a kid who looked like me:
It wouldn’t be that far of a stretch to assume THAT teenage kid maybe took drugs. I always had a skateboard nearby. I was always listening to punk or rap music, I was fairly obnoxious with my humor and trying to make people laugh.
To tell you the truth, I have never in my life tried any drugs. In 2016, a year after both my parents died I tried mushrooms just to get out of dealing with grief. Two trusted friends said they had some and we would do them together. Great.
They had this bunch of shrooms for a while and it was two “doses” that they split between the three of us. We ended up hanging out for 4 or 5 hours and making each other laugh, which is what we would have been doing anyway. I had one moment where I was looking at tree tops swaying in the wind, sort of projecting an image onto it of the type of ~MuSHrooOOmY~ experience I was expecting, but then my friend made fun of me for staring at a tree and it quickly dissolved. So… Nothing. (Thanks Dave & Carissa)
I’ve never been drunk. I’ve never done drugs.
Back to my teenage years:
After a year or two of politely excusing myself to shoot up insulin, I stopped caring. I would rather talk about it and answer questions people might have about diabetes, so I would just shoot up at the table.
I still do.
It’s something I have had to deal with for 31 years. It’s been a HUGE inconvenience on my life, so if watching me shoot up insulin at a table for 30 seconds of a stranger’s life is an inconvenience… sorry?
No, I’m not sorry.
It’s what I have to do.
Is it drugs I’m shooting up? YES. Prescription drugs that help me stay alive.
