Thursday, June 4, 2015
Intro to D-Traveling
The Pretty Lady in My Life and I are about to embark on a new adventure in our life. Because she is a great person she has decided to be Gestational Surrogate. For those of you who don't know, (which is probably everyone because I had no idea previous to this), there are different kinds of surrogates. A Gestational Surrogacy means my wife will carry a child but will have no genetic relationship to the child. An embryo created from another couples egg and sperm will be transferred to her uterus where it will "cook" for a few months and then get to go home with his/her wonderful parents. Pretty Lady has been matched with a couple in Los Angeles, California. This means we will be taking a few trips to LA, the first of which will be next week for her medical evaluation. This is foreign territory for me as I haven't flown since my T1 diagnosis. In fact, my last trip on a plane about a week before being diagnosed, for our vacation where I realized "Holy crap, I'm peeing a lot," and took to Google to find out what horrible thing I might have wrong with me. I have taken a few short road trips, and one very long one before starting on insulin, but this will be my first air travel. It will a be a quick trip, arriving in LA at about Midnight and leaving at 5 PM the next day. I've read a lot about other people's experiences with airport security, carry ons, and the like. I don't currently have a pump or CGM so I won't need to worry about security in that aspect. I'll likely only be needing a carry on bag so all my D goodies will need to be in that one bag. That will be my meter, a couple vials of insulin, some syringes and low supplies. Enough to last about 36 hours tops. I'm a little unclear on what to expect with all of this going through airport security. Do I let them know ahead of time that I have these things in my bag or let wait to explain it if they ask? Do they need to be in a clear zip lock bag? Help! All you D travel experts. Any tips, tricks, or advice I should be aware of before heading out on this little adventure?
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What a wonderful act your wife and you are doing for another couple! I'm not sure what the best English word for it would be, but my ancestors would call that a "Mitzvah!.
ReplyDeleteIn any event, you should have little problems travelling; just make sure you take plenty of spare supplies (2-3 times what you expect). I'd suggest putting the insulin in the quart-size ziploc bag; at least the open vial. If you have others in a sealed box, just make it easily accessible if the need arises. I also take the prescription stickers -- you can take one from each item (insulin, pen needles), stick it to an index card, and stuff it in your meter pouch where it will last for years. You probably won't need it, but just in case.
When you put the carryon bag on the X-ray conveyor belt, casually mention that you have diabetes supplies (no need to elaborate) in there - they probably won't care, but it will answer any questions ahead of time in case they see anything "suspicious". And if they find some reason that they need to search the bag, let them know again - this time elaborating and saying "medical sharps, so please be careful". It's for their benefit, and they'll cooperate. (I once had a bag searched because my sunglass-case was lined with metal and the Xray couldn't penetrate it. When they got near my D-stuff, they avoided it entirely; but usually they don't care at all).
That's it -- the response is usually proportional to how you approach it, so if you're casual and low-key, so will they be.
Good luck and have a great trip!
Thanks for the tips Scott! That is some great info, exactly what I'm looking for. All the credit for this goes to my wife, she is doing a great, selfless thing, I am just there to support.
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