Disney? Still? Yep.

I'm not going to make any promises, but this might be my last post about Disney.

Diabetes at Disney was just a'ight for me. It wasn't awful, it was easy to keep in the background most of the time, but it was still there.

I packed all of our supplies in a backpack to carry on the air plane. I knew as long as I had that bag in my posession, no one could steal my argentum nitricum induced calm. We were going to be gone for 7 nights and 8 days. Our pump trainer suggested that we pack 3 times what we thought we would need. Plus Novolog and Lantus pens in case the pump crashed...and needles to use with the pens...and alchohol pads, test strips, lancets, back up meter, glucagon...

All of this "planning for the worst" kinda' cramped my style. I usually like to throw in the bare minimum and then run by Walmart if we run out of toothpaste or deodorant.

The thing is, they don't sell infusion sets at Walmart.

I compromised with taking 3 times what we needed of the stuff we have to get by prescription only, and a bit more than we needed for the over the counter stuff. And enough Juicy Juice to get us through lows until we could go to the store in Orlando.

Yep, all that stuff, accept the gray purse, fit in the backpack. We also had to carry on the liquid Motrin & Tylenol because Brooke had a busted ear drum the day we were flying. I stuck in our pill box to help us remember who'd taken what pill when. And just for good measure I made sure we had our pump instruction manual (since we're still rookies) and batteries and an empty bottle for sharps and our old sliding scale in case we had to go back to injections.

You would think security in our small town would be easy-peasy. But it wasn't. The TSA agent said that I would have to get the pat down unless I wanted to open each and every juice box. Um...doesn't that defeat the purpose of having juice boxes? So I got the pat down. Brooke walked through the metal detector, and then had to touch her pump with both hands, and then they did some sort of swab test on her hands. It took us about 15 minutes to get through the line and we were the only ones there.

Coming home from Orlando, the happiest place in America, the Satuday after Thanksgiving, waiting in line, it took us less time to get through security. Who knew?

Our plan while we were at the parks was to leave an insulated lunch box with backup insulin, 1 set change, back up juice boxes, insulin pens, batteries, the extra meter, lancets, needles, test strips at the First Aid Station. They made sure the lunch box stayed at room temperature and since it had an ice pack in it, room temperature was perfect.

They were so friendly and helpful. We dropped our "just in case" stuff off every morning and a couple of nights remembered to go back and pick it up. The other nights, Uncle Bubba remembered. He can be a grown up when he wants to.

Even though we've been going to Disney for 30 years, we did learn where the first aid stations are at every park. Hmm...you learn something new every day.

We carried the backpack with snacks, juice, and the meter. We never had to go back and use the stuff in first aid, but we had it "just in case". I guess the only down side to not needing the "just in case" stuff is that you forget to pick it up at the end of the day.

Her sugar was high most of the trip. She was on antibiotics the whole time we were there, so we kind of expected that. The times she did go low it was because she needed to eat a meal and the snacks just wouldn't cut it anymore.

As for making pump adjustments...now that we're home and she is done with the antibiotics, we're still doing that. For the week we were in Florida, we knew she was going to run high, so we just cut ourselves some slack and went with it. We ended up bolusing every 2 hours or so during the day because of snacks, and then we usually let her go from about 11pm-7am without checking. It was a great routine for getting some sleep.

Like I said before, my family has been doing Disney for 30 years. We've waited in 2 hour lines for most rides before anyone had thought of fast passes, mist machines, ceiling fans, TVs, cell phones, facebook, or interactive games to help pass the time. We had some good quality family time passing the hours while we wound up, down, and all around to finally board Pirates of the Caribbean. We learned the value of a well planned trip to the air conditioned, theater seated Hall of Presidents or Country Bear Jamborie when we'd had just about enough of the heat and humidity.

When I went to Guest Services to ask about where to leave our "just in case" stuff, I also asked about a Guest Assistance Card. It was a little read index-type card that alerted the cast members that we might need medical attention while in the park. It also allowed us to wait in the disabled lines or Fast Pass lines at most of the rides. We usually didn't get immediate access to the rides in the disabled lines, but we never waited more than 20 minutes to board a ride.

Given our history with Disney, the adults were a little hesitant to use the card. My children, however, were all over it. For most rides, there was never more than a 30 minute wait even in the real line. We usually just waited in the normal line for those.

Most of the times we used the card we ended up in the Fast Pass line because we weren't using a wheel chair. The card only guaranteed 6 people a pass, so two of us chose to sit out while the other 6 went in. The card did save us a couple of times when Brooke needed attention and we were able to take care of her and not waste the time we'd already spent in line.

I guess the Guest Assistance Card left us with mixed emotions. I'm sad that my kids aren't patient enough to wait 30 minutes for a ride without complaining, very loudly, "why can't we just use the golden ticket?"

I've been that person in the regular line that has waited 90 minutes in the heat and humidity only to see an apparently healthy family walk right up flash the card and board in front of me with no wait at all.

But, it was helpful. We didn't have to worry about wait times vs. snack times vs. meal times vs. has she been too active, did we over correct her? vs. will she crash before we get done with this ride? It made Disney with Diabetes much easier.

It made me less judgemental of the people in the disabled line. And the next time we go back, I'm going to teach my kids that there are some things worth waiting patiently in line for.