so today was the first day of school... pretty fun i was doing awesome until i was checking my insulin pump to see how much insulin left in the hallway. i was putting it away and a teacher walked up to me and said 'why do you have your cell hpone on right now?' i calmly said, 'it's not a cellphone' and then they said 'then why do you have your ipod? i didn't get a memo about you being more special than anyone else' it told then it was an insulin pump and they DIDNT believe me! i explained to them that i have diabetes and they were like "so, thats no excuse to have your ipod or cell phone or whatever that is' i eventually showed lifted u[ my shirt to show them the infusin set on my stomach. i said "see?? i'm not lying, it is an insulin pump. i need this to live' and then they just were like 'ok' and walked away. i'm really mad and upset about this. what if my infusion sat was on my butt or my leg like it usually is???
my mom emailed my advisor and the school nurse to see what to do if it happens again, etc.
what a great way to start the year after JUST getting my pump
Something like this happened to me on the first day of school this year. Over the summer I upgraded my Animas 2020 pump to the Animas Ping. Most of the teachers know I have diabetes and know I use a pump, but they all had only seen me bolus on the actual pump, with the Ping, I use the meter-remote. So I was testing at lunch and one of the teachers came over to me and told me to give them my cell phone. I was like, "Why?" and then they told me that we're not allowed to have cell phones anytime during school. I told her I knew that and she asked me, "so why did you have your cell phone out?" and I had to show her that it was my meter-remote and it is used to operate my pump that I have to have to live, and she took my meter-remote, looked at it a little and then finally was like, "okay, I'm sorry."
the annoying thing was this teacher didnt even apologize! i was late to class becuase they decided that i was doing something wonrg.. i think it was a new teacher because every teacher knows i have diabetes
I have had the same thing happen to me. They always come around with the little medal detector wand things and we have 3 assistant principals and one of them is new. We always have to take our purses with us. They are looking for cellphones. Well my purse is full of needles and my diabetic emergency supplies etc. Well I have to open it up and let her look in it. I opened it up and she told me to move stuff around and she stopped me and asked me what all that stuff was. I told her I was diabetic and she was like Oh. Does the nurse know? I was like yeah. I was about to say I've been going to this school for 3 years do you think the nurse would know I'm diabetic?! That really made me mad. Then she was going to use the wand thing on me so I took my pump off and held it up in my hand (as you may know they will mess the pump programs and everything else up). She said oh is that an Mp3 player? I was like no it's an Insulin pump and she didn't believe me. So infront of the whole class I had to lift up my shirt and show her my site and my tube. I was so pissed. She made me mad. Then on top of that she asked me why I had it and I was like if you want me to die then take it but if you don't then let me keep it choose wisley. She eventually left me alone.
Obviously, there is no excuse for this. But, as you'll see, there are always people who are quick to judge and jump to conclusions. Unfortunately, some teachers become very burnt out and negative, which isn't fair to you, but is the case. (When I was in 1st grade, I had a music teacher let me PASS OUT in her class b/c she thought I was being lazy when I said I was low.) If I were in school, I would have my endo or the school nurse write a quick letter saying something like, "xxx has type 1 diabetes and requires the continuous use of an insulin pump including the remote for the pump. She is not to remove it unless she chooses to under very specific medical circumstances, and she must have it with her at all times. Only she may push buttons or change settings on her device."
P.S. I have a funny mental image of your infusion site on your butt and being forced to show it to prove it's a pump. Then, you'd NEVER make it to class!
The problem is my school nurse sent an e-mail to everyone that would have anything to do with my diabetes. My band teacher would be one of the two people to help me out in a medical emergency. He is really nice and was in the Marines so that explains the medical training. I know this sounds weird but I can just see myself passed out on the floor and Mr. Myers running to help me. lol. That sounds weird. He would be yelling at everyone to get out of the way. He would be yelling so loud you could hear him all the way down at the office. There has already been like 5 or 6 medical emergencies this year and it's only the 3rd week of school!
my advisor is REALLY upset that the whole thing happened. she's getting the head of student life, head of upper school, and head of school involved. there's another diabetic and they all want to get out to the teachers that we have insulin pumps that look like cell phones, ipods, etc. and that if they give us a hard time they will get in trouble.
it's kinda annoying b/c it dont know/remember who gave me a hard time about my pump because it was on the way to class and i was really freaked out that i was going to get a write up.. not that i think about it, a write up for diabetes?? lol
a friend of mine sued her school because a teacher ripped her infusion set out, took her pump, and she ended up in the hospital with an infection because he ripped it out and her pump somehow got damaged and her sugars went crazy
i saw my CDE today, and when i told her, she was like "well, let's not get into trouble for carrying electronics at school anymore, ok??" and winked at me SHE WAS KIDDING.. but i thought it was funny haha
I had this exact thing happen to me when it was one of the head deans yelling at me. I immediatly went to the nurse after to let her know that i had been yelled at by the dean who is one of the people who had been informed of me wearing an insulin pump. she had also been very rude about the entire situation and kept asking me if i was lying. ughh I was a little embarassed to be yelled at on the first day of middle school with all my new friends...way to make me feel uncomfortable!!
I went through a similar thing at school, but it was with students.
I was in my senior year of high school and in Drill Team practice (for those of you that are not texans, its like a pom pon squad or dance team :-) ) I was one of the team captains and so I was holding practice and took my pump off and put it on a chair in front of me....Dancing is hard with a pump b/c if you turn it flies off and rolling around and things, there's just no way to keep it on you.
Anyhow, my drill team director called me a few nights later and asked me how my sugars were doing. I said "fine, why?" She said that a teammate had seen other teammates mess with my pump, dangle it from the tube pretending to drop it and pressing buttons!!!!!! Apparently this was all happening when we went for a water break. I started bawling because this was all after another dramatic incident.
To this day I don't know who did it, and I don't want to know who did it. The Principals interviewed several girls and everyone denied it. What scared me was when my mom told a school employee that its like bringing a knife to school and stabbing me! If you think about it, it kind of is because if someone were to mess with my rates it could have killed me especially since I didn't know it happened!!
Needless to say, from then on, I brought a plastic baggie with me and kept it in my dance bag. People can be cruel and especially the ignorant and/or jealous ones.
I got my pump just a week after the school got the rule of no cell phones. That sucked! I just calmly explained too all of my teachers as I ran into them that it was a pump and most of them where fine with it... Exept my PT teacher! She started yelling at me in front of the whole class ( and a lot of other kids who were wandering the hallways ) to put away my cell phone after I had taken it out too lower my basal rate for the excercise. She was kinda hysterical and wouldn't stop yelling! I tried too explain, but the more I tried, the more she yelled. After what seemed too me 10 minutes she finally gave me a chance to explain that it wasn't a cell phone. She was very sorry and apologised.
My heart really goes out to all of you! These people make me so ANGRY! The injustice! I am so very fortunate not to have been diagnosed until my last semester of college. I have a question... I keep reading stuff about infusion sites being dead? What does that mean? I am a manual injector...
I'm proud of you for handling that as you did, if that had been me thing would have easily escalated out of control. Sadly you learn that most people in this world are naive to our condition, and what it requires for us to do to simply survive. Most other people don't have to worry about these sorts of things and they are biased or simply uninformed. I would recommend from ow on, whenever you meet a new teacher, as I began to do in college, have a sit down with them ASAP and explain your situation as much as you are comfortable with. 9 times out of 10 they will completely understand and go out of their way to make life easier on you :)
We live in a world where everyone else thinks they are right and know what is going on and have their own ides that people are always trying to sneak something by them. I feel bad about the comments and issues that you have all run into. Sadly we just live in a world where people expect a certain thing and even once we rationalize with them and try to explain something they will not agree with us and say they are only right. Heck we even feel that way at times too I bet. In the end we just need to explain things to people and eventually it gets settled. However, it is an ongoing process. To many people the idea of an insulin pump is still a new thing. Until I met my one friend Jeanette a few years back I had never even seen an insulin pump. While I knew what it was I never say someone with one, nor did I ever even want to think about getting one. Obviously things have changed since that point. The only thing we can do in the end is calmly explain things and eventually they will work out.
I am just greatful that security screeners at airports are used to insulin pumps. My past two trips out of Newark my pump set off the alarms, I was told they had recently changed the level on the scanners and it apparently made them more sensitive to things such as my Animas Ping. It was very annoying to be wanded and checked over, but such is life. Both times they were understanding and just following policy, I was okay with it, but it was awkward at times to be holding the pump away from me as they checked everything. When the wand would hit my infusion site and again my CGM site I said it was stuff for the pump and they just moved on. It was all fine, but annoying. I was just happy as when I said insulin pump they said no problem.
things like this happen to me all the time! once i was in the lunch line and i had my pump to look at the time and some on said 'don't have your phone out you'll get caught.' i said 'it's an insulin pump. i'm diabetic i need it to live.' then the girl looked at me and said 'of course it is. good luck with them believing that!' i really annoyed me that every one thinks is a phone or iPod and then dosen't believe me too! one time i just said it was a box with nothing in it and they believed me! lol
I got my insulin pump when I was in 8th grade...and it was the hardest year of my life! My school had several meetings with my mom and I ended up getting kicked out of school because the school didn't want "to be responsible if something happens to me or the pump, and didn't want to learn how it worked!" My only choice was to home school...The FDA wanted to take my school to court and it became a very nasty sticky legal battle!
Also, almost EVERYTIME I go to the airport I get stopped and have to explain my pump..One time, it didn't matter what I said-nobody would believe me on what it was!! I had to call my endo and have him talk to the head of airport secerity! How crazy!
Haha thas funny this one time i got stoped in the hal by a teacher who told me to give him my phone ( pump) and i told him to back off and that im a D so then he tels me to go to the principal for detition so i did but the pricipal fired him!!!