It Might As Well Look Good

I find myself saying this a lot about all of my diabetes crap stuff.

“If I have to have this stuff with me it might as well look good.”

I have all of this not so stylish medical stuff that I have to should either wear or keep with me. I mentioned last summer that I bought a nice, new purse to accommodate my meter kit and insulin pens. The stuff that I carry has multiplied with the addition of my insulin pump and my CGM so my lovely purse is stuffed.

I also started wearing a medical id tag last winter after several relatives mentioned it’d be a good idea and/or offered to buy me one (I have generous family members). I bought a bracelet that looked good with what I wear on a regular basis (black, big surprise) but I wanted variety… apparently a lot of if. At $30-$60 a pop, ordering the other styles that I like is not an option, so I got crafty and made some of my own. The only things I bought for the specific purpose of the bracelets were lobster clasps and some super clearanced beads. Otherwise, I’m upcycling with leftover beads from wedding projects, old bracelets I’d stopped wearing and charms that came on my mom’s lotion bottles (thanks mom!).

When I first started wearing the id, a friend complimented my bracelet. When I thanked her, I noticed that it’d turned (I wear the tag on the inside of my wrist instead of the outside) so I fixed it. My friend asked me, “What are you doing? Your flower charm is really cute.” To her, the caduceus looked like a flower. I like the lower level of in-your-your-face medical stuff, but I suspect that a paramedic would still notice my tag if I had a medical emergency. (When I was trained as a lifeguard, we were instructed to look for medical ids on any form of jewelry so that we could alert EMTs to any conditions.)

I think many of us ladies with diabetes collect colorful and cute make-up bags and clutches to keep our stuff in. Last week, Kelly shared a picture of some of her meter cases in many fun colors and patterns.

We personalize our phones, computers, pumps and meters so that they have as much personality as we do because when you live with a medical condition requiring as much stuff as diabetes does, there’s no reason to let it be boring, medical-looking or even masculine (most of our things are black, gray, blue, etc.).

More on diabetes with style: Check out Abby’s vlog Diabetes and Cuteness