Pack by numbers!
Packing for a three month trip isn’t easy any way you slice it or dice it. There’s the endless debate of how many shirts is enough, filling the TSA-approved shampoo bottles, and deciding if you really need those flip flops or if you’re just going to buy a pair when you get to the beach in Ko Phi Phi.
But the diabetes part? There’s no debating there. This is a numbers game, plain and simple:
90 days abroad looks like this, diabetes wise:
90 days x 27 units of Lantus a day = 2,430 units needed which = 8.1 Lantus pens.
Approximately 13 units a day of Humalog = 1,170 total units = 4 Humalog pens.
A minimum of five injections a day = 450 pen needles.
Five finger sticks a day = 450 test strips.
One CGM sensor averaging 10 days each (some I’ll restart for longer than the normal seven, others I’m sure I’ll have to pull early) = 9 sensors.
One regular meter for testing plus a backup meter, plus exta batteries for both.
1 new lancet a day….oh who am I kidding…one new lancet a week = 12 lancets.
Now take everything I’ve just listed above, except for the meters, and add another half of the total to each item and that’s how much I’m actually taking. You need back-ups of everything in case something goes missing/goes overboard/goes bad/goes rogue/falls in your pho.
Planning for diabetes travel by actually using hard numbers is in an odd way, comforting. It’s putting a solid plan around my supplies so that I have a tangible count on everything. It’s different when you’re packing supplies that literally keep you alive, and it also puts global travel in perspective for me. There’s nothing that I can’t get abroad in terms of clothes or toiletries. But insulin and supplies isn’t something I want to have to go searching for in Bali, so packing perfect is a must. Thank god for calculators is all I can say!
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Comments
We took several month-long trips to Mexico–many to areas no medical care was readily available. One trip involved traveling by speedboat to our destination where there would be no doctors or clinics. I purchased a large plastic water bottle that I strapped to my waist and put in several insulin pens with needles and some glucose tabs. I figured if the boat sunk and I survived but lost all my luggage, I would at least have enough insulin to get me through until we could get back to the mainland. Fortunately, nothing happened.
Your trip sounds fantastic. Prepare, prepare, prepare. And then relax if you can.
“/goes rogue/falls in your pho.”
–what a way with words you have! hilarious!