My Diacrap Runneth Over

My diabetes supply cabinet is not out of control?  Ok, I will admit, it is out of control. It is so out of control that the cabinet I use barely holds all the diacrap I have accumulated. In short my diacrap runneth over.

Definitions

Definition of diacarp: All the stuff I accumulate related too and used in the treatment of diabetes and other aliments I might have. This especially includes all the stuff I do not use, but at some level gives me reassurance that I have enough stuff.

Definition of enough stuff: More than I had a month ago. Especially if I can brag to myself that I am ready for all emergencies.

 Notice I do not say it is useless stuff. My diacrap includes medicines, reservoirs, lancets, sets, test strips, boxes, and manuals and many associated things. I have meters, bags for meters, and boxes for the bags for the meters. I have manuals about how to operate long past pumps, batteries for a long forgotten pump and battery covers for the batteries for the long forgotten pumps. Hey who knows when you might need a good battery cap for a long forgotten pump?

Growing collection

At any rate my diacrap is so diverse and my cabinet is so full it has spilled into the pantry in the kitchen, the undersized closet in the master bedroom and 2/3 of a wall cabinet in my office. I have a lot of diacrap. I have included a picture of some of my stash of diacrap (this is not all of it) and I can promise that my collection is so diverse that if it were sealed it would be worthy of a Smithsonian archeological dig in about 40 years.

My collection of diacrap is more than many of my fellow Persons with Diabetes (PWD) yet I still run out of stuff. which means there is an underlying truism about my collection of daicrap, the more my collection has grown, the more likely I am to run out of what I really need. Take sets for example. Recently I was in FL and I ran out of sets. So I did the logical thing, I panicked. I mean where the heck can I get sets for my pump in Florida?

Now I am a resourceful individual (an Eagle Scout for goodness sakes) so I took total stock of how to acquire these sets. I could have asked around, I know someone in south Florida has extra sets they would lend me? The problem was that doing that would have meant that I had to admit packing so lightly that I could not get a box of sets in my special diacrap bag I took on the trip. A man has standards and admitting a packing failure is not within the realm of possibility.

So instead of admitting it to my fellow pump users that I am a bad packer I called my pump manufacture and sure enough for a very reasonable fee they sent me more diacrap. Now that means that on my return home I had taken a trip and increased my diacrap collection because I got to use someone else’s replacement supplies instead of my own diacrap. Wow my hoarder mentality took over and wham I was singing the look at me I have more diacrap song. All the while Sheryl was singing the hey buddy we live in a small home song, followed by playing that time honored tune, the rid yourself of the diacrap blues. Trust me harmony does not prevail when those three songs are playing.

Realization

In the midst of this less than harmonious beat, I concluded that maybe, just maybe I have too much diacrap? It was nothing like a light bulb going on, it was rather more like a stack collapse, (really it was a stack collapse) that made me reconsider my position. Which changed the tune I was singing to ‘Crumblin Down’ (C) 1983 by: John Mellencamp — Island Records. Something about this song just sort of echoed in my mind. UUGH

You would think after this experience I would immediately set about cleaning up the stacks of diacrap? Yeah right. Not a chance. After all I may again buy a pump that needs 1.6V flat batteries and if I got rid of extras where might I be? So my internal hoarder refrain took over, so long as I have space for my diacrap, I need to build my collection. After all maybe I have room in the garage for another cabinet or a wall of cabinets? You know I am just thinking out loud, but if I boarded up some windows and add shelves to the sun room, I could call it a diacrap room. After all, who needs sun when you have four spare meters and three unused meter cases, right?

Or maybe I don’t need a master closet bedroom closet at all? Heck maybe a closet to put shoes is over ahh rated? Yeah no, I can’t go there. I have to remember some things are more revered than more diacrap. After all I prefer the peace and harmony song over the look at me I have more diacrap song any day. Whew that was a close call. Reason wins out once again. But come to think of it, I might need some extra pump caps after all man can never have enough battery caps around, right?

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