Where's the Butter?

If you blindfolded any family member in the Maxwell House, they could still navigate themselves to the linen closet where we store the glucagon. Even though we've never, ever had to use glucagon in over 15 years for T1 Diabetes*, we are all keenly aware of what it's for and where to find it in an emergency.

The spare linen closet holds boxes of syringes, alcohol swabs, lancets, glucose meter strips, glucagon and old pumps and insertion sets. We also have a kitchen drawer where you can always find a lancet, syringes and a meter. And I don't think the butter compartment in our  fridge has never had a stick of Land O Lakes in it. That's where we keep the long-acting Lantus and the fast-acting Novolog insulins. Juiceboxes are in the lowest shelf of the pantry. Always.

It's important to keep the locations of our diabetes supplies consistent. In the middle of a crisis, our "lizard brains" take over. The combination of fear and adrenaline make a potent cocktail that can cloud your brain. If you can find what you need on "brain autopilot" (technically that's the amygdala vs. the prefrontal lobe) you can effectively act like a good daddybetic when the need arises. You just have to find a different place for the butter.

* (knock on wood)