I am opening a new thread to try to allow the original thread to get back on course, and to see if others have opinions on the topic.
In this thread ( Atkins is stupid), Campion compared a diner at a restaurant who injected herself with insulin with drug users (describing her as “shooting up”), and described her as “icky.” He or she backpedaled, saying that what they were doing was “in poor taste,” but later finished with a nice post equating insulin injections with blowing one’s nose or adjusting one’s privates, and calling for those of us who have to worry about this to be “discreet” when we do it.
x-ray vision is a bit less ambiguous, calling us uncouth for not stepping away from the table. milroyj, in its inimitable style, takes it further by saying that we should not take care of personal needs in public and comparing insulin injection to changing a dirty diaper.
To all of these people, I offer a big hearty fuck you very much. My son had his onset of diabetes at three. All his life, essentially, (he is now 10) he has known a daily regimen of at least four blood testings and at least three shots per day. His diet is regimented, in terms of types and amounts of food that he must have at each meal. He is very good about not eating the party snacks at school kids bring for their birthdays (always bringing them home in a little baggie for “later”) and trades in his Halloween candy for little dollar store prizes from us.
When we go out to eat, we must check his blood first. After he eats, he gets an injection of Humalog, which is adjusted depending on his initial blood sugar level and how much he ate. To check his blood, we use a lancet that pricks his finger, yielding a drop of blood. We wipe this from his finger with a bit of napkin. He has a small kit with syringes, insulin and his tester. When we give him his insulin, we open the kit, lay it on the table, take out the little bottle of Humalog, take one of the syringes (they are about the size of a third of a pencil), draw up the insulin, and give him an injection in his arm. The risks associated with hyperglycemia are manifold, and we have to maintain close control, as it is called, to try to stave off these consequences as best we can.
Apparently, some people are so put off at staring at us while we do this, that we should step away from our table, go hide out in the bathroom, or take it somewhere else out of the public view.
You silly little selfish fuckers. Your inability to stop staring at our activities to prevent yourself from being disgusted, combined with your inability to have a small bit of understanding of the troubles that someone else has to go through on a daily basis, suggests to me that you are quite thoughtless, selfish and ignorant assholes. I will not have my son feel that he has to hide out of sight while he “shoots up” because he has diabetes. He is not in any way like a dirty diaper. We will be no more discreet than sitting at our own table, interacting quietly with one another. Take your nosiness and your disgust and shove it up your ass. Keep crying and I’ll come over and take a dump on your entrée. That’ll give you something to whine about.