Public Injections: MYOB
Sorry for the terrible formatting. I’m writing this from my phone because this happened to me last night and it has been weighing on my mind all night. I felt compelled to write about it as soon as I woke up. I ain’t even had coffee yet, y’all, so you know this is serious.
Here’s the deal. If you see someone giving themselves an injection in public, Mind. Your. Own. Business. You don’t need to stare. You don’t need to make comments, snide nor supportive. You sure as hell don’t need to snap a fucking picture. Yes, you read that right.
Story time: My wonderfully sweet and amazing husband and I decided we would go out to eat last night because our kiddo was at Grandma’s and sometimes it is nice to feel like adults who do adult things. We sit down in a crowded restaurant and are having normal conversation, showing each other stuff on our phones, etc. My mountain of food arrives (seriously, Cracker Barrel, if you put all of the food on one plate I would look less like a glutton than your 6 tiny bowls makes me look) and I pull out my insulin pen to take my shot. I usually take them in my stomach because I’m pregnant and that is the best place to do it during pregnancy. However, considering that no one wants to see my slab of flab while eating, I do this one in my arm. Immediately, the woman at the table next to us says “Why would she do that at the dinner table?”
You guys gotta give me props here. I am not a very even tempered person. Add in a low blood sugar incident, hunger, morning sickness that lasts all damn day long, and a bitch has the nerve to say something like that? You can imagine how much I wanted to leap across the table and smack the shit out of her. I didn’t. I relaxed and tried to tuck into my meal. Then I look up and the girl across from us is taking pictures of me! Like you can tell from the way she is holding her phone that she is trying to be discreet but she is doing it, without a doubt.
Why in the world do people act this way? I could ALMOST see it if I had pulled out a syringe or pulled my shirt up to do my shot. I could see a syringe bothering the uneducated, because of how bad the drug epidemic has gotten lately and how boldly people flaunt their drug habits like it shouldn’t bother anyone. I already stated why me pulling my shirt up might bother someone. However, a pen with an itty bitty needle going into my upper arm should not be such if a shock that people comment and take pictures. It shouldn’t even be thought of as something to care about.
So to the woman with the commentary: I take my shot at the dinner table because I need that shot to live. I take it before I eat. Bathrooms are unsanitary, and it is too cold to go back outside to jab a needle in myself so I do it right there where I sit. Public injections are a huge mental block for a lot of diabetics. Opening your mouth doesn’t help that, and, if you really wanted an actual answer to your question instead of just being fucking rude, you could have asked.
For the girl snapping pics: Thanks for immortalizing a moment of my life that has taken me literally years to get comfortable with. I hope when you send it on Snapchat or post it on social media that, if you say something ignorant, you get put in your place and you get famous for being petty. I hope if you say something nice or supportive that someone reminds you that you should have asked before taking the picture. I would have let you, because I’m not ashamed despite people like the commentator thinking I should be.
For everyone else who sees someone taking a shot in public and feels the need to speak or act: Don’t. Minding your own business is free and creates far less drama. The daily highs and lows of diabetes is dramatic enough, we don’t need to add your issues to it!
Here’s the deal. If you see someone giving themselves an injection in public, Mind. Your. Own. Business. You don’t need to stare. You don’t need to make comments, snide nor supportive. You sure as hell don’t need to snap a fucking picture. Yes, you read that right.
Story time: My wonderfully sweet and amazing husband and I decided we would go out to eat last night because our kiddo was at Grandma’s and sometimes it is nice to feel like adults who do adult things. We sit down in a crowded restaurant and are having normal conversation, showing each other stuff on our phones, etc. My mountain of food arrives (seriously, Cracker Barrel, if you put all of the food on one plate I would look less like a glutton than your 6 tiny bowls makes me look) and I pull out my insulin pen to take my shot. I usually take them in my stomach because I’m pregnant and that is the best place to do it during pregnancy. However, considering that no one wants to see my slab of flab while eating, I do this one in my arm. Immediately, the woman at the table next to us says “Why would she do that at the dinner table?”
You guys gotta give me props here. I am not a very even tempered person. Add in a low blood sugar incident, hunger, morning sickness that lasts all damn day long, and a bitch has the nerve to say something like that? You can imagine how much I wanted to leap across the table and smack the shit out of her. I didn’t. I relaxed and tried to tuck into my meal. Then I look up and the girl across from us is taking pictures of me! Like you can tell from the way she is holding her phone that she is trying to be discreet but she is doing it, without a doubt.
Why in the world do people act this way? I could ALMOST see it if I had pulled out a syringe or pulled my shirt up to do my shot. I could see a syringe bothering the uneducated, because of how bad the drug epidemic has gotten lately and how boldly people flaunt their drug habits like it shouldn’t bother anyone. I already stated why me pulling my shirt up might bother someone. However, a pen with an itty bitty needle going into my upper arm should not be such if a shock that people comment and take pictures. It shouldn’t even be thought of as something to care about.
So to the woman with the commentary: I take my shot at the dinner table because I need that shot to live. I take it before I eat. Bathrooms are unsanitary, and it is too cold to go back outside to jab a needle in myself so I do it right there where I sit. Public injections are a huge mental block for a lot of diabetics. Opening your mouth doesn’t help that, and, if you really wanted an actual answer to your question instead of just being fucking rude, you could have asked.
For the girl snapping pics: Thanks for immortalizing a moment of my life that has taken me literally years to get comfortable with. I hope when you send it on Snapchat or post it on social media that, if you say something ignorant, you get put in your place and you get famous for being petty. I hope if you say something nice or supportive that someone reminds you that you should have asked before taking the picture. I would have let you, because I’m not ashamed despite people like the commentator thinking I should be.
For everyone else who sees someone taking a shot in public and feels the need to speak or act: Don’t. Minding your own business is free and creates far less drama. The daily highs and lows of diabetes is dramatic enough, we don’t need to add your issues to it!
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