Forgetting my Insulin at a Hotel in France

Have you ever got stuck in your own head and were not able to make any sort of decision? I have a feeling that many of us go through this often enough (at least my friends do). But what do you do when this happens with your diabetes? What makes you freeze and become indecisive when your life is on the line?

Going to France

It was 2006, I was 15 years old, and my high school French class was in France. My French teacher was great enough to plan this whole trip to immerse us in French culture and help us learn the language. We were on a trip with two other schools from the United States. Our trip spanned the entire country. And we were transported between hotels and activities via giant tour bus.

Our first stop was Paris. We were there for a couple of days before moving on to a different city. The hotel rooms did not have mini fridges so my teacher and I asked the staff if I could put my insulin in their staff fridge. They were very nice about it and said yes! Yay!

Exploring Paris

For a few days we explored Paris and got good at their public transportation. I was (and am) jealous of Paris’ public transportation. I wish that all of the cities in the United States had a system that was just as good.

Thanks to public transit and our bus we hit all the stops – the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triumph, the Louvre, and the Cathédrale Notre-Dame. We did A LOT of walking while we were there, it was actually quite nice. I don’t walk nearly as much when I’m at home. In retrospect, it was probably good for my body and my diabetes to walk so much.

After our time in Paris had come to an end we got in the bus and headed out for another city (I can’t remember where we went next). We all packed up, loaded the bus with our bags, and drove away.

Forgetting my Insulin!

It was about 10-15 minutes away from the hotel when I remembered that I forgot to grab my insulin from the staff fridge before leaving. That meant that I only had enough insulin for a couple more days. That was no where near enough. I didn’t know what to do. My pride and my emotions were paralyzing me. I didn’t want to inconvenience everyone on the bus by stopping for who knows how long. I was more concerned with how other people would react to the fact that I needed to go back for my life saving medicine. (At this time, I did not have a good grasp on my emotions, especially around my diabetes.)

I literally sat on the bus, freaking out on the inside for a couple of minutes before doing anything. Eventually I realized that I was the only one who could help myself. I had to say something and we had to stop the bus.

Going Back to the Hotel

I got up and found my teacher and told her what was going on. She very quickly stopped the bus. My teacher and I went out, while the bus was stopped, and got in a cab back to the hotel. I got out alone while my teacher stayed with the cab (so they could drive us back to the bus) and went up to get my insulin.

This is when my next internal freak out happened. I was not very good at French and I had to ask, in French, for the staff to go to the back and get my insulin. I had no idea if I would be capable of doing this alone.

Getting my Insulin Back

I ran upstairs to the location where they took my insulin from me when we first got there. I frantically said words like “refrigerator”, “medicine”, “I need…”, and eventually someone understood me. They gave me my insulin and I thanked them profusely. I have no idea how long this interaction took because time stood still for me during this whole thing.

With my insulin in hand, I ran down the stairs and got back into the cab with my teacher. We made our way back to the bus and I was finally able to breathe.

When we started getting closer to the bus, I started getting worried again. I was convinced that everyone was mad at me for having to stop. But when I got back on board everyone just wanted to know that I was okay and that I had my insulin back. No one was mad or upset with me. They all seemed worried about me and my wellbeing.

No More Staff Refrigerators

After this scary incident I did not put my insulin in any staff fridge. My insulin was kept with me in my room. I could not bear thinking about forgetting it again. I needed my insulin and I wanted to enjoy this trip. Luckily, I did not forget my insulin or anything else for the rest of my time in France.

Sometimes when you travel with diabetes scary things can happen. I wish I could say that I kept my head and handled this calmly, but that did not happen. In the end, everything worked out, which is very lucky. Being ready for the unexpected is something that I have learned during my travels. Over the years I have gained confidence in myself and what I need as a diabetic. Which has made traveling, especially alone, a lot easier and more comfortable.