Deceptively Cool Diabetes

05/21/08 Type I Diabetes or Juvenile Diabetes

My insulin pump is tiny and black and chic. It looks like an MP3 player strapped to my hip. My glucose monitor is sleek and small, roughly the size of my thumb. Both come in trendy black cases and have the allure of the digital era. Yet one aspect about them is thoroughly unappealing: I use them for my diabetes care. That in itself makes them thoroughly un-cool. Therefore, the question, can you indeed dress up this disease and make it cool?

Honestly, I’m not even positive if “cool” is a stylish word, but it is a universal term, and one that is obviously a focus for those in the development/marketing/advertisement segments of diabetes-related products. So what if my insulin pump fits in the palm of my hand?  It’s still filled with insulin that runs through a rather un-hip looking tube, which feeds into the infusion set on my abdomen. Nothing remotely cool there. Instead, I’ve got old infusion puncture wounds ringed with the adhesive grime of long removed sites. Couple that image with my scarred midsection, and no one would claim that the pump is cool.

What’s alluring about a scaled down glucose monitor, besides becoming a chameleon amongst the other digital toys and cell phones? The glucose monitor’s primary function is still to be a vampire, to work off my blood, and then often taunt me with the results. Now I have less of an item to launch into the air. What’s fun about that?

Obviously, cool or hip or any other modern-day colloquial take on the essence of popularity is more a matter of substance than superficiality. Scratch the surface and the item must still retain the tenants of cultural acceptance and desire. This is not the case with most diabetes-related products. It is best for us to continue to play with our toys, knowing full well the faux role they uphold, all the while hoping for the coolest creation of all: a cure.

Eric Devine, 30, has lived with type 1 diabetes since he was 12. He lives in upstate New York with his wife and two daughters where he works as a high school English teacher. Devine is an avid writer and is currently seeking publication of two Young Adult novel manuscripts.