People who know me, know I am passionate about Apple products and photography. Most of the time those two passions overlap. I do slight post processing of my photos using Adobe Lightroom on the iMac and sometimes my iPad, because I always have it on me, I also do a lot of iPhone 4 photography. If you know me well, you also know I have Type 1 diabetes. While people are often curious about my photography and computer equipment very few people care to ask about my diabetes kit.
Today, I was reading an article about diabetes supply cases, that Allison Blass posted to Diabetes Mine. Most of the items mentioned in the article appeared to be designed by women for women. I didn't see anything that I would want to use. Alison mentioned another Diabetes Mine blog post by Wil Dubois in which he mentioned his attempts to create a "go bag" to corral his diabetes supplies.
Over the years, my go-bags have varied, but generally, start their lives off as camera bags. I find the “messenger” style works best for me. Partly because camera bags are more, you know, manly, than man purses; and partly because they have lots of little compartments for all the little things we need to have on hand.
Will’s post got me thinking about my solution to this problem which co-incidentally invokes a camera bag. While my first motivation for buying the Kata KT D-3N1-10 Sling/Backpack was to have an easy to use sling style bag to hold my camera equipment, the purchase also solved my diabetes "go-bag" problem. The Kata model I purchased has just enough space to hold my D40 and a few lenses. There is a slot in the back for a notebook or, in my case, and iPad 2. Smaller side pockets hold cables and adapters for dumping photos from memory cards or displaying iPad content on a larger screen.
But it's the top compartment that became my diabetes supply cabinet. The insulated space has enough room for a juice pack (or a pack of skittles), my insulin pens, diabetes meter and lancing device. A zip pocket holds lancets and drums for my lancing devices. Another small Velcro pocket holds two containers of test strips.
I carry my bag with me everywhere. I put it in my car before leaving for work. It sits at my desk during the day and I can grab my insulin and a needle before running out to lunch. It's convenient when I am out and about doing nature photography. Around the Princeton campus, I just look like another student or one of those sales professionals with a bag pack full of computing gear. I can walk around town taking photos. When I'm done, I can stop in at a coffee shop to rest and surf the web or edit photos while sipping a cold (or hot) coffee. Bliss.
Some may ask, "Isn't that too much stuff to carry". For me, not really. I'd have to carry the diabetes supplies with me anyway, but at least with the Kata bag, I also have access to a camera and my iPad.
