4/18 Comet, Road trip & refrigerating Lantus

No AMPS today as I just ran out of strips during our curve and am waiting for them to get in hopefully today. Anyway, Comet and I are preparing for our road trip home from AZ to OR and I am worried about not being able to refrigerate our Lantus. We will stop at a hotel for one night but be in the car the whole day before and after that before getting home. Will not refrigerating it affect the lifespan of it or anything?

 

First thing, please get more strips today. Whether it's AT strips from the vet or getting a human meter as a backup. It's always good to have a back up meter. I haven't seen any spreadsheet updates for a few days.

Next, onto your questions. I travelled by car from Vancouver to Fort Collins with Neko, there and back, a trip of three full days of driving each way. It was during the summer and hot. I had a cooler with gel packs in it. The Lantus was wrapped in bubble wrap inside a small Tupperware. The bubble wrap and Tupperware made sure it didn't move around and kept some separation from the gel packs. I refroze the gel packs in the hotel room freezer. The one hotel that didn't have a freezer in the room let me keep it in their big kitchen freezer to refreeze overnight. I did check that all the hotels we were going to had a fridge. I also used the cooler to keep some water cool and for opened cans of cat food. Make sure you take low carb and high carb food, maybe honey or karo and plenty of test strips. Some cats (mine) went diving during the car ride. Not all will eat during the ride either, though mine did.

My insulin was fine for the above trip. On a second trip (flight), I got a Frio wallet. People use them for keeping insulin cool for a while. I still had the Frio wallet inside a small lunch size cooler with small gel pack. If you don't keep your insulin cool for what looks like 36 hours or so, you may shorten it's life span.

 

I agree with everything Wendy said! Also we travel from Michigan to Florida and back twice a year with Luci on board. I keep her insulin in a small cooler with a gel pack on top and cool stuff on the bottom - not frozen, but chilled; like ice water in a bottle. The insulin itself is wrapped in a ziplock baggie so it's insulated and not touching the other stuff. I take that little cooler into the hotel room at night and put the whole thing inside the little room fridge with several other cooler items I have in the car for us (grapes, string cheese, etc.) Luci isn't usually interested in eating much but I offer her favorites and sometimes she'll eat a little bit - testing on the road has always resulted in really high numbers - she appears calm on the outside but apparently freaks out and doesn't like being in the car - although she sleeps and relaxes for the entire trip - she's not very vocal - we usually try to stop in time for the insulin injections - it's really hard for me to do all that in the car - but I have - last year on our way down to Florida it got dark, we were stuck in traffic and there I was trying to measure her insulin, test/feed/shoot - it was a trying time for sure - but we made it work. She even ate her dinner for me that time! Lots of travelers on here - who might chime in with other suggestions/advice for you.

Last but not least I carry a kit of all of her supplies with extras of everything - including a backup meter, strips, syringes, lancets, etc. Food, water and litter boxes...everything she needs to keep her comfortable and happy - in the car and in the hotel and keep me sane just in case that lancet goes off into the dark recesses of the car, etc. which they are prone to do. One night I lost the lid off the syringe - not a big deal - I just couldn't figure out where it'd gone to...I found it later - apparently right where I'd put it...duh! It's a confusing place the car and none of us are adept at all that...but we do our best...Luci probably does better than the rest of us...she seems to take it all with ease.

Enjoy your trip back to OR from AZ...getting to be that time of year when all of us snowbirds begin the trip north

 

Thank you both for the advice I'm going to school down here and graduating so hopefully this is our last big move but it is stressful being his first time moving while diabetic. He's usually very vocal and lets us know how he feels about the car so hopefully, that will be helpful. Also, the strips should get here today so I can get back to testing.

 

The Frio wallet is great.....all it requires is water to keep the insulin cool for up to 24 hours