If Disney did diabetes…

By | 15 February, 2010
Finding a copyright-free Disney-related image proved impossible. So here' s a picture of a kettle instead.

Finding a copyright-free Disney-related image proved impossible. So here’ s a picture of a kettle instead.

We’re off to Disneyworld in a couple of weeks for a bit of much needed Disney magic. Amidst the excitement it did set me thinking. What would diabetes be like if it was managed by Disney, that all encompassing factory of magical happiness?

If Disney did diabetes…

  • My pump would wake me up in the morning with a cheery blast of Zip-a-de-doo-dah
  • I wouldn’t be high, I’d be magically elevated
  • I wouldn’t be hypo, I’d be having a magical moment
  • You’d no longer experience that horrid time in limbo when you’re sitting on the floor waiting for the sweat to subside and the sugar to kick in after a hypo. Oh no, that time would be filled with amazing fireworks displays, beautifully choreographed to classic Disney tunes.
  • Insulin would be measured in fairy drops, not units
  • I’d have to fight with a certain mouse named Mickey to get to a nice low carb cheese snack
  • As a motivator to maintain glucose levels within target range, any results out of range will trigger my meter to play “It’s a small world” on a loop until it gets a result within range. (This way lies madness me thinks!)
  • HbA1c results would be delivered via the medium of dance – a good result gets you Mickey and Minnie surrounded by hundreds of dancing showgirls. A less than favourable result is delivered by a screeching Cruella de Ville.
  • Snow White would lend me one of her dwarves to carry my diabetes junk round for me (I’m not fussy which dwarf, although I’m pretty good at being Grumpy and Dopey myself so it’s probably best she lends me one of the other 5)
  • When I’m having a bad diabetes day and the world is getting me down, a meerkat/warthog dancing combo would appear and serenade me with an uplifting rendition of Hakuna Matata
  • The whole thing would be even more expensive than it already is, but somehow you’d feel it was worth the money

Any more suggestions? Have a nice day!

Category: Living with diabetes travel Tags:

About Alison

Diagnosed with Type One in 1983 at the age of four, Alison's been at this for a while now. She uses Humalog in a combined insulin pump and continuous glucose monitoring system and any blood glucose meter as long as it takes five seconds or less.

25 thoughts on “If Disney did diabetes…

  1. Tim

    Ha ha ha! Insulin in Fairy Drop units – we need this now!

    From the sounds of it, we could achieve much of the above by having LSD made part of the standard diabetic prescription.

    Reply
  2. Geoff

    Surely a Genie in a Lamp would replace the insulin pump – the Genie would give you your “fairy drops” when needed and a good deal of sarcasm when you’re “magically elevated”.

    Reply
  3. Caroline

    I can’t wait! When did you say this would be active? Can’t wait for my dwarf (I think I’ll take Grumpy, just for fun) and my whole healthcare team would benefit from HBA1C results being danced – it’s good to diversify at work (I can see them now!). And finally, I agree with Shiv, the meerkat/warthog dance is the way forward for banishing diabetes dreariness – bring it on.

    Reply
  4. Susan Grimes

    Jiminy Cricket would sit on your shoulder and remind you to look the other way when passing the ice cream stands and the cotton candy.

    Reply
  5. Deb

    And scar tissue, from all those years of injections and finger pokes, would be replaced by princess kisses!

    I loved, loved, loved this post!♥ ♥ ♥

    Reply
  6. Caroline

    And what we lost in pancreatic usefulness, we would gain in bone structure, skin tone and general gorgeousness.

    Reply
  7. Alison

    It seems my thoughts were only the basic Disney package, you guys have built a truly scrumptious deluxe version – sign me up for the skin tone, Genie, scar tissue, Jiminy Cricket add-ons now!

    Reply
  8. Kathy Mackey

    What an amazing illustration of the power of creating a positive experience with words, tone, and enthusiasm. Disney is the master of creating magical experiences.

    Reply
  9. Bennet

    SWAG would be the official form of carb counting, not that it isn’t already.

    Disney does a lot well but they cant carb count their way through a fastpass line.

    That said:
    There would be a three hour wait to use the newest most popular diabetes technology, unless you have a Fastpass.

    The endo office would open an hour early for extra magic hours if you were staying on hospital property.

    There would be a pre-show in que area before the roller coaster of high and low rebounding.

    All treatments would exit through a diabetes supply gift shop, most of the stiff there will be overpriced junk. Wait over priced junk may not be all that different.

    Drinks are available every where but the Magic Kingdom, oh wait that is a fact not anything to do with diabetes.

    see http://DisneyWithDiabetes.com for our wisdom on the whole adventure.

    Reply
  10. Ckoei

    You treacherously unpatriotic hussy, forsaking down-to-earth Aardman for Disney! (Imagine what a combined porridge&insulin pump might do after Shorn nibbled its wires…)

    Reply
  11. Alison

    @Ckoei Genius, then I could have a machine that delivers juice to me automatically if I’m hypo although I’m concerned that Wallace may try and treat hypos with cheese which wouldn’t be great.

    Reply
  12. Bennet

    Niche?!

    How is that Niche? It covers the entire World.

    Disney World that is…

    LOL it is badly out of date but some of it must be still usefull, in a niche kinda way.

    Reply
  13. Teloz

    Tim, if this doesn’t work, please sparfe my blushes and delete all my rubbish…

    [IMG]http://i128.photobucket.com/albums/p167/Teloz/Aboygnome.gif[/IMG]

    Reply
  14. Tim

    @Bennet Certainly looks like it 😉

    It’s Alison’s article so I don’t get emailed when new comments go up, so I’ve only just seen your plaintive cries for help.

    I’m not sure you can actually embed piccies in comments (I didn’t want people to use those awful animated emoticons!) but the first one linked to the source image, so at least we know what you were on about 🙂

    Reply
  15. Teloz

    @Bennet
    That’s the one bad habit I haven’t got, but don’t let me stop you! 😀

    @Tim
    At least you can’t say I didn’t try Tim, in fact many people would say I’m very trying… 😉

    Reply

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