​The return trip was fairly uneventful, just some shady stuff about ‘gassing up’ in North Carolina, but then they made an announcement that while we were waiting one of the pilots timed out and we needed to find a replacement, which didn’t really make sense, but since I don’t have insider knowledge to how these things work, I can only observe and speculate. We ended up departing about an hour and a half late so in the grand scheme of things that could go wrong I was happy that was it.
The real crisis occurred at home. We treated ourselves to some Thai food as a final guilty pleasure before getting strict on the diet again. It was delicious, as usual. When I went to input some insulin to correct for the rice I had just eaten was when the nightmare started…I realized I left the device that controls my insulin pump on the freaking plane! It was already after 9 so there wasn’t much I could do. I called the airport to talk to someone in lost and found, but obviously they don’t have someone there 24/7. I wasn’t yet in panic mode. My blood sugar was low when we ate and I ate pretty light, so I was okay through the night, which to be honest was a bit of a miracle. A waking blood sugar of 250 isn’t ideal, but if I had eaten more it could have been more like 350 or higher.
Woke up, skipped breakfast and headed to the airport to see if, God willing, it was there. Mike drove me, otherwise I would have had to park and all that nonsense. Spent a lot of time waiting in line to talk to a person who told me elsewhere to go in the airport. Kind of wish the idiot I spoke to first hadn’t told me to get on that line, but whatever. Head down to the American Airlines lost and found and told the woman there details of what I was looking for and when and where I had left it. She does not have a hopeful answer but goes to take a look through the things she had just gone and collected from the various gates of items left behind on the planes.
I’m standing there hoping and praying but also on the verge of panicking. She comes out to tell me it’s not there. I’m not going to lie, I cried. This is now a big deal. I was extremely lucky that I had only changed my pump late Thursday and it was now Saturday morning, which meant I was still getting my constant drip of insulin until about 4 AM Monday.
I took a deep breath and regrouped. I called the company from whom I get my pump supplies and they were of very little help. I would have needed to speak to the pharmacy department, but they’re closed on weekends. Dude on the phone wasn’t grasping the seriousness of the situation so I flat out asked ‘what do you tell people to do who are having an emergency?’ He suggested calling my local pharmacy.
My pharmacy couldn’t help, neither could this Walgreens or that Walgreens. I was running out of options. I tell ya, though, asking people what they suggest is a good idea. The person at the second Walgreens suggested calling a hospital, who suggested a local medical supply company, who then had the brilliant idea of calling the manufacturer of my insulin pump! It seemed so obvious! I think I was more focused on trying to get my hands on a replacement that day, so I hadn’t thought of it immediately. On the plus side I was able to get one shipped out for the low low price of $199, down side was that I wouldn’t get it until Monday, which turned out to actually be Tuesday
Next, called my doctor’s emergency line to get a prescription for syringes so I could take shots for what I couldn’t program in my pump, meaning every time I ate or needed a correction. I hate injections more than I can express; it was a loooong few days until I could get my hands on my replacement!
It was a frustrating and expensive mistake I hope to never make again!

​I haven’t flown American Airlines in a couple of years after I had such an awful experience that I decided to stop using them. But when so much time goes by, it’s easy to forget that they’re just that awful! It’s always things that don’t necessarily ruin my vacation but cause me a lot of stress. Last time, both my flights had major delays, making a long day of traveling just exhausting. And not simply having your flight delayed but being on the tarmac and going back to the gate…on both flights! Second one, we even had to get off and go to another gate and get on a different plane. All in all it added about 3 hours to my travels.
Let’s get back to current events though. I landed in Florida at 9:33 AM, where my aunt is waiting in the cell lot for me to give the signal that I’ve got my luggage in hand, and she should proceed to the curb.
I’m standing at the luggage carousel, watching the bags go around…and around…and around…until I’m now the only one still there. Awesome.
I see a woman removing all the unclaimed bags, walk up to her and simply say “Um, so, what do I do?”
First, she has to finish removing all the luggage from my flight, which seemed like an oddly large number of them. She explained that this is the luggage of the people in my position last night. I help her get the bags off the carousel because I’m feeling more and more badly that my aunt is still waiting for me, and it seems like this is going to take some time. I also can’t just stand around and watch someone work when I can easily help. But mostly it’s because the faster this task is finished, the faster I can be on my way.
There is a pair of women ahead of me, they’re in and out because their bag was in the office. Then the husband of the couple also waiting just steps into the office ahead of me even though I was there first because, well, people are annoying. At least I got to love on their cat while I was waiting where I found out they had been traveling for 26 hours so I totally understand their desire to get home. Doesn’t make it right to jump in front of me, but whatever, I wasn’t going to make a stink about it.
Ok, my turn. She looks up my information and my suitcase is still in North Carolina! For some unknown reason it didn’t get on the same plane as I. Awesome. At least it’s not lost, and will be on a plane that arrives at 3:40 that afternoon and do I want to retrieve it myself or have it delivered? Well, that’s a no brainer! Why would I come all the way back to the airport if I don’t have to?!
I got an email update a few hours later that my bag will be delivered between 6 PM and midnight that day.
It was not. It wasn’t even picked up until 8 PM and they also say anything that would be delivered after 11 PM will be delivered the next day so that time frame of 6 to midnight is just a blanket statement. Which is a little worrisome. So, is it sitting in some person’s vehicle?
I spend the morning walking around in a towel while I wash my clothes because the thought of wearing them for a third day is repulsive.
I got another email update around 10 AM that it’s out for delivery. Hooray! As the hours tick by I’m getting more and more nervous. I understand they have multiple stops to make, but I was feeling like it shouldn’t take 8 hours.
It was Wednesday so I went out to play trivia and was extremely relieved when I got an email while I was out that my luggage had been delivered!! Even more relieved to have it actually be at the house when I got home.
It’s ironic that I haven’t checked a bag in years just for this very reason but I’m getting too old to use a duffle bag packed for a 2-week trip as a carry-on. Maybe if I didn’t have a layover which requires me to walk through a big airport. I also still have stuff in Florida to bring over to Arizona, so I needed a suitcase with extra room. It was a bunch of books and other items I wouldn’t want to have to carry on my shoulder, plus I wasn’t interested in hurting my back! I have enough naturally occurring physical problems, no need to create extra!

​Selling stuff on the internet is the worst! I’ve had some success on Facebook Marketplace, but you have to weed through all the scam artists. Usually, they’re pretty obvious. Most often they message you and then ask if you’ll communicate over text, where they’ll ask to text you a code that you would then tell them to verify that you’re real. HA!
Today was different, but I had my radar on because something about this guy’s profile picture rubbed me the wrong way. Having been forced to participate in Online Dating for the better part of my 30’s, you start to get a sense for these things.
He immediately asked for my address to come pick it up before we even discussed anything. Like I said, I was already skeptical so there was no way in hell I was giving him my address, especially when Mike is at work. I suggested a nearby bank for the added benefit of the cameras in the parking lot. If I’m going to get abducted, the least I can do is make sure there’s evidence for the police! We agreed on 6 PM so I was relieved I wouldn’t have to go alone.
Then he says his wife will be meeting me because he has to work late. That increased my skepticism, thinking maybe he’d said that to make me put my guard down and come alone. He follows this up with saying she can’t come with cash because her “bank is faulty for now” and how would I like to get the money. I suggested Venmo. It’s an app I use regularly with friends and family and any time I’ve needed to exchange money for a transaction like this. He countered with Zelle.
I checked my banking app because I’ve seen it on there, but I’ve never used it, and it was super easy. You don’t have to download anything, and it goes directly into your bank account.
But here’s the catch with Zelle…it requires personal information to make someone a contact with whom you can exchange money! He asked for my info to send it. I simply replied by asking for his and I’ll do a request. He said he’d prefer to send it himself. I vey bluntly said I wasn’t giving him my information and I’d wait until his wife can get the cash. I do not expect to ever hear from him.
You think you’ll always know when you’re getting taken for a ride, but a more trusting person could have given their name, address, email and phone number, and not realized until it was too late. I have no idea what anyone would do with this information, btu it just seems like a good idea to not give it to strangers on the internet.