A Butter Compartment Suprise

You could have heard me gasp.

Recently, I nearly fell over when opening up the fridge in our kitchen to retreive a new bottle of Humalog from the Butter Compartment, a common place for keeping insulin and glucagon for us People With Diabetes. Heck, some of us have even given our D-Blogs creative names to reflect this trend (like Lee Ann, who runs The Butter Compartment!).

As the door opened, I flipped open the clear, hazy plastic door where the bagged boxes of insulin sit peacefully on top of the five-pack box of Lantus Pens. On top of the Humalog boxes was the red glucagon container in its own prescription-coded pharmacy baggie.

But to the right side of this storage area, there was a sight that just blew my mind. Something completely unexpected...

There, despite my belief at the time that it was in fact a dream, was a stick of butter. A stick of butter! Fullly wrapped in paper inside a ziplock baggie. A mostly-used little quarter stick sat nearby. In the Butter Compartment. How outrageous!

This was just not a normal happening in my D-Life, or for any PWD. Treachery had to be afoot, I determined.

"What the.... Why is there BUTTER in the butter compartment?" I yelled across the room, beckoning for an answer from my wife who quickly responded from the living room.

"That's where it lives. It's always been there."

She quickly added: "Leave it alone."

Mystified, I stared at this half-used stick of butter that my mind never recalled being there before. The full stick of butter stared right at me, as if to mock and challenge my questioning wide eyes with an all-tough attitude. Even the little bite-sized quarter stick glared at me, as if knowing it was being protected by the Mother Butter Stick and I couldn't touch them. There was a certain confidence they radiated, and it made me mad the longer I looked at the compartment in front of me.

"Oh my God," I muttered at a near whisper, still standing with the fridge still wide open as I peered inside as if I was observing a never-before-seen historic event. "I don't believe this."

The salad dressing and BBQ sauces on the shelf below ignored my judgemental eyes, not wanting to get involved in the crisis happening up above. They may have feared for their own existence.

In the end, I couldn't resist: had to move the butter. Down to a spot right above the meat drawer. Where it belonged. Not in the Butter Compartment, where my life-saving D-supplies had always conquered. There had been times in the past where I simply had too much insulin stocked to have it only occupy the butter compartment. In those instances, it expanded outside the trusty compartment area, but never abandoned it for another site. Oh no. Never. There's comfort there, when there's so little comfort elsewhere as far as diabetes.

Upon learning that I had in fact moved the butter (despite her instruction to the contrary), my wife's response: "Fine."

I smiled. Knowing that she'll learn to live with it. In the meantime, at least I'm at peace again knowing that my insulin is the sole occupant of our butter compartment - as it should be. I've put right what once went wrong. All is fine in my D-World, as normal as it can be.

Comments

connie said…
Thanks for giving me a much needed laugh tonight!!! This was so true for my family too, butter doesn't live in our butter compartment either.

We have diabetes supplies x's two in there!

Thanks for the laugh :)
LOL :p

I don't even know if I Have a butter compartment but if I do butter doesn't live in there. Neither do D supplies. The only supplies I have in the fridge is two little boxes of insulin cartridges. We can only get a month worth at a time here so that's only 2 x 5 vials for me.
Scott S said…
I'm fortunate because my partner is Asian, so my house has a very limited supply of butter used for an occasional piece of toast or a recipe that requires butter (not oil). Still, this is a funny post, and I would likely have reacted the same way, as I don't like the idea of co-mingling food with lifesaving medicines, especially if it's unwrapped! It should be in a butter dish with a cover, so greasy butter doesn't rub all over the boxes of insulin!
LMBO! I would've had exactly the same reaction, like the presence of a (completely wrapped) food item would somehow corrode the D supplies. Oh, the horror!
LORI said…
Thanks again for your comment on my blog... and for the laugh here. :)

I used to keep my insulin in the butter compartment too, but the plastic door of the butter compartment was loose, so my insulin always fell out whenever we opened the refrigerator door. My husband made an executive decision to relocate my insulin to the bottom shelf... without telling me. We had an equally tense moment. (I couldn't admit that he made the right decision, now could I?)
Steve said…
Great story. Loved the line "It's where it lives." I feel the same way about my blueberries (freezer, 2nd shelf down from the top, just below the ice maker, thank you very much).

Sadly, our fridge doesn't even have a butter compartment. WTF!
Cara said…
You totally made my morning better. And even more funny....my butter really does live in my butter compartment as it's too small to fit all my d-supplies. They live in the vegetable drawer...w/ no veggies!
SarahK said…
LOL!!! Too funny! Needed this laugh this morning!
Anonymous said…
I've been told not to leave insulin in the door of the fridge, because the temperatures vary so much from opening and closing the door. - From an Adult Type 1 who commented at the CWD Forums.
Anonymous said…
YUP.....looks exactly like our fridge except our supplies take 2 spaces since I have 2 kids with t1 D.
hoarseraven said…
THAT was awesome! Thank you! - Kelsey
Anonymous said…
I heard you should put it in the door because it's least likely to freeze. - Danielle, mom of 3 (soon 4), including a 3-year-old diagnosed in 11.08.
Anonymous said…
Needed that, thanks...
I used to have (son's) D supplies in the same place but know I have them in one of those things that you use for baby bottle tops that go in the dishwasher because after two broken bottles of insulin when the kids get mad and slam the fridge door because they can't have a snack right before dinner I had to do something else with it.
They fit really nice in the fridge door compartment to and he has his own compartment that you don't put anything else in there. -- Mom of 6-year-old Type 1 diagnosed in May 2008.
FatCatAnna said…
LOL - my butter container has cheese in it (I am part mouse). Also, my pen needle boxes won't fit in there since going back to MDI - so I keep them in the meat drawer until I decided to get back to pumping with regular insulin bottles.

Really tho' Anonymous poster - it's not recommended to keep your insulin in the butter compartment. Will have to some research on this.
Suzi said…
We shall see how long the butter lives in its new home...
Tina said…
I was told not to put my glucagon in the fridge. I tend to believe it was a good idea since a friend gave me her glucagon out of fridge and a) it hurt like a bitch going in and b) it didn't help
Anonymous said…
Loved the blog. I use the door too and haven't had problems yet - unless you count someone putting the butter in there or the soy sauce bottle. Which makes me come unglued. Almost as much as DD leaving her PDM laying on the couch.
__________________
Mother to Bean age 9, Type 1, DX 9/6/09 (Pumping scince 03.29.10)
http://t1djillybean.blogspot.com
Anonymous said…
LMBO !!

We have a small plastic basket (cheapy one at dollar store) that sits on a shelf with all D supplies in it. It is out of the way, and all contained to itself.

About putting it in the door....i always heard that the temperature of it on the door changes so much with all the opening and closing of it. And I too would be scared of someone slamming the fridge door and it falling out....but YD(storage)MV.
Anonymous said…
I love it! Your blog was hilarious! We use the bottome shelf on the fridge . . . always have.
Anonymous said…
ROFL! That picture looks like our refridgerator. We store our supplies in the butter compartment too. - - Mom to 4 girls: 11, (DX 3/23/10; 9 (non-D); 7 (non-D); 7-months (non-D)
Anonymous said…
LOL, good one! How dare it?

We keep our insulin and Glucagon in the egg compartment (same as the butter compartment, but the butter here has long given up its fight to claim this compartment as its realm. The eggs have never complained about being evicted. They're actually neighbours with the butter.

Glad you can breathe again.
__________________
Paula aka BBB
Mom to 2 boys, 6 & 4
Oldest dx in Oct. '06 w/ T1 D
Anonymous said…
We keep ours on the door too because it's nice and snug and I always am afraid the insulin would get pushed back and freeze. 5 years in we've never had an issue with insulin being on the door.

Am I breaking some type of diabetes rule by storing our insulin in the same compartment as the jelly?
Meri said…
Dude, your butter compartment is HUGE! Mine is 1/2 the size. I had no idea...When I shop for my next fridge my number one priority will be butter compartment real estate.

Thanks for the laugh. :)
Anonymous said…
Hilarious Micheal!!! I really needed a good laugh!
Anonymous said…
A couple of years ago the ADA had an article that said that the temp fluctuates too much on the door, so we moved ours just to be safe. I'm curious about why you would keep glucagon refrigerated though?
__________________
Mary, mom to D-Kids Melissa, 25, and Michael, 29.
Anonymous said…
We keep insulin in the butter compartment too. I also will hide my chocolate stash there too, kids never think to look where the insulin is kept.
__________________
My 3 Sons...MJK#1...20, MJK#2...19, MJK#3...8, dx 8-13-07 PUMPING with OMNIPOD 7-13-09
Anonymous said…
This was soo funny - we keep our insulin here too. Who knew diabetics all thought alike..
- Son dx at age 4, now age 10.
Karen said…
LOL!!! Oh no you did not move the butter after your wife told you to leave it alone!! I'm glad my husband doesn't read blogs (not even mine, to be honest) because you'd be putting all kinds of crazy rebel ideas in his head. :)
Anonymous said…
Too funny. I had to have the insulin moved today because of a power outage. My father put things back for me when the power came back on so things were not in their usual spot. My daughter rushed in to my room a few minutes ago distressed because there was bu...bu...butter in the butter compartment.
Anonymous said…
How funny! My dad had T1 and I remember when I got married and moved out of the house how weird it was to actually put the butter in the butter compartment of the fridge. And it's actually something I've thought about since my daughter is going through all of this. - Elizabeth, daughter of a T1 and mother to 5 yr old DXd on 1/26/10.

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