You Wouldn't Like Me When I'm Low.
While we waited for the traffic to disperse this past Friday night, we went to see The Incredible Hulk.
So Ed Norton (who I love ... loved him in Fight Club and The Illusionist) plays The Hulk and spends the better part of the beginning of the movie trying to keep his rage under control because ... you know ... you wouldn't like him when he's angry. He wears a heart rate monitor to help keep him safe and controlled. It's one of those wristwatch bits that beeps as his heart rate climbs and wails insistently when his numbers are too high.
"Dude," I lean in to Chris. "I didn't know the Hulk wore a CGM!"
He whispered back, "I know! I thought the same thing!"
The movie continued, and Ed Norton finally loses it and becomes The Hulk. After his episode is over, he's shivering, weak, and holding his tattered pants close to his body. He looks completely spent and in need of a solid nap. Much like how I feel after a wicked low blood sugar.
"Only minus the tattered pants part," I explained to Chris after the movie.
It's strange how movies depict diabetes. I remember watching Panic Room and seeing the little girl experience a hypoglycemic episode. She was blue-lipped and sweaty, lying helplessly on the floor while her mother scrambled for sugar. But I didn't see myself in this Panic Room character, even though she was written as a diabetic and her symptoms were "appropriate."
Instead, I empathized more with The Hulk as he closely monitored his heart rate, those numbers taking precedence over all other things, their fluctuations determining many of his actions. And I felt a pang of recognition when he came to after an "episode," bewildered and fragile and not knowing quite what happened. There are strange bits of empathy and recognition found in the most unlikely of places.
I bet if The Hulk needed a CGM, insurance companies wouldn't deny him.
"Hulk smash ... insurance companies!"
Comments
Hulk Rage Bolus!
Posted by: Darrell | June 16, 2008 09:55 AM
Kerri with bulging muscles. That would be a "site".
Posted by: Shannon | June 16, 2008 10:14 AM
It's interesting that the watch made you think of Hulk going low... I took my son to see the movie this weekend, and I noticed how early on in the movie Ed wants to be cured but by the end he's trying to use his "hulkness" to his advantage... It made me think of the diabetic athletes I know (myself included) who try to elevate our blood sugars a little prior to competing. :)
Posted by: Marcus | June 16, 2008 12:20 PM
I am still bitter about the guy who broke up with me after seeing Panic Room.
Posted by: mollyjade | June 16, 2008 01:50 PM
Darrell - Love it.
Shannon - Oh the puns! And I do have bulging muscles. They're just hiding. Under fat. ;)
Marcus - I run a bit high before working out, for sure. But you didn't think all that beeping from Ed Norton's watch was like a CGM? I couldn't help but think that. :)
Mollyjade - Are you kidding me? What a loser - he doesn't deserve you!!
Posted by: Kerri. | June 16, 2008 02:23 PM
I remember Panic Room! I hate it when they try to depict Diabetes in the movies. In that one, they had it all screwed up. If I remember correctly in Con Air, there was a diabetic passenger, and he was having a reaction because he didn't have his insulin... Isn't it usually the other way around???
Posted by: Chad Waletzko | June 16, 2008 02:47 PM
The only movie Diabetic that seemed real to me was Al Pacino in Godfather III.
I love the title of this post. Too funny.
Posted by: George | June 16, 2008 03:07 PM
Al Pacino was diabetic in Godfather 3? I totally missed that fact. How did he act? I saw the movie, but just don't recall.
Posted by: Shannon | June 16, 2008 05:52 PM
I've actually never seen Panic Room, but I have a Type I diabetic friend who says that movie drives her nuts because apparently the diabetic girl has low blood sugar, but all they have in the room is ketchup, and the mother is freaking out because they need sugar. Um, hello, ketchup is practically reeking of sugary stuff, right??
Posted by: Jimmie | June 16, 2008 09:23 PM
And here I thought a great analogy with the Hulk would be me during PMS week ;)
Posted by: Rachel Baumgartel | June 16, 2008 10:16 PM
We need a Hulk to do that insurance job! No need for so many CGM users to be lining up fighting insurance companies for the approval or something that is obviously beneficial...
It makes me feel like HULK!!!!! (when I think about it!)
Posted by: Manny Hernandez | June 16, 2008 11:15 PM
What a great analogy. I never wanted to see The Hulk but now I do! The image of the watch is fantastic too!
Posted by: Michelle | June 17, 2008 03:33 AM
I imagine how they treat diabetics in movies is similar to how they treat asthmatics.
We're always wimpy, constantly gasping for breath, probably wearing really nerdy glasses, and uncontrollably wheezing while puffing an inhaler every half hour.
*sigh*
Posted by: Jo | June 17, 2008 06:32 PM