You are lucky, you have diabetes

Blog by Coral!

I hope everyone had a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner with family and/or friends. I did a surprisingly ok job at guestimating how much insulin to take for turkey, gravey, mashed potatoes, yams, green bean casserole, stuffing, fudge nut pie, pumpkin pie, and apple pie with whipped cream. Yummmm….

My oldest brother and his wife just had their first baby. She is a healthy little girl with 10 fingers and 10 toes My father had surgery on his abdominal aortic aneurysm two days before Thanksgiving. His doctor said it went textbook perfect and was discharged on Thanksgiving Day. Lots to be thankful for this year!

During my little Thankgiving hiatus from New York City, I got to spend some quality time at my parents’ house.  They still live in the same house I was raised in. I still have a room, and it is still painted bubble gum pink with posters of Tyson Beckford plastered all over the walls. Over breakfast yesterday morning my mom slid a new Diabetes Newsletter in front of me, Diabetes Wellness News. 

“You are lucky, You have Diabetes,” was the headline on the front page. I’m sorry, but this is never a good title for an article on any type of chronic disease. Can you imagine? “You are lucky, You have Cancer,” or “You are lucky, You have Aids.”

I went on to read about this physician who had been in the game for over 50 plus years and used to tell his newly diagnosed T1 patients that they were lucky because they now had diabetes as if it was a precious gift.

“Before it settled in you were just like the rest of us with no boundaries, no safety precautions, and therefore at risk for everything that can go wrong. But now that you have diabetes you will learn precious lessons about how to live a long, healthy life… You are so lucky you have diabetes, because now it is just about guaranteed that you’re going to live a long and healthy life.”

But then he said it…

“All you need is to be smart… You are chosen.”

I damn-near lost it in the kitchen. I could not believe this article. I know that he may be trying to shed some light on a very gloomy day for people who are newly diagnosed and many of them children, but I am sorry… I do not think it is ever appropriate to lead a PWD to think s/he is invincable. Diabetes is such an unpredictable disease and can develop in so many different ways that doctors should be taking every precaution and keeping it real with patients. It’s fine to tell them that they can have a healthy life, but it’s also important to talk about difficulties and what diabetics should do to cope with being a T1; help them to develop a life plan 5 years or 10 years out. What about the burn out? What about when your fingers get so sore from finger sticks or the little bruises that develop over you abdomin and legs from injections. It is not enough to be “smart.” I only wish a doctor along the way had been honest with me and told me that I would get frustrated with this disease and feel burned out, but then give me strategies for coping or … I don’t know… a SUPPORT GROUP!

There are few things that really rub me the wrong way, but when a doctor enstills a false sense of pride for having a chronic disease without follow through on patients, I just get frustrated.

That is all. Happy Thanksgiving!