So, I nearly missed D-blog week this year. Obviously I need to spend more time on the internet. XD
Often our health care team only sees us for about 15 minutes several times a year, and they might not have a sense of what our lives are really like. Today, let’s pretend our medical team is reading our blogs. What do you wish they could see about your and/or your loved one's daily life with diabetes? On the other hand, what do you hope they don't see?
I have a lot of people on my medical team. I think that comes from being a Ped patient.
What do I wish my medical team could see about my daily diabetes life? I wish they could see how hard I try to get those good blood sugars, and how hard it is sometimes. I wish they could see how often I check my blood sugar (because apparently I test a LOT. Ask any of my d-friends. :) ). I wish they could see how hard my grandma tries to bake sugar-free stuff for me, and I wish they could see how irritated I get when I have a low for no apparent reason or I just don't have TIME for a low. I wish they could see the me in those non-diabetic, happy moments, where I'm ME and not diabetes-me. (I wish they could see me in the me-est moments, like when I found out that glucose tablets make noise.) I wish they could know how much I appreciate them, and how much I look forward to each new clinic appointment. I wish they could see how hard it is to deal with a nighttime low, when all I want to do is sleep, and I wish they could see how passionate I am about diabetes and non-diabetes related things alike. I wish they could see all the sides of ME.
On the other hand, I hope they don't see how few times I change my lancet. Or how not-often I change my site. I hope they don't see how I treat my lows (because I get hungry). I hope they don't see me run my pump into walls (although that happens a lot). I hope they don't see how unaccurately I bolus most of the time, or how sometimes I forget to treat a not-good blood sugar. I hope they don't see me in the moments where diabetes gets me down, and I hope they don't see how many times I eat stuff I shouldn't when I'm high. Or low. Or ever.
I wish my healthcare team could see the other sides of me, but then I hope they never do. It's diabetes. There isn't really any way to win.
If you want to participate in D-Blog week, or read other people's posts, you can find everything you need over at Bitter~Sweet (who is also a T1Knitter!)
I'm surprised to read that you don't want your endo to see you when diabetes gets you down. I think that's incredibly important for people to see, especially docs because I think it would help them adjust their expectations for what patients can accomplish. If they really knew how hard this was, maybe they'd be a little nicer. Maybe not lower expectations (healthy standards are good!) but perhaps they would have a little more compassion.
ReplyDeleteThat's very true. My endo(s) are really compassionate already, and I guess I don't want them to think that I can't handle this (because apparently they all think I'm doing a really good job). But you have a very good point. Compassion is important.
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