Luke and I went to the grocery store and we passed an older man in the cereal isle, we were there for a few minutes and I looked up and noticed he was fighting back tears. I asked if he was ok and if I could help him. He looked at me and the tears started flowing as he told me his wife is coming home from the hospital today and that she has diabetes and he doesnt know what food to get her. He then asked if I could help him. For a minute I was speechless, it was Sunday morning and the store was packed with tons of people, what was the chance we would bump into each other and he would ask me for help? My heart broke for this man, he looked so scared and confused and then it got worse. He even said the word diabetes in a hushed tone almost like he was ashamed to announce it. I quickly introduced him to Luke who proudly showed him his insulin pump. I asked him what kind of diabetes she had and he said he didnt know just that she cant eat sugar or she will have to take insulin... My heart sank. The doctors just told them to avoid sugar, nothing about carbohydrates, so he was filling his cart with things that had very small amounts of sugar but huge amounts of carbohydrates (which turn into sugar on the body). Luke and I stayed with him for almost an hour talking about food and nutrition and meal ideas. He hugged us both and thanked us repeatedly but I walked away so sad. They need more help then I could provide and they are not alone. I know his wife (by what he said) had type 2 which can also be a very serious disease, just very different then type 1. They both suck, are scary, are very misunderstood, and can lead to horrible complications. The problem with type 2 is that often people arent fully educated about how to stay healthy which leads to those horrible complications we hear so much about (amputation, heart problems, infections etc etc). I believe the medical field fails to properly educate people with t2 on a regular basis because they are often older, and there is the negative stigma that all t2 caused their disease. This is a completely wrong assumption for anyone with any type of diabetes but I truly believe it affects the quality of care all diabetes patients receive. I hate the word diabetes it carries more misconceptions with it that I believe are detrimental to our entire society. The fact that the doctors didnt even educate him enough to know that carbohydrates turn to sugar or what type of diabetes his wife had makes me ill. When our kids are in the hospital at diagnosis we have a crash course to keep our kids alive and we walked away scared and confused but sure as hell we know what type of diabetes they had and to count carbs not just sugar. Bad things can happen really fast to a person making no insulin even a few days can land a t1d in the hospital, but those same bad things can also happen to a person with t2 it just takes much longer and the symptoms go unnoticed for longer. Two very different, potentially very serious diseases, that have some similar aspects, but that need two different cures and proper awareness for both. The doctor in this video says it best .. We are in the midst of a compassion crisis.. I may not have believed that statement if Luke wasnt diagnosed with a condition that has the word diabetes in it, but know I believe it to be a very sad truth. Even if you only watch the first 30 seconds of the video you will see what I mean, but it is really worth the watch.
Posted on: Sun, 16 Nov 2014 23:45:12 +0000
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