Topic for today:
Click for the Share and Don’t Share – Monday 5/13 Link List.
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? (Thanks to Melissa Lee of Sweetly Voiced for this topic suggestion.)
I’m learning to understand how things work. I’m learning that doctors and clinicians are trained to disassociate, and that separating the person from the patient helps them treat problems with a clinical clarity that can sometimes be muddied if the relationship gets in the way. I get that, and try to keep it in mind as I interact with my care team (who are pretty wonderful, most of the time).
But I do want them to see how hard I try. I want them to know that most of the time I try my best to manage my diabetes and overall health. I want them to acknowledge the effort I put in, even when it doesn’t yield the expected results.
What I’m embarrassed to share are the days where diabetes gets the best of me emotionally. Those are the days I just “check out” and often drown my sorrows in carbohydrates and destructive diabetes behavior.
As I think about it though, they really need to see those days too. They need to understand that when you live with something that is so difficult to manage, and takes so much work and energy, and grinds on you every minute of every day, and will do so forever, that there are going to be days like that.