Tomorrow, Heather and I are taking Micheala to Iowa City for her quarterly check up. Any parent of a child with diabetes knows that this is a day in which we dread. Why? Because Heather and I will be reminded of how horrible of a job that we are doing with our diabetic child.
They will do a blood draw (H1C) and go over her numbers for the past three months. They will remind us of the food pyramid, carb intake and importance of checking blood sugars (things we all know). They will tell us that we need to do a better job of....(fill in the blank) then remind us of all of the long term effects that uncontrolled diabetes can have on Micheala's body. At some point, the doctor will look at me and remind me that I need to be a role model for Micheala. In other words, somebody is getting paid a lot of money to repeat things to us that 1. we don't want to hear and 2. we hear every three months and 3. makes us feel like shit.
Alright, the angry me just spoke, but in all reality, I know that the doctors are doing the best they can to help us manage Micheala's diabetes. I have a ton of respect for Micheala's new doctor and actually am very pleased at what she has done for us. I have a philosophy that most doctors are de-sensitized of human emotion, so I intend to change that tomorrow. I am bringing back the human side of diabetes for the doctors in Iowa City tomorrow.
I will be going to Iowa City equipped with a copy of Micheala's 2012 Walk for the Cure video. I am handing a copy of the video to her doctor and encouraging her to watch it and share it with the other doctors.
My hope is that these doctors will watch this video and decide to invest in helping find or fund a cure for juvenile diabetes. My hope is that they can see diabetes through the eyes of a 6 year old and get just as disgusted as Heather and I. My hope is that they will come together and decide to eliminate juvenile diabetes.
So as Heather and I make that long trip home from Iowa City tomorrow, discussing how we feel about the conversation that the doctors and nurses had with us. trying to scare us straight and so on, I will smile just a little bit. I will smile because I know that I have left a reminder of what diabetes looks like with them. I will smile because I know that I have challenged them to watch the video, look into the eyes of Micheala in the still photos and say that children with diabetes doesn't bother them. I know that tomorrow I may make some medical professionals uncomfortable and that making those people uncomfortable will help lead to a cure.
I hear a lot of people say, "Do whatever it takes". Tomorrow I am doing whatever takes.
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