My sister.
She is not compliant. I worry about her and my mother does not see the difference between us and I need to explain so she can maybe help her – God knows they would never listen to me.
She is not compliant, has swelled to over 400 lbs.
I am compliant. I have lost 100 lbs and gone off insulin.
She is not compliant. Has trouble with BP, cholesterol, leg ulcers.
I am compliant - a1C of 5.1, normal BP, excellent cholesterol numbers.
She doesn’t stay on her diet.
I am low carb/no carb (which works for me) and am steady Eddie on my eating.
She is on crutches to walk and can’t do stairs.
I go to the Y several days a week and work out 1/2 an hour and track my daily steps.
I would love to help her get on track, but I am invisible.
My mom talks to me as if I was my sister – I am not my sister.
She tells me to lose weight and eat right and why don’t I exercise more. I keep explaining that my doctor is very happy with me, I’m very happy with me and that she should support me maybe helping my sister who is the one in crisis.
I am not my sister.
So why do I write this. OK, I need to vent. Because when you are invisible, its nice to think someone out there might read this and either help someone near them that needs help like my sister, or helps them selves with this as a wake up call.
I write it because when you are invisible sometimes you need to sort it out in your head and double check that you are not nuts. My mom looks at me like I’m nuts sometimes. Maybe she sees me as my sister and is worried so she berates me, but I’d rather she listen and take notes and pass them on to my sister who might listen to mom.
I write this because sometimes being invisible is frustrating and if nothing else I have found there are people on tuDiabetes who care and actually get it - understand my ‘diabetes’ perspective (if there is such a thing) and have responses that make sense.
Thank you for listening. For me that is a rare precious gift.