A medal that represents 10 years of struggling with type 1 diabetes. Its just so weird that i now have something that i can hold in my hand that represents everything I’ve been through. I realize I’m a bit late in getting this. On the 21st, i will have this disease for 18 years. But it doesn’t matter; it’s better late than never. Whenever diabetes starts to get the best of me, I can look at this to remind myself of how far I’ve come.
When I was first diagnosed, I was a small 5 year old child hooked up to IV’s and getting many, many shots and needles and pricks in the hospital for a week. Both me and my parents were scared of what was going to happen next. Now I’m a grown adult in college making everyone proud. Diabetes is not going to stop me.
Congratulations! You should get recognition for dealing with diabetes in addition what everyone else deals with in life. This is an extra assignment that you didn’t signed up for, an accomplishment, indeed. Good for you!
I now right? Life is hard enough as is. But I have some good news. They say it takes 10,000 hours of experience to become an expert in something. I now have 157,000+ hours! I’m like a grand master at this diabetes thing now
Congrats!! I recently got my 25 year medal and it feels like someone is saying “Good job”, and that’s something that we don’t hear often enough. We work hard everyday just to stay alive, and we deserve a medal!
That concept is explored in detail in Malcolm Gladwell’s Outliers. Once I realized my experience with diabetes dominated even the most experienced doctor’s, it gave me the confidence to see them in a more realistic light. Compared to we people with diabetes, they actually have very little experience with dosing insulin and so many of the tactics we use to stay alive. The treatment knowledge they do have is more general and does not necessarily apply to our unique circumstance. Now, I do respect the body of knowledge they possess that I don’t but I take great pride in the depth of what I know about diabetes. I expect them to respect that expertise or the relationship can be rocky.
Joslin used to give out medals at 25 years, but now it is just a certificate. Too many Type 1’s making it to 25 years now! I have the 25-year certificate and am hoping to make it to 50 years to get my Joslin medal. 11 years to go:-) I did get the 25-year medal from Lilly.
The way I see it is that doctors collective research for centuries and thousands of interactions with a variety of different patients are what give us, you and i, the ability to be out own experts… They aren’t individual experts on our unique condition-- we are… But without doctors, insulin wouldn’t even be available and we’d all be dead.
Exactly. I’ve always felt that doctors are essential for those of us just starting out, drastically changing treatment options (like MDI to pump and vise versa) and also for researching new and improved treatments/ a cure, but after 18 years, I find that having to go to an endo every 3 months just to get new prescriptions and a1c test is just a waste of everyone’s time.
You’re right @Sam19. Neither we nor doctors operate in a vacuum. I go to an endo every three months partly because Medicare requires me to to qualify for pump supply coverage. But I also know that doctors’ knowledge exceeds mine in a more comprehensive way. What bothers me about them is that they don’t know what they don’t know. Many of them seem to believe that they know how to dose insulin.
Over the years, they only made vague and sketchy suggestions about short term control and they never followed up with me after the fact. Like a phone cal asking, “How did that basal-rate change I suggested work out?” Now I’m enough of a realist to know that the modern endocrinologist does not have the time or the energy to provide this custom care. It was only when I decided to take the initiative and figure it out did I have any real long-term success.
When CDEs started showing up in the '90s, I thought that perhaps they could spend some time with me and follow problems through to at least a temporary solution. That didn’t work out either. I found their skill-set in dosing insulin as too text-book and unable to flex. One big exception was when I consulted with CDE Gary Scheiner. I made solid long-term gains under his care. But I had to listen to some sniping remarks from my endo when I mentioned this success.
In fact, for many people, trying to implement insulin treatment changes is like getting moment to moment advice on how to drive a car or ride a bike. Until you take it on as your responsibility and give it a fling then you never learn enough to independently succeed at the skill. That includes risking to make mistakes, the ultimate teacher.
I’ll never again have the deep unexamined respect that I once felt for doctors. But that’s OK. They know enough to be useful but it’s pretty much on your shoulders to tease the useful from the BS they sometimes offer. They’re just human beings like you and me. That’s good enough.
I’ve had to accept myself that there just isn’t much for them to tell me… I already have tight control, I’ve read almost every book out there on how to manage insulin, I self adjust my doses on a regular basis, I’m very careful with it, I test a lot and make well informed decisions regarding my treatment multiple times each day-- What magic words could they say to me that would offer any real benefit to me? None… So I won’t hold my breath waiting for it… But guys like you and I are the exception to the rule in that regard… The typical insulin dependent diabetic in this country has terrible control… And while you might just get vague, BS comments with little follow up-- maybe that’s because there really isn’t a whole lot to actually tell you… I have to assume their comments are intended to be more meaningful and in depth to someone who’s blood sugars are wildly out of control, who lacks the motivation, education, skills, or tools, that you do. That’s part of why they don’t have anything to helpful to offer you… In your case, it’s like giving a dollar to a millionaire…
