Let's Change the World

I had an appointment with my diabetes doctor yesterday. 

We got through the business part of the appointment fairly quickly. 

A1C of 6.6

Cholesterol: fine

Blood pressure: fine

CGM readings are good and the fact that I achieved an A1C of 6.6 while only being below 4.0 5% of the time was the icing on the cake. 

My doctor started flipping through my file as we spoke and she spotted my one page profile. 

This is my one page profile. I gave it to the nurses and dieticians at the Diabetes Centre so that they could have a sense of who I was as a person and then be able to support me in a way that made sense for me. Because I am more than just diabetes right? And I am also different than the next person who will walk into the meeting room. 

My doctor, as it turns out, had never seen it before. 

She loved it at first sight. When I explained what it was and why I created it, she loved it even more. She asked if she could share it with some of the administrators. She asked if she could share it with some of the students. Yes, yes yes!! "Share it with whoever the hell you want" is what I said to her. 

I told her that I had used it in presentation to diabetes educators and that the feedback was extremely positive. I said that I really felt strongly that the best way to support someone is to see them as a person first rather than a diagnosis. I told her that I was speaking to a group of women with Type 1 in a few weeks and was going to talk about the difference between living with diabetes and diabetes living with me. 

My doctor told me that she had started directing patients to my blog if they were struggling with their diabetes. She said that she encouraged them to read it and contact me if they had questions. I told her that we could do even better than that. I suggested that she get their permission for me to email or call them directly. That way they don't have to find the courage to reach out to a stranger. That stranger would reach out to them. All they had to do was answer the phone. I told her that I had done that before several times and that it always worked well. 

When people are struggling, I said, it can be too much to expect them to meet you half way. Sometimes they can only meet you 25% of the way. 

By the time I left, my doctor was thanking me for my time rather than the other way around. I told her not to hesitate if she had a patient who wanted to connect with me. Not to hesitate if she saw an opportunity for me to speak with diabetes educators, medical students, patients or hospital administrators. Not to hesitate if she saw a way for us to make things a little better for people with diabetes. 

"Let's help people" I said. "Let's help change the world"

We both left the room with smiles on our faces.