[Places carefully nurtured positive attitude to one side, rolls up sleeves...]
- For all the people who will leave their doctor's surgery today having heard those hateful words
- For all the kids (and adults) who have been bullied for "bein' fat and lazy, and havin' eaten too many sweets, ha! ha!" and all the other lies, prejudices and misconceptions you revel in
- For all the families who grieve for someone you stole from them
- For all the minutes, on all the days, in all of the last 20 years that I've had to waste thinking about you
- For hanging over each one of us, our families and loved ones like a fetid black cloud full of the threat of coma and complications
- For your inconsistency
- For making 'feeling a bit hungry' a possible signal of a life-threatening medical emergency rather than just being a bit peckish and your attempts to suck the joy out of every single mealtime
- For the anxiety you caused my parents (and still do) when they blame themselves, worry what they did wrong, and wonder whether any of their grandchildren will 'get it now'
- For robbing my life of what little spontaneity I ever possessed
- For the sheer spirit-crushing, unrelenting, never-ending, no-days-off-ever grind of it all
Number 7 - It was only after discussing it with my parents 30 years later I discovered my grandmother (my dad's mum) placed a huge amount of blame on my mother for what she had given me to eat in my short 3 years before diagnosis.
ReplyDeleteAs a parent now I can only imagine the guilt she felt and how that must have really hurt - and then obviously I'll ignore the years of pain I caused by not really caring about it whilst my mum did.
Good list Mike, can relate to so much of that.
ReplyDeleteI only found out recently that when my mother told my grandmother about my diagnosis (I was just about to turn 21) she was greeted with, "Well no-one will have him now, will they?". Nice.
ReplyDeleteOh and apologies Dave, I shuffled the order after you commented. And now it looks like *you* got it wrong! ;)
ReplyDeleteBrilliant. So heartfelt, & I completely agree!
ReplyDeleteI hope that felt good to get that off of your chest! I agree with all of these. Number 9 is something I really hate and I don't think gets talked about enough.
ReplyDeleteGreat post Mike!
ReplyDeleteApologies to everyone who posted nice comments yesterday. Unfortunately they seem to have been lost, but they were much appeciated
ReplyDeleteHi Mike, thanks for this post - especially agree with no 4 pasted below (I can't begin to explain to a non-diabetic just how much of my life diabetes has taken up, in thought and actions)
ReplyDeleteFor all the minutes, on all the days, in all of the last 20 years that I've had to waste thinking about you