Today our challenge is if we could swap diabetes for another chronic illness which would it be AND has being in the DOC (Diabetes Online Community) changed the way you treat others with different medical conditions.
As many of you know, we deal with another chronic illness in our family. Our son, Jackson, was born with Severe Hemophilia A. This means his blood does not clot. He receives his blood clotting medicine through an IV infusion that we administer twice weekly; sometimes more if he has a bleed. Every fall, bump, scratch, skinned knee is a potential need for his medicine. Oh and the best part of hemophilia (insert sarcasm here) is he can have spontaneous bleeds and internal bleeding. That knot on his head from where he hit it on the table as he was hiding from someone can be a potential risk for him. The fall he took when he was 18 months old and fell on a toy car ending with a hip bleed (internal) that resulted in him not walking required extra infusions. While it's not as everyday hands on as diabetes it certainly can be just as life threatening.
So would I switch diabetes for hemophilia? NO.
Would I switch diabetes for another chronic illness? NO.
Each chronic illness has its own set of rules and different life threatening issues.
I'm sure if you asked a person with MS, Fibromyalgia, Juvenile Arthritis or any other chronic illness they wouldn't say their illness is a walk in the park. Nor do I think they would say, "Sure! I'll take T1D instead!"
Part 2: Does being in the DOC change the way I treat others with different medical conditions?
Right around the time Nora was diagnosed my friends son was diagnosed with Autism. She showed me that maybe the kid acting out at the grocery store wasn't ill behaved but maybe he was on sensory overload. She showed me that maybe the kid that doesn't respond when spoken too isn't rude but rather focusing on something else to block out all the other distractions. So I tend to look at people differently. I try to not be quick to judge, to listen and to learn. The answer to the question is yes, if having three kids with chronic illness has taught me nothing else but compassion then so be it. Lesson learned.
