#IWishPeopleKnewthatDiabetes

This hashtag was Kelly's idea. I learned about it on Facebook and decided I needed to participate.

I wish people knew that diabetes...

Isn't a punchline for a joke.
Diabetes is just another way of saying "I became such a fat bastard I can no longer be trusted with sugar".

Official food of the 2012 Olympic Games: McDonalds

Official drink of the 2012 Olympic Games: Coca Cola

Official disease of the 2012 Olympic Games: Type 2 Diabetes

And on they go. 

I wish people knew that I couldn't have avoided diabetes. I couldn't have avoided myasthenia gravis. I couldn't have avoided thymoma cancer. I just couldn't do anything different with the f*cked-up body I have. My body is falling apart and it takes all of my courage and strength just keeping it together. Assuming I contributed to having diabetes is unfair. Assuming people who have diabetes brought it on themselves is untrue and unfair. Type 1, or Type 2, or various assorted diabetes subtypes, all suck. No one deserves something that sucks as much as diabetes.

How I wish the people who make jokes about diabetes could live with it. Dinner is ready. It's really hot and I'm so hungry. I think I'd like to sit down and calculate how many grams of carbs are in this. And then stick a sharp lancet in my finger and test my blood sugar. And then do an algebra problem in my head to figure out how much insulin to bolus. And then deal with the sting from the insulin going in too fast. And... now dinner is cold.

Oh, that is hilarious. Isn't it? No, it's annoying. Diabetes jokes lack compassion, and heap guilt and blame on people who live with diabetes. They make it sound like it's fun. It isn't. Next person who tells me one will get a free blood sugar test. I'll make sure to crank my Fastclix lancet to depth 5, first.