I'm a type 1 diabetic and had to go for my joyous annual foot check. I'm a teacher so always go in the holidays and today I ended up having to take ds with me.
When I went in the nurse asked if I was type 1 or 2. When I said type 1 she asked if I took insulin. I said yes and she said sagely 'yes yes, it's important to take insulin if you're a type 1 diabetic.' Startling information given that I've had the condition 23 years.
She then went on at length about how important it is to have your feet checked. This is what she said:
You must have your feet checked, it's very important because being diabetic means you might have to have your feet amputated. That means cut off! Or even your legs. We still have people being amputated even now. I can think of three in the last few years. One was a heavy drug user, one was morbidly obese and didnt look after himself and the third never attended any hospital appointments or took her insulin and had also gone blind.
Lovely. Well those situations don't apply to me happily. She then said: just because you're young you can't ignore the condition. Young people always think it won't happen to them but you could easily have to have your feet cut off.
I'm 32 by the way. So not that young. And I'm very very very careful with my diabetes. Very. I attend every check I need to, I test my sugars, I exercise, I watch what I eat, my hbA1c is always excellent. Basically I do my very best so to be told 'just because I'm young doesn't mean I can ignore it' is annoying. I'm not bloody ignoring it!
Anyway what annoyed me the most was the fact ds (5) was drinking all the information in and is now worried that a) I will have my feet cut off and b) I'll go blind.
Furthermore when we went in ds said cheerfully 'we're here for mommy not me, I'm not diabetic.'
And then just as we left the nurse said to me 'he might not be diabetic yet but his risk is much higher because of you.'
So now he's worried about that too. I was well aware of the increased risk but it wasn't something I particularly wanted him to be aware of at the age of 5 unless necessary.
I suppose the answer is not to take him with me but id no one else to have him and given that I'm at work when he's at school and it's tricky for me to get term time off I didn't have much option.
Sorry it's long but seriously, was there any need? She was so patronising too. She spoke to me as if I was a child. Why go on and on about amputation when it's clear I take the diabetes seriously. If I was poorly controlled and rarely attended appointments I could understand them trying to impress the importance of it to me but I already know it's important. That's why I go!