So being Diabetic means a lot of check ups for various body parts. This is my spring break, so naturally, I'm not on a beach in Florida, I'm catching up on doctor appointments. The dentist was yesterday, it was lovely, no issues, go me! Today was the eye doctor, also lovely. The thing is, this was a new eye doctor. One of those docs that finds the fact I am a Type 1 Diabetic a fact that I'll easily forget.
We start the appointment with the usual, "How long have you been Diabetic?" I reply "12 years," (the anniversary is in about 2 weeks). So he is aware that I have the knowledge and memory of being Diabetic. Had my reply been, "How long have I been a what?" I may understand the following conversation.
He starts telling me why I need to go to the eye doctor, how much easier it is to look at my eye and tell if the diabetes is affecting my organs than to biopsy my kidney. He then tells me that he's going to dilate my pupils because no other doctor can see my whole eye since they can't do that. I mean, you're an eye doctor, I expect you to be able to do a little more with eyes than my endocrinologist or whatever.
After my eyes are nice and owl-like I go back and he goes in vivid, in-depth detail about why as a diabetic I need to get my eyes checked, why, as a diabetic, he needs to look in my eyes, why, as a diabetic, my A1C needs to be great, why, as a diabetic, I need to be careful. After he tells me what I need to do, as a diabetic, he lists the reasons why he thinks being a diabetic would be hard. Every, single reason why it is difficult.
Keep in mind I can't reply, my head is in some device where I'm resting my chin in a sling and he has very, very bright lights centimeters from my eye. I can see the back of my own eyeball as he describes to me how much my life must suck, just, you know, as a diabetic.
He is not the only medical professional I have met that talks to me like the fact I have diabetes is A) news to me or B) something I can forget in the span of about 15 seconds if I go unreminded. I once fell down some stairs and the woman at student health told me about 15 times in the span of 5 minutes, "your a diabetic, this is bad." No, really? I'm human, this is bad.
Doctors of all sorts are amazing people. But the next time I encounter one who feels it is necessary to remind me of a disease I have had for 12 years or has to recount the details of why it is difficult, I will reply with complete shock and act as if I've never heard of the disease.
