Blissful Ignorance

So it happened again today...a well meaning dental assistant at Megan's orthodontist said, "How is her diabetes?  Is it any better?"  I tried to be patient and said she was doing fine.  I didn't launch into the tirade I wanted to about how it never is going to get better so I felt proud that I held my tongue.  :)  She asked if Megan had the juvenile kind and I said yes.  She said, and I quote, "Oh, she has the bad kind."  ?!?!?  I felt like I was watching the video on you tube of stupid things people say.  Then she proceeded to tell me that I needed to be careful about how I take care of her because her old bosses daughter had the juvenile kind - and she just turned 27 and has lost her sight.  Perfect!  Thank you so much for sharing.  Are people really that ignorant?  I understand that she was trying to be nice and helpful but for the love of God people, think before you speak!  Megan of course heard her tell me about the vision thing and said "Mom, can I really lose my vision?".  I felt so bad that she heard that well meaning but ignorant comment.  The point is that the dental assistant can afford to be ignorant.  We obviously can't, which is fortunate for her but annoying to me.

It just reinforces to me how important it is to educate the general public on the reality of type 1 diabetes.  How Megan is most likely going to be just fine - and that her doctor said she will likely be more healthy than a non diabetic person because she has had to take better care of herself.   How we know the risks to her health if we don't manage it properly.  Anyone that makes ignorant comments like that about making sure we handle it properly should be forced to walk a day in a type 1 parent's shoes to see exactly how much we do handle it.  Maybe then they would learn to think before they speak.  I certainly would never walk up to someone with a chronic illness and warn them to take good care of themselves or bad things could happen.  Duh!  Enough said...  :)