empathy

Coffee Date #1: Laura Marston + Insulin

Many thanks to Laura Marston for joining us as the inaugural guest on Very Light, No Sugar’s Coffee Dates interview series.  With a template similar to the brief “getting to know you” interviews in pop culture magazines, VLNS’ Coffee Dates provides a snapshot of important people, entities, and topics in the healthcare world.

 

A:  I just have to ask: How badass is it to be a video game lawyer?

L:  It’s an absolute dream job. I work alongside the most brilliant minds in the gaming industry (*cough* Todd Howard *cough*) and work for a truly incredible company. Plus, after spending ten years working for large law firms as an IP trial attorney, I’m just happy I don’t have to wear a suit. 🙂

 

A:  You have elevated the insulin access and affordability causes through Twitter and interviews with the likes of the Washington Post. Even President Obama has noticed your humble yet lifesaving advocacy! What would you recommend to individuals looking to get more involved, whether at the local level or beyond?

L:  Start small. Start anywhere. TELL YOUR STORY because it’s important and it matters. You may be surprised who relates (in my case, it happened to be Senator Bernie Sanders!) Passion and the truth will trump greed and lies every. single. time. And our passion is endless because our lives literally depend on this issue.

 

A:  If you were to describe the affordable insulin cause in 140 characters (give or take- humor me here!) to someone who does not know much about diabetes, what would you highlight? 

L:  The patent for insulin was sold in 1921 for $3. Almost 100 years later, a month’s supply of insulin costs over $1,000. The price of insulin affects not just the un- or underinsured, but all of us. Our country was founded upon the individual rights to life and liberty. All humans need insulin to live, and injections of insulin are necessary to sustain life for T1Ds. Thus, access to insulin is a basic, fundamental human right.

 

A:  What’s up next for 2017? 

L:  Look for more localized advocacy work, as well as a federal advocacy initiative highlighting the importance of the ACA in the wake of skyrocketing insulin prices. Anyone interested in getting involved in our US-specific insulin advocacy efforts should contact me at laura.marston@gmail.com.

 

A:  Cream in your coffee?

L:  Cream + about a million Splenda. 🙂

Localized Empathy

Boston traffic sucks.

Especially in the summertime.

To save myself some unnecessary frustration, I did something that I do not normally do: booked a few local medical appointments here in Rhode Island.

Don’t get me wrong: In my graduate studies I met many nurses and healthcare folks who work in our small state and do a darn good job making patients well.  But, having begun my care in Boston at a young age, I historically stuck with the endearingly-nicknamed “Mecca of Healthcare” for my treatment.

An hour commute is a small price to pay for the best healthcare on earth.  I grew up in the Joslin waiting room, watching families fly in from all over the world to seek help for their kids.  I accompanied my #MedX bestie, Danielle Edges, and her brave daughter, Alex, when they traveled to Boston Children’s Hospital from Phoenix, AZ, earlier this year.  Trust me: Boston has it going on, and I am always cognizant of how blessed I am to live relatively close to these topnotch facilities.

The problem, though, is that my trips have not been an hour commute for as long as I can remember lately.  Between traffic coming from and going to Boston, as well as time with the provider, I am usually gone for 6 to 8 hours per appointment.  The bags underneath my eyes were growing larger by the day, and my attitude was strained.  I needed a break.

So, I made a pact with myself: For reasons of self-care, I would book some “non-essential” appointments back home in Lil Rhody.  While every medical appointment is certainly important, the urgency is not necessarily there for this local stuff, versus the “essential” diabetes tune-ups that I receive in Boston.

One hot afternoon in July, I gulped down my coffee and headed inside a RI dermatologist’s office.  I have experienced itchy-then-painful blisters on my hands since childhood, and no doctor has ever been able to crack the code.  If the best providers in Boston specializing in autoimmune disorders don’t know, how will anyone else? I naively wondered.  But, with the commute being a mere 15 minutes, it was worth a shot.

I arrived early to fill out new patient paperwork as instructed.  Parking had been easy- no expensive, overfilled parking garages.  The receptionist and intake nurse were both friendly.  And finally, it was time to see the doctor.  She was kind and concise.

“Do you have a blister right now?”

“Yes.  It’s healing,” I replied, extending my hand for further inspection.

“Oh, I know exactly what this is.  It’s dyshidrotic eczema- common in diabetics.  I’m actually shocked that you went through decades of your life with no diagnosis for this; how awful!  I’ll prescribe you some hydrocortisone creams which should help,” RI Doctor advised.

+1 for the local expert!  

I am a little miffed that Boston dropped the ball on this for so long, considering I looked like a burn victim who couldn’t hold a pencil in third grade due to the severity of the blisters.  However, I am SO grateful to finally have an answer and effective treatment options!

Then it was time for the mole check.  Melanoma does not discriminate between right arm or left arm, right butt cheek or left butt cheek.  Almost every inch of the body is observed to ensure safety.  Smart, yet still kind of awkward…

“Just so you know, I’m wearing a…” I began.

“A thong?” RI Doctor replied.

We’ve seen it all, honey, the observing nurse thought.

“Actually, it’s a continuous glucose monitor for my type 1 diabetes.  It’s on my…”

*Ten seconds later*

“Oh!  Good thing you warned me!”  RI Doctor exclaimed, having located the sensor where the sun doesn’t often shine.

As odd as it was to have a conversation while naked in a room among new acquaintances, the professionalism and thoroughness of the doctor made the experience more bearable.  I felt at ease knowing that the eczema- which has for years induced a stress response in my body, and, therefore, my BGs- would finally be tamed, and that the funky mole on my ribs was nothing dangerous.

“When were you diagnosed with type 1?” RI Doctor asked.

“Just before my third birthday.”

“And your parents caught it early?”

“Early enough that I survived.  But I was in DKA.”

And then I thought again about the little boy whose name I still do not know, who passed away from complications of T1D diagnosed too late, just a few days before my arrival in the same ER.

“Wow.  That must have been so hard,” RI Doctor wondered aloud.

“Yeah…”

“That must have been so hard.  It is so hard,” she pushed.

“It is…” I admitted.

 

And there it was: the truth, exposed.  Diabetes is hard.  But we’re still fighting.

Sometimes localized empathy makes all the difference.

#weneedacure

 

“Uh-huh.”

When I adopt my future child (see here), the phrase “uh-huh” will probably be worthy of a “Swear Jar” donation according to Ally’s Little Book of Rules.  (All proceeds will go directly to diabetes research- let’s chill out, please!)

“Uh-huh” offends me not because of what it says, but because of what it does not say.  It is an empty phrase which does not even pretend to hide its indifference.

I will be the first to admit that I tend to get overly excited about nerdy diabetes-related things.  I follow diabetes stocks and press releases on my cell phone, enthusiastically peruse the blogosphere, keep up with DiaTribe and DiabetesMine articles, and look for every opportunity to discuss the information I devour.  I have pledged to my doctors on many occasions that I will take a break from healthcare information overload, but it proves to be a difficult task when fighting for your health every day.  Diabetes and healthcare are interests which are inextricably intertwined with my very existence.  They are not the totality of who I am as a person, but they are passions of mine with very stubborn “off” switches.

However, diabetes and healthcare are not everyone else’s passions.  So when I am rambling on and on at happy hour about the latest blood glucose meter technology or that one time I ate the entire carton of ice cream during a nighttime hypoglycemic episode, I need to take a step back and realize that others may not be quite as into this stuff as I am.  Fair enough.  If I could be cured of diabetes tomorrow, I would jump at the chance.  Although I suspect that my interests in diabetes and healthcare may not subside once I am cured, I would not mind finding a new, less serious interest to take up some of my time.  Badminton, anyone?

“Uh-huh” is suitable if I am boring you at the bar with a story that you do not really care about.  “Uh-huh” is not acceptable if I am talking about something deeply emotional that affects my health.  Dexcom software upgrades are one thing, but my personal health triumphs and tribulations are quite another.  If I am describing a diabetes incident that spooked me or a frustrating few days of persistently high blood sugars, I am opening up to you because I want you to hear me.  I trust you.  I want you to value what I am saying as important, to empathize, to not pretend that you know the answers but to simply be there for me nonetheless. 

When you say “uh-huh” on the other end of the phone and change the channel on the television running in the background, what I hear is not “uh-huh.”  Instead, the message conveyed is, “I am sick of this same old story.  Diabetes sucks.  I get it.”  You know what?  It does suck.  And it may continue to suck.  It’s diabetes, and it’s a selfish jerkface.  Sure, I have experienced a rough year of diabetes transitions (insulin pumping to MDI to every emotion felt along the way), but I do not get to “uh-huh” away this disease.  I sure as heck hope that it is not especially difficult every day until there is a cure, but sometimes there are long stretches of time where diabetes is a royal pain in the a$$, whether or not we are talking about Lantus burn at backside injection sites.

We are all human, though, and I caught myself “uh-huh-ing” a friend last week.  My coworkers and I are working from home a majority of the time now, a nice perk for those of us who require multiple cups of coffee before we are properly-functioning each morning.  The downside to working at home is that we do not have one another within walking distance if we need help.  Recently, my friend (let’s call him Jason) called my cell to seek advice on a difficult case.  My blood sugar was a bit rocky in that moment, and I felt the familiar brain fog that accompanies those overtired, rollercoaster health days.

“I’m thinking if we use this regulation, I should be denying this issue,” he said.

“Yeah, but I just emailed you the updated guidance.  We can grant benefits only if that particular symptom is present, which it is here,” I replied, as we went back and forth with medical evidence and legal stipulations to try to make the right decision.

The more we interpreted the guidance on the case, the more I found myself nodding and saying, “right, right, uh-huh” as I clicked through online documents, only half-paying attention to what Jason was trying to tell me at this point.

Frankly, I had made up my mind about what we should do on the case five minutes earlier, and I wanted him to be on the same page.  Eventually, our viewpoints fell somewhere in the middle and we were able to move forward.

The moral of the story is that everybody “uh-huhs” now and then.  At times, I am guilty of what I am critiquing here, too.  So what are we going to do to fix this?

Society often incorrectly relates empathy to having actual experience in the particular situation occurring.  For example, a cancer patient can empathize with another cancer patient, but a person untouched by illness cannot offer any valuable input.  I do not personally believe this.  First off, every person’s cancer or diabetes or death of a parent or any other difficult cross to bear has its own nuances.  We are all different people from different backgrounds with different struggles.  But the common denominator is that we are all human beings.  Because of this, we all know how to empathize.  It does not mean that we have to experience carbon copies of one another’s pain.  Rather, we simply have to offer up messages of support.

Instead of saying “uh-huh” when I describe an aggravating diabetes day, say something like, “I’m sorry.  That sounds so tiring.  Let me know if you need to chat later.”  Please listen.  If I wanted to talk to an empty space, I’d jump rope to the beat of a diabetes jingle or throw a tennis ball against the wall while collecting my thoughts.  But instead, I have chosen to tell you, someone who is so important to me and my diabetes fight.

Acknowledge my pain, but do not feel like you have to magically erase it for me.  Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.  Nowhere in that verse do I hear the phrase “uh-huh.”

I pledge to support you in the same ways that I want to be supported- devoid of “uh-huhs” but generous in understanding.  If I do not know what to say, I will attempt to think twice before muttering an empty rationalization.  “At least it’s not XYZ” belittles the struggle.  Instead, I’ll speak the truth next time: “ABC is very difficult.  Please know that I’m here for you.”  We cannot suddenly cure illness overnight, but we can make a more concerted effort to see each other through tough times.

From now on, let’s walk together, instead of “uh-huh-ing” each other.  Promise?