The Audacity of Hope

(This is not a plug for our 44th President's book.)


Several nights ago,(on Twitter) I and several other D-friends were engaging a (parent of a newly dx'd child) in conversation.

I know what it is to be in honeymoon and hope your diabetes will just go away. And as a parent, I'm sure those feelings must be multiplied by 1000. You want only the best for your child,you don't want diabetes to be a permanant thing in your child's life. You want the doctors to be wrong, you want to be the one in a million, it was all just a fluke and it will go away soon. For most people, the reality slowly sets in...the honeymoon ends,you realize that diabetes is here to stay. But for some people,they cannot accept it...and there must be a way to make them better. God would not allow such a travesty in their lives. These are the red flag individuals that often end up in the newspaper on manslaughter related charges,after attempting to wean their child off insulin. So, yes, when someone starts making statements that their child will be cured...and quoting a inaccurate cure-all testimonial..its a tad concerning. You can only hope they won't. This person seemed to be responsible...and in communication with their child's healthcare team,and adamant that they wouldn't stop insulin without the dr's permission.(but who knows..if they believe something strongly enough, of course they're going to act on it)

I'm not sure I (or anyone else) got through to them..when someone is very convinced of something,(make that religiously convinced) it may feel like everyone else is the enemy,and out to ruin their faith. Add to that, that they are convinced they see miracles happening every night(physical ones) and one starts to wonder if they have the ability to distinguish between reality/snake oil medicine at all. At one point(in my singlehood), I went out with one of them.(thankfully it never got to the point of his trying to cure my diabetes)

Hope is a powerful drug,and we all wish for a cure, but the reality is, there has never been anyone supermiracuously cured.(of either type 1, or type 2) And unfortunately, when one charges out ahead, intent on curing the diabetes,the person with diabetes soon ends up quite ill,or dead. I think hope, diabetes,and God can peacefully coexist,I believe God gave us the tools to take care of ourselves(and have a life expectancy far beyond what it was in 1921.) One can pick any verse out of the Bible,& quote it till they're blue in the face...and beyond making themselves appear seriously ignorant of how God actually interacts with the real world,its just like talking to a brick wall. They don't consider any other alternatives,having a debate isn't really possible from either perspective.(medical facts, or theology)So they go back to their favorite verse and cling to that. I am not bashing Christians,(I am one)but its like an EMT walking into an operating room and doing quadruple bypass surgery.(they have no clue what they're really saying,just like an EMT would not do surgery correctly)Their doctor needs to stay involved(very heavily involved),and have CPS out there the moment something seems remotely fishy. Denial is one thing, but a child's life is quite another. You never really know what someone will do.