Eavesdropping

At the office yesterday all full time employees were having a health screen done for life insurance. I am opting out this time, but will most likely get it in the future. I always come in early on Tuesdays because Tuesdays are all staff days. I don’t like them very much because one you can’t get half as much done as you would like, two the office is crazy loud and chaotic, and three well I don’t really have a third, I just didn’t want to say this and that. Any who, I choose to come in early on Tuesdays to enjoy the peace and quiet until it’s lost. But yesterday the office was already buzzing when I arrived due to the health screens.

When I settled into my desk for the day I overheard a conversation between the other diabetic on staff and the health screener. Sarah asked “for the diabetes section, is that more for type 2 or type 1”? The screener replied “you need to put down that you have diabetes if you have diabetes” or something along those lines. That’s when my interest peaked. The screener then asked Sarah who clearly told her she had Type 1 “are you on medication for your diabetes”? Uh….What??? Did she really just ask that??  Sarah very kindly corrected her with “yes, I am on insulin because I have Type 1 which means I don’t produce insulin”. At this point I was shhing the people around so I could listen to the conversation better. Had there been popcorn nearby I would have been eating it, it was that exciting to watch. Then the screener replied, “well not all Type 1 diabetics are on insulin”. I’m sorry come again... was what my insides were screaming. Sarah just let it be while I was dying at my desk with utter shock on my face.

Moments like these and people like this makes me wonder what is going on with our medical field. I can handle when I am talking to someone about diabetes and they mix the two types up, but I cannot handle when a medical professional lumps the two types together. Talking to other diabetics this is often the case. Maybe we need to reexamine how we are teaching the world about diabetes. Maybe instead of making the focus be on one type of diabetes, we should start focusing on all types and teaching people the difference between them.