OK, you guys already know this stuff. But here I am with Dr. Steve Edelman and CWD founder Jeff Hitchcock talking up diabetes on the Internet. (Note: Don’t mind my left eyebrow, which looks extremely weird — what can you expect without pro hair & makeup support?)
btw, did anyone catch this week’s debut of the New York Times new online column “Doctor and Patient,” by Dr. Pauline W. Chen? Chen is a liver transplant and cancer surgeon, who “has treated some of the medical system’s sickest patients. And she has seen firsthand how the growing rift between doctors and patients has hurt patient care.” Her first column, about how “more and more Americans feel disconnected from their doctors,” garnered hundreds of reader comments, via the NYT Well blog. Doctors and patients “have lost the ability to converse thoughtfully with one another,” Chen writes.
We chronic patients knew that already. That’s why it’s so important for us to feel connected to each other via the Internet. Roger?
Great interview and thanks for the shout-out! I don’t know why you always comment so negatively on your looks – I think you look great!
Great video, and could not figure out what was wierd about your eyebrow.
The internet and online communities have really encouraged me. Not only am I gaining some control over this thing, I’ve reversed some very negative thinking. It’s incredible that it has made such a difference. To be able to tune in to other individual’s experiences, pleasures and pains, and learn their tricks, to really educate myself, which no single book or manual can approach, has given me such a feeling of purpose and hope, all that I thought I had lost, and turned this thing into something I have and can cope with, instead of something that I am, and must banish. I think that’s one of the biggest things, going from being a Jonas to being a person who can ford a flooded river. It’s a great thing you are doing, Amy and other fellow bloggers. Please keep it up and know you are providing an invaluable service, and most of all, keep it as honest as you have been doing.
Stop the negative reinforcement. Do not think, ‘I am a diabetic.’ Instead, think, ‘I am a human being who cannot digest sugars properly.’ This is not denial. It is facing the situation head-on.