LifeAfterDx--Diabetes Uncensored

A internet journal from one of the first T1 Diabetics to use continuous glucose monitoring. Copyright 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016

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Location: New Mexico, United States

Hi! I’m William “Lee” Dubois (called either Wil or Lee, depending what part of the internet you’re on). I’m a diabetes columnist and the author of four books about diabetes that have collectively won 16 national and international book awards. (Hey, if you can’t brag about yourself on your own blog, where can you??) I have the great good fortune to pen the edgy Dear Abby-style advice column every Saturday at Diabetes Mine; write the Diabetes Simplified column for dLife; and am one of the ShareCare diabetes experts. My work also appears in Diabetic Living and Diabetes Self-Management magazines. In addition to writing, I’ve spent the last half-dozen years running the diabetes education program for a rural non-profit clinic in the mountains of New Mexico. Don’t worry, I’ll get some rest after the cure. LifeAfterDx is my personal home base, where I get to say what and how I feel about diabetes and… you know… life, free from the red pens of editors (all of whom I adore, of course!).

Thursday, February 02, 2012

Apparently I’m a jackass and a bonehead

As of last night, all the women in my world are mad at me. By the end of the day today, no doubt, all the women in the entire world will be mad at me.

Why, you ask?

A lapse of biopsy etiquette on my part. You see, yesterday’s post was damn near real-time. I started writing it immediately after it happened. The punch biopsy was just before lunch and my cheek was so numb I was afraid I’d bite myself if I started eating. And I wanted to capture the smoke-snake image in words while it was still dancing across my retina.

The entry done, minutes before my first afternoon patient, I quickly posted it to the internet and got on with my day.

I did not, however, call my wife first.

Or my mother.

Or my sisters, my niece, my mother-in-law, my gal friends, my female editors, my lady colleagues, my woman associates, my girl fans, my mistress, or my maid. OK, I made up that last part. I don’t have a maid.

So I’m a bit unpopular right now.

But this does pose a legitimate question of medical ethics for patients. Who do you tell what, and when do you tell them? Right now we know nothing. Why worry people? Of course, blogging about it lets the cat out of the bag and isn’t helping my argument… I confess, I always forget that many of my loved ones read my blog. My bad. But this is still a question patients have to wrestle with every day. And one I don’t think that we, as a society, talk about enough.

Now back to all the pissed-off women. In my own defense, it’s not like Debbie was totally out of the loop like the time I had all the symptoms of a heart attack and drove myself to the ER only to come home hours later with a bouquet of flowers, pills, reams of instructions, and missing patches of chest hair from the EKG. This time she was the one who insisted that I get a medical opinion about it.

And it’s not like she stumbled across the post by accident. I sent her an email telling her to check it out. I guess she expected the doctor to say it was nothing to worry about. It never occurred to her I might be getting a same-day biopsy.

She’s freaking the fuck out. And she’s pissed. And she’s worried. It would be kind of sweet if it didn’t come with all the insults and foul language and flying dishes.

Me? I don’t know what to feel. But I do know I don’t like one other aspect all too common in modern medicine: waiting. Now, you all know I have a well-documented (but currently medicated and controlled) eBay addiction. But eBay stresses me out as much as it makes me happy. Waiting to see if I’ve won or lost can put me in a near catatonic state. And even if I win, I hate waiting for the damn delivery. If I want something, I want it now. Not in two weeks. Not next week. Not tomorrow. Not this evening. Not in an hour. I want it NOW.

Of course in this arena of medicine, waiting is just a fact. There is no speeding it up. And there is no point in letting your mind run down dark alleys while you are waiting. It will be what it will be, and I’m not thinking about it until I know what it is I need to think about.

But to preserve my sanity, like avoiding eBay, I am so avoiding entering dermoid cyst or melanoma into a search engine.

At least until the biopsy report comes back.

Instead, today, I’m spending my time at online florists. Sorry ladies.

4 Comments:

Blogger Mike Hoskins said...

First, I'm sorry to hear about the biopsy issues, my friend. As far as the share-before-posting - been there myself. I had that come up in various situations that I didn't deem "a big deal" yet I was informed that it didn't matter, I still as obligated to tell her first. My parents? Yes, that's why I self-sensor some items so as to not freak-them-the-Eff out about something. Like my depression, or whatever else may be going on. The online world we live in, I suppose. Anyhow, hope the florist helps and all else turns out OK. Best you way, Wil.

1:57 PM  
Blogger George said...

Here's to an "all clear" on the "it" front.

I always get busted for sharing news online before home. I like to type more than I like to talk.

Shoot, I better send some flowers too.

2:06 PM  
Anonymous Colleen said...

Yup, flowers... along with a promise to "never do that again."
Still hoping for a good report for you.

4:32 PM  
Anonymous Sysy said...

Aw shucks, I use foul language (and screaming) when I'm worried about my husband, too. Flowers are good though. So is a little dark chocolate.... I just went through something similar in the sense that I was told that I had crazy looking moles all over my back that I needed to get biopsies for. So far one has been done and is benign. Hoping you get the same news.

5:24 PM  

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