When the doctor becomes a patient

As a family practitioner, Dr. Key treated hundreds ofpatients with diabetes. Then one day, his doctor told him he had developeddiabetes. Dr. Key shares this experience with Diabetes Health monitor in hisown words.

Oh my gosh, I’ve got diabetes. I have type 2 diabetes. How canthat be? I’m a retired physician. I don’t get sick—not with a disease likediabetes mellitus anyway. Sugar diabetes is what my patients call it. I knowdiabetes is more than just increased sugar (glucose) in the blood, though.

I knew my glucose levels were scooting up. My doctor, whohas insulin-requiring diabetes himself, had been harping at me to watch mydiet. I watched it all right—with every bite. I never saw a cookie I didn’tlike.

Now, however, I am confronted with my own disease state. Iknow what can happen to people with elevated blood sugar over time. I couldlook forward to an increased risk of heart disease, kidney failure, blindness,and loss of a toe or foot, just to mention a few problems. I can’t make thoserisks go away. I can just reduce them by getting control of my blood glucose.

I know the why and how of diabetes. It’s just that theyapplied to my patients, not me. I’ve told hundreds how to watch their diet,keep their weight down, see their eye doctor frequently, and check their feetfor infections. Now that I’m the patient, I know how tough it is for them tofollow those instructions. I like to eat. I don’t like sticking myself twice aday to check my sugar level. I especially don’t like telling my doctor whatthose numbers are if I haven’t been paying attention to my diet and exercise.

My doctor referred me to the hospital where speciallytrained nurses and dietitians run a program for people with newly diagnoseddiabetes. I know as much as they do, I thought, but went because it was I—notthe doctor “I” but the husband and grandfather “I”—who must face this problem.Knowing about something and doing something about it are often different things.

Embarrassingly, the nurses remembered me. Here I was not incharge, I told them. I was there to learn as a patient.

I watched my fellow classmates file in. New patients, andsome repeaters, made up the class. One fellow sat quietly while his wife tooknotes and asked questions. His blood glucose had been over 1,000 mg/dL in theemergency room. Now he was being treated. But who was watching his habits, hisdiet?

Observing this lack of participation in his own care, thenurse called him on it. She let him know he was responsible for taking care ofhis disease. It was nice to have a loving wife willing to help, but he had tolearn how to care for himself, she said. His wife wouldn’t always be preparinghis meals, looking at his feet, or watching his weight.

The lessons went through diet, treatments, complications,and other do’s and don’ts about diabetes. I knew most of the information. Now,though, I was the patient. I was the one with diabetes. Like the gentlemanwhose wife was doing it all, I had to reconcile myself to being the oneresponsible for my own treatment plan.

Nothing can help a type 2 diabetes patient like losingweight and sticking to a diet plan. Medicines used to treat the disease can bereduced or eliminated by these measures alone.

My doctor plans my medications; it is up to me to follow mydiet and lose weight. Living with diabetes isn’t easy, but it is doable.

Dr. Key, now retired, was chief of the Family PracticeDepartment at Wichita General Hospital in Wichita Falls, Texas.