Princeton area diabetes support group? #dsma

The April Blog Carnival topic from Diabetes Social Media Advocacy is “local support groups”.

Local support group? What’s that? Never heard of it! What? Yes, I’m being silly. What I mean to say is - there are none near me. I could start one but I think it would have one member.

Two questions were asked:

Describe your ideal diabetes “support group”

Since I don’t have a diabetes support group I’m not sure what a support group is like. I guess I’d want a place where I would feel welcome and comfortable being among people like myself — people who were diagnosed with diabetes late in life. I have latent auto-immune diabetes in adults and the few people I personally know with Type 1 diabetes either were diagnosed young (like the CIO of the company) or are still in lower middle school (one of the girls in my kids martial arts class).

I would want to be surrounded by a group of people who are interested in learning the facts. I’m not patient with ignorant people who are unwilling to learn. I would also want to be around people who know more about diabetes than I do.

I would also want a support group that is local. I don’t mind driving but in New Jersey a 10 miles trip can take up to 30 minutes in one direction.

What would you discuss?”

I expect topics would be all over the map. Everything from the cost of diabetes — I’ve got good insurance coverage through my employers but others might not have that benefit — to dealing with family, spouses and coworkers. I would ask for tips on getting around the insurance company to get an insulin pump (with an A1C between 5 and 6 they don’t see the need). I would want to know how to deal with the anger that flares up once in a while. Anger that despite years of hearing the same stupid refrain about the cure being within reach, I’m still injecting insulin.

I would also like to discuss coffee, and beer, and tech and family. I want it to be human.

This post is my April entry in the DSMA Blog Carnival. If you’d like to participate too, you can get all of the information at http://diabetessocmed.com/2012/april-dsma-blog-carnival-2/

Author: Khürt Williams

A human who works in information security and enjoys photography, Formula 1 and craft ale. #nobridge