Yesterday was World Diabetes Day, and I “celebrated” it as I
have done now for five consecutive World Diabetes Days much as I have always
done, i.e. by waking up and checking Alexandra’s blood sugars. On this
particular day (night) she was 53 at just after midnight. Not only not
a good number for sleeping but downright dangerous so I shook her awake and sat
her up and gave her three glucose tabs to chew up. About 15 minutes later she
was still only at 60 so we followed the tabs with a couple of marshmallows
(obviously, our house was juiceless since that is the go-to for a low but a mom
does what she has to). But I digress. After her blood sugar crept up
sufficiently I went back to sleep, but woke up twice more before my regular
5:00 am alarm to double check. You know diabetes is such a frigging insidious
disease that we don’t play with it because it just doesn’t play fair.
The world was ablaze with pictures of buildings, monuments
and skyscrapers awash in blue in honor of World Diabetes Day and there were
plenty of new profile pictures on Facebook – pictures of hands with the word
“hope” written, moms and dads and kids dressed in blue in support of all of the
world’s diabetics. This was my profile pic on Facebook. And I wore my “CURE” tee shirt from the Diabetes Research
Institute.
Ghana is
holding a 2-day long Diabetes Fair in Kumasi (though I
wished it was in Accra
because I would have attended) and I expected that that might be the end of the
media attention. However, I was to be pleasantly surprised; I was traveling in
a taxi to the grocery story and the driver had on a local radio station. Now
what was being discussed was not clear to me since it was a tribal language and
I unfortunately know very few words (well, I do know quite a few insults, like
I know how to say you’re a fool, or ask if you’re crazy but that’s doesn’t get
you very far). Anyway, the radio was playing and the commentator was talking
when all of a sudden I heard these words… Canadian, Nobel Prize, Banting and
insulin! Now I knew what they were talking about and it warmed my heart in a
kind of bittersweet way.
Information, the right kind, was being spread. It was nice.
Then I got home and Googled Ghana and diabetes as I
occasionally do and came upon an article written on Ghanaweb about pledging to
take steps to fight diabetes. All in all it was a well written piece but as
usual it failed to differentiate between type 1 diabetes and type 2 diabetes.
Naturally, I was miffed, so I shot off a hurried comment about how it would
have been nice if this medical professional could have explained how type 1 was
an autoimmune disease, not preventable and currently without a cure. I said
that he was perpetuating the misinformation that we are constantly living with,
that my daughter’s diabetes was preventable and curable, and that lifestyle
changes would be sufficient.
In his defense, the article’s author, Dr. Kojo Cobba Essel,
replied to my comment and apologized, but that due to word constraints he
couldn’t elaborate. He said he hoped to write another article specifically on
type 1 diabetes. Then he also acknowledged my pain. Wow. That more than
anything lifted my heart.
Unfortunately, there is also the response of another
“doctor” though I believe that that is merely what he calls himself, as in
“Bush Doctor.” And he had an awful lot to say, about how I could have prevented
my daughter’s type 1 diabetes and how I could cure it with dietary changes,
such as Moringa powder, flaxseed, aloe vera, tiger nut milk, avocado, etc.
Apparently you toss it all into a nice clean blender, whiz
it around for a bit and in minutes you’ve got the cure for type 1 diabetes.
Now, why didn’t I know that?!
Of course, I couldn’t let that go. My response was he would
basically have me kill my daughter if I gave her only that and that the only
thing keeping her alive is insulin, the gift of Dr. Frederick Banting whose
birthday we celebrated yesterday during World Diabetes Day.
There were some other things I said and he responded in
kind.
It was all kind of funny until I realized that some people
here in Ghana
might read this and think it’s for real. Some people who are type 1 diabetics
themselves, or have children or loved ones that they care for. They might
actually lay down their Lantus pens and put away their syringes filled with
Mixtard or Humalog or NPH or whatever it is that the “real” MDs
here are now prescribing. I’m truly afraid that they might actually believe him.
So I sicced the DOC on him.
The DOC, the Diabetes Online Community, my friends.
Well, I don’t have to tell you what transpired because you
can read it for yourself here.
And if you have a mind, please feel free to offer your thoughts and comments to
the good “Bush Doctor.”
Oh, and if anyone was wondering….
Wo Nim Se Wo Ye Kwasea Paaa! You
know you are a real fool!
W’abo Dam! You
are mad!
Wa Gimi Paa! You
are very stupid!
