april 2009

Book Review: One Lump or Two

This month we received a cartoon book titled One Lump or Two, Things that suck about being diabetic, Volume 1, Bird Wing Press P.O. Box 311, Portsmouth, NH, 03802, by Haidee Soule Merritt who has dealt with diabetes 36 of her 38 years. So let’s get to basics about this book. It is HONEST with many smiles about very serious medical problems. To tell the truth Ms. Merritt adds her sometimes dark humor to many of the daily problems we, as type 1 diabetics face, including eating disorders, amputation, dental problems, discrimination, and the sometimes disastrous ways we treat ourselves, always, always with her humorous drawings to keep us reading. Having said all of this, this is a book for people who have made some kind of peace with a disease from which there is no vacation and which will most likely be responsible for our morbidity. Ms Merritt speaks about the problems of this daily routine which can be tedious, frightening, and as my first endocrinologist said, “You can eat the same thing every day, do the same thing at the same time every day, and still have difficulty some days controlling your diabetes”. For this reason, it is not a book for a youngster or the newly diagnosed who are still coping with the daily grind of diabetes self-care, the frustration and anger about being “different”, and the overwhelming and frightening response to being out of control. We do agree, however, that this would be a good book for people without type 1 to read. They will learn a great deal about diabetes from understanding that insulin does not cure the disease but just keeps someone alive, and how living with diabetes is a 365 day a year lifestyle which at times is overwhelming and anger provoking. It certainly will help others to respect those with the disease who battle it daily.

BSP

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