A Funny Thing Happened

July 26th, 2011 by Amy Gonsalves Leave a reply »

It isn’t a “ha-ha” kind of funny thing.  It’s an “odd” kind of funny thing.

One of my diabetes doctors, Dr. Joe, has several cats. (I can understand how they seem to grow; I’ve lately been trying to get my neighbor’s kitten Jerry to live with us instead of them!  We are much more fun and he’s here all the time anyway.)

And the funny thing is, one of my diabetes doctor’s cats was just diagnosed with diabetes.

When I learned this, I had the following thoughts, in this order:

  1. Poor cat.
  2. Poor Dr. Joe.
  3. Lucky cat.
  4. Lucky patients.

First of all, let me make this clear: I’d love it if no one else ever got diabetes from this point on.  It isn’t something I’d wish on anyone for any reason.  The diabetes aspect of my life is never not a pain in the rear.  Why would I want someone else to have to deal with it?  I don’t.  So, for any and every newly diagnosed person or animal, I feel some sadness.

Secondly, I’m very sad for my doctor and his wife.  I think that anyone having to deal with someone else’s diabetes (kids or pets) who cannot communicate through what I consider “normal” channels (namely, speaking words) or who has to overcome difficult concepts for the diabetic to understand (you have to eat X amount of food because we just gave you Y amount of insulin) faces just an overwhelming task.

I know how complicated things can get when living with my own diabetes and I don’t face either of the above challenges in my own life (well, not so much that you’d notice) so my heart and thoughts go out to everyone who is caring for someone else’s diabetes.  What a job.

(My doctor was pretty emotional when he mentioned how he now needs to care for his cat.  He released a video, here, about what he was going to have to do.)

Back to Sunny. I think that cat probably had a pretty good life before he was diagnosed.  (I think most cats have a pretty good life, when it comes down to it.)  He gets to climb on bookshelves and countertops and hide inside places we humans don’t fit and probably can’t even see sometimes.  He has fun siblings and a relatively well-behaved D.O.G. niece and nephew (if a cat can consider a d.o.g. well behaved), not to mention doting parents.

And, if you have to be diagnosed with diabetes, wouldn’t you feel sort of lucky if your dad
lived and breathed all things diabetes for his career?
  Talk about well-educated; Sunny’s dad is the educator!!

The last thought I had when I first heard about my doctor’s cat being diagnosed with diabetes was how lucky my doctor’s patients are.  It highlighted for me just how much work we all do every day we live with diabetes, and it’s nice to know that one of my doctors now takes on an additional level of understanding.    I think we each are looking for that in all of the experts on our team: consideration of the challenges we face and some understanding in the ways we opt to deal with those challenges.

I, for one, am rooting for Sunny the Cat and his caretakers. They all have some learning to do and it’s very nice to know they will be learning together.

Go Team Sunny!!

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3 comments

  1. Peggy says:

    Go Team Sunny!

  2. Marlene Prendergast says:

    What wonderful comments Amy!
    Sadly Sunny’s glucose numbers were higher today than a week ago. We will increase his insulin. He is such a lovely sweet cat.

    He got diabetes from a reaction to a large steroid shot so it is possible and even likely that the diabetes will go away.

  3. I can’t stop thinking about Sunny! Did you know I was all set to drive over and offer my arm for you to try out giving shots? We are all rooting for the little big guy, and wouldn’t that be great if his diabetes were reversed after the steroids do their thing and leave?
    Go Team Prendergast!!

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