Diabetic Joke Fail?

I'm a little conflicted, lately.

I have a pretty good sense of humor, if I do say so myself. (You have to have a sense of humor to call yourself "The Angry Type 2 Diabetic" and still be able to handle every preachy a-hole out there thinking you're just bitter about your diabetes, and needing to get some anger management classes...) 


But... what exactly is OKAY as a diabetes joke? I find myself... somewhat at odds.

Let's see... at the "feather weight" level of jokes are references to the things we do every day, and that's awesome. I think it definitely HELPS heaps when people can sort of join in with us on how we see the world... Whether it's our struggles, or just things that make us go "hmmm..."

Then there are expressions, or tattoos that might encourage some mild debate... like "Sugar Free," and that can be okay, as well. This tattoo picture has provoked some argument and discussion in my Facebook diabetes group, and folks have gotten a chance to weigh in on the irony/misconception/message, however one might see it.

I kind of actually see it... as a way to tell 'The Sugar,' aka Diabetes, that I am not its slave. (Lots of people HATE IT when diabetes is called "The Sugar," by the way. Don't be surprised if when you call it as such, objects go flying in your direction.)

Now, a while back, the satirical, fake news publication, "The Onion," made an article making fun of Jay Cutler, a football athlete with Type 1 Diabetes... Lots of folks interpreted the article as though it was outright making fun of Type 1 Diabetes, when in fact, it seems they were really just trying to call Cutler a whiny bore... albeit, in a poorly thought out manner. They could have just referenced regular kids, NEVER mentioning diabetes at all, and still gotten the point across. (Me thinks those people, funny as they are sometimes, need a needle jab or two on the behind.) Clearly, this kind of humor is unacceptable... or is it? Is there a point when we can divorce our fears of losing our loved ones, or our own lives, so we can laugh at a joke? Yeah, on paper, this all seems good and well... in reality, I'm gonna tell you to go f off with that joke. lol

Then there's jokes where people laugh... uncomfortably so. Like these ones... Or the ones where people joke about "falling limbs" from eating too much candy.  These types of jokes get most diabetics riled up... because they showcase a terrible misconception that we can't have sugar, or candy, or worse... that we're all just going to lose life and limbs from even having as much as one bar too many. You'll find most diabetics standing up against these types of jokes, and I admit, they make me pretty crabby...

There's also the "well intentioned" (or so I try to tell myself), yet still incredibly ignorant person who'll reply something along the lines of "Oh, that's just Type 2 Diabetes... There's two kinds, you know." I think THAT makes me angrier than the joke itself, really. How is correcting one stereotype, by feeding another, suddenly acceptable in any way?

Then there's the McDonald's jokes... I'm sorry... but if you can't laugh at a candy bar joke, I'm not going to laugh at a Diabetes/McDonald's joke.

So... did all of us who got Type 2 Diabetes go pig out at McDonald's or something? Really? Or, are we trying to say anyone who eats at McDonald's is going to get Diabetes? Do we want to do that to Type 2 Diabetics... by spreading the myth that pigging out at some favorite fast food place is just going to give someone Type 2 Diabetes eventually or automatically, somehow? Never mind that out of those 300 million people, only 8.3% have diabetes (including ALL types of diabetes, and the undiagnosed)? Never mind that there are MYRIADS of ways to get Type 2 Diabetes, though the media will not cover ANY of them?  

Obesity does NOT cause Diabetes. Lots of fat people are going to live long, and full lives, without so much as ever having to prick their fingers... They will NEVER get diabetes. Stop drinking the media Kool-Aid and trying to make yourself feel better by making fun of MY diabetes. 

Was I supposed to laugh? *MY* bad.

Laughing My Bottom Off, Perhaps Literally, at Diabetes...

It's been about a couple of weeks since I've ranted on anything, and I really apologize for that. The fact is... I've really been exhausted. I've been exhausted, and in a lot of pain. I'd call it chronic pain, but it's only chronic in the sense that other events keep happening, and happening, on top of one another, to not let the affected parts of my body just take some time to heal. It's like this stupid domino effect, of sorts, except, well... every time a stupid domino falls, it hurts, and I feel every bit of my 35 years of age.

Where do I start?

Well, let's see... About two weeks ago, while I was walking to our corner supermarket, I fell hard on some ice. And I mean, I fell REALLY hard. The kind of hard where you sit there, wondering if you broke anything, and unable to get back up after a few minutes. (The driver, passing by at about 20 mph, must have had a really good laugh at my expense.) The fall itself was painful, but then the pain didn't seem that bad after a few hours, and the next day, everything was fine.

Except for day 2, and day 3... which were utter hell. Then I felt 70, instead of 35... and in need of some kind of walker. (With apologies to 70 year-olds, who can probably run laps next to me, right now.) Leave it to me, to fall on some almost non-existent ice, on the mildest Winter we've had in at least 30 years. On the 4th day, I felt distinctly better, though not completely healed... But on the 5th day, I had to work -- and as some of you may know -- I work unloading trucks for a local department store, a few days of the week. Of course, I had to help unload a very atypical, large truck of merchandise, so that on day 6, I was back to feeling like I felt on day 2.

At work, I *also* hurt myself... by smashing my left shin against a flat of merchandise, which is still black and bruised, and throbbing, and overall, my joints just don't seem to be holding up so well. I'm having some pain in my left ankle, which actually began BEFORE I fell, the week before, from the constant stiffness of needing to walk on ice, and slippery sidewalks.

Many baths with Epsom Salt, and stretching exercises later, and I'm still one very achy feeling "old" lady. I also, still have to work tomorrow... It will be my third day in a row, when we usually have some off days in between.

Carpal Tunnel hasn't exactly been playing nice, either, with my poor wrists and elbows (at least on my left arm) not letting me get a good night's rest. I might yet consider some kind of joint support supplement, before this is all over. I mean, I feel like my warranty expired.  Are you tired of the whining yet??? I am. LOL And I have to live with me!

So... reading through one of my dear friends' blogs, I found a great, happy post... to sort of help focus some of my crappy attitude right now. My friend, A Diabetic Ballerina, wrote on adding a touch of "bling" to our diabetic tools. She gave me some inspiration to give it a little of my own twist... I may not be able to change a lot of my circumstances, but I can at least laugh while I'm doing some of the stuff I have to do.

So I've decided... that I can't freak out too much about having off diabetes days, from the pain, or whatever else comes my way... if my meter looks like this:

The supplies really didn't cost me that much: 49¢ for the googly eyes, and about a total of $4 for the gemstone cheeks, and foam with sticky backing, combined (with plenty of extras to spare, for the future). The foam came in the way of a bag of Valentine's Day hearts, in various colors, with sticky backing, and I just cut out the bottom to make one of them look like lips. 

It was all in all, an achy walk to JoAnne Fabrics, that was more than well worth it. Time to bling up the rest of my back up meters! *mwahahahahahahahahahahahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!*