Steve Cameron: The ugly truth about diabetes

My sister has diabetes.

And you say: So?

What does that have to do with my life? Or the price of tea in China, for that matter.

Well, actually, it has something to do with everyone.

A huge number of people -- and this once included me, I'm sorry to say -- totally misunderstand the entire concept of diabetes, what it is and what it means to everyone around a person who suffers from it.

There is this widespread misconception that most cases of diabetes are minor, that the condition can be controlled by diet or -- in the worst cases -- a daily dose of insulin to keep a person's blood sugar stable.

Most people believe that diabetics -- assuming they follow doctor's orders -- eat properly and take insulin if needed -- live relatively normal lives.

You see athletes, entertainers, politicians and others in every type of profession perking right along. You hear that they're diabetics, see an apparently stress-free existence, and it's likely you're drawing the wrong conclusion.

The truth is that people who contract Type 1 diabetes face a miserable future, and assuming they live long enough, they face a brutal day-to-day battle as the disease gradually eats away at almost every vital organ.

When my sister was diagnosed with Type 1 -- formerly known as "Juvenile Diabetes" -- the doctor told us that there is a pretty solid formula for what to expect.

"From the time you get it," he said, "you can expect about 10 years of normal life. You need to eat right and take insulin to do the work of your pancreas, and things will be OK for that decade.

"After that, though, it's like rolling dice. Some people develop severe symptoms slowly, and others get them more quickly and with worse consequences."

I admit I didn't take that statement as seriously as it was intended.

Heck, I knew a fellow newspaper reporter who had diabetes, and he worked regularly, drank a few beers with the boys, traveled with a major league baseball team and seemed to be in pretty good shape.

And honestly, isn't that the image you have of diabetes?

You picture someone with the hassle of taking insulin shots, but still carrying on with a normal, day-to-day existence.

That notion, I know now, is horribly wrong.

My sister already has had surgery on both eyes as she rapidly began losing her sight. She's had three toes amputated and faces more danger to her feet because of neuropathy, which robs her of feeling and makes it impossible to walk without a cane.

Then her entire digestive system began to collapse. She struggles to eat anything, no matter how carefully she tries to manage her diet.

Now her kidneys have failed.

She's hooked up to a dialysis machine every night for nine hours, with a device permanently inserted into her abdomen that must be connected to a giant machine that fills half the bathroom.

With dialysis comes the constant, nonstop threat of infection -- the type that can kill you in any number of ways.

Life is miserable, frankly.

Anyone who thinks diabetes is just a medical "inconvenience" hasn't seen it up close.

A great day for my sister is one in which nothing horrible goes wrong, as opposed to the ones in which her blood sugar changes wildly and she's hospitalized -- again -- in a coma that brings her perilously close to death.

I'm writing this today for one simple reason.

I want people to know, to understand, that the common perception of diabetes is so wrong that it would be laughable if not so tragic.

The damn thing is awful.

Give that a thought when you meet someone with diabetes, or hear that a person you know has contracted it.

Diabetes is a bitch.

Steve Cameron is a freelance columnist for the Sun-Star. He can be reached at stevecameron1000@gmail.com.