Our November Meeting

When we gathered for our November meeting on the fifteenth, we were pleasantly surprised. The doctor that Jason and several others had met during the summer was present and had four members of the support group that he and his wife led with him. Another bonus was a doctor and five of the group that we had presented the program for the week before. After introductions, Tim said that one of the programs had been omitted the previous week because the audience did not seem receptive after the third presentation and this was A.J and his presentation on interventions.

Since we have guests and some of our members were not present during the three meetings on interventions, we felt this would be good for A.J to do his presentation and if time allows we will have Barry redo his presentation on Self-monitoring of Blood Glucose.

A.J started his presentation by introducing James and Jerry and explained that James had an intervention by a another doctor as part of his presentation to several groups. A.J asked James if he would explain why the intervention became necessary. James stood and explained that he was in denial and thought he had everyone fooled. However, the doctor knew something was not right and had me come to the meeting where he was doing a presentation on interventions. He said that was probably the most intense time he had in his life, as he had not wanted to admit he had diabetes.

James concluded that he was not prepared for the questions that the intervention specialist and Dr. Tom had asked him and when they could see that the questions were getting to me they took me to another room where they could really counsel me and prepare me for the session when we came back to the larger group. He said that between his wife and a few members of the support group, they had prevented him from going back into denial and now he had accepted his diabetes and was happy for the support in learning how to manage his diabetes.

Next A.J introduced Jerry and said that he had been able to help him out of a situation. Jerry said he knew that his A1c was heading in the wrong direction, and because Barry and Allen had been working on him about carbohydrates, he knew when A.J had asked him to go for a ride that it was time to do just that. He had been taken to Barry's and Allen was soon there. They then called Dr. Tom, he was taken there, and after an hour of talking with Dr. Tom, he knew what needed to be done. Back to Barry's and a discussion of where he could live for a temporary period. A.J had room available and that is where he now lived.

Jerry said his A1c had increased after diagnosis and it was going in the right direction now that he is separated from his wife. He concluded that being separated from his wife was not what he had wanted, but in order to manage his diabetes, it had become necessary and the rest of his family and children were in agreement which made him feel better. He said being on insulin was a big help and having A.J available for assistance was a big plus.

A.J then said that several others that many of our group had been working on to help them adjust their carbohydrate consumption downward had been helped by Jerry and with his encouragement, most were now members of our support group and he hoped were feeling better about their diabetes management. One of the new members asked why my cousin was not at the meeting. A.J called on me and I said she is helping another person across the state to work on her food plan to bring down her cholesterol and maybe get off statins. I said she was taking time to visit another cousin while working with this person. I said she would be back on Tuesday and available to answer questions after that.

At than point, A.J opened the meeting for questions. The doctor that Jason knew asked why we did not work with the dietitian that is Jerry's wife. A.J said because she was operating on Munchausen syndrome by proxy (MSP) which means that she was determined to make Jerry unable to manage his diabetes. The doctor said he had never heard of this and Tim said he would see if Dr. Tom could stop by and explain this to them. Allen said this often in a parent of a child that does this, but after research by several of us and Dr. Tom, we felt this was what Jerry's wife was doing to him. Tim said Dr. Tom would be there shortly.

The Doctor from the group we had met with the prior week asked if we could invite more of the group we had done presentations for to a regular meeting of ours in the future. He said he had heard of MSP, but had not seen it in his practice. He said he also wanted to talk with Dr. Tom about having the intervention specialist make a presentation to the support group.

Then Dr. Tom arrived and had two handouts for the two doctors and answered several questions from the group. Tim asked if there were other questions and he said the meeting was done and the doctors would be talking and to let them talk and he, Allen, Barry, and the others would be available to answer individual questions.

Individual questions were heavy and even I had a few. I had several questions about my blog and if I had an email address available. A.J had his laptop, brought up my blog, and then showed them my email address. I asked everyone to please give their email address to A.J, and Tim, and they would be sent a summary of the meeting, and then they would have access to the rest of us as well. A.J went to Tim and asked him to announce that if they wanted a summary of the meeting to give him email addresses.

The doctors were ready to talk to the rest of us and the doctor that Jason knew wanted to talk to Jason and me. He commented that the few that had come with him were very impressed with our program and more enthused to build the support group they were in. He said the travel was too far for many to want to come, but would we consider doing a presentation program for his group next year. He had permission to duplicate the handout from Dr. Tom and that could be the topic even if four had heard it. Jason said we would discuss this and the doctor said that the driver would be given some money for gas. Dr. Tom then approached and asked if he could attend when we agreed to do a presentation. The doctor said yes and Dr. Tom said he would have Jason send him his email address and he would be in contact.

Dr. Tom said the other doctor had apologized for the problems at the meeting the prior week and everyone felt that more than two topics per meeting should not happen. He said this was a lesson for all of us.