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.

More Activities of Our Diabetes Group

The last six months have been very active for our group. We have gained and lost members, resulting in now three diabetes support groups for type 2 diabetes. I am very happy with our group now as we do have some organization and the biggest improvement has been the membership committee. Tim did an excellent job of establishing criteria and naming the members.

First, we will only accept type 2 people with diabetes and those with prediabetes. We have one exception for a high school type 1 to attend from time to time and that is Lilly and her parents. Everyone has now met Lilly. Max was the one that introduced her at our last meeting. Lilly is a member at large and presently the only one that will be allowed. Next, we will try to screen our members based on the criteria.

Tim announced that we now have two meeting places that are available to us with a weeks notice since we generally meet on Saturdays. Both will hold more members than we imagine having. All we have to do is notify them of our meeting and they will be unlocked for us. We must keep the rooms clean and notify them of the people using the room after each meeting. Tim has written letters stating what we understand and thanking those responsible for permission to use them.

What has been a surprise is the number of our members participating in speaking to the group in a town east of us and participating in peer-to-peer education of their members at their doctor's request. He had asked us to host his group with our local doctor working with us and brought over three vans of 13 patients of his to attend one of our meetings. Tim and Barry went to work with several of us to round out a program and include the program that Barry had presented to us. Tim asked if they could bring any portable computers they owned, and we would supply heavy extension cords for power. This worked very well and when we finished the program, the doctor asked if it would be possible to have two more meetings this year together, one in their town and another here. He felt that everyone learned from us and this led to a round of applause by the visiting group.

This was followed by about an hour of questions from them and this pleasantly surprised us and they were asking how we had stayed together as a group. Jason took the lead and said that each of us have email addresses for the other members of the group. When there was an interesting article or an article like the study on Januvia and Byetta, someone would make a comment about it and email it to everyone. This is also in one of my blogs. If questions came from this, the originator would restate the question, and he or she would send out an answer. Others might make comments if they had thoughts about the topic. We were asked what would happen if someone disagreed with what was being said. Jason answered; the disagreement would be stated and acknowledged. No one person was put down for disagreeing and if someone slipped on this, and then the person would be told so by probably everyone. This has only happened once that he could recall and the topic was very controversial to begin with anyhow. He stated that Tim and I had moderated the emails as the group had been almost evenly divided on the topic.

Then Sue said one thing that helped her and her husband Bob was that fact that two or more emails would be generated for each meeting and emailed to anyone absent. This was another reason we felt so close because we had permission to be absent and were kept in the loop. Sue then got the question she had been expecting. Why was she still attending since she was off medications. Sue answered that because she had support from the group when she most needed it after her diagnosis with type 2 diabetes. She felt a loyalty to the group and we had continued to support her and encourage her to stay off medications. She said diabetes is a battle by itself and to get the support she did from the group, she could not and would not abandon them.

Then her husband, Bob spoke up and asked how many had heard of the diabetes police. Almost every hand went up. Bob said this is another reason they were as loyal as he now had prediabetes and was still on metformin, but hoped to be off before long. He continued that he was the one that outed his wife as having diabetes because she had been the diabetes police to the group before diagnosis. He said he had wanted the group to give her payback, but that no one had. She was asked to be part of the group and was given support and encouragement that did not quit. He said how can you not be loyal to a group that does this for you. He continued that when he was diagnosed with prediabetes, he was welcomed into the group and was also receiving support and encouragement to get off medications. He said this support was verbal and in the form of emails about anything that might be helpful in their goals. This meant URLs for articles and studies showing what was possible. He concluded this support was done for all members by all members and even though most are on insulin, they still have concern for each member. He said this creates loyalty that can't be ignored.

I was then asked if the group gave me blog topics. I said they do, I am not expected to use every one, but some are good topics and others are off of diabetes directly, but are of interest. If they are of enough interest and can be tied to diabetes, I often blog about them. I said this has been most helpful and sometimes I just use these as topics for emails to everyone. I said that occasionally I am even supplied with the full study when the member can write and ask for a digital copy. This is then passed to the members to read as well. I commented that some of the topics are used for our meetings. I said the one part of the program this evening was used in a previous meeting and that I had blogged about it. I said some of you may have read it and were wondering why it was included. We added material to keep us on topic and still get everything across. One hand was raised and he said that it was significantly different, but well presented. He commented that the comments by our members did add value. Tim said this is what we do in our meetings. He admitted that sometimes we go off topic, but if it adds value, we let it happen. If it does not, it is stopped and we stay on topic.

Their doctor then spoke and said this is why he wanted a meeting like this so show them why he hoped they could develop into a group like this. He said that this may be hard to beat, but he still had hope. He said that the amount of research we do as a group may not be possible. He then asked our group how many actively do research and 11 raised their hands. Rob said he did not do a lot of research, but did read quite a bit and still sent out emails about different articles and press releases. Brenda commented that she did not because of grandchildren, but that she was happy to be the recipient of information from the rest of us. She felt that what she learned in the meetings and received in emails, kept her loyal to the group. She continued that like had been said before, even missing a meeting, she still was kept in the loop by emails.

Tim said we would be happy to have one meeting with them and have them back again. He was the contact person. He would let them know when, after receiving their schedule. We concluded the meeting then.