D-Blog Week, Day 2: We, the Undersigned

We, The Undersigned - Diabetes Blog Week Post 2

Diabetes Blog Week - Post # 2:  Recently various petitions have been circulating the Diabetes Online Community, so today let's pretend to write our own.  Tell us who you would write the petition to – a person, an organization, even an object (animate or inanimate) - get creative!! What are you trying to change and what have you experienced that makes you want this change?


So much emphasis tends to be placed on the A1C value and meeting targets by our health care teams. Sure they important to guiding therapy, but they are just a measure of gycated hemoglobin that shows the a AVERAGE plasma glucose concentration over ~3 months.  The A1C tells you the WHAT of your blood sugar.....it doesn't tell you the WHY!

It doesn't tell you that your child attends school and fought off two colds and a bought of Gastro.  It doesn't tell you that your child grew 2 inches and gained a pound.  It doesn't tell you that you celebrated your birthday or Christmas, or Easter or went on holidays.  It doesn't tell you that you were fighting lows and subsequent highs.  It doesn't tell you that your 7 year old is scared of going low on the bus and all the kids will tell her she is not allowed to eat or drink on said bus, so she drinks an apple juice before boarding.  It doesn't tell you that the school doesn't have a school nurse and you have to set safe guidelines for your child and teacher to follow, that wouldn't be the same if you were doing it yourself.  

The A1C is just a snapshot in time from the movie about diabetes management.

My petition would be:

Date:_____________________

We, The Undersigned, give ourselves permission to accept the A1C as just another number in our daily lives dealing with diabetes.  That this number is not a "report card" nor does it reflect the time and care we take in managing this condition.

Print Name: _____________________  Signed Name: _______________

Read more from Day 2 here.