I’m just going to put this out there, because you all were thinking it:

Where were we?

I’m at a bit of a loss with this topic because I think it’s silly to actively wish diabetes upon someone else, or a different disease to call my own. Diabetes is a bummer, but that doesn’t mean we have to be overly dramatic about it.

But at the heart of today’s prompt is the notion that we are not alone in the ‘people with something wrong with them internally, but are still good people inside and out’ group. As expected, I focus a lot on diabetes. It’s kind of a big deal to me. And while I recognize that diabetes isn’t the only chronic condition out there, I didn’t fully connect the dots until Medicine X last year.

Being among patient advocates from around the world, representing a range of diseases and conditions opened my eyes and mind to the fact that all of this is so much bigger than diabetes. For every fierce advocate we have representing busted pancreases, there’s one for chronic pain, for every type of cancer, for Chron’s, for all of the rare diseases that have to scrape for every press release and noteworthy moment. For all of the #dsma chats every Wednesday (9pm est), there are forum threads, private Facebook groups, and countless communities supporting each other however they can.

I don’t know where I’m going with all of this, and I don’t think I really addressed today’s prompt. But I think there’s something worthwhile in taking a moment to think about the really big picture. As important as diabetes is to me, you, and most of our immediate contacts, we’re all part of a larger network of patient advocates and sometimes-oversharers that care passionately about making a difference in our respective communities.

And I think that’s pretty cool.

This post was inspired by Diabetes Blog Week 2013. Be sure to check out all of the other great posts from the diabetes community. It’s awesome.