Dear Jane,
I don’t really want to know what it’s like to still be living with diabetes when you’re 85. I’d rather ask what it’s like to no longer have it, but I know that may not be realistic (as if writing to someone in 2053 is). I don’t want to know because I honestly feel better about living for right now – getting the most out of each day and enjoying life.
When I think of you as an old woman, I don’t think of diabetes. I’m sure that’s because I don’t think of me as diabetes now and never have. I wonder what your hobbies are – I hope your fingers still work, so you can write and work on projects. I hope your eyes are ok, so you can read. I hope your legs and feet are healthy so you can still walk – I picture you living close to “town” where you can walk to the post office (is there still a post office??) or corner store. I picture you spending a lot of time with your grandchildren and doing a lot of laughing.
But I do wonder if you’re tired of diabetes. Are you still writing about it? Or what do you do now that you are retired and slowing down (hopefully you’re not slowing down!)? Like patients that I work with now, is it hard for you to ease up on diabetes management and let your numbers drift up (for safety reasons), or do you still feel the need to keep your A1C in a certain range? Do they still measure A1C??
Writing to you at 85 turns out to be good incentive to take care of me at 45. While it’s not that far away, it’s still many years of managing diabetes and living well and staying positive. And you’re worth it.