{"id":6366,"date":"2010-03-29T07:37:16","date_gmt":"2010-03-29T11:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=6366"},"modified":"2015-12-31T04:52:29","modified_gmt":"2015-12-31T09:52:29","slug":"book-review-one-lump-or-two-things-that-suck-about-being-diabetic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/asweetlife.org\/?p=6366","title":{"rendered":"Book Review: One Lump or Two? Things that suck about being diabetic"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

I found myself shaking my head in agreement as I read the cartoons in One Lump or Two<\/a>, Things that suck about being diabetic<\/em>, a book of comics about life with diabetes by the cartoonist Haidee Soule Merritt<\/a>.\u00a0 Merritt was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of two, and as a veteran of this disease (diagnosed at the age of four), I found myself laughing while reading, and identifying with Merritt\u2019s unique portrayal of a diabetic\u2019s life.\u00a0 Merritt says, \u201cIn case you haven\u2019t heard, diabetes isn\u2019t just a disease, it\u2019s a lifestyle. I\u2019ve been living and coping with type 1 diabetes long enough to know it sucks. If you think it\u2019s easy–then you\u2019re not doing it right. Grab a seat and let me enlighten you\u00a0.\u00a0.\u00a0.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Haidee Merritt<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Throughout the volume, Merritt catches tiny \u201cdiabetic\u201d moments with her wit and sarcasm – things like blood geysers or eternally cold feet- that we diabetics know all too well.\u00a0 Some of my favorite cartoons in the book were those that captured what I\u2019ve experienced in my own daily diabetes care – like the fact that diabetes is a full time job and the all too familiar panic of low blood sugar. Merritt is both brave and funny, and she isn\u2019t afraid to shine light on the dark side of this disease. She focuses a major portion of the comics on complications, insulin as a tool to survive, and other ugly realities of diabetes.<\/p>\n

One Lump or Two?<\/em> doesn\u2019t claim to be any more than it is, a purely humorous take on the day in and day out of diabetes, and it\u2019s a perfect place for diabetics to turn when they want to see someone poking fun at the various aspects of living with this chronic illness.<\/p>\n

I had the liberty to ask Haidee a few questions, and I\u2019m excited to share her responses with you.<\/p>\n

What is your diagnosis story?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>My diagnosis story is more like family folklore that\u2019s trickled down to me from my parents and siblings. I was hardly more than 2 years of age, a toddler, when doctors were able to finally give my family the name<\/em> of what was wrong with me.\u00a0 Up until then I\u2019d been rushed to hospitals with grand mal seizures and monitored by EKG machines. Unfortunately, because I was unable to communicate my symptoms with adults, it was thought that perhaps I was epileptic.\u00a0 There were countless other possibilities as well. My parents say I had a supernatural thirst for water and I would drop to sleep during activities like crawling up stairs.<\/p>\n

When it was finally clear that I had diabetes mellitus, it was anything but relief that my parents felt. The doctors at Children\u2019s Hospital in Boston gave them very little in the way of support or optimism; in fact, they suggested my parents consider placing me in a group home, recommended few pictures be taken of me, and suggested that my brothers not be allowed to get attached to me. My life expectancy, they said, was seven years or less. Again, this is the family folklore that has possibly changed over time.\u00a0 It is, however, what I consider to be my diagnosis story.<\/p>\n

Has humor always been your coping mechanism?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

Humor has always helped me cope, yes, but not necessarily with diabetes. I guess you come so far with a disease or condition and you think \u2018Surely, nothing else could go wrong?\u2019<\/em> and yet it does. It\u2019s like a never-ending source of material you can either smile or cry at, but either way you\u2019re going to have<\/em> to handle it. That\u2019s clearly why some of the cartoons have dark humor in them. The cartoons, those specifically, are used as an exploratory tool.\u00a0 Perhaps they make you a little uncomfortable but they also get you thinking.<\/p>\n

Which is your favorite cartoon and why?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>I\u2019m a big fan of the Whoopie Pie cartoon. It\u2019s a simple drawing that gets the point across really<\/em> fast, as though sudden joy and exhilaration over something delicious is suddenly and unexpectedly SNATCHED<\/em> from within inches of your mouth. It makes me smile every time. Diabetes is always playing tricks on you like that.<\/p>\n

How did you come up with the title “One Lump or Two?”?<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

I think you\u2019d be surprised how many people DON\u2019T ask me that obvious question\u2014this might even be an exclusive for ASweetLife<\/em>! Clearly this is a common enough question that people ask all the time when offering someone coffee or tea: \u201cDo you take that with one lump of sugar or two?\u201d But I actually took it from the Def Leppard song \u2018Pour Some Sugar On Me.\u2019<\/p>\n

Halfway through the song the singer screams: Do you take sugar? One lump or two? <\/em>It should be noted that they\u2019re a British band; this probably isn\u2019t as strange a thing to scream at an audience over there<\/em> as it might be here<\/em>. I think it\u2019s safe to say that that song is chock full of lines that either absolutely crack me up or make me cringe with discomfort. Here\u2019s another funny line to make my point: I\u2019m hot sticky sweet, from my head to my feet yeah<\/em>. Yup, this song gives diabetics lots to work with; I\u2019m still trying to get it as a ringtone for my phone.<\/p>\n

What’s the response been like to the book? Humor and laughter are universal, but some of it gets dark…how has the diabetes community handled that?<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>This book has been a labor of love. Clearly, it hasn\u2019t topped any best-seller list and it\u2019s not difficult to keep stocked in bookstores either (sigh). Since getting the book published last winter I have come to understand much more clearly who this book is for and what this book is for.<\/p>\n

The target audience is the diabetic individual <\/em>and, secondly, the diabetic community<\/em> as a whole – response from them has been fantastic, very encouraging. One needs to understand the book isn\u2019t just me complaining about life with diabetes or how the disease has wrecked my life, but instead a way to accept and embrace those hurdles. It\u2019s like the antithesis of denial. And realizing you\u2019re not in it alone is very comforting; commiserating with, or showing empathy for, other people in the same situation as you seems to almost define us in today\u2019s world.<\/p>\n

So there you have it – a very irregular comic book about a very irregular disease. I would like to note that the comics are certainly not for the light of heart. Merritt does not hold back, and she shines the light in the darkest places of this disease- \u00a0including the bedroom. This isn\u2019t a \u201ckiddy comic,\u201d it\u2019s real and sometimes it hurts.<\/p>\n

For more about Haidee, visit her website www.haideemerritt.com<\/a>.<\/p>\n

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Merritt is both brave and funny, and she isn\u2019t afraid to shine light on the dark side of this disease…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":107,"featured_media":6392,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_relevanssi_hide_post":"","_relevanssi_hide_content":"","_relevanssi_pin_for_all":"","_relevanssi_pin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_unpin_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_keywords":"","_relevanssi_related_include_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_exclude_ids":"","_relevanssi_related_no_append":"","_relevanssi_related_not_related":"","_relevanssi_related_posts":"","_relevanssi_noindex_reason":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1432,1463],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nDiabetes Book Review: One Lump or Two? Things that suck about being diabetic<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"When it was finally clear that I had diabetes mellitus, it was anything but relief that my parents felt. 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