Journal Day #4

Journal Day #4 - Unlimited Resources
Prompt:  If you had unlimited resources, what political or social issue, or area of scientific or medical exploration would you fund?  Do you have a cause that is near and dear to your hear that you'd put your time, energy, and money into if you had the means?  Tell us about it, along with a bit of background explaining where you're coming from.
I would have to go with medical exploration.  Not that the other options aren't important or worth funding; medical exploration just hits much closer to home.  Cancer, Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, MS and Diabetes are all real things in my family.  I have lost too many people I love because of Cancer.  The pain of those losses is still fresh even though a least a year has past, more in some instances.  I have to trust that all those groups and foundations out there funding the research for Cancer are hard at work.  So, I would have to put my resources towards something even closer to home.  Diabetes.

My brother in law, my nephew, and my husband all live with Diabetes.  My sister has been a huge help in educating me on life with a Diabetic.  I see what life is for them now, having to think about what they eat, testing their blood sugars, planning their meals carefully, and having to monitor their health very closely for complications.   I know type 1 and type 2 are different (my family is affected by both), but at the end of the day we worry about those we love and how the disease is going to take it's toll on them.

I hate how mediation is the only option for managing Diabetes, although if you catch type 2 early enough you can delay the need for medication.  The meditations for diabetes can have side affects as frightening as the disease itself.  There are things out there to help make things a little less barbaric.   Needles have gotten smaller and pumps have gotten smaller and easier to obtain.  But the body can only handle so many sticks and injections in the same spot.  And the ports to the meters and monitors have to be changed and moved.  While it has made life a little easier for my family members with type 1, I hate that it is the reality my teenage nephew has to face.

I hate that my sister is a light sleeper because she's listening for alarms warning of a high or a low, I hate that every time we see a new doctor the first thing they are going to want to do is try to put my husband on medications.  I'm thankful for the advances, there have been improvements.  But if you look at how common diabetes is, how many people actually live with it, it seems like a cure should be closer.  If I had unlimited funds I would gladly give it to diabetes research so that cure could hopefully be found.

Thank you for the prompt Sometimes Sweet!