Cure on the Horizon?

Seriously, you can google "cure diabetes" and spend the day chasing down witch doctors and herbal supplements online.

Still this video from NBC, of all places, is quite encouraging. Thanks to Kerri for posting this first. Unlike her, I didn't cry (not that there's anything wrong with that). Truth is, I don't think I waste much time on hope, going with Red's quote from Shawshank: "Hope's a dangerous thing - it can drive a man insane."


Just because I'm curious, I googled "Gleevec costs" and "Sutent costs." When treating Leukemia, it seems we're in the neighborhood of $32,000 per year (though the article does point out that the drug might not need to be taken more than a few months to cure diabetes).

But - assuming this works on people - that will be the next thing the bean counters at the insurance companies work on. Is it worth $10,000 in drugs (four months use) for an 80% chance this diabetic can be cured?

Or perhaps a more poignant question: Would I pay $10,000 for an 80% chance of a cure?

Would you?

Comments

  1. Anne Findlay10:08 AM

    yep. an insulin pump costs around $5k no?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous4:53 PM

    IANAD...but I would pay it if I could.

    The idea that I could get out from under the disease, and all it did was cost money?

    Yeah, you betcha.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Anonymous6:45 PM

    Absolutely! Freedom from the daily grind of 5 insulin injections, 8 fingersticks, carbohydrate counting and the worries of future "complications". Most important, I just want to worry about my split times in a long run, not my blood sugar. Gladly...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Happy D-Blog Day, Uh, I Guess...

So according to diabetics blog-wide, today is D-Blog Day, the day when those of us affected by diabetes are supposed to blog about it. Or draw awareness to diabetes... Or something like that. I'm really a bad poster child for the disease. Not because I'm not in great control (actually, I am), but because I've just never been bothered by the disease so much. Red sums it up well in Shawshank Redemption: "Get busy living, or get busy dying." So if living means three blood sugar tests a day, so be it. If living means being hooked up to an insulin pump, go to it. That being said, I feel for anyone with diabetic kids... I'm a tough guy about the disease. I wouldn't be if my kids had it. If either of my kids had diabetes, I'd be screaming about the politicians who are spending money on wars instead of research, and I'd be yelling about the schools that make it difficult to be a diabetic in the classroom. But my kids don't have diabetes, so instead I
Read more

The gun in my basement.

Image
In my basement, I have a safe. And in that safe, under expired passports and birth certificates, there's a gun. It's unloaded. Hasn't been loaded in probably twenty years, and yet every time I take it out, I check to make sure. If you're a gun nerd, it's a 9 shot .22 revolver. On this website , it says that "it is true that many people have been killed by a .22 LR in the course of history," but the writer concludes that this weapon is a bad choice for self defense. I didn't buy it for self defense. I didn't even buy it. It was my father's and after he died, my mother gave it me, along with an Elgin watch he'd worn for years. The watch was weathered and worn and I took it to be restored. The jeweler refused, saying it was worthless. Two decades later, the watch is still in my jewelry box. There's no need for it to be locked up. I have no idea if this gun is in my possession legally. No idea if my father had a permit for it, or w
Read more

Sh*t Diabetics Say

Image
I love the funny video series making its way around the Net. It started with Shit Girls Say, and has spawned many funny sequels. But none for diabetics, until now! If you like the camera work, that's my 15 year old daughter at the helm. My son was home sick from school and my daughter felt she needed a "mental health day," too. I said, "Sure... I can use your help with something, anyway!"
Read more