“I didn’t want my friends to be afraid of me,” Kelly Kunik said. “Who wants to be the kid who passes out? So I made jokes. I didn’t want them to be nervous, I wanted to be normal.” That sense of humor that Kunik used growing up as a Type 1 Diabetic (she was diagnosed at age 8) comes shining through her writing, which you can read on her blog Diabetesaliciousness. We recently sat down with Kelly to talk about humor, the role it plays in chronic conditions, and what patients wish their health care providers knew.
JNJ: Humor’s obviously a large part of your life. Why don’t we start out talking about the connection http://www.journalofnursingjocularity.com/wp-admin/post.php?action=edit&post=3027#titledivbetween having diabetes and the power of laughter?
Kelly: There’s absolutely a very strong connection between humor and diabetes. It lets you own your disease, rather than letting it own you. Once you can laugh at something, you own it. Things become easier, all across the spectrum.
When you find a community of other people who are facing the same situation, and you find you can laugh about what you have in common — cutting your finger and running for your meter because you don’t want to waste the blood! — it makes things more bearable. You don’t feel like you’re alone. You’re not the only person who doesn’t want to get out of bed in the morning. You’re not the only person who has to go exercise, even when you really don’t want to.
JNJ: And much of that humor’s kind of dark. It’s very similar to the humor we see nurses using.
Kelly:You definitely have to know what’s going on. With all the talk we do about bleeding and shooting up, if you’re not privvy to the situation, it looks like something illegal’s going on!”
Humor helps. because it allows us to laugh and walk away when people just don’t get it. Let’s face it, people can be idiots about our disease. They say, “You don’t look like a person with diabetes.” Yes, I do!
JNJ: People ask a lot of stupid questions?
Kelly: Unbelievable. I was out at a club with my friends, and this guy I’ve never met before noticed my insulin pump, and he asked me if that meant I couldn’t have kids. I asked him if he could tell me his sperm count right that minute!
JNJ: That’s a pretty intimate question for someone you just met.
Kelly: People lose their filters when they find out you’re a diabetic. Everyone’s an expert. I’ve had bakers who wouldn’t sell me cookies. You try to explain that no food is off limits, but some are more challenging than others.
You do this long enough, you learn how to achieve blood sugar nirvana: balancing your diet so you can have those treats you really want. Which means cupcakes! But I’ve never been able to do that with pasta, and that’s another story.
JNJ: What should we, as nurses, as health care professionals, know about working with people with diabetes?
Kelly: Talk to us, with us, not at us. I’ve got 32 years of experience living with diabetes. That might mean that I know what I’m talking about — and that other PWD know what they’re talking about. We’re experts at living life with diabetes. Take that into consideration.
Humor can be a bonding tool. We’re more apt to listen. You have to remember that we’re always talked at, and it’s always serious and stern. That gets overwhelming, and when you’re overwhelmed, you tune it out. Humor and talking to us makes it possible for us to hear you.
I talk a lot about my very first CDE, Joe. I met him when I was eight years old, at Children’s Hospital. Joe’s a great guy. He’s a Type 1 too, and he really understood. He’d talk about how we’d empty out the Breyer’s ice cream warehouse when they find a cure. He made you laugh, everything was fun, you’d do well because he made you want to do well. I adore him, and humor was a huge part of that. Every patient you talk to needs that humor, needs that connection, needs to be talked to. If you can do that, you’re making a big difference.
Find out more about Kelly, her speaking performances, and more by reading visiting her website Diabetesaliciousness .
