Let's Trade

Just like in the movie, today we’re doing a swap. If you could switch chronic diseases, which one would you choose to deal with instead of diabetes? And while we’re considering other chronic conditions, do you think your participation in the DOC has affected how you treat friends and acquaintances with other medical conditions? (Thanks to Jane of Jane K. Dickinson, RN, PhD, CDE and Bob of T Minus Two for this topic suggestion.)

I've been sitting her most of the day thinking about this post. I've read many a blog post and for the most part, everyone feels the same. We don't really want to get rid of the monster we know and trade it for a monster we don't know.

Lets set some ground rules:

1. The trade would last for only 24 hours.
2. You would have to work as hard as you could to maintain and manage your health during that time. (ie: no cupcake parties at 11:30pm just because you knew you were almost done.)

Ok.. rules all agreed upon? Good. Now lets trade...for everything. We all get to experience every chronic illness for 24 hours each. The downfall of this would be that it would take quite a bit of time to get through all of them. The benefit would be the better understanding of what everyone goes through. Think of all the misconceptions that would be gone because everyone would "get it". Think of the dedication to finding cures because after experiencing (insert chronic illness here) everyone would understand the need. I also think that there would be a DOC style groups for every condition.  THAT alone would be worth it.