Type Two

by Lawrence M Lesser

At my first checkup
with this doctor, he scans the labs,
declares me diabetic for life
like 1 in 10 Americans.
Just like that: normal to diabetes,
skipping prediabetes. He

pulled the trigger not from my A1C, but from
a tolerance test, possibly false
with too few carbs,
a pitfall I learned not from him or the lab,
but frantic Googling
this diagnosis.

This internist is also a diabetologist,
so diabetes may be his null,
as the Anderson-Darling null is normality,
with default to launch protocol.
So is my Type 2
a Type II error?

He may not care
I’m a researcher:
I’d love a CGM to show in real time
what spikes my sugar and its CV or my time out of range.
He says that’s too complex –
it’s glucometer and finger pokes for me. So back home I

pull the trigger on my lancing device,
and the pain’s less than bracing
for the prick.
Do I have tolerance for this? The monitor’s MOE
exceeds half the window of
what’s normal. Whatever

label may stick, I want to change.
Given how unmindful I’ve been with
my potbelly and what goes in it,
there’s power in turning carbs to servings
and each plate into a pie chart, reducing portions
of things like pie.

Note: this poem was written before the diagnosis was deemed incorrect and overturned