Philadelphia woman explains how diabetes impacts her daily routine | USA TODAY

Описание: Keenya Taylor of Philadelphia shares how having type-2 diabetes has required her to manage almost every aspect of her life around the disease.

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Sunflowers are everywhere in Keenya Taylor’s cozy northeast side kitchen.

They line the curtains framing the window above her farmhouse sink. They hang as kitchen towels draped over her stove handle and brighten the kitchen mat that reads, “This Is Home.”

“Sunflowers make me happy. You need something happy when you’re dealing with this disease,” she said while counting out pills from five bottles to manage her Type 2 diabetes.

Taylor, 52, plans out every second of every minute, from the time she wakes up at 4 a.m. to the time she goes to bed exactly an hour after dinner. Her diabetes doesn’t leave much room for spontaneity.

Living with a chronic disease like diabetes in the United States is painstakingly complicated, from accessing medications and medical devices to navigating insurance companies, pharmacies and specialists.

The disjointed and confusing health care system leaves patients to their own devices, managing medications, doctor’s appointments and copays, calling insurance and drug companies, and planning every meal down to the last gram of carbohydrate.

“It’s a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week job,” Taylor said. “One wrong step can lead you to be really sick or having a medical emergency.”

Patients are finding even less support as health care systems report doctor shortages across the country, leading to long appointment wait times, and experts say physician burnout will only make the problem worse. By 2034, the U.S. is expected to see a doctor shortage in non-primary care specialties as high as 77,000.

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