Cure. Disappear. Diabetes.

The one nightly newscast that I trust and enjoy the most threw those words out there tonight. Carelessly.

I am absolutely fuming, and I can't ever remember feeling like this over a news story.

Granted, Brian Williams on his newscast initially said "type 2 diabetes", but then the lines got blurred and type 2 diabetes became just "diabetes." The Associated Press story on the MSNBC web site, does not make a distinction; it buried a mention of type 2 (not even a whisper of type 1) toward the end of the story. This makes me even more mad.

I'm speaking as a person who masqueraded as type 2 for three years, too.

The story summarizes an Australian study that reveals that gastric bypass or lap-band surgery can "cure" diabetes. Brian Williams says type 2, the AP story just says diabetes.

OK, let's separate these issues for a second. Yes, type 2 diabetes is more easily controlled with weight loss; type 1 diabetes, however, has no cure. What I'm mostly worked up about is the use of the words "cure" and "disappear."

The story talked about study participants losing weight with surgery or with more traditional diet and exercise techniques. Since these folks haven't put the weight back on, I'm assuming that they're maintaining a good diet and some sort of exercise regimen--otherwise they'd wind up overweight again because weight loss surgery isn't a cure for obesity, either.

These people are not--NOT--cured of their diabetes. It may be in remission, but it is not gone. It's still there, in the background, lurking.