One of the biggest breaks that my mom caught when she was diagnosed with diabetes was the fact that she qualified for a medical study on diabetes. What it meant is that she got gastric bypass surgery, with all of her medical expenses paid for. In addition she received all of her test supplies for free, which included a free blood glucose monitor and free test strips. Getting all of this medical attention and supplies for free was a huge burden off of my family’s shoulders. It also vastly improved my mother’s health. She had been a decent amount overweight for most of her life, but now she is skinny as a tooth pick. Many of the diabetes patients that had the gastric bypass surgery now show little to no symptoms of having diabetes. Unfortunately, my mother was not one of those lucky ones. I guess you cannot win them all, and getting to qualify for this study should be considered a win itself. How many other people must be struggling through bill payments due to their increasing medical costs? It is surely many more than the lucky few who were able to qualify for this study. I guess she should thank her lucky stars.