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Entry bubble Diabetes - My Family's Story

By: Ginger | November 14, 2008 | Category: Health

Ginger's parentsNovember is American Diabetes Month. My family is well acquainted with diabetes. In July, my father lost his battle with diabetes. My older sister has diabetes. I was originally told that I was “insulin resistant.” Diagnosis of insulin resistance or pre-diabetes may not seem like a big deal, but make no mistake: it is the beginning of an assault that will escalate, if given the chance. My insulin resistance turned into a diagnosis of diabetes several years ago.

My dad had to test his blood and give himself daily insulin shots. His kidneys began to fail and every night he hooked himself up for 8-10 hours of peritoneal dialysis. The nerve damage in his hands eventually prevented him from doing activities that required manual dexterity. He could no longer feel his feet and he became very unstable when walking. He was in and out of hospitals with a host of heart and respiratory issues. His circulation worsened. He got gangrene in his right foot and had to have his leg amputated. He had started trying to regain his strength and to heal from the amputation when he died at a rehabilitation facility.

My dad went through a lot, but diabetes doesn’t just affect the person with the disease, it affects the whole family. My mom had to learn to cope with my dad’s extreme high and low sugar levels and near-death cardiac crises. My mother’s intervention saved my dad’s life on more than one occasion. She had to learn to manage his medicines and perform his dialysis hook-up when circulatory-related dementia set in and he could no longer remember how to safely perform his health maintenance routines. She had to deal with a host of logistics from getting him up when he fell to getting him to all of his doctor appointments. I know that this was tremendously stressful for her.

It was a very difficult thing watching my dad trying to cope with the pain of the amputation. My dad was “old school” in his belief that men don’t cry. To witness him shaking with pain and trying not to cry in front of his daughters was something that will stay with me forever. Watching him joke with the nurses and trying to keep a positive attitude when I know he must have been scared confirmed for me that he was a brave person in his own way.

As a diabetic, I can tell you that it can be difficult to deal with emotionally. It is a struggle sometimes to maintain a positive attitude and keep focused on good eating, exercising, and disease-monitoring habits. Depression or despondency can cause disease control and good habits to slip away and when that happens, diabetes infiltrates and does more damage.

Diabetes is not easy to manage or live with, but diabetics don’t have to do it all alone. Working with a good health care team can help manage and control the disease, but it is crucial to get control of the disease as early as possible. The American Diabetes Association is a good resource for anyone who has been recently diagnosed with diabetes.

Does someone in your family have diabetes? If you are comfortable talking about it, please share your story. We are all in this together.

| Post a Comment | View Comments [6] | envelope E-mail This Entry | Tags: diabetes   diabetes_awareness_month   ginger  

Comments (6):

blue comment bubble Posted by jim brooks 84 on November 14, 2008 at 08:02 AM EST

from jim,
i was diagnosed with diabetes 25 years ago. the first sign was when i went to the doctor for a regular checkup. i was going to work as a janitor for a school and the check-up was mandantory. the doctor had me lie down on the table and unbuckle my trousers. he was going to do the pressure test around my stomach area. he immediately ask me how long had i been diabetic. this was my first indication of this. the inflamed area around my waist from my belt was the first indication. for the first three years i was on pills. diabeta, gilburide and metformin. im still on the oral medcs and insulin. 70 units twice a day. keeping my diabetes in check is impossible for me. all foods tasts great to me. no feeling from my knees down on both legs. been in hospital twice for leg ulsers. just a light scrape on the shins will get infected and be out of control in just a few hour. my mom had diabetes and before she passed away, shwe had her right foot amputated. if there was just some way that this diesease could be cured would be about the best thing could happen. it causes so many problems with the heart, kidneys, eyes just to name a few.thanx for reading my feelings on this.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Ginger on November 14, 2008 at 08:15 AM EST

Thank you for sharing Jim. I know it is hard. My father struggled to manage his diabetes. Unfortunately, he was not diagnosed until the disease had done significant damage. He was a stubborn man and kept insisting nothing was wrong when all of the diabetic symptoms were there. He didn't like to deal with doctors, so he just ignored what was happening to him. It is heartbreaking to me to think that if he had just dealt with it differently in the beginning he might still be alive today.

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blue comment bubble Posted by justducki on November 14, 2008 at 09:19 AM EST

Today is World Diabetes Day, http://www.worlddiabetesday.org/ and being so it is very important when discussing diabetes to differentiate between T1 and T2. Because of this there are many misconceptions for those who suffer with T1, one of which is my beautiful little girl, who was just diagnosed 8 months ago, at the age of 6. It is very important for people to know that there was nothing that any of us could have done to prevent her diagnosis. She did NOT eat too much sugar and now, even post diagnosis, she can eat just about anything with careful planning (a carb is a carb is a carb!). As well meaning as people are trying to be when say "it could be worse," that does not help, and because it is an invisible illness, it is bad, it is forever. Insulin, glucose checks, etc are survival, they are not a cure.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Ginger on November 14, 2008 at 10:15 AM EST

Justducki, thank you for sharing your story and thanks for mentioning World Diabetes Day. For those who don't know, with Type 1 diabetes, your body does not make insulin. With Type 2 diabetes, the more common type, your body does not make or use insulin well. In my case, my pancreas makes too much insulin, my body just doesn't use it well. Over time, the pancreas can burn out and stop making insulin altogether. Neither type of diabetes is a punishment for eating poorly. There are plenty of people who eat poorly that never develop diabetes. People who are prone to insulin issues do have to be very careful about eating carbs. They break down into glucose (sugar). If you don't make enough insulin or if your body doesn't use the insulin properly, the sugar builds up in the blood and doesn't get used by the muscles. This excess sugar in the blood, over time, causes damage to many systems in your body.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Jim's daughter #3 on November 14, 2008 at 06:36 PM EST

Ginger,

Thank you for your eloquent presentation on what our dad and family went through during his 23 years of living with diabetes. I am grateful for the time I had with Dad. I look back at those almost sleepless nights I spent taking care of him while he was in the hospital as time well spent and as a way of creating memories of him for me to call on now and in the future.

If your blog motivates even only one person to be checked for diabetes or to motivate one person to improve her care of her diabetes, it will be a victory against the disease.

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blue comment bubble Posted by Terrie on November 15, 2008 at 05:15 PM EST

Hi Ginger!

I have been diagnosed with diabetes for seven years now. I started out with pre-gestational diabetes at 36 (being pregnant with my son). After birth, the diabetes went away. I was then diagnosed with the "real deal" Type II Adult Onset Diabetes at age 40. I am 47 years old now. So far I have managed to keep my blood sugar numbers in check. I maintain my diabetes by blood sugar checks, oral medication, diet and exercise. I have staved off insulin so far. I am thankful for that. It sometimes is a struggle for me to remember and set time aside to check my blood, medicate, and exercise. And finding the time to do that with a child to take care, as well. After my son's birth, several months later, I went onto birth control. A mistake, I think, for me. I gained a lot of weight and couldn't figure out why, till my doctor pointed it out, around the age of 40. Then, afterwards, I had lost around 40 pounds (unexplained). My theory is, with my pre-disposition to the diabetes gene (my father had diabetes), my pregnancy may have somehow activated the "dormant" gene perhaps a bit earlier than it would have normally. The gaining of the weight with the birth control didn't help, either. Just a theory of mine concerning my diabetes. It is a struggle, but one I have learned to live with.

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