American Diabetes Month and World Diabetes Day

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November 15, 2008 · Filed Under Side Effect Facts

November 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.

Source: http://blog.usa.gov/roller/govgab/entry/diabetes_my_family_s_story

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