RX for health

RX for health

Wednesday, September 10, 2014

PENNY's STORY

To the Admins, thank you for all you do to educate and assist all the members in caring for themselves with their diabetes. I would like to tell my story in hopes if helping at least one person. I was diagnosed in 1999 with diabetes and told I would be controlling it with diet and medication. The following year I had to have stents put in my legs because of PAD (secondary to diabetes). While the doctor was going through my arteries he checked my heart and found five block...ages that could not be stented. Nine days later I had a heart bypass surgery. I was placed on insulin shots at this time. My bs were hard to control, but I struggled with it and in 2009 I became very ill and had to give up work. My liver was diseased with nonalcohol cirrhosis and my kidneys were in distress. My stomach would fill up with fluid and every week I had eleven liters of fluid removed. In August 2010 my kidneys quit and I went on dialysis which didn't agree with me. I got sick every time I went. My nephrologist worked very hard to get me on the organ transplant list and one day he said I was on the list, but in the next breath told me I had thyroid cancer (which took me back off the list for 3-5 years. Two hours before surgery to remove my thyroid the doctor told met surgery was canceled and I needed to get back on the transplant list. It was touch and go since I was given only a 20% chance to live six months. The next day I got back on the list and ten days later I had a new liver and kidney. God bless organ donors. I have to take immune suppressant medications and am restricted pretty much to home. Crowds could be dangerous and I could again find myself hospitalized. Hoping this would be enough, not a chance. I developed neuropathy in my legs, sciatica and spinal stenosis. In 2011 I had a heart attack and now have a pacemaker. I have the start if COPD. And as if that is not enough, I have had seven trigger fingers released. I constantly need to be aware of my bs, especially now because a high could mean I'm going into rejection of one or both of my organs. This is a small list compared to the devastation diabetes can have. I hope this helps at least one person realize the seriousness of diabetes. Actually, I hope and pray everyone will take this dreaded and damaging disease to heart and do what is necessary to keep it under control. There is no cure, just control. Thank you for allowing me to tell my story.

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