August already!
I am posting this solely as reference notes. I forget with day-to-day life that I still need to keep track of changes.I have been studying post CABG (open heart surgery) cognitive dysfunction (aka pump head). It is an interesting topic. My dad had 5 bypasses done when he was 45 years old and I'm pretty sure he had this. About 10 years after his surgery, he tore down a perfectly good house. He lived 17 years after his surgery, which, at that time, was considered a pretty good track record.Hubby is now 6 years post CABG. I see signs of "stupid" decisions. His brother wanted his parents hous...
Source: Wife of a Diabetic - August 3, 2016 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
Summer is just flying by!
Busier than ever! Maybe it's good that there's just not time to worry about diabetes. :) Things are fairly stable and that's great! My flower beds, sisters, art - all keep me busy. Decided to take some classes this summer. That might have been a mistake! :) To Tom's wife - how was the surgery? My youngest sister has developed what is called a "frozen shoulder". She is doing PT and massages and everything in order to avoid surgery. Her docs said it might take 3 years to "unlock". She's pretty frustrated! So glad to hear you made it to Isra...
Source: Wife of a Diabetic - June 13, 2016 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
Response to "Managing"
"Managing" wrote:My husband does and it is almost unbearable to be around him because of all the stupid things he does and says. I worry that it will also make him be so forgetful that he will get himself into real trouble in the shop around tools and vehicles, etc. But he will not listen to my words of warning. The weird thing about our ongoing grief is that it is such a constant that I have trouble recognizing what "normal" would be. I am not sure to what degree this has affected my personality. Am I even able to make good decisions anymore? I love this man and am commited to helping him but as h...
Source: Wife of a Diabetic - April 21, 2016 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
Glucose inbalance once again
You'd think I'd be prepared. But I never am. Increase in sugar lows. Too much insulin? Too little food? He almost passed out twice this week.Skin tone is very gray. Other problems going on. Many nights of no sleep - awake vomiting. So I don't sleep.You'd think I'd be prepared. After his heart attack, bypass surgery, spinal fusion surgery...you'd think I'd be prepared for anything.But I never am. And I doubt I ever will be.I was thinking about grief. I know 10 people who have passed away so far this year. No one really close - cousins, quasi-kin, etc. Y...
Source: Wife of a Diabetic - April 17, 2016 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
Diabetes and marijuana
It doesn't really matter whether you live in a place where it's legal or not.....anyone can get it with very little trouble. And hubby does. Am I watching him turn into a pothead? What impact does it have on his diabetes? What does it do to lungs/body that are being eaten away by high blood sugars?I don't have any answers. I'm watching. Sort of like watching a water...wondering when it's going to boil? It does ease his pain. He sleeps better. He only uses it at night before going to bed. But he doesn't get up til about 10 am. His is lethargic.....mostly an "...
Source: Wife of a Diabetic - March 30, 2016 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
Ulcers and other such nonsense
I am convinced that a non-compliant diabetic spouse can give you an ulcer! And I am determined that it doesn't happen to me. But I have my days, that's for sure. Can't believe it's been a month since I last updated.He went without any insulin for 5 days (last post) and he was a complete mess....not to mention my emotional status! But we finally got his health insurance straightened out, and got the insulin. You know, he has been on disability for 3 years now and a year ago, he went on Medicare.....and that was the beginning of a year long battle with our private insurance. They couldn't ...
Source: Wife of a Diabetic - February 3, 2016 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
So bad it's almost funny
If you have followed this blog over the years, you will know that I have given up. My mantra, "you can't fix stupid"!So we were at the in-laws place finalizing some estate stuff and left to drive home Sunday afternoon. We were packing up and I started asking him questions, "do you need to take...." and he got pissy and said, "I have my checklist and I will get it when I get to the list."I shut up and packed up my stuff.We got 6 hours away and he realized he did not pack his insulin. I had seen it in the refrain....but it was on his "check list".We found a hotel and yesterday morning, he called the pharmac...
Source: Wife of a Diabetic - December 30, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
Eyesight and filth
I understand that diabetes will attack the eyes. Hubby has been having events which he calls white migraines. He will get the headache, everything goes white and he cannot see.But I'm wondering about other vision. He had cornea transplants at age 30 and now wears hard lenses over soft lenses in both eyes which are supposed to correct his vision to 20/40.We are at the in-laws working on some estate issues. I pray this is my last trip here. I left in May and he came home in August. He's been here for 2 weeks this time and I flew in yesterday.I cannot begin to describe how filthy the toilet...
Source: Wife of a Diabetic - December 24, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
Holding our own
Well, we still haven't resolved the pharmacy issue with our insurance. But I did go ahead and switch to high option for 2016. I decided that I would rather be broke than risk losing the house to medical bills next year! Such a choice, huh?Things are on a pretty even keel around here. We are going to head to his parents in a couple of weeks to finalize a few more things on the estate and close the house up. I will get a few things of mine that I left down there. Hoping to only be gone 10 days, but we are driving and it will all depend on what weather we run into. It's about 1000 mil...
Source: Wife of a Diabetic - November 29, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
how do you pay for all those medical expenses???
First off....feel free to post any comments you want, good or bad. However, do not post comments that link to your website wanting to sell a product or give some kind of advice. Just leave the link out. If the link is there, I will delete the comment and it won't get posted. I'm not willing to be used as a vehicle to further your business. :)DW2 wrote in a recent comment:once he fell and hit his head, requiring one or two stitches. Another time I found him lying flat on the floor with hs eyes shut on the kitchen floor between the counter and the refrigerator.and it got me to thinking.....how d...
Source: Wife of a Diabetic - November 19, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
What is your greatest fear?
I think that is such a brilliant question. As the spouse of a non-compliant diabetic - what is your greatest fear?Wow! Not sure. It could be the progression - not knowing what will happen next. Will he have another heart attack, need more back surgery, have his kidneys fail completely - he's stage 4 ERSD and will refuse dialysis.Is it the prospect of future hospitalizations, medical bills, and how do we pay for them without losing the house?I don't fear death, or being left alone (been there for the last 3 years), or coma (been there with him on that as well) Do I fear that he will...
Source: Wife of a Diabetic - November 15, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
Diabetes, dementia and alzheimers
We know for a fact that diabetes eats away at the nerve endings in the hands and feet. Then that process progresses to other organs. Including the brain. We just don't know at what rate.We know what the symptoms of dementia and Alzheimers are. But when it comes on quite slowly, over a long period of time, to we acknowledge the signs, or do we simply write them off to other aspects of life?Last Friday, hubby went to the store and came home with 2 nice steaks and said he would grill them for us sometime that weekend. I said, "I'm not going to be here!" and he exclaimed, "oh! that's right!"Wouldn...
Source: Wife of a Diabetic - November 14, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
What will I do if he goes into a diabetic coma?
He asked me that one day. He said, you'll dump me in a nursing home! To which I replied jokingly, "glad we have one just 2 blocks away!"He did NOT see my humor! LOLOL!!!So I sat here and head a bit of a heart to heart with him. I know his biggest fear is being left alone, being "dumped" somewhere. But I also know he had never thought it out.I confessed that if I find him in a coma, I will do everything I can to save him. I know the "drill". And I will call 911 which he absolutely, positively, without question does NOT want me to do.But the more I told him my thoughts, the more he c...
Source: Wife of a Diabetic - November 10, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
update from wifeofadiabetic2
She has a new blog url - wifed2.blogspot.comSo if you have lost track of her, go check it out - all is as good as can be expected._____________In the past, I have written quite a bit about the importance of finding a passion in your life in order to deal with the diabetes in his life. I think there are several aspects to this that I am just now discovering. And perhaps he had to leave in order for me to step back and breathe in order to find multiple passions in my life.It started with gardening. I woke up one spring day in 2013, went outside, and just started digging up sod in the year. It turned i...
Source: Wife of a Diabetic - November 9, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
from DW in Texas
she wrote:DW...I can't thank you enough for your posts...(just wish they were more often)...They HELP so much in my darkening world...I truly look forward to reading them over & over... You actually make me feel there is something else in my life besides dh & all that goes with it...please know you have a gift & pray you'll continue sharing/posting your "lifeline" for others...DW in TexasThanks. Now that hubby is back living here I'm sure I will have more to post. I have always said that if my "writing" will help one other person, I will keep it up. :)So an update on hubby. In 2011,...
Source: Wife of a Diabetic - October 27, 2015 Category: Endocrinology Source Type: blogs
