I Am Fighting For My Life Not My Leg

I am participating in Wego Health’s National Health Blog Post Month. I am not using the prompts again today.

Last night, my friend Natalie asked about a calcanectomy on my post about the doctor lying. I have had some other comments about what is going on and thought I would explain.

A calcanectomy removes your heel but leaves the rest of the foot intact. You would be able to walk with special shoes. There is a very high failure rate and it is also very painful. With any surgery, you run the risk of infection and things going downhill fast. If it fails, then you would have an amputation.

Based on some of the comments I have received, I think some people think you get the amputation, get a prosthetic leg and get on your with your life. Once you have one leg amputated, you are high risk for losing the other one. Again, you run the risk of infections. What I think most people don’t realize is that the average life expectancy after an amputation is 5 years. Yes I know that is average but I am also fighting other health issues besides just being diabetic. The autonomic neuropathy has really screwed up my internal systems. I don’t think the odds are in my favor of beating that 5 years.

Invisible Illness vs. Visible Illness

I am participating in Wego Health’s National Health Blog Post Month. I decided to use one of the bonus prompts today, “Invisible Illness vs. Visible Illness, Pros & Cons.” I am also participating in Mike Durbin of My Diabetic Heart, Diabetes Blessings Week. I am going to attempt to turn the Wego Health prompts into Diabetes Blessings!

Diabetes is an invisible illness because unless a stranger sees you testing your blood sugar or taking insulin, they won’t know by looking at you that you have diabetes and the things that you have to do on a daily basis.

Neuropathy has affected my balance and I also have drop foot so I use a walker. When a stranger sees me, they know something is wrong. Amazingly, most people ask, “knee or hip?”

Advice to Caretakers of a Patient With Diabetes

I am participating in Wego Health’s National Health Blog Post Month. Today’s topic is, “Write about your advice for someone caring for a patient with your condition.”

As a caregiver, you should take the time to learn as much about diabetes that you can. There are a lot of things that can cause a person’s blood sugar to go up or down. If the person that you are caring for is able to understand what is going on, they need to be an integral part of their care and included in any and all decisions. You can recommend things, but don’t force. You also need to listen to what they tell you about their usual routine and how they do things. It is their body, not yours.

Contrary to what some people may believe, there really isn’t a “diabetic diet” that the person must follow. They may have other health issues that influence their diet and those should be considered. If the person wants to follow low carb, they aren’t going to drop over dead. Don’t lecture them that low carb is bad. At the same time, if they want a piece of cake, that is their right to have a piece of cake so let them have what they want. It is their choice what they want to eat, not yours.

My Health Playlist

I am participating in Wego Health’s National Health Blog Post Month. Today’s topic is, “Health Playlist. Make a playlist for your health community.”

Here are a few songs that I picked:

Sugar Sugar – The Archies
We Take Care Of Our Own – Bruce Springsteen
I Choose To Live – Tshepo Mosese
So High (Rock Me Baby And Roll Me Away) – Dave Mason
Not By Choice – George Simmons

You can probably figure out why I picked Sugar Sugar and So High. I picked We Take Care Of Our Own by Bruce Springsteen because the song reminds me of the help in the Diabetes Online Community.  Choose To Live by Tshepo Mosese was actually recorded for World Diabetes Day back in 2010. Not By Choice was written by our very own George Simmons.