Latest On My Sister / Myself

She was better yesterday. And after talking to her incredible surgeon,
we don't think they will do another proceedure, for now, maybe not
again. Medically, she is on new meds, and
we will have wound care to do at home, which I will be trained to do.
Unless she starts getting more infection, the foot will heal. But I have
been thru this with several friends and you can never say never. It;s
difficult to heal, but we are hopeful. They discussed using a hyperbaric
chamber to help speed the healing process. I never heard of this use for
a HBC, but apparently it forces oxygen in to the tissues and helps the
body to remove infection, because the infection can't live where there
is too much oxygen. It sounded like snake oil to me! LOL! But if it will
help ... okay! So here I am, dealing
with my own recent problems and med adjustments, and trying to recover
and go back to work, etc., and now I have this ... my plate is pretty
full! Oh yeah, I forgot
Ma ... She lives with us and I take care of her. We had been splitting
the duty, but the past month and a half, has been tuff. When my sister
comes home I will have them both. Ma is 83. can get around some and can
take cre of herself a little, enough so that I CAN leave her alone, but
I don;t like to. She is a little rebel, that woman, and "gets in to
things" if you aren;t here! Nothing bad ... she just tries to do too
much ,,, more than she is really able. She has a variety of medical
problems, but not diabetes. Me? I guess I am doing okay. I
have had my dietary problems this past week because of traveling to the
hospital every day. but I have been packing a lunchbox, and trying
really hard to stay on top of things, BG-wise. I guess i could have done
worse ... I had a few highs because I ate at wrong times, or things I
shouldn't have or too much. Yesterday I bought a huge salad, in the
hospital cafeteria, and ate the whole thing, and I just knew I wasgoing
to soar, but I didn;t. It had a bunch of stuff in it I don;t normally
eat ... I was okay, which pretty much shocked me. I am now about 6 weeks
in to insulin therapy, so I am new to all this, still, but I seem to be
kinda gettin' adjusted, and working out the problem with the lows over
night, I still dip down low, but not AS low, and I am completely aware
of how I respond to lows so that I can fix it before it is too far gone,
I am having to re=learn how to balance food issues.
In about 2 weeks I will tackle the weight loss issue, I need to take off
at least 30 lbs. that I regained ... Because of how the insilin is
pescribed at this point, i am going to have trouble lsing anything on it
like it is. The doc doesn't want me to have a re-lapse of keto, so I am
on the insulin for now, till I completely recover. I fell off the wagon
and gave myself a terrible health issue to deal with and now I have to
fix it a little more slowly than I want to. I don;t want it to go too
long though. I am taking a "day off" from going to the
hospital today because I have some needed things to do at home, and my
sister is unlikely to have any major issues. I am also pretty tired from
all the junk going on ... I am stroger than I thought. because i thought
I would have more BG issues than this, given the stress, but I am
re-finding out, that the stress issue never touches me how it does to
others! Honeybunch

rainbow wrote in message
<22912-453B7295-171@storefull-3115.bay.webtv.net>...
..>. . . . They discussed using a hyperbaric
chamber to help speed the healing process. I never heard of this use for
a HBC, but apparently it forces oxygen in to the tissues and helps the
body to remove infection, because the infection can't live where there
is too much oxygen. It sounded like snake oil to me! LOL! But if it will
help ... okay!
>...
>...
> Honeybunch

Another way to look at the oxygen issue: Diabetics tend to have damaged
circulatory systems. That results in poor oxygen transfer to the tissues
affected by a wound. The Hyperbaric chamber helps bring them up "to
normal".

Or as the docs say (in their special language which we love so well):

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/q...PubMed&list_ui
ds=8134443&dopt=Citation

". . .These data suggest that hyperbaric oxygen therapy improves
reepithelialization in normal and ischemic skin tissue. The beneficial
effect is not associated with changes in microvascular perfusion and
therefore is probably due to high arteriolar oxygen content and oxygen
diffusion. . . ."

Regards
Old Al

I am glad to read that your sister getting better.

One suggestion I have for you is to talk to her hospital's social worker.
See if you can set up for a home-care agency to come and help take care of
your sister and your mom. You might be able to get your sister's or your
mom's insurance to cover at least some of the costs. You can also talk to
their docs about this.

Jeff

We have no insurance. And we had a very negative issue with home health
care last year, sorry to say. It was a worthless expense. They could
never see to get to us on the proper days they were supposed to and the
two team members were out of their fields, so to speak. The woman, was
supposed to be doing physical therapy and exercise on Mom, who is 83 and
wheelchair bound. We tried to have the orders changed and the hospital
doc who rdered it wouldn't. The woman was a wound care specialist who
was coming here to help my Mom with esercis she was totally unble to do.
It ended up the woman would check her oxygen level and leave. The
gentlemen they sent was completely ineffective. He was supposed to
evaluate her and her new meds. He so totally missed a problem so huge
and glaring, she was almost hospitalized for a second time, had I not
caught on and called her regular doc. He was referred to as a "nurse"
but was workng for the agency till he gets his American medical license,
He is a doctor from a foreign country, which i won't name, LOL! ...
because my own doctors come from the same place and they are great! It
was a complete waste of time and money. I don't want to be
counting on people to show up and do what they are suposed to and be
disappointed. My sisterworked for a medical answerig service for years,
dealing with various home health care agencies, and we know that at
least where we live, what i experiened last year is pretty common. Some
of the things we had heard before we had the home health people didn;t
make sense till e had them with us. We were given a chance, BTW to pick
the agency we used, thru Medicare. It was a random pick, but
recommendatin by her case manager. I
don;t want somene coming here to change my sister;s dressing and not be
well versed in that skill. We want her to get well! For Mom ... I can do
most of what I need to, and we would not want a "babysitter" here with
her. All three of us are resistent to having a person in our home who is
not a part of our family and may or may not be motivated to do the
necessary things. I guess we are different than most and highly
independentt. If it were necessary to have help, I guess I would. But I
would never leave the alone with her, ever. Not knowing what I know.
ou can tell I have very strong feelings on this subject? LOL!!!
Rainbow

"rainbow" <rainbowsemail@webtv.net> wrote in message
news:22912-453B7295-171@storefull-3115.bay.webtv.net...
> I am stroger than I thought. because i thought
> I would have more BG issues than this, given the stress, but I am
> re-finding out, that the stress issue never touches me how it does to
> others!

Glad to see your sister's improving, Rainbow, and sorry to hear about your
extra duties with your Mom! Do please take care of yourself, so you can
continue to be strong for them...

Nicky.

--
A1c 10.5/5.5/<6 T2 DX 05/2004
100ug Thyroxine
95/72/72Kg

On Tue, 24 Oct 2006 21:50:44 +0100, "Nicky"
<ukc802466929@btconnect.com> wrote:

>"rainbow" <rainbowsemail@webtv.net> wrote in message
>news:22912-453B7295-171@storefull-3115.bay.webtv.net...
>> I am stroger than I thought. because i thought
>> I would have more BG issues than this, given the stress, but I am
>> re-finding out, that the stress issue never touches me how it does to
>> others!
>
>Glad to see your sister's improving, Rainbow, and sorry to hear about your
>extra duties with your Mom! Do please take care of yourself, so you can
>continue to be strong for them...
>
>Nicky.

Same here Rainbow.

Cheers, Alan, T2, Australia.
d&e, metformin 1000mg, ezetrol 10mg
Everything in Moderation - Except Laughter.
--
http://loraltravel.blogspot.com/
latest: Menton Memories

After over a week of daily hospital visits and running errands, one of
whch was a 3 mile walk ... I am taking a "stay home day" today.
My sister had a bandage change yesterday and it was decided the bones in
her foot were not infected and there will be no hyperbaric treatment,
since she is improving on her own. The doc or the HBC told us yesterday
that they only use it if there i no improvement. She is also geting out
of bed now, eating okay, etc, but has an issue with her stomach and is
going to have an ultra sound today, on her gallbladder.
Ma needs somethings done today, and I need to make numerous phone clls
on my sister's behalf ... I am going to cook and clean and basically
hang out ... Rainbow

rainbow wrote:
> After over a week of daily hospital visits and running errands, one of
> whch was a 3 mile walk ... I am taking a "stay home day" today.
> My sister had a bandage change yesterday and it was decided the bones in
> her foot were not infected and there will be no hyperbaric treatment,
> since she is improving on her own. The doc or the HBC told us yesterday
> that they only use it if there i no improvement. She is also geting out
> of bed now, eating okay, etc, but has an issue with her stomach and is
> going to have an ultra sound today, on her gallbladder.
> Ma needs somethings done today, and I need to make numerous phone clls
> on my sister's behalf ... I am going to cook and clean and basically
> hang out ... Rainbow
>
Be sure to get in some good relax-time... you need to take care of
yourself, too!

mt

--
T2 dx May 2005 with A1c 10.1
1000 mg Metformin 2x day
1000 mg Fish Oil (Omega 3) 2x day
500 mg Niacin 1x day
last A1c: 5.0 (Oct 2006)