My non-compliant, poorly eating, smoking, gonna be 70 at the end of this month, was-always-strong-as-a-horse husband Charles has been increasingly ill over the last several months. I kept telling him to go see our PCP, but he kept putting it off, assuming it was mostly the result of his medications for cirrhosis (in particular diuretics) making him have to pee every hour or so, and disrupting his sleep, and he was sure his body would "get used to them" soon. In the meantime, he was eating even more poorly than usual - mostly carby comfort foods - and his muscles started wasting away.
In June, his borderline pre-diabetes finally crossed the line to diabetic (no surprise - his mother was a type 2 diabetic for many years, and died of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)) with a fasting blood glucose of 130, A1C of 6.5. PCP added an oral sulfonylurea. Then things went bad with my father, and the PCP disappeared for about 2 months, changing practices for the THIRD time since we moved here. We finally got an appointment with him at his new practice in mid-October and checked in with him. He added a couple of meds for Charles to try to minimize the nighttime peeing.
Less than a week later, Charles fell in the house while I was out shopping. He'd been feeling dizzy from time to time, but now his left arm was spasming multiple times a day and had no strength. I got him to go see the PCP again, and he ordered a pill for muscle spasms, and a fasting bloodwork panel, which Charles did the next day, Thursday the 28th. He was also concerned about the arm spasms and weakness might have been from a "mini-stroke" and also referred him to a neurologist.
I want to add that we were supposed to leave for California on the 26th, but our RV has a problem that is taking FOR-F'ING EVER to diagnose and fix - we still have no ETA for this. My son was supposed to fly to Phoenix on the 24th to travel back to CA with us, as we were going to make a stop at the Grand Canyon, which he had never been to - I wanted to spend some concentrated time with my son, whom I have barely seen in 5+ years, and not at all in 2 years, but also wanted him along because Charles' had physically deteriorated so much over the summer and could use help getting the house ready to leave for over a month, as well as loading the RV. So Charles fell the day my son was supposed to have arrived, but we had already canceled his ticket because the RV wasn't (and still isn't) in condition for a long trip.
Charles’ bloodwork came back the next morning (Friday), which I can see on our portal. Fasting glucose 444; A1C off the chart at ">15.5" - WTF? How could things go south that fast?
The PCP never called on Friday, despite messages being left, and his new practice had NO after-hours contact information, and I want to say here that Liz spent HOURS talking me through getting him a glucose meter, telling me how and when to use it, how to get Charles to eat until he could get more info from the PCP, and sending educational links. I would have gone crazy(er) without her help.
The PCP called on Monday, and put him on Lantus (long-acting insulin), as well as salt and Gatorade Zero for his low electrolytes. I also decided (with Liz's help) that he needed to get in to see an endocrinologist, and managed to squeeze the local highly rated endo who wasn't taking new patients to see him the next day. She prescribed short acting Novolog 3 times a day in addition to the Lantus.
In the meantime, he has been surprisingly cooperative about changing his crap diet - he has been pretty steadfast in refusing most fish and chicken, and that's mostly what he's been eating for over a week now. No bread/pastries has been killer for him, but he's having veggie snacks and liking it.
His average glucose is slowly going down, He's had a few measurements under 200 the last couple of days, and he is already feeling a fair bit better. He had the neurologist appointment this morning, and although he's got some tests to run, he doesn't think it was a stroke. He will (FINALLY) see a podiatrist next week, and I got him in to radiology to do a precautionary CT he's been putting off to make sure the incidentally discovered abdominal aortic aneurysm really is small and doesn't need treatment at this time. And he's down to just a few cigs/day. He will be doing specialty labs tomorrow to determine what kind of diabetes it is (i.e., not autoimmune or T1).
I hope he's been scared straight. If it's T2 and he can't get it under control right away, I'm already thinking Hermosillo is just a few hundred miles from here.
Oh, and I guess I'm going to lose a few pounds (which I very much need to do) if I'm going to cook keto for both of us.
In June, his borderline pre-diabetes finally crossed the line to diabetic (no surprise - his mother was a type 2 diabetic for many years, and died of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH)) with a fasting blood glucose of 130, A1C of 6.5. PCP added an oral sulfonylurea. Then things went bad with my father, and the PCP disappeared for about 2 months, changing practices for the THIRD time since we moved here. We finally got an appointment with him at his new practice in mid-October and checked in with him. He added a couple of meds for Charles to try to minimize the nighttime peeing.
Less than a week later, Charles fell in the house while I was out shopping. He'd been feeling dizzy from time to time, but now his left arm was spasming multiple times a day and had no strength. I got him to go see the PCP again, and he ordered a pill for muscle spasms, and a fasting bloodwork panel, which Charles did the next day, Thursday the 28th. He was also concerned about the arm spasms and weakness might have been from a "mini-stroke" and also referred him to a neurologist.
I want to add that we were supposed to leave for California on the 26th, but our RV has a problem that is taking FOR-F'ING EVER to diagnose and fix - we still have no ETA for this. My son was supposed to fly to Phoenix on the 24th to travel back to CA with us, as we were going to make a stop at the Grand Canyon, which he had never been to - I wanted to spend some concentrated time with my son, whom I have barely seen in 5+ years, and not at all in 2 years, but also wanted him along because Charles' had physically deteriorated so much over the summer and could use help getting the house ready to leave for over a month, as well as loading the RV. So Charles fell the day my son was supposed to have arrived, but we had already canceled his ticket because the RV wasn't (and still isn't) in condition for a long trip.
Charles’ bloodwork came back the next morning (Friday), which I can see on our portal. Fasting glucose 444; A1C off the chart at ">15.5" - WTF? How could things go south that fast?
The PCP never called on Friday, despite messages being left, and his new practice had NO after-hours contact information, and I want to say here that Liz spent HOURS talking me through getting him a glucose meter, telling me how and when to use it, how to get Charles to eat until he could get more info from the PCP, and sending educational links. I would have gone crazy(er) without her help.
The PCP called on Monday, and put him on Lantus (long-acting insulin), as well as salt and Gatorade Zero for his low electrolytes. I also decided (with Liz's help) that he needed to get in to see an endocrinologist, and managed to squeeze the local highly rated endo who wasn't taking new patients to see him the next day. She prescribed short acting Novolog 3 times a day in addition to the Lantus.
In the meantime, he has been surprisingly cooperative about changing his crap diet - he has been pretty steadfast in refusing most fish and chicken, and that's mostly what he's been eating for over a week now. No bread/pastries has been killer for him, but he's having veggie snacks and liking it.
His average glucose is slowly going down, He's had a few measurements under 200 the last couple of days, and he is already feeling a fair bit better. He had the neurologist appointment this morning, and although he's got some tests to run, he doesn't think it was a stroke. He will (FINALLY) see a podiatrist next week, and I got him in to radiology to do a precautionary CT he's been putting off to make sure the incidentally discovered abdominal aortic aneurysm really is small and doesn't need treatment at this time. And he's down to just a few cigs/day. He will be doing specialty labs tomorrow to determine what kind of diabetes it is (i.e., not autoimmune or T1).
I hope he's been scared straight. If it's T2 and he can't get it under control right away, I'm already thinking Hermosillo is just a few hundred miles from here.
Oh, and I guess I'm going to lose a few pounds (which I very much need to do) if I'm going to cook keto for both of us.
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