Diabetes

[stu929]

I know this is a cigar forum but anyone that could spare a few moments would greatly be appreciated. My fater has been battling diabetes for many years and recently has had a major set back.

Little over a year ago my father had half of his right foot aputated to try to stay ahead of an infection that they had not been able to cure. Things seemed great and life went on after he adjusted to the change. Recently he came down with what he thought was the Flu. Turns out his foot is infected and upon traveling to the doctor is sent dicrectly to the hospital.

This morning the performed an unscheduled surgery on both his good and bad foot only to find out his good foot is badly infected and the bones have deteriorated very quickly. Doctors are running tests on the bone in the hopes to save his good foot. Things seem bleek right now but hopefully we will get good news on Monday and most or all of his foot can be saved.

In addition to your thoughts and prayes please if you know anyone that has diabetes please urge them to take care of themselves, and work to manage this disease. It can be managed and you can live with it but not if you ignore it or do not take it seriously. My father is 51 and I have seen his lifestyle all but dissapear over the last 5 years due to this disease. Of those last 5 years he has spent nearly 2 of it in the hospital dealing with one infection or another.

Thank you all in advance for your thoughts
Steven

[havanajohn]

Steven, I too am a diabetic and I have to work hard every day to manage it. My prayers go out to you and your family in this time of crisis. I am praying for good news from his doctor. Keep all of us informed. -John

[cp478]

steven, my father has been diabetic since he was 8 yrs old and he is legaly blind and having major kidney problems. recently i have had trouble and became diabetic myself.

so it goes without saying that you and your fathers situation hits close to home for me.

my thoughts and prayers are definately with your father and your family in this time!

please keep us up to date brother.

[gjcab09]

All my hopes for your dads recovery, Stephen, I'll be thinking of him, and trying to use your heartfelt post as a wake-up call for myself. My prayers are with you.

[tzaddi]

You and your family are in my prayers for health & happiness.

[mrsmitty]

My mom, myself & my both of my grandfathers are diabetic. My best wishes go out to you & your father.

[stu929]

My gratitude to all those who are thinking of my family.

For those who have similar events occuring in your family please don't put it off until tomorrow and please dont think that it will just go away. Time goes by quicker than you think and you can't undo the damage that has been done in many cases.

Thank you all for you kind words and prayers
Steven

[uncballzer]

My best wishes to go out to your father. What you can expect though, is roughly 6 weeks minimum of IV antibiotics if they don't perform any more surgery, and probably more oral antibiotics afterwards. Infections of bone (osteomyelitis) are hard to treat.

For the diabetics, blood sugar is definitely hard to control; when your sugar increases and stays high, it's basically food for bacteria and they move right in (imagine those mucinex commercials actually taking place inside your body). But just as importantly is your blood pressure; studies have shown that keeping your blood pressure under control is actually more important than keeping the blood sugar under tight control. Sorry to turn this into a lecture, but I felt its needed and hopefully will help our other BOTLs battling with this.

[tx_tuff]

My prayers and thoughts are with your dad and family!

[dinoa2]

I echo all the above and hope for the best for your father. I have type 2 diabetes and found out about 2 years ago and have been fortunate to keep it under control with pills and watching what I eat. my doctor says it is pretty controlled /within good levels now.

hope everything gets better and pass along good thoughts and prayers for you and you dad

[Cigary]

First let me say that this thread is important not only for what our "brother" is going thru as far as how diabetes affects him and his family but to those on here like myself, suffer with diabetes as well. We should note from the start that cigar smoking is probably not the best addition to our lives as the nicotine does spike our sugar levels. Having said this it becomes a choice as to how you live your life,,quality over misery is how I look at it when it comes to me. I am now taking insulin after dealing with diabetes and oral medication for the last 10 years,,,,oral meds just didn't lower it enough so now I take two shots daily of long acting insulin.

Staying on top of this "basterd" disease is not easy,,,you have to check your sugars often and try and stay within the normal levels. My heartfelt thoughts go out to those who suffer from this disease,,,hopefully one day soon they will come up with something a little better to treat those who dont have to suffer with blindness, neuropathies and having their limbs cut off.

Originally Posted by uncballzer

My best wishes to go out to your father. What you can expect though, is roughly 6 weeks minimum of IV antibiotics if they don't perform any more surgery, and probably more oral antibiotics afterwards. Infections of bone (osteomyelitis) are hard to treat.

For the diabetics, blood sugar is definitely hard to control; when your sugar increases and stays high, it's basically food for bacteria and they move right in (imagine those mucinex commercials actually taking place inside your body). But just as importantly is your blood pressure; studies have shown that keeping your blood pressure under control is actually more important than keeping the blood sugar under tight control. Sorry to turn this into a lecture, but I felt its needed and hopefully will help our other BOTLs battling with this.

[holmes711]

My thoughts and prayers are with you and your family, Steven.

[stu929]

No new updates as of yet, we hope to get some information today which should tell us what the infection is and just how bad it is.

Thank you all for your kind words and thoughts

Steve

[cp478]

keep us posted brother, our thoughts and prayers are still with you and yours!

[tru_rocknrolla]

Kind thoughts and prayers are headed your way.