What a week !!

Hello all !!

What a horrible week it has been. Big project at work that would of offered unlimited overtime went bust due to poor infection control. Half the office was out either all or part of the week due to some sort of virus going around, and I came down with it on Tuesday afternoon. Started to get the scatchy sort of cough at the back of my throat, tried to ignore it as I had to take my Dad to the doctor, and many hours ahead to complete the project. By 1:00 am I was hacking like none other. By Thursday, I was down and out hard on the coach, "Fred" went down as soon as she got home from classes, and the dog was down from 11 that morning for more than likely, eating too many grasshoppers!!! Anyway ... here it is Friday, my upper abs feel like I have been working out all week, which we all know is so not the case. .... LOL. Today was the first day since Weds. that I actually put on a pair of jeans. I am feeling so very drained.

So ... I think the weekend is going to hold some much needed rest and "puttering." It will all still be there next week.

Okay .... well ... got an email from the transplant nursing head, or whatever her title is (I am very foggy, and weak right now). She is very nice, and has a wonderful sense of humor. Which of course I had asked her about in our last conversation. I really do appreciate a sense of humor when having to deal with all this medical stuff, it makes it a little easier to take, and let's face it, some of the manners in which they go about things, you can almost see what they are thinking, might as well voice it, get it out on the table. At least that way we all get a laugh and I am not viewed as completely nuts!!!

I got some more of the needed information today, so that will have to go off. I had to cancel a doctor appointment this week due to being sick, (How much of an oxymoron is that?? ;P) That paperwork still needs to be FAXed and just pulling together the last couple of pieces .... and continuing to hold out hope. I know this is just the beginning but if we don't get things moving soon I fear I will lose more of what brain cells I have left. (Imagine, and it's not even due to anything illegal....LOL). The loss is due to multiple low blood sugars, dangerously low blood sugars, as low as 28, recently most have gone to 36,38, 32 ..... still .... WAY too low. With each episode like this, the brain is at a loss for oxygen due to the fact that the cells cannot metabolize as they should. Glucose helps the body metabolize, using the glucose to energize the body, when that cannot happen due to too much insuling in the system, other parts of the body begin to break down. I will try and make this clearer in other posts. Bottom line, too much glucose, not enough insulin, ketoacidosis; too much insulin, not enough food (carbs) to counteract results in low blood glucose levels, causing the body to begin burning muscle, than fat, and depriving the brain of oxygen.

Right after I gave birth to "Fred" I was taken to the ER on multiple occasions in the first couple of weeks at home, (after spending 8 days in the hospital). I was hit so hard by these low blood sugars that I was coherent one minute, and laying on the floor the next. One time, on top of my newborn baby girl, and alone. When the so called husband finally arrived home, (I was passed out) I was to blame, and basically he called me a bad mother, two weeks into being one). I was told these were seizures, the next one, so resembled such. I could hear, see, but had lost all control of the things that people WANT to be in control of, especially at 25. I could not move, had lost my bladder control, could not talk, and was in a seizure-type low blood sugar and again, taken to the ER. Upon arrival in the ER, to the same ER doc I had encountered at least twice prior in this week, he informed me in an arrogant tone, that "Everytime you do this, you are killing off brain cells!" ....... Like I was freaking doing it because I was having the time of my life!!! ...... I will be the first to admit, in all my years of having to deal with the medical community, I can honestly say there have only been a handful of doctors that I would have just as well would have slapped than listen to them spout off thier MD intelligence without any sort of human compassion or looking past what they see in front of them. That there are times, when people have no control over what thier bodies do, in spite of what they might do to try and prevent these episodes.

Trust me, as a young child, teenager, and right up until I was in my early 20's, I did everything possible to keep my disease to myself. I was very .....I don't know if you would call it cautious, or just that I didn't trust people very easily, but I did not want to be treated differently, like when I was in grade school. Well, certain people have been with me for a LONG time, the ups, downs, and all the in betweens. Others, they came for a short ride, and decided I was not worth the effort on thier part to invest too much time in. That is okay, some of them I don't think I could have taken for any length of time but certainly taught me about myself and certain situations. KARMA ..... ahhhhhh ...... look that one up !!! ..... LOL ..... the whole, "what goes around, comes around." ...... I believe in that sort of stuff and thus far, has proved to be true on many levels.

Okay, well ..... I have some cleaning up to do having been laying around trying to regain some strength from being on the couch for 3 days. I am still very tired, and still coughing, but not so bad as I had been, I think I can actually feel this thing moving through my system. At the bottom of this entry, you will find a link to a PDF file that compares the treatments/knowledge of yesterday to the treatments and trials of today in regard to type I diabetes, the barbaric methods used years ago to the discoveries of today. I am sort of proud to say that I have survived much longer than statistics anticipated, and doctors told my parents back in 1972 (I was born in 1963) so I guess that would make me fall into the "yesterday" of the article. I do remember the two types of insulin, the "peak" of the dose, the test tubes, which later proved so very ineffective (I knew there had to be a reason for my not wanting to do it .... LOL) I any event, read it, and ask questions if you would like. I will try and send you out a personal experience ..... God knows I have more than my share of personal experiences to share, and if for any reason, mine may help someone else or prevent another from making the same sort of mistake, so be it!!!

http://www.nih.gov/about/researchresultsforthepublic/Type1Diabetes.pdf


Have a great day and be well!!!

Love & Light
et