I am really upset … 2

I have survived 2 weeks of hell over the dreaded Year End as well as the Year End PAYE/UIF recons and submissions to SARS by yesterday. The caps for Year End are deliberate – Year End looms large in my line of work! I feel like I have been mangled in a mixer!

Anyway enough on that, all now sorted and we’re back on track.

My friend T is out of hospital, scooting around in a wheelchair a day after discharge and walking with crutches while his wife hovers anxiously behind him with the wheelchair at the ready.
He stops every few meters and sits in the wheelchair to catch his breath; then he’s back up again and walking some more …

Bear in mind this is a diabetic of 72 who almost definitely did not take proper care of himself. He is very much a ‘no nonsense’ ‘no hocus pocus’ type!

He’s also already back at work in his wheelchair for an hour or so per day; much to my utter relief. He is admin assistant to the owner of one of the most popular butcheries in KZN! He is my ‘man on the ground’ who simplifies my life greatly.

I just trust that he will not overdue things but it is a fact that his ‘can do’ attitude is pulling him through this traumatic episode. I expect to see him striding around on a prosthetic foot in about three months time.

Hats off to you Tony!

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I am really upset…..

Today I learned that a friend and business colleague of mine has had his right foot amputated this last week. No prizes for guessing that he is a diabetic.

T scraped his foot in the swimming pool of the retirement village where he resides at Christmas time. Little did he know that less than 2 months later he would have first his toes,then his foot, then a few more cms of his leg amputated. The scrape on his foot did not heal, gangrene was a problem, his medical advisors tried all they could to save the foot without success.

An angiogram further revealed little circulation in the right leg below the knee and two weeks of sustained exercise under supervision did not help. We are told that a stent has been inserted to improve circulation to the stump; apparently successfully. A prosthesis (sp?) will be made and he should recover in due course.

The whole distressing matter has, once again, brought home to me that diabetes is a deadly disease and those who tend to take it lightly are literally playing with their lives. There is no such thing as mild diabetes.
You either have it or you don’t. It is not ‘ better’ to have type 2 rather than type 1. I could go on about this for pages but I think I have made my point.

May I strongly recommend having your glucose levels checked immediately if you have never done so.
May I strongly recommend that if you are already pre-diabetic that you take the matter VERY seriously.
May I strongly recommend that you implement lifestyle and dietary changes as a matter of urgency.