Part 1—Fear is a Powerful Motivator…

My Mother’s Journey of Healing From Diabetes

At turn of the century, from 1999 to 2000, my father had a severe health crisis. The result was I spent six weeks away from home getting dad through his hospital stay. I helped my parents move in with my brother and his family who lived 600 miles away. This meant closing down their home moving only essentials, with more to be sorted and moved later, and helping my parents through the transition.

While my dad was in the hospital in Tennessee, recovering from a severe congestive heart failure incident, my mother and I stayed in the town where the hospital was located. During the days we went to a few medical professionals to check on her health as well. One doctor she saw was a podiatrist who diagnosed her foot with a diabetic sore. We began a series of nightly foot soakings in betadine to begin the healing process. She was told to minimize her walking while new tissue grew and watch her blood sugar levels. This meant she went into a wheel chair daily when we visited dad. Over the next month the doctor told us we were very compliant and her foot was healing.

To illustrate the extent of this health crisis for my father—at one point in his treatment his doctor told us to call in the family for final good-byes. We all lived in different states, so this took time.

Yet…six weeks later both my mom and dad were moved to Indiana to live with my brother, his wife and their four grandkids. Dad had made it through the crisis and my mom’s diabetic sore on her foot was healed for the time. But her blood sugar control still required large amounts of daily injectable Humulin 70/30. This was in June of 2000.

In September 2000 my father died from congestive heart failure. Three days after the funeral, when I was back in Kansas, my mother was rushed to the hospital. She was in the beginning of a diabetic coma. Her blood sugar bottomed out from lack of eating. She was revived by the EMT’s and no permanent damage occurred.

In October 2000, with number five grandchild (for this brother) about to be delivered, my mother came to live with my husband and me in Kansas. My brother and his wife needed space from caring for my mother who needed more care than they’d realized.

That is when my fear set in. I remember thinking I did not want to kill my mother. I didn’t know anything about diabetes other than what it was. “How do you manage diabetes?” I would ask myself. Fear and a dread filled my mind….

Where do I begin my journey in diabetes education and misinformation?