Dad update ... *sigh*
Dec. 23rd, 2023 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
dizzojayMr D and I went over to the Isle of Wight today, our last visit of 2023, and I was particularly keen to get over there as my Dad's health has not been in a good place for the last few weeks.
It's a long story, but Mum and I were pretty sure he was diabetic. When all the drama went down with his foot early last year, the doctors told him they thought he was diabetic and that had probably contributed to his trials and tribulations. However, given that he'd just come off a period of not eating and lost thirty pounds in about two months, he'd had sepsis and consequently been flooded with IV antibiotics, they were never going to get a stable blood reading from him.
They told him to rest up for about three months then come back to get checked out for diabetes, but guess what ...
He never went back.
So consequently he's never had a firm diagnosis and therefore wasn't getting any medication. And he wouldn't go to get checked out because we couldn't convince him that diabetes was serious.
His health had been declining fairly rapidly over the last few weeks, and over the last couple of those weeks he's been going to bed in the afternoon and sleeping a lot. he's also been glugging drinks by the gallon - classic diabetes symptoms.
So, in the end Mum and I discussed it and decided that she should take the initiative, so she went to see the doctor last week without telling Dad. They booked him in for a barrage of tests, and he went along very much under duress.
The test results came back early this week and - shocker - he is diabetic. His blood reading is 26 mmol/l and for context, in an ideal scenario it would be about 5. It's a bloody wonder he's still upright and conscious.
So now he is on a strict regime of finger prick blood tests every morning, and a district nurse is coming to give him insulin injections every day. The doctor wanted to send him to hospital but he refused. Of course he did!
Anyway, when we got to their place today, his reading was 23, still scary high, but slightly better than it was. It's going down slowly, but they're gradually increasing his dose of insulin to find the optimum level.
So here we are again, back at the 'hanging on by a thread through his own inactivity' scenario. I could scream!
*sigh*
Anyhow, just to finish off on a not quite so exasperating note, we had a very early crossing on the ferry this morning and the Solent looked lovely in the sunrise...
My first attempt at a panoramic wasn't quite so successful when Mr D deliberately walked across in front of me!!
I have multiple Mr D's XD
It's a long story, but Mum and I were pretty sure he was diabetic. When all the drama went down with his foot early last year, the doctors told him they thought he was diabetic and that had probably contributed to his trials and tribulations. However, given that he'd just come off a period of not eating and lost thirty pounds in about two months, he'd had sepsis and consequently been flooded with IV antibiotics, they were never going to get a stable blood reading from him.
They told him to rest up for about three months then come back to get checked out for diabetes, but guess what ...
He never went back.
So consequently he's never had a firm diagnosis and therefore wasn't getting any medication. And he wouldn't go to get checked out because we couldn't convince him that diabetes was serious.
His health had been declining fairly rapidly over the last few weeks, and over the last couple of those weeks he's been going to bed in the afternoon and sleeping a lot. he's also been glugging drinks by the gallon - classic diabetes symptoms.
So, in the end Mum and I discussed it and decided that she should take the initiative, so she went to see the doctor last week without telling Dad. They booked him in for a barrage of tests, and he went along very much under duress.
The test results came back early this week and - shocker - he is diabetic. His blood reading is 26 mmol/l and for context, in an ideal scenario it would be about 5. It's a bloody wonder he's still upright and conscious.
So now he is on a strict regime of finger prick blood tests every morning, and a district nurse is coming to give him insulin injections every day. The doctor wanted to send him to hospital but he refused. Of course he did!
Anyway, when we got to their place today, his reading was 23, still scary high, but slightly better than it was. It's going down slowly, but they're gradually increasing his dose of insulin to find the optimum level.
So here we are again, back at the 'hanging on by a thread through his own inactivity' scenario. I could scream!
*sigh*
Anyhow, just to finish off on a not quite so exasperating note, we had a very early crossing on the ferry this morning and the Solent looked lovely in the sunrise...
My first attempt at a panoramic wasn't quite so successful when Mr D deliberately walked across in front of me!!
I have multiple Mr D's XD
