- Messages
- 4
- Type of diabetes
- Type 3c
- Treatment type
- Insulin
I'm not a religious person, but when I think of the quote This is my story, I can't help but remembering the next part which is "This Is My Song". I guess it comes from my days when I was a child and teenager and went to a Lutheran church overseas made of a few, and I mean very few expats that were also Lutheran. Our ministers were not in the 3rd world country for expats but for the locals. But because there were just a handful, literally they made the time to have church in English for us few. The first few years we sang without musical accompaniment (piano, organ) till one year we (my parents) brought back a Yamaha keyboard in our luggage that another woman in our "congregation" played. It was usually a combination effort for things there from between 1980 and 1990. While my family and I aren't religious now there are some very beautiful religious songs that I do love to hear. Blessed Assurance is one of those songs.
One will never know if our years overseas affected our long term health. We were in Jakarta, Indonesia for 10 years. Very polluted, and not clean at all. The cities population is in the millions, like 6 mil, for such a small area of actual land. But quite a number of people that I have kept in touch with over the years mostly through facebook are either dealing with cancer or battled it knew another dragon that died from it. So I do have to wonder just how much things there affected us expats there.
We were a family of four, my parents, brother and I. Although my brother was only there eight years because he graduated high school at the private school we attended. But he did return for Christmas holiday to see us.
My story is a tad different than most.
In 2011, April 4th to be exact, was the day I lost my mother to brain cancer. An odd type that only a few children had and she made the 5th adult to have it. She had all her medical treatment done at the mayo clinic Rochester MN. It's close as close gets in North Dakota. She did live a hair over 3 years but quality of life sucked because of the treatment.
I spent the last 6 weeks of her life living with my parents, eating as healthy as one can. Wild caught salmon, beets and sweet potatoes almost daily. Those are foods that are supposed to help with cancer apparently? My father believe if he could change her diet she would live longer. But at the end he let her have chips that she loved but never ate before, ice cream when liquids were an issue and I baked her favorite peanut butter cookies. Anything she wanted she had..... but they ate very healthy (nothing processed, everything was homemade) before she got sick by choice. According to my dad's research. I was there as moral support for my dad, but also to help in the care of my Mother as when she became bedridden it really was a 2 person job to turn her and whatnot.
May of that same year, just a month later I began having leg cramps like a pulled muscle. Except I hadn't done anything to pull a muscle. When it became so bad I could hardly walk on it..... I made an appointment with my doctor. Turns out it was a blood clot in my calf and both lungs. The evening of May 4th I was admitted to the hospital and I thought my anxiety was bad before. It instantly got much worse once I was admitted.
It seems like that was the start of the roller coaster ride I have been on.
I live in a very small rural area, and while we have a local hospital.... we rarely if ever used them prior. But I learned fast what doctors I would trust and which ones not to. This was one of those times I learned which doctor not to trust.
When you get a blood clot and it's under control your are left being on some type of blood thinner, and weekly lab checks for them to determine if you need to decrease or increase your medication. This was about a month later, or less than a month. In that time frame anyways. It was a Thursday, and I was due to have my weekly blood check the very next morning.
All afternoon my left knee started to hurt a bit, and it got worse as the evening wore on. By the time my husband came home about 6;30 or so.... I could no longer walk on that leg without such paint that reminded me of the time I fractured my shoulder as a teen. (also overseas, in a country where doctors seems to have picked their medical degrees out of a box of cracker jacks) So my hubby to me up to the local ER to see if they could figure out what was wrong.
I do have a big scar on my left knee because I had reconstructive surgery when I was a teen in Singapore Mt. Elizabeth Hospital. But what they ended up figuring out was that there was a tiny vein in my knee and my blood was so incredibly thin it just started with spontaneous internal bleeding in my knee. The doctor in the ER that night was actually a MD rather than a nurse practitioner. But she wasn't comfortable with having anyone in Cando adjusting my blood thinner levels and sent me to hematology in Grand Forks.
The doctor I saw there was only a temp for another on maternity leave, and she was only to be there a short while. But I do believe she saved my life. I only saw her 2 times there before she left and I had to see another doctor there. But she ordered a whole bunch of blood work and a CT scan. We thought the CT scan was very odd, but went with it because she was the doctor. It was later when we heard the results of the blood work and the CT that we knew why. Her reason was because of new evidence in the medical field has been shown that in many cases, patients first symptoms to cancer is often a blood clot. So that's what she was looking for and by gosh if there wasn't a spot on my pancreas. At the time I had just turned 39 years old.
I wanted to go non-evasive methods first, so we had the pet scan done. That came back glowing in an area in my neck and pancreas...... I saw an ENT, he wasn't concerned. But I had begun everything backwards and needed to have a cancer diagnosis first before seeing hematology/oncology. So they sent me up with an apt with an gastroenterology. This was an older doctor, and yes I quote he told me we were "chasing rainbows" having a biopsy done. Because of how it felt to him.... and my age. He mentioned many times that 30 year old women just don't have pancreatic cancer. I would need to go to another hospital further away to have the biopsy done but he didn't think we needed it, but would set the appointment up if we wanted. He honestly thought it was just a fatty cyst that was harmless on my pancreas.
We ended up having the biopsy just so we would know for sure what we were dealing with. But that was endoscopy and general anesthesia for that procedure. It was pancreatic cancer, but the slower growing type that took Steve Jobs (and his death happened about the same time of my surgery. so he was all over the news). But just as deadly if not treated and mine was caught early. Plus it was caught by accident before it had spread. The area was much larger than they wanted to see, but were happy it hadn't spread.
I was going to have surgery in Fargo ND, but my father wouldn't allow it. He literally called my husband every 5 minutes until he agreed to take me to Mayo Clinic and have surgery there. We figured two weeks in a hotel there just wasn't in our current budget, but my dad just wrote a check out so we didn't have to worry about any of that. Plus we were in Rochester a month, and upon our return home.... I won't go into all those details. But I ended up spending a week in our local hospital under the care of my doctor in Rochester. A Nurse Practitioner made it a point to contact my doctor there and let him make all the calls for my treatment. She is now my regular doctor. But I ended up getting on a lift flight plane and escorted back to Rochester MN where I spent the next three weeks in the hospital.
The tumor was in the middle of my pancreas, so they removed 3/4 of my pancreas, spleen because they couldn't save it as it shares blood supply and my gallbladder went because it had stones and they were there anyways.
I was told to watch my blood sugars because it what was left would give out eventually. And 2 after my surgery it did begin to fail and I started insulin shots. Then I got so tired to doctors, shots, needles, blood work. drinking ****** stuff for a CT scan and I avoided medical care except for pain management that was in another city for my fibromyalgia.
But about 2 years later after feeling really ****** and I took my blood sugars on a whim. Between 300 and 350 was normal numbers. I made an appointment and now I do take my insulin. When I first went back it was almost ten then 4-6 months later taking insulin it was down to 6.7 or 6.8 which is a huge change. So I now know I need that insulin and I'm still learning numbers. But I still need to learn more about diet, numbers and units of insulin.
So far I take about 25 to 35 in the mornings and the same amount in the evening of Levimer. I don't check my numbers like I should and write my diet out because we eat really ****** due to the need to be out of town 2 nights a week for my son's martial arts class. We leave about 6:30 and if I have shopping we may get home around midnight. It's a bit of a drive... But right in the dinner hour so its easier to eat out, than eat at home. Plus with my pain levels, by the time evening rolls around I am shot to cook anything. I'm currently trying to figure it out and work around it. Trying to find recipes that will work for us to eat before class, and a small snack when we get home.
I don't think I have truly accepted it even after all this time just because I don't count carbs and it's not as critical because I don't take short acting insulin. Just the long acting twice a day. I found my numbers were much better when I split the dose up into morning and night time doses.
My friends call me Krissy
One will never know if our years overseas affected our long term health. We were in Jakarta, Indonesia for 10 years. Very polluted, and not clean at all. The cities population is in the millions, like 6 mil, for such a small area of actual land. But quite a number of people that I have kept in touch with over the years mostly through facebook are either dealing with cancer or battled it knew another dragon that died from it. So I do have to wonder just how much things there affected us expats there.
We were a family of four, my parents, brother and I. Although my brother was only there eight years because he graduated high school at the private school we attended. But he did return for Christmas holiday to see us.
My story is a tad different than most.
In 2011, April 4th to be exact, was the day I lost my mother to brain cancer. An odd type that only a few children had and she made the 5th adult to have it. She had all her medical treatment done at the mayo clinic Rochester MN. It's close as close gets in North Dakota. She did live a hair over 3 years but quality of life sucked because of the treatment.
I spent the last 6 weeks of her life living with my parents, eating as healthy as one can. Wild caught salmon, beets and sweet potatoes almost daily. Those are foods that are supposed to help with cancer apparently? My father believe if he could change her diet she would live longer. But at the end he let her have chips that she loved but never ate before, ice cream when liquids were an issue and I baked her favorite peanut butter cookies. Anything she wanted she had..... but they ate very healthy (nothing processed, everything was homemade) before she got sick by choice. According to my dad's research. I was there as moral support for my dad, but also to help in the care of my Mother as when she became bedridden it really was a 2 person job to turn her and whatnot.
May of that same year, just a month later I began having leg cramps like a pulled muscle. Except I hadn't done anything to pull a muscle. When it became so bad I could hardly walk on it..... I made an appointment with my doctor. Turns out it was a blood clot in my calf and both lungs. The evening of May 4th I was admitted to the hospital and I thought my anxiety was bad before. It instantly got much worse once I was admitted.
It seems like that was the start of the roller coaster ride I have been on.
I live in a very small rural area, and while we have a local hospital.... we rarely if ever used them prior. But I learned fast what doctors I would trust and which ones not to. This was one of those times I learned which doctor not to trust.
When you get a blood clot and it's under control your are left being on some type of blood thinner, and weekly lab checks for them to determine if you need to decrease or increase your medication. This was about a month later, or less than a month. In that time frame anyways. It was a Thursday, and I was due to have my weekly blood check the very next morning.
All afternoon my left knee started to hurt a bit, and it got worse as the evening wore on. By the time my husband came home about 6;30 or so.... I could no longer walk on that leg without such paint that reminded me of the time I fractured my shoulder as a teen. (also overseas, in a country where doctors seems to have picked their medical degrees out of a box of cracker jacks) So my hubby to me up to the local ER to see if they could figure out what was wrong.
I do have a big scar on my left knee because I had reconstructive surgery when I was a teen in Singapore Mt. Elizabeth Hospital. But what they ended up figuring out was that there was a tiny vein in my knee and my blood was so incredibly thin it just started with spontaneous internal bleeding in my knee. The doctor in the ER that night was actually a MD rather than a nurse practitioner. But she wasn't comfortable with having anyone in Cando adjusting my blood thinner levels and sent me to hematology in Grand Forks.
The doctor I saw there was only a temp for another on maternity leave, and she was only to be there a short while. But I do believe she saved my life. I only saw her 2 times there before she left and I had to see another doctor there. But she ordered a whole bunch of blood work and a CT scan. We thought the CT scan was very odd, but went with it because she was the doctor. It was later when we heard the results of the blood work and the CT that we knew why. Her reason was because of new evidence in the medical field has been shown that in many cases, patients first symptoms to cancer is often a blood clot. So that's what she was looking for and by gosh if there wasn't a spot on my pancreas. At the time I had just turned 39 years old.
I wanted to go non-evasive methods first, so we had the pet scan done. That came back glowing in an area in my neck and pancreas...... I saw an ENT, he wasn't concerned. But I had begun everything backwards and needed to have a cancer diagnosis first before seeing hematology/oncology. So they sent me up with an apt with an gastroenterology. This was an older doctor, and yes I quote he told me we were "chasing rainbows" having a biopsy done. Because of how it felt to him.... and my age. He mentioned many times that 30 year old women just don't have pancreatic cancer. I would need to go to another hospital further away to have the biopsy done but he didn't think we needed it, but would set the appointment up if we wanted. He honestly thought it was just a fatty cyst that was harmless on my pancreas.
We ended up having the biopsy just so we would know for sure what we were dealing with. But that was endoscopy and general anesthesia for that procedure. It was pancreatic cancer, but the slower growing type that took Steve Jobs (and his death happened about the same time of my surgery. so he was all over the news). But just as deadly if not treated and mine was caught early. Plus it was caught by accident before it had spread. The area was much larger than they wanted to see, but were happy it hadn't spread.
I was going to have surgery in Fargo ND, but my father wouldn't allow it. He literally called my husband every 5 minutes until he agreed to take me to Mayo Clinic and have surgery there. We figured two weeks in a hotel there just wasn't in our current budget, but my dad just wrote a check out so we didn't have to worry about any of that. Plus we were in Rochester a month, and upon our return home.... I won't go into all those details. But I ended up spending a week in our local hospital under the care of my doctor in Rochester. A Nurse Practitioner made it a point to contact my doctor there and let him make all the calls for my treatment. She is now my regular doctor. But I ended up getting on a lift flight plane and escorted back to Rochester MN where I spent the next three weeks in the hospital.
The tumor was in the middle of my pancreas, so they removed 3/4 of my pancreas, spleen because they couldn't save it as it shares blood supply and my gallbladder went because it had stones and they were there anyways.
I was told to watch my blood sugars because it what was left would give out eventually. And 2 after my surgery it did begin to fail and I started insulin shots. Then I got so tired to doctors, shots, needles, blood work. drinking ****** stuff for a CT scan and I avoided medical care except for pain management that was in another city for my fibromyalgia.
But about 2 years later after feeling really ****** and I took my blood sugars on a whim. Between 300 and 350 was normal numbers. I made an appointment and now I do take my insulin. When I first went back it was almost ten then 4-6 months later taking insulin it was down to 6.7 or 6.8 which is a huge change. So I now know I need that insulin and I'm still learning numbers. But I still need to learn more about diet, numbers and units of insulin.
So far I take about 25 to 35 in the mornings and the same amount in the evening of Levimer. I don't check my numbers like I should and write my diet out because we eat really ****** due to the need to be out of town 2 nights a week for my son's martial arts class. We leave about 6:30 and if I have shopping we may get home around midnight. It's a bit of a drive... But right in the dinner hour so its easier to eat out, than eat at home. Plus with my pain levels, by the time evening rolls around I am shot to cook anything. I'm currently trying to figure it out and work around it. Trying to find recipes that will work for us to eat before class, and a small snack when we get home.
I don't think I have truly accepted it even after all this time just because I don't count carbs and it's not as critical because I don't take short acting insulin. Just the long acting twice a day. I found my numbers were much better when I split the dose up into morning and night time doses.
My friends call me Krissy
