Hi,
@jan.steamqueen67 , DKA is a major assault on the body and it will take time to recover from.
I was dx'd at 21, was unconscious for about 24 hours, my sister told me later that the docs had told my parents that it was 50/50 on whether I would wake up.
It was a long time ago now, 30 years, so I'm a bit vague about the timings, but certainly for the first week or two, I was very delicate, when I went out for a walk, I was toddling along at a very slow pace, being overtaken by pensioners on zimmer frames!
But once I started regaining lost weight and getting my strength back, I was back to more or less normal after about a month to six weeks.
Of course, with your man being older, it might take longer.
But rest assured, insulin is a marvellous thing, so provided the docs have gotten him out of the danger zone and are getting the body chemistry back to normal, it should be good steady progress from here on in. Once on insulin, you don't "relapse" back into dka.
If people are careless with their insulin by not taking it, it is possible for T1s to slip into dka quite quickly - we see that a lot with youngsters who are in "denial" or have diabulimia, misguidedly trying to lose weight.
But if insulin is taken regularly, dka isn't something to worry about.
My dka at dx is the one and only time I've been in dka - it's not been an issue for me at all since then in 30 years.
You're probably not thinking too much about the longer term aspects of it at the moment, but please be assured T1 is a totally manageable condition.
The idea of injecting can freak some people out, but, honestly, the needles are tiny, and most of us find them totally painless. It's really not like when a nurse is putting a big needle in a vein.
There's also a surprising amount of leeway on food. I wouldn't go recommending 18 inch pizzas and lots of doughnuts, but, provided some attention is paid to insulin dosage and timing, pretty much everything is still on the menu, so he is unlikely to have to radically change his diet, maybe just some tweaks here and there.
People respond to dx in different ways. You obviously know him better than we do, but don't be surprised if he gets moody or angry at times. Being dx'd can feel like a loss of control and we've read lots of posts from people saying how angry they feel. I felt that way too for a while. It does pass, though, and we all generally find a way of accepting it.
Best wishes.
