HOW CAN I HAVE BOTH DIABETES AND HEART DISEASE? ISN'T ONE ENOUGH!

I have Diabetes. I didn't ask for it and don't want it but I'm stuck with it for the rest of my life. At one time I could have done something but now it's to late.

I thought nothing could touch tough ol' me! I'm the Mommie! I have to take care of everybody else! Bad things happen to other people, not me! Besides, I have things to do, a family to take care of, a business to run! I can't be worried right now about something I can't see or something that might happen to me years later. I've got TODAY to worry about!!

Sound familiar? Boy, was I ever wrong!

After 15 years of putting Diabetes on the back burner and not accepting the destruction it could do, it almost killed me!

I hadn't been feeling well for several months but still had so much work to do that I kept putting off going to the doctor. Then, the last out of town job of the year, I really felt awful. Even several of my co-workers noticed how bad I looked and urged me to see a doctor when I got home. At this point I agreed with them--I knew I had to find out what was wrong with me.

I went to an endocrinologist (a Diabetes doctor) who didn't like what he was seeing or hearing so he sent me on to a cardiologist (a heart doctor) for some tests. One of those tests was for an angiogram to be done as an out patient at the hospital.

An angiogram is a relatively simple procedure (to hear the doctors tell it) where they put a tube with a scope up through your groin to your heart and have a look around. Should take only a couple of hours at the most and home you go!

Well, I have a very supportive family so everyone was there to cheer me on. So with hugs and kisses and several "don't worry, everything will be fine" I'm off. The test is started, and a few minutes go by and then everyone in the room puts their heads together, starts mumbling amongst themselves and pointing at the monitor screen.

Then one of the doctors tells me that they see something they don't like and I have to go immediately to surgery for a possible double bypass on my heart.

My first thought is "WHOA!!" I don't know what you're looking at but it can't be anything to do with me! I just came in here today for a simple test. I have to get out of here. I have a whole afternoon of things I have to get done-I can't have an operation. I really can't be having an operation on my heart! This CAN NOT be happening to me!!

That's when the doctor told me that he's looking at the two main arteries of my heart and they are almost completely blocked. It's what they call a "Widow Maker" (or in my case a Widower Maker). I could have a heart attack any minute with little or no chance of recovery. Believe me, this last bit of news has a drastic way of changing your mind about plans for the day!

So with more hugging, kissing, "I love you's" and a few tears, I left my loved ones crying in the hallway and was on to the operating room.

The doctors were right---the two main arteries were almost shut completely off, which did result in a double by-pass. Later I found out that when you're Diabetic, cholesterol can build up faster and the muscles in the heart can be weakened more. Also that if you've progressed on to neuropathy, the nerves in and around your heart can be damaged as well.

Well, my recovery has been slow. Because of the Diabetes and heart surgery, the managable case of neuropathy I had became a full blown case of autonomic neuropathy and a resulting low blood pressure problem. It's taken me over a year to get over what would have taken a person without Diabetes 6-8 weeks.

I guess what I'm trying to say is, if you have Diabetes or know someone who has it, please get them some help to slow down this destroyer of lives. I wish I had found better information plus someone who would tell me up front in hard truths about what could happen to me if I ignored this disease when I was first diagnosed. My life could have been so different!

Don't hesitate! Do something about your Diabetes today

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