Diabetes & Byetta

Marge,
I will answer that. I am not sure who I have shared my story with. In November
of 2001 I became very sick with what I thought was the flu. I went to the
emergency room the Saturday after Thanksgiving. I was so sick I don’t really
remember Thanksgiving. My family has told me that because I was sick my husband
made a smaller version of the traditional Thanksgiving here instead of us going
to his parents house as we had planned. Like I said I don’t really have any
memory of it.

When I arrived at the ER my breathing was very labored and rapid. I was very
disoriented, They wanted to take a chest x-ray. They told me to stand in front
of the machine and I did. I put my left hand on the machine for balance. The
tech said to put my right hand on the machine. I understood each word but I was
very confused as to how to do it. I literally had NO clue. It was strange. My
husband said I was acting like I was on drugs. They kept taking my blood. They

thought maybe the machine was broken because the numbers were all over the
place-up high and down low. My husband kept asking them if it was a diabetic
problem. My father is diabetic. They kept saying no that was not the problem.
They admitted me for observation. They put me on oxygen and stuck me in
intensive care. They took quite a while to figure out what was wrong with me.
They had lots of different drs. They finally sent me for an ultra sound. They
lady put the "wand" over my gallbladder. The asked me if it hurt when she
pushed on it. I said no. It was mildly uncomfortable but not bad. She did it
again. By the third time I said no it did not hurt I got a bit smarter. I
asked her if it should. She told me it looked like I had gall stones. They
took out my gall bladder. The doctor said that two of the gall stones tried to
move to the pancreas through a connecting duct. It gave me pancreatits. He He
also told me that if you could live without a pancreas they would have taken
mine. It was very infected. I was in the hospital for 28 days between
Thanksgiving and Christmas. I had five kids at the time. The oldest was 13.
That was a very rough time.

I was on pills for diabetes when I came home from the hospital. My blood sugar
improved so much after a few months that I was diet and exercise controlled.
Then a year later part of my intestines went into a hernia and died. So I had
to have that fixed. I was on diabetic pills again. Then I came off of them.
Then in 2005 my blood sugar went very high. It turned out that I was pregnant.
Before I realized that I was pregnant I ate very carefully. I was trying to fix
it again and get control back. I lost about 60 lbs. The doctor does not think
that the problems I am having now are a result of the pregnancy. I guess I
don’t care I am glad to have a little one.

I don’t know if it is being over 40 or what happened but my pancreas is just not
happy recently. But dealing with highs and lows and learning about this disease
are so much better than the alternative of leaving my family without a mother.
I figure difficulty is fine I will learn it. Even if I end up on insulin. I
just don’t want to because I want my pancreas to be healthier.

Thanks for asking Marge.

Pam

Hello Pam, You write" I nearly died around the time I was diagnosed"….

Could you tell us more about this? It sure sounds scary.

Aloha, Marge

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