Diabetes & Byetta

Thanks to everyone who sent me get well wishes following my recent knee
surgery. I thought I was going to be in and out but they ended up keeping
me for 48 hours of observation after my BP dropped during the procedure.
With my sleep apnea and the narcotics, they were worried I might stop
breathing with the low BP. The nursing staff at the hospital were very
helpful but no one there seemed very knowlegable regarding Byetta. They
first told me the hospital pharmacy didn’t have it and that I could have
someone bring in my own but then they sent it and some other meds they don’t
have to the pharmacist to verify what they were (even with labels on the
packages) before I was allowed to use any of them. By the time that process
was over, I’d already had my dinner and they wanted me to inject nearly two
hours post meal. I explained that Byetta needs food to work properly so
they let me skip that dose. The next moning my brekfast came and I called
the nurse so that she could supervise my injection before I ate. She was
busy and took nearly an hour to get to me because she didn’t understand the

reason for my injection and it wasn’t time for any of my other meds. On top
of all that, every meal I received was for a regular diet. I know they are
aware that I’m diabetic as I made numerous remarks about medications, diet,
and exercise througout the entire pre-registration and post-op procedures
but was told that the regular meal is what all patients receive. I picked
off the foods I thought were "safe" for me to eat and sent back the rest (I
can’t belive they brought me French Toast with syrup and OJ for breakfast!)
and had a friend bring me more healthy choices from the cafeteria. At least
by the second day, I was given a menu to choose from and could make better
choices on my own.

I’ve been home a week now and progress has been slow. The actual knee
repair went well and is on the road to healing but I developed DVT in my
calf on the thrid day of being home so now I’m on muscle relaxants and blood
thinners, in addition to the pain meds that I’ve been on for a month now.
Today is the first day I’ve been able to sit in a chair but I’m feeling the
pain just in the time it has taken me to type this so it will be awhile
before I’m caught up on the 450+ messages in the diabetic lists I subscribe
to. Made it out of the house yesterday long enough to get some paper towels
at Sam’s Club and was pretty exhausted by the time I got back home. Still
not allowed to drive but they take the sutures out on Friday and hopefully
I’ll regain my freedom and be released to return to work at least part-time.

Michael

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 10th, 2007 at 2:05 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.