I have 2 aunts and 1 Tia (which is another term for "aunt" in spanish). My Tia is obviously my favorite aunt, that's why she's my Tia and the others are just regular ole aunts. The past 20 years, maybe more, she has been a diabetic. She was a big woman, until her diabetes began affecting her and she started to lose weight. At first, she would just get sick and have to stay in the hospital a few days. Then, the doctor told her she had to go 3 days a week to a clinic for Dialysis. She did so well, that they gave her a machine so she could do it at home instead of having to travel 45 minutes every week, 3x a week.
Then one day, she got a sore on her stomach and I've heard it got as big as a baseball and you could see pretty far through it. With the help of a nurse who went to her home quite often to clean it, it healed up. By then though, her toes started turning black...yes, she got gangrene. She had no circulation running through her legs and feet. As time went on, little by little, the doctor had to trim at her toes. At first, it was just her left foot that was pretty bad, but then her toes in her right foot had to be cut off.
About 3 weeks ago, she had surgery to have half her left foot removed. She's been in pain since and she has to use wheelchair now of course. She and my uncle are in their early 60s, he works a monday-friday job and has had such difficulty getting her on/off the bed and in/out of their car when they have to go see one of her doctors. My aunt is so weak, that her weight makes it seem like it's such a bigger amount for my uncle who is a short/average skinny guy.
For a while now, he's been confident that she'd get better, but that first trip and all the trouble he had getting her in the car and also seeing how bad her feet REALLY are...it all just hit him and he brokedown in front of my cousin (their son) and cried and realized that this is real, she is Not going to get better. Right now, she's at the hospital and has been there for a few days, they have given her morphine because her other pain med was not helping even a little.
Everything I posted above, I constantly think about and I'm so scared that I will end up in that situation. I'm not strong like my aunt, I would just want to keel over from being in so much pain. What she has gone through, is going through, and will continue to go through is what keeps me motivated to have a healthy lifestyle and not continue on the destructive path I'm on.
If you read, thank you; I appreciate it. No one has to reply, I just REALLY needed to get that all out.
I'm so sorry your Tia (and your family) is going through this. This helps to illustrate why we should all cherish our health and do everything we can to avoid diabetes if at all possible. It's an unkind disease that can have terrible complications, such as your Tia is experiencing.
Thank you for sharing your story. I'm really sorry this is happening to your aunt.
Diabetes runs on both sides of both sides of my family. It has been a motivator for me to lose weight and start being healthy. And also trying to feed my toddler as healthy as possible.
Thank you for sharing and remember - there is always hope.
That's scary. I'm so sorry. It makes me think of my Aunty, who developed colon cancer. She beat it, for now, thank god. But she refuses to eat, and when she does eat, it's not healthy food. No veggies. We all want to shake her and scream at her, "Do you *want* to die of cancer?!" But, alas, we are talking of the one who, along with my mother, refuses to quit smoking and they joke about being on oxygen tanks together while egging on skin cancer at the beach. Um. That's not a joke.
I'm going to treat my body right. Why is that so hard to do?
And I disagree completely. You ARE strong. To post that story, to share your pain, takes strength. To recognize your fears, to conquer them, that's strength. To change your habits, to be healthy, that's strength. You ARE strong, don't ever tell yourself that you're not!
I'm so sorry your Tia and her husband, her son, and your family are going through this.
I think this is a really important thread and I hope more people read it. Too often, people think diabetes is not that big a deal -- give yourself some shots or get one of those pumps and you're good to go. Well, obviously, that is not the case. Some people are able to manage their diabetes and some are not. Some peoples' bodies just do not respond well to injected or infused insulin, and no matter how vigilant they are, they have a very hard time keeping their blood sugar consistent.
Thank you for describing to people here, many of whom are at risk of diabetes, just how devastating this disease can be.
I disappoint myself in how naive I can be sometimes. I was hoping they wouldn't have to cut off any more of her for AT LEAST the rest of this year, but boy was I wrong. All of her doctors got together, and went to talk to her and she has to have surgery again to have, as far as I know, half her leg cut off She told my mom that went her podiatrist was talking to her, he looked so sad. My mom and my aunt are SOOOO close..my mom is constantly sighing which I know is a sign of how stressed she is which stresses me out.
I had a REALLY bad day at work yesterday, had a guy yelling at me over the phone, then my mom showed up to check up on me and that's when she told me the latest news on my aunt. This is just completely devastating.
I'm so sorry. Diabetes is no joke. My mom was diagnosed last year. It was a wake up call for me. I took a while to get moving though. You are doing the right thing by looking out for your health. Hugs.
A realization of why I need to do something
I am so sorry. 
