So I'm about to lose my right foot.

Hey TJ... can I send you some muffins?

 

Pulse and glide, baby. Pulse and glide.

That's good news about the pill.

sul

 

Great to hear you're doing OK. And that's great that you don't need insulin. And the magician thing cracked me up because you're so right. Can you believe that much fits in there?

 

glad to hear you're healing up, TJ! your health comes first, everything else later.

good news about the diabetes being under enough control to just need a pill. keep up the diet that works and i'm sure you'll do just fine.

continuing to send good thoughts your way.

 

Awesome news! Thanks for the update. Keep up the good work. (Needles suck, but if it came down to it you could handle that too. But I'm glad you won't have to)

 

TJ: Are you going to see a primary care doctor regularly (ie, at least once in followup after you see your orthopedist, and at least twice yearly after that or more often if the doc says so), and are you going to get regular glycohemoglobin and other routine diabetes tests done? (Eye exams, urinary microalbumin screens, creatinine levels, cholesterol levels, blood pressure checks?)

I'm glad you appear to be getting through this one with only some monetary cost... but please, do establish with a doctor. Go to a community clinic if money is tight; their education was just as expensive as mine was, and they all know how to manage diabetes. Get the routine tests, and learn what they mean. Ask questions here if you don't understand something; lots of us can answer. But buy an ounce of prevention!

(PS: metformin is on the cheap med list at Wal-Mart, you can probably get a pound of metformin tablets for four dollars there...)

 

A lifetime of pain is more of an endurance test than really living. I sorta get that part. Still, kind of ironic, isn't it, a minister without a spirit? As for an afterlife, are you so sure you want to literally bet your life on your beliefs?

 

OK - with the diabetes, you're risking further loss of extremities, which may or may not be tolerable, you're also risking blindness, and you're risking kidney damage/heart damage. Controlling your blood sugar with diet/exercise/medication, and self-testing to see if you're staying 'in control', can minimize the risk of all diabetes side-effects (and may lessen the neuropathy you already have - I don't know more about that, except that neuropathy can also be caused by cancer - a friend's mother could barely walk, and it turned out to be neuropathy caused by lung cancer).

So I hope you'll consider taking care of your diabetes. Personally, the 'blindness' thingie is the one that scares me the most - the heart/kidney damage stuff is something that I'm unlikely to avoid in the long run, since I also have high blood pressure (which I control with meds). If I go blind, I can't conceive of being able to continue to live - I wouldn't be able to work, I wouldn't be able to take care of myself, etc.

One of the other posters mentioned Metformin as a medication for diabetes that's available on Walmart's $4 co-pay plan. Since you don't have insurance, that obviously won't do you any good, but I looked up the price of 100 tablets of Metformin at the lowest dosage, which would cover you for just a bit over 3 months, through CVS, a large chain drugstore, and it costs $42 - that's pretty cheap. Figure that's 50 cents a day.

A 'generic' blood glucose tester costs under $15 (and is often free), and the test strips cost around $50 for 100 strips (unless they're on sale for a lower price). It's recommended that you test 3 times a day (fasting, before dinner, 2 hours after dinner), but some people only test once a day (fasting). Testing 3 x day helps you learn more about how your body reacts to your diet - you'll see what foods cause your blood sugar to go up more and stay higher than other foods, etc.

So meds and testing would cost you $1-$2 a day. Part of the purpose of the testing is to determine when you can get OFF the medication. Testing and logging your results might take another 5-10 minutes per day. For me, that's a pretty cheap price to pay to minimize my risk of blindness.

So please, please, please take care of your diabetes, no matter how hopeless and bleak things look at the moment - once you go blind you can't go back!

 

TJ, I have an extra glucose meter and 3 boxes of strips that I am not using that you're welcome to have for free... just PM me with address to send to. This will at least get you started. Also, check the BD site... often you can get equipment there for free (paying only for shipping)... that's how I got my updated meter and hence I have an extra one.

 

I do not understand your choices, but then again, I don't have to.

I don't believe you when you say you aren't depressed, but that may be because I cannot at all relate to your decision.

I think it's stupid to commit suicide passively, which is essentially what you propose, if other events like this happen.

I would wish you luck but like you, I don't believe in luck. ^_^

 

Nice offer - I hope TJ takes you up on it!

I don't know how much the BD test strips usually go for, but most of the brand-name meters usually have strips that average out somewhere in the $1/strip range, which is why I was recommending the 'generic' meter/strips that are available at most drugstores and supermarkets. But I'm not currently using my generic meter, since I got a 'free' Johson and Johnson meter, and was working temporarily at J&J, and was able to get the strips from an employee (employee purchase plan) at around $40 for a box of 100 strips. Since then, I've been buying my strips on e-bay for around $50/100 strips, about the same price as the generics. TJ may be able to find strips for the BD meter on e-Bay when he uses up the strips you're offering for free.

 

My godfather when diagnosed with lung cancer that had spread below the diaphragm was given a choice between chemo and no treatment. Like in anything in medicine, chemo was not a guaranteed cure. Statistically it might have prolonged his life 2-3 years. However, this quality of life would have been diminished and he would no be able to play golf, his life's passion. So he opted no medical treatment, and played some of the best golf of his life for the last 6 months of his life. Near the end he played with his two best friends(my dad and uncle). In his last game he used a golf cart for the first time in his life(because he unknowingly had clots in his legs and fluid building up in the affected lung). He still outplayed both of them. 2 weeks later he had passed, no regrets.

 

TJ, why are you "punishing" yourself by delaying treatment? Do you know that many people do care about and even love you?

TJ, I pray that you will get the treatment to save your limb.

I just want you to know that I have not been on the boards for a long time. Spouse was diagnosed with bile duct cancer and underwent "The Whipple" along with radiation and chemo last June. Said spouse's CAT scan came back clean 2 months ago. We are looking at another scan to be done soon in 2 months from now.

Also, how is your wife doing? I can't begin to imagine how she feels.

I will keep you and those nearest and dearest to you in prayer, TJ.

loveit