A story every diabetic and doctors that treat them should read

I just want to share my father's story with you, so you know what to do
if you experience the same symptoms. My goal is not to scare anyone
with diabetes.

My father has had diabetes II for 20 years or so. He is now 68 yo. His
sight has gotten worse and worse over the years. Diabetes got harder
and harder to control so he had to shift from pills to insulin. He was
injecting himself with insulin, but because of the bad vision, he was
probably mixing the short-lasting and long-lasting insulin. His blood
sugar could go up very high or too low. He was careful with what he
ate, but he would slip sometimes and eat something he shouldn't. He was
often very tired, sleeping very often during the day and having
problems sleeping during the night - going to the toilet often. Doctors
knew that he had angina but my dad didn't want to operate yet. He also
had damages on his central nervous system. All of this was familiar to
his doctor. Even so, the doctor sent my dad home over and over again
when he would come and complain about having problems breathing. The
breathing problems got really bad one night and mom drove him to the
emergency. He was sent home with the suspicion of having COPD (!!!).
The next day he was alone at home and started feeling bad again. He
called a taxi and got to the hospital in the nick of time - he had
suffered a heart attack. From the specialists we heard that he had had
several smaller heart attacks over time. Because of the damages to the
central nervous system, he could not notice these smaller heart
attacks, except from the breathing problems - those were the symptoms,
but his doctor still kept sending him back home. It is really important
that people with diabetes know this, and especially their doctors!!!

Further, if you have diabetes, or someone close to you does, make sure
they inform you of all the risks if you or your loved one is going
under the knife. Neither my dad or we, his closest family, were
informed of the risks, and they had lots of time - a whole weekend. We
wish we had been informed - he ended up with several smaller strokes
the day after the surgery. He was completely fine right after the
surgery and through the night, but the next day everything went wrong.
They didn't even suspect a stroke, they thought it was the anesthesia -
so he didn't get the medicines against stroke which have to be given
within 3 hours or so after the stroke. It is unbelievable how a person
can get a stroke in a hospital and nobody gets it.

Again, not meant to scare anyone, just to inform you of how important
it is to take care of yourself and to have people around you that will
advocate and fight for your well-being when the doctors don't do their
job properly. Take care, and remember - if you don't ask for help you
will probably not get it. That's how it works today. I'm now fighting
for my dad as hard as I can, it is after all not as bad as it could
have been...Good luck and keep the spirit up!

Regards from Norway, the best country to live in, in the whole world (or so they say...)