PattiC

I have been married 22 years. When I first met my husband I knew he was diabetic. He took his oral medications pretty regularly, although he never tested his blood sugar level, but when his endocrinologist said he needed to be on insulin everything changed. He became less and less compliant about testing and taking his medication. He also had an issue with chronic urinary tract strictures that became worse throughout the years. He ended up having several surgeries that didn't help and then just a few years ago he had another surgery and now lives with a urostomy bag. In addition, he is now on dialysis (started in 12/2012) because his kidneys no longer function due to uncontrolled diabetes. Most recently he has begun falling. He seems to black out and after undergoing several neurological tests which showed nothing that would be causing him to fall, he is now wearing and cardiac event monitor for the next few weeks to determine if his heart arrhythmias are causing his falls. It is becoming increasingly more difficult for him to walk even with the use of a walker and he prefers a wheel chair. He also defecates himself on a daily basis but doesn't clean up after himself because he says he can't see it. His memory is beginning to fail him and lately he seems to have difficulty remembering the words to say while he is speaking and at times when he is a passenger in the car with me, he questions me on where we are going because he is forgetting his way around. I have a daughter who is just beginning her sophomore year in college and both she and I are stressed beyond comprehension. I have great friends who are always willing to listen to me but I have found that unless one is going through it, it is impossible to understand what my daughter and I are truly experiencing.