Exercise is not enough
This story has several biological aspects to it. Pay close attention and see if you can find them all. It is a true story about a man who had type II diabetes and high blood pressure, onset at age 30. This is his story and a good lesson in why we should take good care of our bodies. People often do not take good care of themselves when they are diagnosed with a chronic illness such as diabetes, and here is why they should.
First, here is some history. This man was an all-star athlete as a child and very active. He came from an extremely active family with 8 brothers and sisters. He began coaching youth sports at age 18 and continued to play sports, such as basketball and mens softball until age 34. He was a body builder from age 15 to age 24. He actually tried steroids and used them for about 3 months. He was very active, worked full time and yet could drink a 12 pack of beer in one evening and it would appear as if he had not had any alcohol at all. Alcohol is one of the worst things for a diabetic; alcohol turns to sugar in your body very quickly. He loved good cooking, especially fried foods, and often ate out at fast food restaurants, as his own children were all star athletes and always on the go.
This man consequently gained weight, going from 185 pounds at age 18 to about 205 at age 24 and 260 at age 30 and eventually 340 at age 38 and 105 by age 43. He had to completely stop playing sports and coaching by age 34. He began having trouble with his eyes at age 29 and went to see eye doctors over a year span, with no profound findings. The last eye doctor he saw suggested he see his PCP for a full checkup. This checkup revealed diabetes. His eye problem was a result of high blood sugars not an actual eye problem.
He was devastated at first and began taking medication. He soon discovered that taking care of his diabetes was kind of a hassle. Watching what he ate and drank just wasn’t for him. By age 38 he began having chest pains quite often. Several hospital visits, into the emergency room, over the 8 years from age 30 to age 38 revealed minor heart palpitations, high blood pressures, and extremely high blood sugar levels. A normal level would be 85 to 120. His glucose levels were at 300 to 400 on a weekly basis. The doctors were always amazed that he was not actually in a diabetic coma. He often thought not feeling well was a normal reaction and still continued to intermittently ignore the diabetes even after several hospital stays.
At age 30 a heart test revealed that the man’s heart was the heart of an 18 year old. This meant his heart was strong and undamaged at this point and his active lifestyle had done him some good. By age 39 the man had still continuously felt lousy and was often having chest pains. He also continued to have major eye sight problems and had several eye surgeries to reattach the retina as high blood sugars cause the retinae to detach. He was admitted to the TMC hospital here in Tucson in 2002 at age 41 for a heart test. Prior to major tests of the heart, doctors must run all major body function blood tests.
His blood tests showed that his kidneys were working at a rate of 9%. This would explain a lot of his pain and crappy days. This was a result of the uncared for diabetes with extremely high blood sugars. It had caused kidney failure. The doctor explained how the dye from the simple heart test would be too much for the kidneys to filter and would kill his kidneys completely off. Therefore he would have to begin dialysis right away, prior to the heart test.
Dialysis replaces the function that the kidneys would normally perform. It is the process essentially of removing the blood from your body, filtering it of all the toxins and poisons our body produces and then placing it back in the body. Obviously we cannot remove all of our blood at once and so dialysis is not a complete answer to the replacement of our own kidneys. Dialysis makes people very weak. While he needed dialysis to survive, it was also killing him by causing stress to the heart. At this point the man absolutely had to begin watching what he ate and drank in order to stay alive. He was often too weak to even control his bowels and bladder especially on dialysis days.
At this point the man began regretting his lack of care. The hospital stay also revealed that he had some major heart damage that was not repairable. The high blood sugars and high blood pressure had done some very major damage to his whole body. He now needed a heart transplant, kidney transplant, and he was deemed legally blind with severe detaching of the eye lenses. He was told upon leaving the hospital that he had a 50/50 chance of waking up each day.
The man needed a heart transplant but was not eligible due to his bad kidneys. Despite the offer of a kidney from several family members, the man’s heart was not strong enough for a kidney transplant. He would also need several eye surgeries over the next four years to at best, semi-regain his eyesight. The man would need surgery to place a natural shunt in his arm for the large dialysis needle that would be needed at least 3 times a week. Every time he had a procedure or surgery that required him to be put under, he would have 50/50 chance of not waking up from the procedure.
The man spent the next 4 years miserable. He was a real trooper and tried hard to be positive. He lived in a small town where the hospital was unable to handle the severity of his case. He was air evacuated out by medical chopper or by ambulance to Tucson 27 times in a 4 and a half year period. Each evacuation meant money, as well as at least a 4 day to 2 week hospital stay to stabilize him and his blood sugar levels and blood pressure. They used proper diet and proper medications on a proper schedule to do this.
His family suffered with him every day. This very strong, active, happy, positive person was losing his life as well as his confidence and pride. The state provided deep counseling to the man and his family. The counseling found that a lot of anger by all of us was present for his refusal to accept his illness and change his lifestyle. Unfortunately, there is no way to go back.
The final biological aspect of this story will blow your mind and, hopefully, open your eyes and show you how important it is to care for your body and its health. After 4 and one half years of miserable life, the man came home from dialysis extra ill on a Friday morning. By Sunday the man was delirious and had refused to eat or drink anything since Friday. He was taken away by ambulance once again.
Unfortunately, the man was diagnosed with a staph infection in his blood. After 7 different types of antibiotics and 8 days of being in a delirious coma the man began to respond. He had taken so many different antibiotics that now; they weren’t working when they were needed. He probably got the infection from a dirty dialysis needle but there was no way to prove that.
I was approached by a nurse one evening as I was leaving the hospital and she began to explain quality of life versus quantity of life. I was obviously in no shape to consider stopping all treatment but it had been 9 days and he was obviously not responding very well. I left, went home and discussed the prospect of ending the man’s life by stopping all treatment. If he came out of it, he would need 2 months of I.V. antibiotics, his left foot removed, and would more than likely never have control of his bowels or bladder again. The circulation in your body is often reduced by the hardening of the arteries with diabetes. He had been lying in bed for so long without exercise that the circulation in his left foot was gone.
The next morning I returned to the hospital prepared to ask more questions. As I walked into the room the man sat up and said “hey babe”. I became hysterical and began telling him about the last week’s events to include my being confronted with stopping treatment, as he remembered nothing.
He responded with “I want to go home” I said “you can’t” and he said “no, I want to go home, I am done, no more.” He had 13 surgeries in the year before he passed. The doctor came in and explained the process and said the man would have 2 or 3 good days and 2 or 3 bad days and his life would be over if he stopped all treatment.
There was no hospice in our town, so the man went home with me. The first 2 days were alright. The next 2 days were good because all of the medications and poisons were out of his body. The next 8 days were horrible. He did not eat at all and only drank sips of water. He became delirious as the staph began to take control over his cells. He lived 12 days total. He was 46 years old when he passed.
The lack of dialysis allowed his poison levels in the bloodstream to elevate. The staph infection began to grow and eat the man’s tissues from the inside out. We had to use a lot of bleach and we could only touch him with gloves with fear of catching the staph infection. When he died he had holes in his flesh from the bacteria eating him. He died of edema.
This story is told in hopes that more people will take better care of themselves and take illnesses such as diabetes seriously. Being active is not enough, it is a combination of things, each unique to us as individuals. I urge each of you to eat well and pay attention to the doctor’s warnings and suggestions for proper health care. What you eat is extremely important, exercise is not enough! There are many biological aspects to this story: can you find them all?
This story was done in memory of: Nelson Alexander, December 24, 1960 to July 12, 2007. He left behind a wife and 5 children. Our family sincerely hopes you will take this story to heart and care for your bodies. Always remember that your life affects many others around you.
This story has several biological aspects to it. Pay close attention and see if you can find them all. It is a true story about a man who had type II diabetes and high blood pressure, onset at age 30. This is his story and a good lesson in why we should take good care of our bodies. People often do not take good care of themselves when they are diagnosed with a chronic illness such as diabetes, and here is why they should.
First, here is some history. This man was an all-star athlete as a child and very active. He came from an extremely active family with 8 brothers and sisters. He began coaching youth sports at age 18 and continued to play sports, such as basketball and mens softball until age 34. He was a body builder from age 15 to age 24. He actually tried steroids and used them for about 3 months. He was very active, worked full time and yet could drink a 12 pack of beer in one evening and it would appear as if he had not had any alcohol at all. Alcohol is one of the worst things for a diabetic; alcohol turns to sugar in your body very quickly. He loved good cooking, especially fried foods, and often ate out at fast food restaurants, as his own children were all star athletes and always on the go.
This man consequently gained weight, going from 185 pounds at age 18 to about 205 at age 24 and 260 at age 30 and eventually 340 at age 38 and 105 by age 43. He had to completely stop playing sports and coaching by age 34. He began having trouble with his eyes at age 29 and went to see eye doctors over a year span, with no profound findings. The last eye doctor he saw suggested he see his PCP for a full checkup. This checkup revealed diabetes. His eye problem was a result of high blood sugars not an actual eye problem.
He was devastated at first and began taking medication. He soon discovered that taking care of his diabetes was kind of a hassle. Watching what he ate and drank just wasn’t for him. By age 38 he began having chest pains quite often. Several hospital visits, into the emergency room, over the 8 years from age 30 to age 38 revealed minor heart palpitations, high blood pressures, and extremely high blood sugar levels. A normal level would be 85 to 120. His glucose levels were at 300 to 400 on a weekly basis. The doctors were always amazed that he was not actually in a diabetic coma. He often thought not feeling well was a normal reaction and still continued to intermittently ignore the diabetes even after several hospital stays.
At age 30 a heart test revealed that the man’s heart was the heart of an 18 year old. This meant his heart was strong and undamaged at this point and his active lifestyle had done him some good. By age 39 the man had still continuously felt lousy and was often having chest pains. He also continued to have major eye sight problems and had several eye surgeries to reattach the retina as high blood sugars cause the retinae to detach. He was admitted to the TMC hospital here in Tucson in 2002 at age 41 for a heart test. Prior to major tests of the heart, doctors must run all major body function blood tests.
His blood tests showed that his kidneys were working at a rate of 9%. This would explain a lot of his pain and crappy days. This was a result of the uncared for diabetes with extremely high blood sugars. It had caused kidney failure. The doctor explained how the dye from the simple heart test would be too much for the kidneys to filter and would kill his kidneys completely off. Therefore he would have to begin dialysis right away, prior to the heart test.
Dialysis replaces the function that the kidneys would normally perform. It is the process essentially of removing the blood from your body, filtering it of all the toxins and poisons our body produces and then placing it back in the body. Obviously we cannot remove all of our blood at once and so dialysis is not a complete answer to the replacement of our own kidneys. Dialysis makes people very weak. While he needed dialysis to survive, it was also killing him by causing stress to the heart. At this point the man absolutely had to begin watching what he ate and drank in order to stay alive. He was often too weak to even control his bowels and bladder especially on dialysis days.
At this point the man began regretting his lack of care. The hospital stay also revealed that he had some major heart damage that was not repairable. The high blood sugars and high blood pressure had done some very major damage to his whole body. He now needed a heart transplant, kidney transplant, and he was deemed legally blind with severe detaching of the eye lenses. He was told upon leaving the hospital that he had a 50/50 chance of waking up each day.
The man needed a heart transplant but was not eligible due to his bad kidneys. Despite the offer of a kidney from several family members, the man’s heart was not strong enough for a kidney transplant. He would also need several eye surgeries over the next four years to at best, semi-regain his eyesight. The man would need surgery to place a natural shunt in his arm for the large dialysis needle that would be needed at least 3 times a week. Every time he had a procedure or surgery that required him to be put under, he would have 50/50 chance of not waking up from the procedure.
The man spent the next 4 years miserable. He was a real trooper and tried hard to be positive. He lived in a small town where the hospital was unable to handle the severity of his case. He was air evacuated out by medical chopper or by ambulance to Tucson 27 times in a 4 and a half year period. Each evacuation meant money, as well as at least a 4 day to 2 week hospital stay to stabilize him and his blood sugar levels and blood pressure. They used proper diet and proper medications on a proper schedule to do this.
His family suffered with him every day. This very strong, active, happy, positive person was losing his life as well as his confidence and pride. The state provided deep counseling to the man and his family. The counseling found that a lot of anger by all of us was present for his refusal to accept his illness and change his lifestyle. Unfortunately, there is no way to go back.
The final biological aspect of this story will blow your mind and, hopefully, open your eyes and show you how important it is to care for your body and its health. After 4 and one half years of miserable life, the man came home from dialysis extra ill on a Friday morning. By Sunday the man was delirious and had refused to eat or drink anything since Friday. He was taken away by ambulance once again.
Unfortunately, the man was diagnosed with a staph infection in his blood. After 7 different types of antibiotics and 8 days of being in a delirious coma the man began to respond. He had taken so many different antibiotics that now; they weren’t working when they were needed. He probably got the infection from a dirty dialysis needle but there was no way to prove that.
I was approached by a nurse one evening as I was leaving the hospital and she began to explain quality of life versus quantity of life. I was obviously in no shape to consider stopping all treatment but it had been 9 days and he was obviously not responding very well. I left, went home and discussed the prospect of ending the man’s life by stopping all treatment. If he came out of it, he would need 2 months of I.V. antibiotics, his left foot removed, and would more than likely never have control of his bowels or bladder again. The circulation in your body is often reduced by the hardening of the arteries with diabetes. He had been lying in bed for so long without exercise that the circulation in his left foot was gone.
The next morning I returned to the hospital prepared to ask more questions. As I walked into the room the man sat up and said “hey babe”. I became hysterical and began telling him about the last week’s events to include my being confronted with stopping treatment, as he remembered nothing.
He responded with “I want to go home” I said “you can’t” and he said “no, I want to go home, I am done, no more.” He had 13 surgeries in the year before he passed. The doctor came in and explained the process and said the man would have 2 or 3 good days and 2 or 3 bad days and his life would be over if he stopped all treatment.
There was no hospice in our town, so the man went home with me. The first 2 days were alright. The next 2 days were good because all of the medications and poisons were out of his body. The next 8 days were horrible. He did not eat at all and only drank sips of water. He became delirious as the staph began to take control over his cells. He lived 12 days total. He was 46 years old when he passed.
The lack of dialysis allowed his poison levels in the bloodstream to elevate. The staph infection began to grow and eat the man’s tissues from the inside out. We had to use a lot of bleach and we could only touch him with gloves with fear of catching the staph infection. When he died he had holes in his flesh from the bacteria eating him. He died of edema.
This story is told in hopes that more people will take better care of themselves and take illnesses such as diabetes seriously. Being active is not enough, it is a combination of things, each unique to us as individuals. I urge each of you to eat well and pay attention to the doctor’s warnings and suggestions for proper health care. What you eat is extremely important, exercise is not enough! There are many biological aspects to this story: can you find them all?
This story was done in memory of: Nelson Alexander, December 24, 1960 to July 12, 2007. He left behind a wife and 5 children. Our family sincerely hopes you will take this story to heart and care for your bodies. Always remember that your life affects many others around you.