Stunned…
Speechless…
Really Dad?
I sat in the doctor’s office watching Dad’s physician stick a pin into his feet, and he said he felt NOTHING. It looked like she was using each foot as a pin cushion, and he felt NOTHING, and I said “ouch” with every prick.
How could this be? We had known for years that his sugar levels were a little higher than they should be, but they were under control with regulating his diet, and a man in his 90s – let him eat dessert for breakfast if he wanted to!
But neuropathy, numbness in his feet, was something he never talked about with me even though he spoke to hundreds of clients, daily as a matter of fact, about their neuropathy and how to minimize the effects of diabetes on their hands and feet by taking Benfotiamine supplements. He carefully crafted a daily regimen for their care, but he wasn’t doing enough for his own.
I sat there like a stone, unable to ask questions, get frustrated, or offer solutions.
Has this happened to you or someone in your family? Diabetes is a family disease (dis-ease), and we need to take a look at our own families and listen for the unspoken symptoms of the disease. Embarrassment, lack of knowledge, and not wanting to be a burden all contribute to why we don’t speak up about our health problems. Yet excess thirst, dizziness, and numb toes could indicate something serious.
I watched as Dad enjoyed his Snickers bars and Paydays. I brought him fresh apple fritters from the grocery store while picking up his prescriptions. We both enjoyed eating them!
I saw and heard about his recent falls – I thought chock it up to size 13 shoes and his “walking” backward as he sat in his walker and pushed himself around the block for exercise. I heard him say that mom had dropped a glass on the tile floor, and I saw little chards of glass hiding under the table. He didn’t say his foot was bleeding, and I never attributed his balance problems or cuts with numb feet until NOW.
This is a wake-up call for us ALL to act in preventing diabetes and neuropathy for ourselves and our families. In 2023, over 37 million Americans are living with diabetes, with millions more undiagnosed. Are you one of them? Is your dad one of them?
Our vision at BenfoComplete is to see families work together to rid of diabetes from their family history. Our goal is to help them reduce/alleviate the numbness or pins/needles of neuropathy due to diabetes. My goal is to see my dad feel his feet again and walk without assistance. Let’s do this together, and let’s start today.
