More with the Diabetes Goals

In the gathering we had in the last blog, we finally got to what medication each was taking and we were shocked that only one person was on insulin because his doctor believed that he had LADA diabetes. The rest were all on Invokana or Farxiga and metformin. Ben spoke and asked how they were doing on these medications. The fellow on insulin stated that he was doing very well and that his last A1c was 5.8 percent.

The one on Invokana asked if someone would look at the bottom of one foot. When Tim said okay, he took off his shoe and sock. When Jerry looked, he said he should see a doctor immediately and even go to the emergency room that day as he had the start of a nasty foot ulcer and possibly a second one. One of the fellows on Farxiga asked if he could look and then said he had two that were worse than that. Jerry had him remove his shoe and sock and when he saw both ulcers, he said we needed to take him immediately.

Another said he had a cracked heel and Tim asked him to remove his shoe and sock. Tim said he needs to go to the hospital as well as he had an infection in his heel and gangrene may have already started. I asked all of them if the doctor had ever checked their feet and the answer from all was no. Tim then asked if all would take off their shoes and socks and let us inspect their feet. There was no hesitation and what we discovered had us very concerned.

Tim asked if he could have all of their email addresses and there was one question of why. Tim said so that we could send them emails about our experiences, articles on foot ulcers, and articles about the medications they were taking. In addition, each of us would receive their email address and our email addresses and if they would include their phone numbers, they would also receive our phone numbers. Everyone did give Tim the information and then Tim said that they would all need out support over the next few months because of the problems they were having.

Tim said that he hoped none of them would require an amputation, but in looking at a couple of them, he could not say what the doctor would want to do. This had two of the individuals very anxious and one asked not to be taken to the hospital. Jerry said he should go and if we had caught it early enough, then he could just spend several months in treatment. If he waited, an amputation would be required.

Tim said he had one of my blogs that he would send to each of them and he would need to find the article on the SGLT2 Inhibitors causing amputations, as I had not written about this.

With that, we loaded the fellows on two vans and headed for the emergency department to have the doctor on duty look at their feet and legs. Two individuals were hospitalized after being operated on and two others were admitted for further treatment the next day. Only one was treated and released with Jerry saying that for the first few days, he would change his coverings and applying the medicine.

All four were taken off their SGLT2 Inhibitors and put on insulin while in the hospital. What else happened, we don't know at this time, but we feel better in helping these individuals.