by Donna Burt

Created on: May 31, 2008

As most are aware of the term "diabetic", few truly understand the meaning and, unfortunately, even less few consider it an issue. As the number one disease in lives claimed each year, diabetes, as an entity, does not usually cause death. The results and complications; however, do. If that does not scare you, it should, because diabetes can be linked to almost every known cause of death that exists.

I grew up with the disease, not physically, but emotionally. My father was, as we now understand, a juvenile diabetic. Watching him boil a glass syringe and inject himself twice daily was as much a part of my life as anything else. I thought it was a normal part of everyone's life, and it never occurred to me that diabetes wasn't a disease everyone was aware of. Keep in mind, this was the early sixties and education provided at the time was only as resourceful as the knowledge available, which was extremely limited.

With the passage of time from youth to adolescence, progress in the treatment did not change much, and "it" did not go away. The education provided today in diet and restrictions were not offered then. The main advice was, don't eat sugar, which did little to assist my father when it came to food choices. It also provides explanation as to why he continued to eat bakery items with refined sugars as his main food preference.

In no way placing blame, the perception of diabetes and diet were not something I associated together. In the 1960's, there were no instructions on how to be a diabetic. Truthfully, even if there were, it is uncertain how many would have adhered to it. Looking back, I don't think my father would have.

As I watched this disease take piece by piece of my father, I mean that in a literal sense. As the disease continued to progress, the only treatment known for his condition was insulin and epson salt. While he was on human replacement insulin, science was just beginning to make breakthroughs in the use of artificial types. There were very few options, even if a doctor was considered a "pioneer" on the subject.

When he was twelve my father stepped on a thorn while hunting and never knew it was there. You see, one of the complications of diabetes is the loss of feeling in your feet. The thorn eventually infected his bones and after soaking his injured foot in epson salt for years, took its toll when they first amputated his big toe. Over the next four years, my father had three more surgeries, with an end result of amputation of both legs.

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