Disappointing
Hubby (type 2 diabetes) told me yesterday that he would probably never be able to go swimming again. He is worried about his feet - he has another infected toe. As disappointing as it is for me to know he won’t be joining me in the pool - it must be much more disappointing to him. He LOVES to swim.
Nor is it apparently a good idea to use the foot spas that are so popular.
Several years ago I bought hubby a foot spa for Christmas. I looked EVERYWHERE in our small town trying to find one - finally had a small pharmacy order one for me. Nowadays you can find one in every sort of store - they are coming down in price, too.
This all comes back, of course, to the fact that diabetics should take extra good care of their feet.
Hubby wears cotton socks year round - in the colder months (Alaska, remember?) he wears a pair of polar fleece socks over the cotton socks.
Every night when he takes off his socks, he checks them for any tell-tale signs of bleeding or oozing. He then checks each toe with the help of a hand mirror to see if he can see any cuts or bruises.
Even the smallest cut can become infected. With neuropathy, the sensation of pain that would drive any of the rest of us bonkers just is not there. Hubby has found infected sores in the past that he did not even know were there.
He doesn’t feel it if I or one of the grandkiddos step on his toes - he doesn’t feel it if he stubs his toe into a door or wall - he doesn’t feel the same pain you or I might.
So, he has to take these preventive precautions.
Right now he has a prescription to use a hyperbaric chamber to help increase the speed at which his foot heals. Last time it was amazing just how quickly all that extra oxygen caused healing.
So - take good care out there - and if you are wondering if foot spa usage - or swimming - are appropriate for you, please check with your physician. Follow his/her instructions.
——————
Like contests? Like knitted dish cloths? Come on over to Knitting Passion and check out the new contest - be sure to sign the comments and let me know you’ve been there and that you want one of the skully dish cloths!
October 21st, 2007 at 6:49 pm
[...] Check it out! While looking through the blogosphere we stumbled on an interesting post today.Here’s a quick excerptswimmer.JPG. Hubby (type 2 diabetes) told me yesterday that he would probably never be able to go swimming again. He is worried about his feet - he has another infected toe. As disappointing as it is for me to know he won’t be joining … [...]
November 7th, 2007 at 11:42 am
[...] raising money to help support Diabetes research, which is something near and dear to my heart as my dad has Type Two Diabetes and has been battling it for most of my life. So, it stands to reason that I love helping spread the word for his upcoming events with Reality 4 [...]
December 14th, 2007 at 7:50 pm
[...] shows us some of her favorite gifts to get and give: Neighborhoodie PicturePads -My dad was a printer for years, and he and my husband gave me some like this for Christmas one year - I [...]
March 25th, 2009 at 7:08 am
I don’t usually comment on blog posts… but this was a good post.. keep up the good work