First the exciting thing from those two months... Cubs Win, Cubs Win! This is finally the year. My Cubbies won the World Series. It was a heck of a ride right down to the extra innings game seven. My Grandpas didn't see it in their lifetimes, but I finally did. Wow!
Now for the less exciting, but more important stuff. About midway through the playoffs my left foot got very swollen and sore. At first I thought I had just twisted my ankle or something like that, but after another week I ended up at the ER. They diagnosed me as having cellulitis of the foot and put me on antibiotics. This helped, but the swelling persisted. Finally after almost four weeks, two sets of x-rays and an MRI, the podiatrist diagnosed me with having Charcot Arthropathy (aka Charcot Foot), which is pronounced shar-koh. This led to another diagnosis with a bit more impact... Diabetes.
The podiatrist ordered an A1C test immediately and it came back as a 6.9 which puts me on the lower end of the diabetic range. The diagnosis wasn't a huge shock as my family history pretty much determined that it would happen eventually, it was just a bit earlier in life than I had expected.
Thankfully my loving wife Em is at my side and she's decided to take up the same diet as me to help me get my blood sugar and weight under control. The goal is to not need insulin and hopefully not even metformin. Being one footed, it's hard to weigh in right now, but I've had to put two new holes in my belt since mid October which is a good sign. Right now we're doing nutrisystem D using getting started boxes from the store which is working for us.
I get to meet with my GP for the first time since the diagnosis on Thursday and then the dietitian on the 16th. I know what I need to do and thankfully I have my wife helping me do what I know I need to do. Even as I scoot around on my knee scooter, we've been able to increase our walking through Pokemon Go and Ingress at Washington Park and the Mall. I do have to try not to coast on the tile at the mall though. :) It's interesting how much it takes to scoot up even slight inclines when you're using one leg to move 390+lbs plus the scooter.
I see the podiatrist again on 12/8 so hopefully then I'll be released to start putting weight on my foot again. I'm sure it will take some time to get back up to speed, but I also know that Em needs me back on my game to help with our dogs and the house.
Well hopefully my next entry will be in a shorter time period.
