hes at 137 finally. so the gastroparesis is a factor too. we found out the problem. last night he had the one egg sandwich and it wasnt enough carbs to bring him up to where he needed to be and then to hold him over night. i went back thru his glucometer, he was 40 then 87. so 87 before bed, but not enough to get him thru overnight. so i guess he either needs to be higher and a good meal before bed or just make sure he gets the good meal before bedtime. we will have to watch and see. hes finally resting easy, and im beat! goign to crawl in bed now.

I forgot part of it.. too. his ears bothered him..........

oh and while he is on the floor and im making tea, i peeked around and hes got one hand covering one ear, and the other hand pullin his other ear out like hes trying to hear something.. im like what are you doing???????? hes like huh?and sucks on/in his cheeks (recall he has no teeth, had to have them pulled due to all thepuking hes done from panc issues) i think he looks like a monkey at this point.. im like what are you doing??!!! my ears he says.. im like they hurt? yes he said .. WELL quit PULLING on it dummy!! OH, he puts both hands over both ears and rolls over.. i went in to finish making tea and wiping counters. ugh and of course i sit here typing hes asleep on floor behind me.. GEEZZZ WHOS GETTING THE REST?? laughable enough to cry!

Well this morning was a heck of a morning already. LOW BLOODSUGAR IS NOT PRETTY!
This is what happened:

I came home from work yesterday and shortly was in bed. i slept on and off all eve and woke up at 1am went back to bed around 140.. well jerry said his bloodsugar was in low 40s. so hewas going to have a packet of oatmeal (28carbs)and a fried egg sandwich. im thinking ok, that would work to bring up his sugar, and also get his reg carb in. okay. so i roll over and went to sleep. well i woke up at 530ish, hes talking REALLY LOUD and off the wall im like oh crap, jump out of bed, hes wobbling down the hall flops on the floor and is crawling.. im like wtheck is going on..im telling him to stop sit. hes babbling stuff that isnt even coherent to be words im like crap crap crap.. i got his bg check , 34. crap.. so i get a glucose gel out and cannot get him to take it. like a baby shaking head side to side wont let you get it in.. i go get my son up.. hes like dang it my first day off work and we have to do this?? im like hey.. i need help scream later.. so im trying to get the glucose in , i need to go rr, son sit with him, i now feel human , can focus and im coaxing like youd do a baby, finally get him to open up and i squeeze 1/3 tube in, he holds it in his mouth.. ughhhhhhh wont swallow.. im like dang ittttttt. well wait. its sugar its going to melt LOL! he will have to swallow. yeah half swallow half drool!!!! well eventually i got that down and another 1/3! thinking OK now in a few he will start being better.the orange cat goes by he points at him. WHOAAAAAAAAAA wait the race is onnnnnnnn he gets up , his legs wobbly under him and then tries to sprint after the cat, he bounces off two walls trying to get down the hall, hes getting lower as he goes, legs giving out,( now this is a short skinny legged man his drawers bagging around him)(i have to admit it was comical if iwasnt so mad!) he flops sideways onto the air mattress at the foot of my bed, tries to cover up.. im like OH NO YOU DONT!! ill let the air out!! ((we had the mattress from son-i hadnt let air out yet THANKFULLY!!)) ( now i might not at all!!)) anyhow i bugged him enough hes up and at it again, right to the living room and onto his knees in front of couch then onto his back on floor, hes still babbling all this time incoherently, son had the Oj/pineapple juice for him that i had tried to get him to drink, well i checked his bg level again, its been like 20 min.. it went up ONE STINKIN POINT!! 35! im like no way!!!well son squatted down by him and coaxed him into drinking the drink thru a straw, boy was jerry was out of it.. sons laughing.. (stress) im like ok.. that should help alot (39 carbs in that drink) well finally i go in kitchen, son went to his bed, and we left jerry laying on the living room floor rolled up in his robe where he wanted to lay, he wouldnt get up on couch. i made some tea, wiped the counters, kept looking in seeing if he looked diff. i checked his bg it was 57. ahhhhhhhh much better.. coming up.. i tried to get him to do another drink, at least now he responds and is coherent, hes like if i drink this im going to be sick.. so he took a bd glucose tablet. so i sat here to type, going to check him now....87!!!!!!!!!!!! now do i dare go to bed?!!!!!! think ill wait a bit make sure he eats some breakfast THAT I FIX HIM, make sure he EATS IT! then ill crash from the adrenaline rush.. now all that ""Rest"" i got yesterday feels like i didnt get any!!!!!! i just asked him if he remembers what he did this morn? hes like no what.. i told him his son will brief him later.This was bull. had he eaten right last night before bed.. HAD I STAYED UP to make sure.. oh well he came reallllllllly close to waking up in the HOSPITAL today! the droooling was just about the breaking point for me. SOOOOOOOOOO THE LESSON?? DONT LET YOUR BLOODSUGAR GET LOW IF POSSIBLE!! i knew it would happen accidentally a few times until we learned how to make it work right for his body, but i wasnt prepared to be awakened like that!!! the other time i walked in from work to find him OUT of it asleep was one thing, but waking up and being slapped with it up like that was a kick in the pants!

Just a quick note, Jerry has already dropped another pill, ten mg, so now hes taking 80mg per day in place of the 100mg. we will stand on that awhile and see how he can do. by our next visit then we MIGHT think of dropping another we will see. hes doing ok on his blood sugars, he sometimes makes me wonder if they did a lobotomy on him LMAO he will ask me some of the most bizarre things, such as he will eat and THEN take his sugar and THEN be like i take insulin right?? im lIKE NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO after 2 hrs.. sheezzzzzzzz hes like oh yeah right.. ughhhh sometimes i think hes testing me to see if ill baby him and take back over.. well NO WAY JOSE!! your body your responsibility!

Today we went to the doctors again, jerrys internist, she started his knockdown. He is to take 90mg methadone per day instead of 100mg. SO it begins!

another pic of jerry holding a pillow to him, in case he needed to cough.

Found a picture of Kathleen visiting Jerry right after surgery! she came down and pushed her pole along to see how he was~!! IT was great having someone there who KNEW how he was feeling, and could encourage him to hang in there!!

Here is a pic of Jerry having his staples out. I found a few more pics on the computer here LOL.

Just a thought and observation.

We went into this surgery, miserable and with no future to forsee if we didnt do this. He was going to continue to go down hill as more systems were disrupted in his body due to a MAD Mr P!(pancreas). Knowing that the surgery was the first half of the battle, knowing that we would have recoup times and learning lessons to adjust to.

Its just so hard to have been thru the surgery, Seeing the MAJOR difference in Jerry pain wise (none!!) and the gastroparesis reversed, its hard to not want to be WELL RIGHT NOW!! He is learning his body, and just like any new task you learn, it takes trial and error to accomplish. Lordy knows, im still a hazzard on a bike! im dangerous not only to myself but anyone around me! So the task is for Jerry, ups and downs, learning how certain foods affect him and how to use that aquired knowledge to his benefit. Also hes learned that exercise helps him feel much better if his sugars are elevated, but that he still must watch blood glucose level so it doesnt go to low.

Also we learned that we should have made an appointment with a diabetic nutritionist SOONER before we got home so we could have some guidance right now. It helps. FLORIDA IS HORRID for health care, and we had to go thru 2 dieticians to find one who seemed to click with Jerry. I already had the endocrinologist picked out.

I think as SCARED of the surgery as we were, THAT wasnt the scary part LOL. The SCARY part is the waiting time to be well. how odd is that. not scary but impatient. THAT IS THE HARDEST PART! I cant tell anyone what a difference this has made in Jerry! he is up and about, going outside and riding his TRIKE! he hasnt had a LIFE , even limited as this is until hes better, in almost 14 years!! This was a blessing and we should have taken the call 5 years prior. But that old paralyzing fear, had us in its claws!

Just seeing that pancreatitis has a course. IT is ALWAYS DOWNHILL!! times may vary between people, different complications may develope but the end is always the same. Uncontrolled pain, neuropathies and brittle diabetes.

So why was having this surgery so scary? the worst pancreatic outcome could have been, hes brittle, and in pain. That is no different than where he would be anyhow.

THE upside, chances could be he could have REDUCED pain, NO pain, and or be a mild diabetic or NO diabetes!

As it turned out, we are thrilled to report... Jerry is PAIN FREE (wonderous miracle), diabetic and on insulin..( BIG DEAL!!) IT is a TRADE OFF of wonders we could only have hoped for! well im getting long winded and need to get some sleep. I re read these posts and Laugh (big snows...to US it was! LOL im sure the natives thought it was nothing!) and to see Jerry and see how fast he progressed just astounds me!

We are just now home from the Endocrinologist. Jerry just had his bloodwork returned. alls well but hes not producing alot of insulin for himself. the doc did say that it was kind of early to be tested but we did anyhow, 2 mo after surgery, but we thought they might or do start working immediately. oh well we will wait and see we go back to the endocrinologist in 3 months.

Here is the run down of what was done..

His C peptide.. was 0.5 bilirubin(ast, Alt)are also high, usually the ALP is coming from the liver. If calcium and phosphatate measurements are abnormal, usually the ALP is coming from bone.

his thyroid, all kidney functions rest of bloodwork the complete panel all beautiful-dead center on them all!!!

now his A1c (measures glucose control over the 3 month period) was 7.8 --- recall he had test done at 2 months.. so thats actually good according to doc.
norm values are: 4.1 to 6.1
good control 6.2 to 7.0
moderate control 7.1 to 8.0
poor >8

So all in all doc was very impressed and encouraged and encouraging~! we wont have to return for 3 mos. then we will have more bloodwork then 2wks later another visit to see the results. So far so good!

oopps i just found other page.. damn.. LOL

white celll count.. 11.8 H.. norm 4.1-10. (not too over)
MCH 25.6 L (norm 26-32)
(mean cell(corpustle) hemoglobin-)"MCH") Often the MCV and MCH/MCHC values begin to fall before the actual anemia begins to develop; these changes represent the body's final attempts to continue producing red blood cells without an adequate supply of iron.
(but hes barely under so im not fretting this)

platelets 578 H (norm 140-440) again not too high over?
gran 8.4 H (norm 2.0-7.8) again just over...
(grans are granulocytes..
Granulocytes are white blood cells packed with tiny sacs of chemicals (granules). Granulocytic chemicals play a role in:
Destroying Microorganisms
Activating the Inflammatory Response, characterized by swelling, redness, warmth, and pain)

Well things have settled down nicely, hes healed up from that wound (infection area). I still cant believe that happened. Reducing his lantus to 30 per morning has cleared up the early morning wake ups at 50! lol now hes in the 80s-90s in the mornings. He is doing great thru the daytimes as well. we did have a set back yesterday, we all slept in late and it was NOON when we finally did get up.. WHEW talk about tired people. well needless to say jerry was way low, then he drank two orange juices, and then ate lunch (breakfast) LOL, then turned around and ate an oatmeal, oops put him up in 250s. So he played fun that day getting it down and regulating it. He did do it though. so good for him. He is taking more and more active role in his own health now.. FINALLY!!!!!! (mommie was getting tired) (not to mention Cranky as all get out)! I reinjured this blasted knee again somehow. So he will have to do for himself! He is making better food choices and monitoring himself and Writing things down now, although not as much as he should.. but somethings written down are better than NONE. but instead of harrassing him about not putting everything he eats down on it, i just keep telling him how great it is for what hes doing and gee surprise, he flourishes under praise where the harrassment made him balk and resist .. duh me. I think i was just too frustrated. He finished the last of his antibiotics today, so our revisit is in 2 1/2 weeks to doc for check up. I guess ill p ost now, as occurances happen, as things SEEMMMMMM to be coming around. i guess maybe that infection had been what was messing with his blood sugars all along!!! Making us all nuts not being able to figure out why one thing would make it high yet drop him low another time. I will post again when something of interest occurs.. for now its same ol same ol, NO PAINS!!!!!! and his gastroparesis pain is sooo much less too! so bonus again!