A Diabetic Living on One Leg

Today is Christmas Day, December 25, 2007.

Throughout the Church Service which I
attended, I was in a celebrative mood,
remembering and praising God for the
birth of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ,
who emptied Himself to become the
vulnerable Son of Man many years ago.
He came that we might regain our health,
including our eternal well-being.

But at the end of the service, I was
shocked by what met my eyes! My dear
friend had done an irreversible thing!
I saw him in a wheelchair, his wife
standing next to him. He will forever
be without his leg! The leg bypass I
spoke about which purportedly was going
to help his foot receive supplies from
his heart did not work. And now within
a short span of time, he has to live on
one leg, amputated from just below the
knee! I felt a great sense of loss for
him. It grieved me even though he
managed to maintain a positive mood
when people including myself greeted him.

To think that I could have helped him
further! But no, I couldn't. Or could I,
if I had tried harder to persuade him?

Perhaps, I had failed in not explaining
in a serious enough manner to him that
I had expected his eventual leg loss if
he carried on going the way he was.

Not that I have powers to heal people.
But I know of many diabetic patients,
including those who have suffered for
two decades or more, who have now
completely stopped taking diabetic
drugs like metformin and Avandia, and
even insulin. Their solution was very
simple. Write to me if you want to know.

But what was meant to save my friend’s
life (the amputation which was to keep
the rest of the body from getting infected)
had by no means solved his root problem,
nor had the leg bypass. It was merely a
functional thing that doctors routinely
do for so many patients, especially
patients who suffer from poor blood
circulation to their extremities. Doctors
don’t lose anything when they perform the
operation on patients. But patients do!
Such patients include diabetic patients,
of whom my friend is one.

The number of people who lose their legs
are on the increase. Sad, but it is true.
And diabetes is one of the greatest
culprits.

Unless my friend solves the root causes
of his problems (something I was endeavor-
ing to help him with), the risks are very
high that he will develop other complicat-
ions. In addition, I regret to say, he may
suffer other losses, if not already. So to
help other diabetic or similar patients,
I will discuss some of these complications
or losses in a future blogpost.