this is my first time here - I came online to find some useful stuff I can use in my situation, but then I thought that it would be best to ask others, since we all have our experiences with caring about someone...
My father is very ill - he has diabetes (he is only 55 years old), and he got an infection in the leg - he has been in hospital for 5 months now. Yesterday he had an operation - they amputated his leg from the knee.
Do you have any experience with this or could you give me some ideas where to turn to? I would like to be somewhat prepared for his feelings, so that I could help him get over his depression, etc...
Hi Emi. Sorry about your father and I hope he is as well as can be expected.
I found the following, which is a site for information and support:
<A HREF="http://viahealth.org/disease/diabetes/" TARGET=_blank>http://viahealth.org/disease/diabetes/</A>
HI,
Welcome to the board. Sorry to hear about your dad. First things first, he need a good doc that he trusts and will do what they can to help him with his depression. He will also need a good therapist. Losing a limb is a very emotional thing and he will need some professional help to cope with it. I'm asuming he's also going to need rehab and lots of it. You need to be there for your dad now; he's gonna need all the love and support you can give him and this may prove to be the best therapy!!
<IMG SRC="http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/frown.gif"> That happened to my Mom, and potentially could, at some point by heredity, to me or my siblings too. I have minor diabetes, but big time Peripheral Neuropathy. However, contrary to pop opinion, PN is often not caused by diabetes. Mine is from traumatic surgery. Does he have PN too?
Hmmm.. Was there depression before, or is it largely situational as a result of recent times? I think I would just point out that loss of limb doesn't necessarily have to be as bad as we might anticipate, and prosthetics are making some pretty good new progressive moves I understand. And that life doesn't have to be all that different once the natural and initial shock is gone.
Does he live with you or someone? Tell us more if you don't mind.
Keep posting and let us know how things are coming along, okay?
thank you so much for you replies - they really meant a lot to me...
I haven't had a chance to reply so far, since I had to travel to visit my father, who is hospitalized about a 2.5 hrs - drive from where we live. they say it is the best place in Hungary, so now I hope that those guys really know what they are doing.
We visit my father every day, and I have to say that so far he is doing OK. He had his comments like "did you bring me a new leg?" when we arrived, but I think he is doing better because of the support of fellow patients - he sees that there is a life without a limb or both limbs - you know, the group therapy - effect kicked in, which I believe is wonderful for him.
