At the age of 52, Sandy Carlson, of Shawano, had a blood test during a physical so she could continue driving school bus for the Shawano School District.
“I was feeling fine,” said Carlson, now 74.
She was diagnosed with Type II diabetes, but with medication controlling the diabetes, Carlson could continue driving.
Ten years ago she quit driving. A couple of years later her legs started to hurt. A year after that, her feet would get so sore that she was told to see a specialist.
“It turned out there was blockage in my left leg,” Carlson said.
They tried balloons in her legs to open up the veins, but had to use grafts.
“I was pretty good after that,” she said.
Then she got pains in her right leg. On March 27, a doctor told Carlson that grafts would no longer help. They tried cadaver veins, but after four days, it was apparent they didn’t work either.
“He said he would have to take part of my leg,” Carlson said. “I was in such pain I wanted to get rid of it any way possible.”
Carlson’s right leg was amputated just below the knee. She was in the hospital around nine days and then went to ManorCare in Shawano for rehabilitation. Things seemed to be going OK, but after two weeks she was told she was going back to the doctor and hospital in Appleton.
“I had a very bad infection,” Carlson said.
She was so ill that Carlson doesn’t remember all that happened at that time. Her nephew, Tom, was called to ManorCare. He later told Carlson, “I thought you were doing to die.”
Surgeons again amputated a part of Carlson’s leg, halfway between her knee and thigh.
After five days she was back at ManorCare, and on July 4 she was back home.
Carlson is on her third prosthetic as her leg keeps changing. Eventually she will have a permanent prosthetic. She also is now on insulin.
Carlson gets help from family, friends and neighbors, but she can care for herself to a certain extent.
“Everything I do takes more than twice as long as before,“ she said.
Carlson said diabetes runs in her family, but what she went through probably could have been avoided.
“I had bad eating habits,” she said.
Also, when Carlson was younger she played softball on teams that would party with beer and soda after the games. She drank sodas because she had to work the next day, but soda has a lot of sugar.
People who have Type II diabetes need to keep their blood sugar numbers correct, eat properly and follow their doctor’s orders.
After seeing what Carlson went through, a couple of her friends have taken her advice and changed their lifestyles. One of them hired a personal trainer.
“They made up their minds that they didn’t want to go through what I did,” Carlson said. “If we don’t watch it, it’s going to get a lot worse.”
Nearly 30 million adults and children in the United Sates have diabetes, according to the American Diabetic Association. Another 86 million have pre-diabetes and are at risk of developing Type II diabetes.
The American Diabetic Association estimates the cost of diagnosed diabetes in the United States is $245 billion.
November is Diabetes Awareness Month.
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