Health Connections

 

There was a recent article posted on Fox News with the title “Why most people fall off a ‘health cliff’ at 75 — and 5 ways to avoid the drop” (https://www.foxnews.com/health/why-most-people-fall-off-health-cliff-75-ways-avoid-drop). This article was based on an episode of “60 Minutes.” Some of the key quotes were: “most people experience a steep decline in their 70s,” and “At 75, both men and women fall off a cliff.” Being on the far side of 75 myself, I can confirm that the number of medical issues increases at that time.

But I’ve also noted another phenomenon – that the issues we experience are not just individual and unrelated to each other. We tend to talk about them as separate issues – things like “I had a knee replacement”, or “I have diabetes.” But things are not that simple. I’d like to use this posting to relate three pairs of issues that I’m having, then concluding with a very involved situation I just went through.

 

Foot Amputation and Diabetes

I had been battling an issue with my feet for several years. The underlying cause was a malformation at the base of the big toe on my right foot. The pressure from walking on this resulted in the formation of a large callous. This eventually broke off, leaving a hole in my foot. After what seemed like continual issues, including getting neuropathy in the front part of both feet, I had multiple rounds of skin grafts, etc. But nothing seemed to work. I eventually got diabetes as well which added to the overall problem. It’s difficult to label things as “cause” or “effect”, but the chief take-away is that it often doesn’t matter.

In January, 2024, I went to the hospital with an apparent case of Covid – contracted by our son-in-law at his place of work and “shared” with the entire family. But as the on-call surgeon examined the wound on my foot, he made the determination that the extra level of infection in that part of my foot would be best “fixed” by removing first the offending toe, then on further examination that they amputate the front part of my foot as well.

 

Iron Levels and Gastrointestinal Issues

Since I post links to my blog on my Facebook page, that’s the source of most of my readers. Thus, it’s unusual that I get a response from someone outside that group of people. It’s even more unusual that I get a response from an organization. But that was the case not long ago when I got a response from just such a source. The following was posted in response to my blog on my medical conditions from last December

DCC Health ServicesOctober 23, 2025 at 1:07 PM

It’s really inspiring how you stay proactive about your health and keep such detailed notes. When you mentioned your liver specialist, it made me wonder about the difference between a hepatologist vs gastroenterologist — it’s something many people might overlook.

I’ve been seeing a gastroenterologist for the past few years.  This began when I had my first bout of a UTI (Urinary Tract Infection) and they detected the cause of that infection due to cirrhosis of my liver as well as a potential issue with my pancreas. The latter turned out to not be a major issue as the potential cancerous spot upon further examination turned out to not be cancerous. Instead I got put on a program of getting a CT scan every 6 months just to ensure that things did not progress in a “bad” way.

 

Diabetes and Cataracts

Sometimes the connection leads to positive results. One example from my life is that under Medicare, they will pay for an annual eye exam for anyone who is diabetic. Thus, when my annual exam detected the formation of cataracts, I quickly found myself at the office of an ophthalmologist and going through a few hours of intense testing. They quickly scheduled me for the removal of cataracts in both eyes, to be followed by monitoring for healing and then getting a new set of glasses.

Thus, in this case the connection had a positive outcome and resulted in fairly quick changes that may have taken much longer otherwise.

 

A “Perfect Storm”

Earlier this week I encountered a whole bunch of otherwise unrelated issues (primarily ones with medical implications) While earlier these may not have caused any problem, the body is not able to deal with so many of them as one ages. Here is list of all the issues I was dealing with (and all at the same time):

·       Vision restrictions – as I noted above, I was going through cataract surgery. After the second eye was done I was in a situation where my distance vision was severely compromised (this was probably the biggest issue listed here).After the first eye was done, I could still wear my prescription glasses and my eyes automatically adjusted to not using them for reading/middle distance, but continuing to rely on them for long distance. But after having surgery on the second eye that strategy did not work, so I had to get around with my compromised eyes. Once I get fitted for new lenses (next week!) this issue will be resolved.

·       Impact of diabetes medication – I began taking Mounjaro about six months ago. It takes a while to have an impact, but when I started my sugar levels were above 8 (the equivalent of 200+) – well into the “diabetic” range. But, true to expectations, they had been coming down and as of this hospital visit my sugar level was only 5.3 (the equivalent of 105) and below not only the “pre-diabetic” or “controlled” levels into the “non-diabetic” range. While this would be viewed as great news, it was also putting a strain on my body.

·       Iron levels – Just a week ago I had the third of my visits to the infusion center for additional iron (just think of a bag of fluid that looks like soy sauce). Again, preliminary results are positive, but another form of stress on my aging body.

·       Break in sternum – I never mentioned this to the hospital staff, but last week I cracked my sternum when trying to realign my water mug and pulling it toward me. While this is again not a serious issue, it adds to the overall stress as I try to avoid any additional movement that would either irritate it more or cause additional pain.

In addition to all these medical issues, I was having other stresses on my life. The Collegiate Outreach Board where I have served for about 20 years has shrunk and I am now the board chair, the secretary AND the treasurer. We had a meeting this past weekend where due to a number of circumstances I had to quickly put together an agenda as well as put together a couple of quarters of financial statements. I was aware that doing this while dealing with the above medical issues was a strain that I was not used to.

Finally, because of the changes introduced by the sale of our old house and moving in with our daughter and family there were a number of personal issues that impacted me.

On Sunday afternoon, the above set of issues pushed me “over the edge” – first becoming evident in the personal areas, then relatively quickly in the medical area. My interactions with my wife became increasingly improper as I found myself yelling and swearing at her (something that’s totally out of the norm for me and for which I later needed to apologize deeply. But then I began having medical complications as well where I could think but I couldn’t get the end of a sentence out and I was stumbling in my speech. Eventually my wife, to her credit, ended up calling an ambulance to take me to the ER as she couldn’t get me to agree that it was necessary.

The hospital staff, for whom I have the utmost respect, tried to find what was causing my condition. But they kept coming up negative on all their testing. (As my grandchildren later joked, they scanned my brain (an MRI) and couldn’t find anything!) I had a brain MRI, an EKG, an echo cardiogram, and innumerable personal tests – but everything was coming up normal! In the end they made a series of recommendation (which I have followed through on) – have my cardiologist look at the possibility of having me wear a cardiac monitor for a few weeks (which he declined as not being needed), making a slight reduction in the amount of insulin I take just so it doesn’t get too low (which my endocrinologist has agreed to), and having a follow-up visit with a neurologist in 4 weeks (which I already have scheduled). They also found evidence of a recent/newly started UTI, so they prescribed an antibiotic for a week. They also discontinued one of my medications since my results of the A1C show I no longer need it.

The bottom line is that while I did have some negative symptoms initially, there is no single cause evident, rather it’s the combination of all the little factors that pushed my body “over the edge”. Thus, there is no identifiable medical cause to be found – the solution is in the combination of factors. So, in the coming days I’ll focus on managing my body’s reaction to my need for new glasses, I’ll make the series of small changes that the doctors have recommended, and I’ll be grateful for a medical community that has expressed so much concern. But mostly I’ll try to find ways to repair the damage that I’ve done to the relationship with my wife who has had to  experience my inappropriate actions/words. Honey, I love you and appreciate all that you do!