General Chris updates

 Because I have been reading old posts lately, I have realized I really like having a journal that I can go back to to look at my life.  I've remembered so many things reading my old posts.  Anyway, I realized today that I haven't updated on my general life for awhile.  

Sometime in the beginning of the year, Chris mentioned that he had lost a bunch of weight.  I didn't really notice because I see him every day.  I think when you see someone everyday, you don't always notice changes that happen over time, and weight can be one of those things.  

August 2024

February 2025

He said that he hadn't drank in 2 or 3 months and had lost a bunch of weight.  I thought that was amazing

And then, not long after that (I don't remember the exact time frame) he started talking about how much his hip hurt.  He didn't know what was going on, so he went to the dr.  He told me that his dr. told him he had arthritis in his hip.  He said one night he woke up needing to go to the bathroom and he couldn't walk, he had to crawl to the bathroom.  I thought he was exaggerating because I've had arthritis in one hip for 8 years or so, and it's not horrible.  For me, it tends to be an ache in my leg, in fact, when I found out it was arthritis, I had gone in because I had a constant ache in my thigh that wouldn't go away.  I got it x-rayed and found out I have arthritis in my hip . . .

*okay, remember, how I said 4 paragraphs up, that I like having this journal so I can go back and look at what happens in my life???  Well, I went back to find if I posted about my arthritis diagnosis, and I read this post where it does talk about my arthritis diagnosis, but I also had been diagnosed with "pars defect."  I explained it in that post, but that explains A LOT about my recent low back pain that won't go away.*

Okay, back to Chris.

I had a hard time believing that his hip pain was as bad as he said it was because of arthritis.  And then I got a call from his dr's office in March.  The nurse was frustrated because they had been calling him for months and he wouldn't answer or call back and he had labs that had been ordered in January that he had not done . . . in March.  Anyway, I started getting after him for not contacting his dr or doing his labs.  After all this, I got into his hospital digital records and found that he had been diagnosed with osteonecrosis in his hip.  Basically his hip joint (the ball) is deteriorating.  At the level of decay he has, the only solution is a hip replacement.  Both hips have decay, however, at the moment only the right hip is serious.

In order to get hip surgery he had to do a bunch of steps, which includes getting an echocardiogram because of his heart problems that were discovered when he had a stroke in 2017.  He needs to quit all nicotine.  And he needs to get his A1C down . . . this was news to us.  Apparently when he FINALLY did his labs, it was discovered that his A1C level was a 12%. Normal is under 5.7%, they want him at  under 7.

So, remember he lost a bunch of weight in January and February?  Well, it wasn't him stopping alcohol, it was actually diabetes.  He wasn't even diagnosed with "pre-diabetes" or early stages, or anything, it's straight up diabetes and they put him on a shot right away.  

My brother-in-law has had diabetes for well over 10 years (I don't remember how long, maybe over 15 years) and has not been put on a shot because he has worked to control it.  (He doesn't and is very against going on the shots, and has a dr that has allowed him to continue to try to manage it with pills and diet, even though that hasn't worked well.)  Honestly, I have wondered if they put Chris on the shot (he takes Mounjaro) right away because of his hip.  Chris has actually been doing very, very well with his diet.  Apparently his insurance won't approve a nutritionist (they also only approved the Mounjaro to be refilled every 6 months, but only gives him 3 weeks worth of shots, they fought that and he is thankfully able to get it refilled every month), so he has done  A LOT  of online research trying to figure out his diet.  He succeeded and got his A1C done to 6.5 (or something), so his hip surgeon called to schedule the surgery about a month ago.

Do you know what that man did?? He told the dr that he needed a few more months to get enough PTO . . . I got after him for that.  I told him he didn't need to schedule it for right now, but get the surgery on the books, so when he is ready, he doesn't have to wait.  He still hasn't called.  🙄

Anyway, he is currently walking around with a cane and he says it doesn't hurt as bad as it did.  I wonder if he's just gotten used to the pain, well, and also, his dr has him on prescription strength ibuprofen.