I was at the Diabetic Centre one late afternoon trying to solve some thin client issues when I heard an angry old man telling a diabetes nurse off.

“This is my problem, you don’t have to tell me what to do. I am fit and I have not other medical problems!”.

“Sir”, explained the nurse, “It is my responsibility to educate you on how to care for your feet.” “I don’t want to see your leg gets amputated”, she cried.

“What the hell you’re talking about…..”, he screamed at her.

I could see her eyes were turning red and I really felt sorry for her. As a nurse in Singapore, we are frequently have to due with many such unreasonable patients. They are not interested in taking care of their health and have no knowledge or interested to know about diabetes is all about. To them, as long as you do not take any sweet food, you are ok. We all know that this is not true at all!

“You must always treat wounds seriously. Never leave any wounds untreated.” The diabetic nurse raised her voice.

“For small wounds, clean the wound with clean water dry it with gauze and cover with a sterile gauze or plaster. Inspect the wound daily. If it does not improve in 2 days, see a doctor immediately. Do not treat the wound yourself with medications or ointments, if they are not recommended by a medical practitioner.

If you have an ulcer, dress the wound according to professionals’ recommendation. Seek help immediately.

If you are experiencing any pain on your legs, you may and if you have fever or chills.It could be signs of infection and should be treated immediately.” She stood up in front of that patient and told him everything that she was trained to do and fired at him; like she was firing a General Purpose Machine Gun. Then she walked quickly into the treatment room.

“You idiot. Get out of my sight! I want to see the medical social worker NOT you!”.

On average, we have about few hundreds of major lower limb amputations occur in Singapore in a year. Most of these procedures can be avoided if the patients know how to take proper care of their feet and seek medical assistance early. 

The need for an amputation was usually due to delay in treatment. In fact, not everyone with diabetes will need their legs to be amputated. It is your choice to keep your legs.

My observation while working in the wards: most patients with diabetes love to eat processed food such as white rice and white bread. I often told them to cut down these carbo but was told numerous times that these are the most accessible food that they can have readily to fight their hunger.

Well, it is a chicken and egg issue. If you do not cut down these carbo, your diabetes will not be able to keep under control. A balanced or healthy diet is very important for diabetic patients to fight diabetes too and not just medications.

Page Tags: diabetes, leg, amputate, nurse, scolding, idiot, medical social worker