Oh gosh. Did that happen because of his diabetes? Or was it just a freak thing? The poor man. I pray he will heal completely.
It was a complication of the diabetes. He was arguing against that, initially, but it's not a coincidence.
Living with it for 37 years, he has (rightfully) become suspicious of non-specialist doctors chalking up every little thing that has ever gone wrong to diabetes. It's a lazy answer, and GP's often don't fully understand the disease, and are even less familiar with type I. They're also used to people who get type II when they are 50 years old and are overweight and resistant to and bad at dietary changes. He has lived this way since he is 10 years old. He has helped run a summer camp for kids with diabetes since he was a teenager. He has spoken at ADA functions as a young man. He manages diabetes like I've never seen anyone manage diabetes - it's an afterthought; it's routine. I have not had any adjustments to make because he won't let me - he doesn't want any special attention or treatment. He would initially cringe when I would tell a waiter at WDW he was diabetic. He didn't like to go around announcing it. When asked if we wanted to order dessert, I'd ask for a sugar-free option. If they didn't have any, I'd say in a lighthearted manner, "He's diabetic, and I'm diabetic sympathetic," so no dessert. I wanted to raise awareness of the need for at least one option at every restaurant everywhere. (The funny thing is, I gave up processed sugars years before we met. I had less sugar in my house than he did! He had a mentality of "I just need fewer than a few grams of sugar in a product - whether it be high fructose corn syrup or anything else." I could eat sugar, but limited myself to fruit, fruit-sweetened products, occasionally natural cane juice, etc. Caramelized onions are one of the best sweet tastes on the planet, IMO.)
One thing I've noticed, having friends with HIV, is the two diseases are eerily similar: whenever you give them an opportunity by running your resistance down, they take advantage and cause complications.
Just before this eye bleed, he had worked 18 days in a row for 12 to 14 hours a day at the Miami Open tennis tournament. Not enough rest, the physical stress of walking around a football stadium for so many hours (don't get me started on his perpetually injured feet) not eating properly, and his sugar was all over the place. Came home, and within a day or two he was practically blind. (I always expected a gradual decline in vision - but these things always happen suddenly.)
And get this: the Stadium used to lay off every employee (even managers like him - except upper management) in January when football was over and rehire them in July/August. He'd have to scramble for work during the break (which is why he left for a year to work at Margaritaville.) This year, that didn't happen. They had continuous events for the year (including this tennis tournament.) We thought he might finally get benefits in July. Instead, after the tennis tournament, while we were trying to find a doctor to see him quickly for the eye issue, the company called and said he had worked too many hours this year. If he worked 84 more hours between then (April) and July, they would have to make him full time with benefits. They so badly did not want to do that, that they were restricting him to working only one week in May and one week in June. (Mortgage be damned.)
In the "everything happens for a reason" basket, I think that gave him the opportunity to heal from this surgery without feeling like he was missing work. But it literally added insult to injury, and more stress, and made him feel worse. (Hence the job interview yesterday.)
He is asking for a promotion at the Stadium for a position that has recently opened up, which he knows he can do. The younger full time managers who are less experienced routinely ask him for help and direction, but the top brass does not seem to want to promote him, and we can't figure out why. The Stadium is going to be closed for a full two months after this week's event for work on the floors, so he'll be in limbo if they don't give him an answer this week. And he'll keep interviewing for other positions.
They asked him to work for the next few days. A friend and co-worker is coming by in about an hour to pick him up and take him in. I'm going to pick him up at noon and take him to the eye doctor for his follow-up visit, and then to his endocrinologist to reassess his insulin regimen. Then he is most likely going to work through the weekend.
