Diabetes
Fred E.
Unusual story
Fred Eichhorn's Dad, also Fred, was diabetic since 1980. In 1999, he was taking 198 units of insulin daily and had the similar neuropathy and other diabetic conditions. In January 1999, he started taking dosage level 2 of the vitamins from the store in effort to help reduce his requirement of insulin. On Friday, August 13, 1999, he was taking 30 units of insulin daily. On this day, being that his neuropathy was improving, he decided to cut a large branch that was overhanging the house. Up went the ladder and a brand new chain on the 16" gas powered chain saw. Because he did not cut the "V" notch on the bottom of the branch, when he cut ¾ of the way through, the branch's weight caused it to fall and swing down but not break. Instead, it swung in a radius, knocked him off the ladder as it knocked the ladder down. As the chain saw came down, a branch went into the throttle and revved it as it came across his face, cheek bone to cheek bone, and right through his nose. If it were a half inch higher up, it would have gone through his eyes and killed him, it was that close. Obviously, he was rushed to the hospital.
After surgery, the doctor stated that because Fred was a severe diabetic, he was going to have a hard time healing, if he healed at all. My mother, Rose, told the doctors about all the vitamins he was taking and that he was taking only 30 units instead of 198 units daily. The doctor got angry and said that diabetics never reverse and that he should immediately increase back to 198 units. When my mom mentioned that he was taking 4,800 units of vitamin E, the surgeon went nuts, saying that being a diabetic, he will not heal to begin with and that with all that vitamin E, he will bleed to death and that he should stop taking that immediately.
The surgeon went on to say that Fred took 57 stitches, because the blade cut was 3/8" wide, he was going to require plastic surgery in 8 weeks, meanwhile, his face around his eyes will be extremely swollen and black & blue, The surgeon handed Rose a bottle of morphine and said, "don't argue with him, give him as much as he wants because he will be in such incredible pain because it cut through his nerves, and he will heal very slowly because of his diabetic history." He then commented that with all that vitamin E in his system, he will most likely be a terrible bleeder, and combined with diabetes, he will probably take 3 - 4 times longer to heal.
During the stay at the hospital, some people realized the day and date and started calling him "Freddie Kruger", so at least there was humor in the air.
Fred & Rose left the hospital, got home about 11PM Friday night. Saturday morning, Rose woke up only to find that Fred was gone, she looked around, found him in the kitchen doing a crossword puzzle, something he always loves to do. "Are you alright??", she questioned. He said. "yup, no problem, no pain at all, actually." Rose asked, "How much morphine did you take??" He said, "NONE." She then looked at him closely, no swelling at all, no black and blue anywhere, no discoloration of any kind, and no red marks around the stitches. At 10 PM, the doctor called to see how Fred was doing. Rose told him the results, the doctor was there with a camera in a half hour to take pictures, he said it was unbelievable.
On Monday, he returned to the doctor's office, the doctor removed 3 stitches and there was no bleeding. On Wednesday, all but two stitches were removed, which were removed a few days after.
Plastic surgery was never necessary, healing was fast, there is no scaring at all, there is no indication that he was ever hurt or even cut. The only evidence of the injury is the slightly lighter pigment in two areas, undetectable by most people. His sinuses and nose area is perfect with no imperfections.
This accident disproved the theory of vitamin E causing bleeding, and he did not have the healing problems that diabetics tend to have. Today, he never forgets his vitamins and he no longer uses insulin because his sugar levels are great and in normal range. He only takes a little insulin if he has a rise due to too many sweets (he still has a sweet tooth).