Lost my sight, need some advise

[Natedog]

Originally Posted by RcBro

Just wanted to post up and say you sir are strong and brave for going through the difficulties you have faced this last year. I pray that your eye sight continues to come back and you stay strong during the process.

It sounds like your wife and kids are there with you, so don't forget that. Stay strong for them and they will stay strong for you. Keep up the fight and surround yourself with those things you can still enjoy. If I can ever be of some help, please let me know!

X2 and keep up the good fight, life ain't always easy. Forgot to say, look into natural and organic foods and possibly some supplements to help too. We've been drinking raw milk and it has many good health attributes.

http://sprouts.com/categories/milk-varieties

[JohnRobHolmes]

If you want to solder, you will need to set up a jig. This will allow you to position the job in the same way, so you only need to feel the jig and learn where the iron tip goes.

What is your main soldering tasks? Battery plugs and bullets on the motors? What type of iron do you use?

[Elmo]

Right now I use a 3rd hand jig to hold the wires while I solder. It has a tendency to move and shift, so I don't really trust it though. I am mainly soldering battery connections, trying to convert to one style of connector on every battery and vehicle that I have as well as convert a few of my rigs to use an external BEC. The iron I use is a 60w pencil iron that I got when I worked for RadioShack in 2006. It has served me well over the years. I have a few tips for it but I mainly use a flat tip for battery connectors and general work.

[JohnRobHolmes]

60w should be enough for most plugs unless you are soldering to larger than 13g wire.


A flat plate jig could be most versatile. It would have threaded holes and a few wingnuts to cinch down plates. One plate would hold your plug, another to hold the wire. Stainless would be nicest IMO, regular steel cheap, and alloy would be lightest. With regular rosin flux you wouldn't have to worry much about the solder sticking to the plates if they were kept oiled or waxed.

JRH

[Elmo]

I've got some scrap material in my workshop, i'll see if I can fab something up. My dad suggested modifying the third hand tool similar to what you are talking about so that instead of holding the wires in mid air, it pins them down to a flat surface. That is what gives me the most trouble is trying to locate the wires in three dimensional space instead of just lying flat.

[Savage03]

Originally Posted by Elmo

In the summer of 2012 I got some bad news from my retina specialist. After 20 years of living with type one diabetes, the blood vessels in my eye had constricted and thousands of new smaller vessels had formed to compensate. This caused severe damage to the retina and I had gone from living a normal life of riding my sportbike and driving every day to being 100% blind in just two months. The specialist scheduled two laser treatments to burn off the extra blood vessels and then two retinopathy surgeries to remove the dead tissue. The doctor is the best on the east coast (actually the best on earth in my opinion) and did not give my an estimate of how much if any of my sight would return. I underwent the first laser treatment which was terrifying but relatively painless, the worst of which was the 22g needle inserting into the eye to numb it. The actual procedure only took about 30 minutes and was done using a fifteen milliwatt laser. The doctor managed to get 1500 individual blood vessels with the first treatment, which was on my right eye. With that behind me, the first surgery was next. Being a diabetic complicated things a lot. I was in surgery for a total of four hours and according to my wife things were touch and go a few times with my blood sugar going up and down. The doctor got 1400 vessels with the second laser treatment in the left eye during surgery as well. The next morning I was in a panic. My right eye was glued shut, my left eye taped over and I had no clue where I was. I knew I was okay and that my wife was there but beyond that I had no bearings on my surrounding. The weeks after surgery were rough, I couldn't see, I was disoriented from the medication, I couldn't sleep lying down, and worst of all I couldn't see to work on my RC's or my bike. The depression of knowing that I would never ride my sportbike again, or race my karts or quads, or drive, or even watch tv was bad. The worst part of the whole process was not knowing if I would be able to see my wife or any of my family anymore. I decided to not let that stop me from enjoying my life though. The second surgery was worse that the first, my blood sugar kept crashing under anesthesia and they were afraid that I was not going to make it through the surgery. When I woke up my sugar had stabilized and I was allowed to go home. That was August of 2012. By May 2013 I had about 5% of my sight in my right eye back, enough to see basic shapes and light but no color or definition. Now, December 2013 I have about 10% in my right eye but still nothing in the left. I was able to start working on my trucks again over the summer and I even posted a thread about some issues I was having (with the help of my wife, of course) and I discovered that my crawler was large enough and slow enough for my eye to focus on and follow. This was a huge burden off of me since it meant that I didn't have to abandon the hobby I love.

I am looking for some support. If there are any members on here that are visually impaired and could offer some advise I would greatly appreciate it. If there are any questions I can answer for you just let me know. I know some of the things I have been told have helped me though the process of losing my sight and if anyone is going through the same thing, I would love to pass the help along. Thanks guys and gals for all of the help that you have provided since I joined nearly a decade ago.

Type 1 myself since birth. I have had all this done about 20 years ago but it wasnt caught early enough to keep most of my vision. The laser treatment itself will take some vision, it scars tissue so those areas loose the vision. My case it was all mostly off to the side(peripheral) so I have pretty much no vision off to the sides, rather fun when people come up on your side and you dont see them and scares the crap out of you .
LIke you and others said that needle in the eye part ugh!! I had it dont twice in one eye and once in other.

Scary stuff tho, for any others not having this happen to them yet if you ever notice black cloud like stuff in your vision you drop everything and haul ass to a eye Dr... I had warning this was happening but ignored it to long and wok up one day and couldnt see anything, the blood vessels behind the eye got weak and broke off allowing blood into the jelly your eye ball sits in so the blood looks black and like clouds in your vision(its called floaters).
Once after a really long time the blood absorbs you can start seeing a little better but I still have them now after 20 years, glasses dont help either.

When it first happens no one that is not diabetic and has these side effects happen them can understand what it does to your mood, general outlook on things...other words depression hits big time. I pretty much stopped anything I was doing and figured life was done and over with I was going blind...sold off hobbies, stopped driving(still could if I wanted to) and pretty miserable to be around. Friends I had at the time bailed didnt want any part of a damaged person so not really friends in my book...which just to say is a crrappy part of this and hopefully none of you had to deal with people that were friends to you only to disappear never to be heard from cause they didnt want to hang with a disabled person. Dealt with this all the time, again people dont stop to think just what your dealing with. NOthing to do with life aint easy and so on, serious medical condition that will mess you up very quickly...

Just keep them eye appts. I have to go in every 3 months for tests all the time, then to add insult to injury last year they find I had the first stages of glacoma At 43 I tend to dread getting older now, older you get more likely more happens it seems.
I had to give up the fast rc's to just couldnt track them fast enough and my depth perception is off so I think I was clearing something and I wasnt so tried the crawling side of the hobby. Been ok but hardly ever run it, cant seem to find right guys to hang with.

Hope the rest of you guys with this problem can keep a good handle on it, those sugars are the hardest obstacle for me, keep it inline and problems wont get worse...hopefully

[Elmo]

Savage03, I'm glad you posted your story. I hate that those things have happened to you, but I also am glad that I have others who know what I'm going through. Like you, my "friends" bailed as soon as I couldn't see any more. It really doesn't bother me too bad though; if they are that willing to distance themselves from me, I don't need them. Knowing that there are so many people on here who don't judge me for what I can't do but are willing to listen and can appreciate what I can do is a really important part of my life now. I too have given up the fast RC's that I had built over the years. I would hate to see a 4s lipo powered brushless 2wd stampede get away from me at 70+. Its hard to tell what damage that would do... I am trying to get the blood sugars back under control. I am looking to get back on an insulin pump this year. I have insurance now and that should help tremendously with the cost. What I wouldn't give to be able to crack the throttle on my sportbike again or drive, or even just see my wife clearly. As much of a toll as this has been on me, I know that it has been 10,000x worse for her having to deal with watching me go through this and the funk that I get into ever so often because of the limited vision. She's been awesome though, she has encouraged me at every point (except when I emailed David Freiburger about the blind speed record idea, she thinks that is a little too dangerous) and she is still proud of me even though I am sometimes not so proud of myself. If anyone else is going through a time like this or any other difficult situation, my best advice is to talk to others about it instead of bottling it up. Doing so has made a world of difference for me, and I can't that you all enough for that.

[Savage03]

Get on the pump man, been on one for over 10 years now. Their getting pretty dam close to a real pancreas, trying to get them to monitor sugars and adjust for you if its low or high, thats pretty awesome.

Much as I hate CA and seriously feel like going elsewhere to find better people(tried alot and cant find the right people) I have one of the best hospitals around (UC Davis) they are always up on the new stuff and testing so dont want to leave that or my Dr.s....
LIke was saying people just cant understand unless they are a diabetic, those that arent you complain about how chicks have mood swings well hang with a diabetic awhile and see what mood swings are all about
Just not eating for awhile will throw you off alot, I have said stuff that I dont even recall saying or after I eat and get all normal I recall what I did and im like dam I said that? I have been brutal and its like a light switch after get some food in you or get the sugar normal... NOt that we mean to its just the body screwing with your brain I guess, weird situation.

Last 18 years I shut down and just sat in the house rotting away and couple years ago said ok enough and tried to get out and meet people but managed to fail miserably so kinda back to hanging on the pc more, seem to find better folks on the net go figure
Dr also told me depression goes with diabetics, kinda hard to accept but should talk with your Dr's about all these things that go with diabetes cause I have been told alot of things, was like dam anything else we have to worry about? haha
One last thing, if you have good lady that deals with it along your side count yourself lucky as hell, my gf of 25 years finally decides she dont wanna deal with it anymore and wants to move on so not a easy thing to deal with....

[wings_of_fire]

Loosing weak friends in your life is a good thing, because you won't be wasting your time and energy with them. With the mechanically easy world around us, people in general tend to forget what life is all about and at every step they tend to take others for granted.

I do understand what you guys are going through. I feel terrible and angry about insulin pump prices. Even though the human society till date has made huge technological progresses, its application is locked by money. Humans can manufacture multi core processors for 100 bucks and they can't get a simple insulin pump under or close to that price!!

You both are not the only ones suffering and there are many more people around the globe who are silently going through this endeavour. There needs to be made a collective effort in the right direction so that future generations and people alive do not suffer from diabetes.

Elmo, I was talking about designing an insulin pump earlier and here is a part of my idea. You had encountered a problematic pump where 300 unit of fast acting insulin was injected into your body and due to which your problems multiplied. To eliminate this issue of extra insulin being injected into ones body, I have designed a cartridge system of insulin. Just like you load a gun with a bullet, in the same way you would load the insulin pump with a cartridge containing insulin. The amount of insulin in a single cartridge will never be more than a safe amount for the particular user. So keeping that as the first law, even if the pump had to fail and would inject a whole cartridge of insulin into ones body, still it would do no harm. Each insulin pump would be loaded with 5 different cartridges of the same capacity. Each cartridge will have a mechanical valve which can be actuated manually only. Out of the 5 valves for the 5 cartridges, only 1 valve can be open at any given time. If two valves are open at the same time, the pump won't pump insulin at all. This is only a part of the design idea I am working on. There will be more constraints in it to make it even more safe for the user.

Designing and building an insulin pump will need a through knowledge of optics and lens manufacturing. I am willing to do that and I am currently studying the subject of optics and lens manufacturing. I intend to open a blog as well as start a petition to support and help the people suffering diabetes. My blog will contain my insulin pump design which will be made open source. There is a lot that I will do and this is only a first step in that direction.

Elmo and Savage03, both of your wives are respectable women

[Savage03]

Wow 300 units injected? Thats alot, I can do upwards of 150 if I goto fast food and with my carb count ratio I take alot.
What pump was this?
I use animas and it has many fail safes, one being it wont let you take to much at once.

PUmps are super over priced, mine for instance runs $6000 and the supplies is where they get you well those that pay out of pocket my stuff is covered but diabetic stuff on a monthly cost is huge.
I am considering a new pump now since I can get a new one every 5 years, looking at a new company that has one thats more iphone like, all touch screen but the guy that designed has vowed to make one that one day will perform like a pancreas...his reason? has a son with diabetes.
So if I go with this one if it helps or interests you I could donate my current one, look up animas. If your insurance wont cover it, just a thought

[wings_of_fire]

Originally Posted by Savage03

the guy that designed has vowed to make one that one day will perform like a pancreas...his reason? has a son with diabetes.

Who is that guy? That would solve a lot of issues.

[Elmo]

The pump that failed me was a Disetronic H-Tron Plus. It failed in open operation mode and delivered the entire vial in one shot. That pump had a lot of problems in the software and hardware that led to it being removed from the market. The second pump I had was a Deltec Cosmo that died a year after its usable life cycle had ended. It failed in closed operation mode which was good since I didn't have to worry about going too low and just went back on shots. The recommended life cycle of the pumps that I have researched is 5 years which makes sense that you are eligible for a new one at that interval.

Wings Of Fire, I like your idea for the canister chamber style. The only concern I would have is for patients who use larger carb correction ratios for meal time boluses. If the correction needed is larger than what one canister can deliver, would the unit split the dose across more than one canister without sensing an error and cancelling the delivery? Another issue would be the limited amount of insulin storage on board the unit, which isn't a terribly big deal, more of an inconvenience having to refill or replace the five canisters so often. I was on a fairly low basil rate, a 1 unit per 10 carb bolus and 1 unit per 25 over 100mg/dL glucose correction and 315 units lasted me about 72 hours. How much volume would your design carry? I am very interested in the concept. Another fail safe that I have seen ties into the continuous glucose monitoring function of the pump which overrides insulin delivery if the glucose falls below a certain point. If your unit fails (not saying that it will, but just as a fail safe) have it either tie into the monitoring function to prevent insulin deliver or fail in closed operation mode. Higher blood glucose is easier to deal with (mine was 1250 when I was diagnose, after a glucose tolerance test, and I was still conscious) but lower blood glucose in the 20's and 30's is more difficult to handle without losing consciousness. Let me know what you think.

[wings_of_fire]

The points you have stated are absolutely important.

My idea was that when one canister is emptied the pump will sound a buzzer in order to tell the owner to actuate the valve for the next canister. But there can be an issue if the owner is asleep or may be unable to turn the valve due to some other reason. i will have to think over this.

Another issue is if the pump is under the clothes, it would be inconvenient to actuate it every time. To eliminate this issue, I am planning to extend a cable from the pump which actuates the valves or the valves get electronically operated, provided the owner pushes an activating button after the buzzer.

For canister refilling, a small external machine will be used where one only needs to load the canisters in it and they will automatically get filled with insulin. One can carry the required amount of canisters for the day with him/her and refill them back home at the end of the day or according to convenience. Regarding refilling, I need to develop a system that will not get any kind of air pockets into the insulin. And the same for the cannula as well. When you used your pump, how much insulin was in the cannula? and was it factored in by the pump? What about air getting trapped inside the pump..did that happen?

Regarding canister volume I have designed it to be 1ml or 1cc (100 units). Since at this time, I am unaware of the max volume of insulin needed for a person in a single shot I haven't finalized the size of the canister. It can be changed according to general requirement. Keeping the canister volume under a safe limit considering the variable requirement according to each person is complicated.

Regarding a CGM, I have contacted our National chemical laboratory to give me direction. How often did you have to replace the CGM sensor under the skin? Did you do it or a doctor was needed to do it each time? Yesterday I was wondering if blood glucose could be monitored using radio waves or some wireless means.. just a though, but that would be a killer innovation.

[Elmo]

For actualing the valves, why not have the entire mechanism be contained inside the unit and be controlled wirelessly through Bluetooth? Either through a smartphone app, or a wristwatch type device? That would eliminate the need for external cables or mechanical devices that could be a source of problems (fewer moving parts). When I had my pump about a decade ago, the canula had to be bled, much like a brake line on a car, where insulin was fed from the pump into the infusion set until all air pockets were removed. This usually took about 40 units of insulin which you then couldn't inject, so there was quite a bit of waste. Unfortunately I can't see any way around this. As for the CGM, my unit predated this technology. I have wondered if there is a way to check glucose levels electronically by checking the electrical resistance of the blood using an imperceptible electrical current. This would only work if the blood has a different resistance value at different glucose levels. Also this would have to be calibrated to each patient.

[wings_of_fire]

For controlling the valve mechanism using wireless technology, there are issues like hacking, virus problems that need to be kept in mind. I will look into it, how it can be done with embedded technology and mechanically fail safe design.

[Elmo]

I agree. If there could be a secure link between the device and the application or watch, that would eliminate any issues. I see pumps as being the closest thing to a cure that diabetics will see (at least in our lifetime) or until T-Cell research progresses. If science could find a way to transplant healthy T-Cells from a matching donor into a diabetic patient (such as from a parent for instance), the theory is that it would jump-start the pancreatic function once again. I am hopeful that this technology can be researched and implemented to wipe diabetes off the face of the earth.

[Elmo]

I got a huge box this weekend from COWRC, and inside was this behemoth of a work mat. This mat will cover the new bench I have that allows me to sit down to work and have everything I need at arms length. My first bench was made by Kobalt and was much taller and you have to stand and it was also quite narrow. The new bench is 3' deep and 8' long. I waited to post this up until I used the mat a little so that I could see how much different it is than my other mat. My first COWRC mat is the standard size and is great for the Kobalt bench or for use in the house, while this new mat is 30" by 48" and doesn't have the border on the edge like my small mat does. The magnetic strength is great on both mats and they are both easy for me to see. The parts stand out well against the white background. I really like the compartments; they make it easy for me to feel where the parts and tools are without having to worry about things rolling away. I love these mats! It is so nice to be able to work on my rigs again, even if it is just basic maintenance and bolt ons. These mats have allowed me to get back into my shop and do something that I wasn't sure I'd ever do again. If you don't already have one or more of these mats, I highly suggest that you open a new browser window and go straight to COWRC's website and order one. I can't thank Heath enough for the products that he makes and the support that he gives the hobby. Its people like him that make this the best hobby on earth!



This was taken in my spare bedroom, not my shop. My dad and I are working on the bench this coming weekend so hopefully the new mat will find its home shortly after that.

[RiceBurner]

NICE!

[Elmo]

My wife helped me to get some of the material cut for the new work surface yesterday. Got all of the support legs done and today we are going to work on some of the cross braces and the top. I am hoping to have it at least built by tonight, but I will have to paint the work surface once everything is done. I cant wait to have a work space that is not cramped and cluttered and that I can actually keep semi-organized. I had a fun time cutting all of the supports, doing hand over hand with my wife to cut the pieces. She's pretty handy with a hand saw, too, all of the cuts were the same length and square. She would mark the cut line and score it, then place the blade on the score line to let me feel where the cut needed to be. Thankfully I have good muscle memory and could follow the line without much assistance, but when needed she would guide me back on track. Everything on the frame so far is square and level, so the work top should sit very true once its installed. I will try to post up some pics tonight once its done.

[The Cow]

OHHH-YEAH! USe her well my friend!

Heath

Originally Posted by Elmo

I got a huge box this weekend from COWRC, and inside was this behemoth of a work mat. This mat will cover the new bench I have that allows me to sit down to work and have everything I need at arms length. My first bench was made by Kobalt and was much taller and you have to stand and it was also quite narrow. The new bench is 3' deep and 8' long. I waited to post this up until I used the mat a little so that I could see how much different it is than my other mat. My first COWRC mat is the standard size and is great for the Kobalt bench or for use in the house, while this new mat is 30" by 48" and doesn't have the border on the edge like my small mat does. The magnetic strength is great on both mats and they are both easy for me to see. The parts stand out well against the white background. I really like the compartments; they make it easy for me to feel where the parts and tools are without having to worry about things rolling away. I love these mats! It is so nice to be able to work on my rigs again, even if it is just basic maintenance and bolt ons. These mats have allowed me to get back into my shop and do something that I wasn't sure I'd ever do again. If you don't already have one or more of these mats, I highly suggest that you open a new browser window and go straight to COWRC's website and order one. I can't thank Heath enough for the products that he makes and the support that he gives the hobby. Its people like him that make this the best hobby on earth!



This was taken in my spare bedroom, not my shop. My dad and I are working on the bench this coming weekend so hopefully the new mat will find its home shortly after that.