Stainless Steel 16" Shoe Horn ~ Will It Work For You?

One of the unfortunate things about having diabetes is having trouble with your feet. It comes in many forms and people suffer in a variety of ways dealing with trouble concerning their feet. One of which is just reaching them without a lot of pain.

Smart Diabetes has produced a 16 inch Stainless Steel Long Handled Shoe Horn to help with this problem. So since my husband is diabetic I asked him to test it out and let you all know what he thinks about it.

Here's what he thought:

The most obvious potential benefit of this shoehorn is eliminating the need to bend far enough to reach the shoe with one's hand. I had to do that anyway, because I could not simply slide my foot into the shoe with the aid of the shoe horn. I had to reach and feel the position of the shoe horn since it felt like I was stepping on it. I also could not slide the shoe horn around to be sure the back of the shoe had not folded at some point. I would rather use a regular size shoe horn and feel where it is, since I had to reach down anyway.

He did try it several times and it just never seemed to work well for him. Part of that is because of the neuropathy he has in his feet. He just does not feel things in his feet the same way some one without diabetes feels. He was pretty disappointed, but will rely on the shoe horn from time to time anyway.

Just because it did not work well for my husband does not mean it won't work well for you!! It's well made and sturdy, so I think it would help a lot of people.

You can purchase your own 16 inch Stainless Steel Long Handled Shoe Horn HERE!

We received samples of the products for the purpose of review. All opinions expressed here are those of the author

Major Changes In My Life

Things are really changing in my life. Last week my husband lost most of the vision in his right eye. He has Proliferative Diabetic Retinopathy with a Vitreous Hemorrhage. Basically his eye is bleeding in front of the retina. This kind of thing happens with a lot of diabetics, but not usually so suddenly. It happened in a 12 hour period of time.

Last Friday he had his first appointment with a retina specialist and the doctor decided to treat his good eye first to prevent it from doing the same thing. He received an injection in the eye to lessen pressure and stop new blood vessels from forming. This week he will receive the same injection in his bad eye in hopes that it will help clear up the hemorrhage. After that he will be having laser surgery in both eyes over a period of several weeks. He may regain some vision in his eye, even vision as good as it was before the hemorrhage, but there is no guarantee. We are praying that full recovery will happen.

To say the least, things have changed in our home. He is able to function, but not as well with one eye being out of commission. He can't drive, but he can work as long as he is careful not to bump his head or do too much to strain his eyes, in other words little to no reading, little time on the computer and watching tv, etc... For a voracious reader and old movie buff, this is tough!!

For me it means driving him to places he needs to and wants to go on top of all the things I normally do. I'm not complaining, because I love helping him out, but have you ever thought about how much your spouse does and how much it would add to your life if you had to do it. He has always been the errand guy for us, making all the extra little trips here and there. He likes getting out seeing people, doing a little shopping, and finding deals. Now I get to do all that with him. Boy do I appreciate all he has done over the years!!

Anyway, things are really different in my life right now, and will be for the foreseeable future. I may have to drop a few things here and there and slow down on some other things, but in the long run, working on getting his vision back to as normal as we can is worth the extra time and effort!

Which brings me to how this is actually a blessing too! I know that sounds strange. How can your husband loosing the vision (even if it may not be permanent) be a blessing. Well it's simple, I have been reminded of his significance in my life. It's not that I forgot how important he is, but the thought of him in pain and hurting puts things in perspective.

I have been reminded of the special things he has done to help our family and other families over the years. He has made a lot of sacrifices for me, for our children, and the people he has ministered to and all without complaining (well most of the time, LOL). When I think of how much he has given up or done without out of love for us I know I am blessed!

I am reminded of how glad I am to still have him considering his diabetes almost killed him twice. It's a terrible disease and I can forget that when I get into a routine with life and busy with "stuff".

I am reminded that God knew exactly who I needed as my spouse and blessed me with an amazing man! Nope, he's not perfect, but he is exactly what I need in my life each day.

So life is different now and it's tough, but I know even with all the changes life is still very good and I thank God for my amazing husband!