By Caterina DeAngelis, as told to Stephanie Booth
Around the age of 40, Caterina DeAngelis was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. For three decades, she managed it easily and didn’t worry about heart issues. But in 2024, Caterina experienced a life-threatening heart event that made her more cautious about her health — and finding doctors she trusts.
Living With Diabetes
I was born in Italy, and through the years, I’ve owned restaurants and pizzerias throughout New Jersey. Now at 70, I’m retired, but I still like to cook. (The secret ingredient to my meatballs is the same as my grandma’s: pignoli nuts and raisins.)
If I'm home, I'm in the kitchen. I’m not happy with going out to eat. I like my food better. My husband was a cook, too, but seven months ago, he passed away.
After I was diagnosed with diabetes, I changed some things that I ate. Like, I'm a big bread eater, a big pizza eater, and I like chocolate. Sometimes I would ask myself, “Do I really need this?” and I’d put it down. But you know, we’re all human.
Still, I didn’t have problems managing my diabetes until the pandemic. When I got COVID, my blood sugar went up to 403. I had to spend 10 days in the hospital.
A Sudden Heart Event
I never had an issue with my heart. Then, in April 2024, my primary care doctor retired. I transferred to a new doctor who wanted me to have routine lab work.
Although I had no symptoms, he claimed that I had Lyme disease. It was almost like a truck hit me. I was so upset at the possibility of having this disease. He prescribed an antibiotic and told me I had to take it. Within days, I was out of breath, no strength, no nothing. I couldn't get from my bed to my front door.
By the time I was rushed to Jersey Shore University Medical Center near my home, doctors could only find a weak pulse in my foot. I was rushed into intensive care.
An infectious disease doctor tested me several times and confirmed there was no Lyme disease infection anywhere. But my heart had stopped working the way it should. In surgery, my cardiologist, Dr. Abbud, wound up putting three stents in my heart to open up my veins and putting in a pacemaker to regulate my heart’s rhythm.
The care that I got in the ICU, from the nurses, the doctors, the staff, was more than amazing. It was phenomenal. They saved my life.
I slowly started getting better after that.
Following Doctors’ Advice
Today, I’m careful about taking care of both my diabetes and my heart.
I have a monitor by my bedside that sends a daily report from my pacemaker to my cardiologist, who I see every three months. I also get a report every month on my phone saying that everything is OK.
At first, I was taking a diuretic every day. Now, because I sometimes get cramps in my legs, I take it three times a week. And I’m on medications to reduce blood clots.
When I went to the doctor a month ago, he told me that my cholesterol was perfect, but I still also take a little cholesterol pill.
To control my diabetes, my endocrinologist, Dr. Cheng, put me on a treatment that really helped my kidneys and blood sugar. I have a new treatment now that just came out that improves glycemic control.
I wear a continuous glucose monitor on my arm. It’s monitored on my phone, which helps me a lot. If my sugar is dropping or is too high, my phone will send out an alert.
And sometimes, not all the time, I also take a very low dose of another T2D treatment that I take before I eat, which can drop my sugar super low.
My A1c now is 6.4. When I was in the hospital, it was as high as 11.
Advice to My Younger Self — and Others
I’m in very good health right now, and I feel good. I play bingo, and Sunday is my church day. Once in a blue moon, I like to go to Atlantic City. This summer, I’m going on a cruise to the Bahamas with my sister.
Still, I tell my granddaughter all the time, “Watch what you eat. Take care now, while you're young.”
I now understand what is good for me and what’s not. For Lent, I do a little sacrifice and give up pasta, bread, and anything with flour. I like to explore the sugar-free section of the grocery store. I bake a phenomenal sponge cake now that’s all sugar-free.
Finding doctors whom you trust is also important. I look back at the primary care doctor who diagnosed me with Lyme disease when I didn’t have it. I’ve since changed to another doctor who listens to me.
Once you find the right doctor, definitely follow their orders. It's like when you go to school. If you like your teacher, you do well in that class. It's the same thing. If you like your doctor and have a good rapport with them, then you follow the doctor's orders, and you feel better.
Dr. Cheng, my endocrinologist, answers all my questions and listens to what my symptoms are. She was the same way with my husband, who also lived with diabetes, when we would go to our appointments together. Several members of my family are now also patients of Dr. Abbud and Dr. Cheng because I have so much faith in them.
Watch what you eat, follow your doctor's advice, have a good rapport with them — that’s the advice I would give my younger self and others who live with diabetes and heart disease.
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SOURCE:
Caterina DeAngelis, Howell, New Jersey.
