A legacy of diabetes and the skin of a leguaan

Goodness me, three of my four grandparents had diabetes.

 Pa and Nan van der Veen from my photo gallery in the hall.

The disease wreaked havoc for each of them.

I have a note written by my father that Nan and Pa would not be able to return to their house in Faraday Boulevard after the operation, mid 1969, so this would be when Nan has the final amputation due to the diabetes, she was then a double amputee.

The first operation was mid 1968.

The Messina 31 May 1968 letter, only a few months before her operation.

She mentions her legs and one can infer that she is already feeling the impact of the neuritis, '..so excuse mistakes as it (the typewriter) wobbles every now and then and I just want to be very careful that it does not fall over onto my two legs'




Instead of revisiting their individual suffering I want to share another delightful story from Nan's letter sent to Mom, particularly as there are no letters after the amputations except for her bequest list.

 .....he had used a leguaan skin for his neuritis, so now everyone in Messina is looking for a leguaan for Mrs. van der Veen, including the mine natives. I believe one crossed the main road to the Standard Bank the other day and the kids scattered far and wide. It was going to a good place neh"