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157 Neuropathy, diabetic. Degeneration of the nervous system caused by high blood glucose and other factors. In January 1994, Joel began to suffer pain in his right leg; it was so severe by late February that getting into, driving, and getting out of his car was nearly impossible. Fearing loss of his livelihood, he saw a neurologist. The diagnosis was neuropathy, “meaning my nervous system is degenerating in what, in the absence of Greek, they would be forced to describe as being in an aging diabetic kind of way.”75 He took medication to control the pain, but it had side effects, weakening his memory and constricting his ability to speak. Common words began to slip away from him, the names of simple things. 75 Letter, March 19, 1994. ...

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