Rosenau was at his aunt and uncle’s house in Vadnais Heights, MN when he suddenly collapsed in the shower and was unable to be roused. His aunt called the ambulance and he was taken to the nearest hospital where he was diagnosed with Type I diabetes. Since then Rosenau has struggled with getting the diabetes under control and his health has suffered greatly due to it.
Rosenau neglected his diabetes for about 10 years and now is paying the price. “I wish that I had taken my condition more seriously and had taken proper care of it to avoid the long-term complications that I now experience, and some that I still could.” Some of these long-term complications include nerve pain that can spread to the hands, kidney damage, diabetic retinopathy (blood vessels bleeding in the eyes), extremely prone to infection, etc. He has been diagnosed with severe neuropathy in both legs and feet. For the past two years Rosenau has been unable to work due to his constant pain in his feet which won’t allow him to stand for periods of more than 15 minutes at a time.
Due to this pain, Rosenau underwent nerve decompression surgery where the surgeon goes into the affected area (in this case the legs and feet) and open up the area surrounding the nerve where they’ve been constricted and cut off blood flow. After the surgery Rosenau contracted staph infection in the incision sites and had to be admitted to the hospital where he feared losing one or both of his feet. “I was so scared, and the pain was almost unbearable. I had an IV with dilaudid constantly and was still seeing stars from the pain.”
The surgery didn’t turn out to be as pain relieving as Rosenau had been promised by the surgeon. Still plagued with pain Rosenau decided that his life was not over and he needed to do something with it instead of sitting at home feeling worthless. Rosenau went back to school the next semester at Anoka-Ramsey Community College with the intent of getting his Associate’s Degree in Arts and transferring, he’s still undecided what his major will be.
Being 35-years-old, Rosenau is not the traditional student you see at Anoka-Ramsey. He also doesn’t get around in a typical way: Rosenau uses an electric power chair. This power chair is needed due to his pain and inability to walk long distances and stand for long periods. “I am so grateful for my chair; it brings a lot more freedom to my life.” Rosenau also says that he’s been somewhat challenged by the math and science classes because it’s been 15 years since he’s been in classes. “The Academic Support Center at the college has been wonderful. I think the tutors do an exceptional job helping students succeed.”
Rosenau has made full use of his career as a student; he was awarded work study and got a job at the library working the front desk for three semesters. Rosenau says his duties include: checking in/out books and periodicals, assisting with printing, computer assistance, fixes bindings, lots of organizational tasks, and last but not least, sipping coffee with his friend and supervisor, Martha Meulhauser.
To say the least, Rosenau has overcome many odds in the past couple years. Many may have just given up on school and a career with the pain and problems due to his diabetes, but Rosenau decided that was not going to be him. “It’s easy to be discouraged and feel depressed when you have chronic pain, but life requires adaptation as things are constantly changing. You need to do the best with what you’ve got.”
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