Today's Stats:

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1002     Reading:  103

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1052     BP:  103/51     Pulse:  74

Breakfast:  1115  & Meds What she ate:  1 hard over egg, heavily peppered 2 slices thick cut sugar cured lean bacon 1 slice toasted potato bread with 1 tbl Fleischmann's margarine 1/4 tsp cinnamon on bread 8 oz orange juice diluted w/8 oz water
Med/Dose	Administration	Explanation
glipizide/10 mg	1 pill at least 1/2 hour pre-meal	standard breakfast and dinner med
Albuterol/2.0+IPRAO/.5	nebulized during meal preparation	standard breakfast, sometimes dinner med
Protonix/40 mg	1 pill at least 1/2 hour pre-meal	standard morning med
Detrol/2 mg	1 tab with meal	standard breakfast and dinner med
metformin/500 mg	1/2 of 1000 mg tab with meal	Decided to try her on 500 mg, this morning, just to see if she might not need 637.5 mg in the morning. Her lunch reading will tell the tale. As well, she'll be up and around a bit before lunch, which should help keep her blood glucose under control
Iron Protein Succinylate/18mg from 360 mg Iron Protein Succinylate	with meal	standard breakfast, lunch and dinner med
Daily Senior Multivitamin	with breakfast	standard breakfast supplement
vitamin C 1000 mg	with breakfast	standard breakfast supplement
folic acid 400 mcg	with breakfast	standard breakfast supplement
garlic/1250 mg	with meal	standard breakfast supplement
1/4 cup pure cranberry juice w/12 oz water	after breakfast	standard after breakfast supplement

    No lisinopril this morning. I'll check her at lunch and see if that would be a good time to give it to her. The reason I try to give her at least one dose a day is that she is taking it to protect her kidneys, which are unsafe in a diabetic body. However, when her BP gets too low, I've been known to not give lisinopril to her at all. She was off it for 5 days prior to her blood transfusion. It could be that I'm beginning to discover a natural biotic pattern to her: Low BP in the morning which extends for awhile, even through the bathing, which, for her is vigorous, because it takes awhile to get going. I am once again using cigarettes as medicine in the morning, in an attempt to raise her blood pressure a bit. If she's not dipping back into more severe anemia, this should work. We'll see at lunch.
    In case you're wondering, no, she does not take her morning glipizide immediately after her blood glucose reading. I wait until she's in the bathroom, naked on the stool, ready for her bath. At that point, she is anywhere from 1/2 hour to 45 minutes from breakfast. That's when she takes her Protonix, as well. This morning she took her glipizide at 1040 and commenced eating breakfast at 1115. Not bad timing.
    As well, I haven't actually begun "testing" the healing that Mom's acupuncturist is attempting on Mom's reaction to metformin. I thought, since my hope is that this day will be a full day for Mom, with a possible short afternoon nap, three meals, and getting out at least once, possibly twice, and since my plan is Cobb Salad for dinner featuring roast beef, half a boiled egg and plenty of cheese plus all the veggies she's now eating, today would be a good day to begin informal testing.

Lunch

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1525     Reading:  68

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1527     BP:  107/48     Pulse:  65

Lunch:  1530  & Meds What she ate:  sandwich w/ 4 oz tuna salad, 2 slices potato bread approx. 3 oz MCS's bread and butter pickles 12 oz V-8 juice with 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Med/Dose	Administration	Explanation
metformin/425 mg	1/2 an 850 mg tab with meal	Decided to try cutting back on metformin, a little, in connection with my informal research on how well her body is using metformin, now
Iron Protein Succinylate/18mg from 360 mg Iron Protein Succinylate	with meal	standard breakfast, lunch and dinner med
Acetaminophen/500 mg	with meal	On our way home, she mentioned that the backs of her legs were bothering her; I wanted to make sure that she didn't wake up with such painful muscle pains from the unusual amount of exercise that she would be disinclined to exercise tomorrow.

    Yes, Mom had exactly the same foods for lunch today as she did yesterday. Her diastolic blood pressure is still pretty low, so I nixing the lisinopril.
    She's had an active day, so far. After breakfast we readied her and went to the grocery for the items I forgot yesterday. Although I brought along emergency supplies, Mom had a bowel non-accident earlier this morning. She used the walker into the grocery and decided to sit out my collection of goods, which was okay with me. She's still pretty shaky on her feet, even with the walker. At the lab, I insisted she "walker" herself inside, with me accompanying, and ask for her lab report herself. She did, with only slight cueing. Then, I decided to take her to the mall with me for a little more exercise. We parked a ways away from Barnes & Noble and walkered most of the way, until she was too tired to continue and decided to settle onto one of the outdoor benches while I checked for the books I needed. After I'd found and purchased the books, I fetched the car and drove close to where she was seated, so she didn't have so far to walk.
    She seemed to do well and liked being able to look around while using the walker. She probably walked about 3/8's of a mile in all which, at this point, is a lo-o-o-ng way for her. I think this is what helped lower her blood glucose, and, possibly, her blood pressure, as well. I'm not sure what to make of her blood pressure, it continues to be a mystery.

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  2015     Reading:  90

Blood Pressure:     Time:  2102     BP:  127/60     Pulse:  85

Dinner:  2103  & Meds What she ate:  Cobb Salad with: mixed greens (no iceberg); celery; radishes; grape tomatoes; green pepper; bermuda onion; grated carrot; grated Vermont white cheddar extra sharp; 1/2 boiled egg, diced; approx. 4 oz deli roast beef; broken Doritos Nachos cheese chips instead of croutons; homemade ranch dressing made with sour cream, buttermilk and significantly less mayonnaise than called for, about a quarter of a cup.
Med/Dose	Administration	Explanation
glipizide/10 mg	1 pill at least 1/2 hour pre-meal	standard breakfast and dinner med
metformin/500 mg	1/2 a 1000 mg tab with meal
lisinopril/2.5 mg	1/2 a 5 mg tab with meal	Her blood pressure was "high" enough to justify administering her at least once daily dose this evening. Looks like our schedule for lisinopril is working itself down to 2.5 mg once a day, in the evening. That's fine. Medications should be adjusted on an as needed basis.
Iron Protein Succinylate/18mg from 360 mg Iron Protein Succinylate	1 tab with meal	standard breakfast, lunch and dinner fare while she's anemic
Detrol/2mg	1 tab with meal	standard breakfast and dinner fare while we're trying, again, to see if this will work on her

    I am pleased to note that her intake of metformin (Glucophage) appears to be experiencing significant reduction. Today she's had 1425 mg total, and I think she'll be okay in the morning.