Today's Stats

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1047     Reading:  144

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1155     BP:  156/64     Pulse:  70

Breakfast:  1245  & Meds What she ate:  1 hard over egg, heavily peppered 2 slices thick cut sugar cured lean bacon 1 slice toasted oat bran 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
Niferex-150 [150 mg elemental iron]	1 hour before breakfast	to pull her out of what I hope is her temporarily severely anemic state
vitamin C/500 mg	with Niferex-150	helps the body metabolize iron
glipizide/10 mg	1 pill at least 1/2 hour pre-meal	standard pre-breakfast and pre-dinner med
Protonix/40 mg	1 pill at least 1/2 hour pre-meal	standard pre-breakfast med
Albuterol/2.0+IPRAO/.5	nebulized during meal preparation	standard breakfast, sometimes dinner med
lisinopril/5 mg	1 tab with meal	still on the higher dose because her blood pressure is still up from the antibiotics and her body's fight against E. Coli
metformin/500 mg	1/2 of 1000 mg tab with meal	blood sugar still up...ice cream last night, I'm sure; we'll probably be doing this for the next few days because of the effect of the antibiotic and because she'll be having ice cream again tonight, when we feed the oxygen guy
metoclopramide/5 mg	1/2 hour before meal	had a problem with nausea, this morning, so I gave this to her before breakfast to make sure she held everything down
Daily Senior Multivitamin	with breakfast	standard breakfast supplement
folic acid/400 mcg	with breakfast	standard breakfast supplement
vitamin E/400 IU	with meal	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

Conspicuously Absent Meds & Supplements
Med/Dose	Administration	Explanation
aspirin/81 mg	1 tab with breakfast	Has not been receiving this, per doctor's orders, since 6/18/04; he feels that, if she is bleeding internally intermittently, the aspirin, being a blood thinner, will increase the blood flow, and this is a higher risk to take, right now, than protecting her against strokes, including mini-strokes

    Although I was able to awaken her at a fairly decent time, after getting her up on end (which took awhile; I didn't use the "whup-up" method, today) and bathing, a wave of nausea hit just before she was about to eat. I gave her a dose of metoclopramide, which takes a half hour to take effect. That also held eating up.
    Her systolic blood pressure is still up a bit, and I'm taking advantage of the need for metformin to let her eat some sweet treats for a couple of days. The continued nausea worries me, a bit. I hope my sureness, yesterday, that the problem isn't that she's becoming more anemic is right. Needless to say, I'm not that sure anymore, even though the only thing that's causing me to doubt myself is the nausea. Everything else seems to indicate that her hemoglobin, at the very least, isn't dropping.
    Today, I'll be reinstating her evening dose of iron. If she's suffering a lowering of her hemoglobin, that should take care of it.

Lunch

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1645     Reading:  123

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1652     BP:  164/68     Pulse:  61

Lunch:  1700  & Meds What she ate:  sandwich w/ 4 oz tuna salad, 2 slices oat bran bread 3/4 cup 4% small curd cottage cheese 11.5 oz V-8 juice with 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Med/Dose	Administration	Explanation
metformin/500 mg	1/2 a 1000 mg tab with meal	standard lunch dose

    After taking her blood glucose and her blood pressure and noting that both indicated that the antibiotic was still working in her system, and/or her system was still fighting the E. Coli infection in her urinary tract, I was desperate to find the metoclopramide, but I'd misplaced it. I spent two hours looking for that little pill bottle. Finally, when I'd given up and decided to begin setting up the dishwasher for this evening, there it was, in one of the pockets in the utensil holder. She seemed to be okay, though, without it. It looked, anyway, as though she would be up for three meals, so I figured I'd wait until dinner to give it to her again, as a precaution against vomiting in her sleep.

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  2029     Reading:  130

Blood Pressure:     Time:  2030     BP:  145/66     Pulse:  60

Dinner:  2105  & Meds What she ate:  One of the stuffed pepper halves mentioned in yesterday's dinner menu 3/4 cup of frozen peas nuked with 3/8 cup chopped Bermuda onion and 1.5 strips of lean, fried, sugar cured bacon and 1.5 Tbl Girard's Greek Feta Dressing
Med/Dose	Administration	Explanation
36 mg Iron Protein Succinylate	2 18 mg tabs 1 hour before meal	to pull her out of what I hope is her temporarily severely anemic state
vitamin C/500 mg	with iron supplement	helps the body metabolize iron
glipizide/10 mg	1 pill at least 1/2 hour pre-meal	standard pre-breakfast and dinner pre-med
metformin/500 mg	1/2 a 1000 mg tab with meal	standard dinner med
lisinopril/2.5 mg	1/2 a 5 mg tab with meal	standard dinner med
metoclopramide/5 mg	1 tab 1/2 hour before meal	actually gave this to her a little late, about 10 minutes before she ate

    Her blood pressure seems to be coming back into line, although her blood sugar is still running a bit high, but I'm not going to increase her dosage of metformin, as I expect that within a day or two she'll be running low, if I do. It's better for her to run high than low, if she's going to be out of normal range.
    Considering that it's been a few days since she's been up enough to have two meals, she ate very well; loved the peas, in fact, although could only make it through about 2/3's of her stuffed pepper. That didn't bother me. She's eaten more, today, than she has in awhile.
    And, no, she declined the ice cream with raspberry sauce. Although some of you who know her well may be surprised, it's been a couple of years since she's been unable to resist sweets. It's true that in a grocery she can't take her eyes off them, and loves to read recipes featuring sugar, but, when push comes to shove and I offer her sweets, it is not unusual for her to decline the offer.
    I started cutting back her dose of lisinopril to 2.5 mg tonight. Her blood pressure seems to be settling down, which is a good sign. You'll also notice, she's back on her 2nd evening dose of iron, again. I think she needed it, frankly. It may be my imagination but, since I took her off it in deference to the Cipro XR, it has seemed that she's been a bit paler.