Today's Stats:
Breakfast
BREAKFAST:
Obviously, Mom's medication schedule has changed, and will change once more, but, before I address this, in a separate paragraph, I want to note something about her breakfast medication. Because her systolic was so high, I decided to give her a full tab of lisinopril, especially since I'd forgotten to take her blood pressure last night, so I purposely did not give her any lisinopril with dinner. As you may have noticed in the above lunch stats, this was probably a mistake, as her blood pressure came in pretty low. So, I'll not give her any lisinopril this evening, unless her blood pressure is high, again. If it is, I'll only give her half a tab, then continue with 1/2 tab morning and night, as usual, unless her blood pressure drops significantly.
You'll notice that the breathing treatments and metformin are no longer on her schedule. She has been taken off both these: the second because four of her consulting doctors "don't like metformin for elderly patients", especially if the patient's diabetes is a result of old age rather than life style and hasn't been going on for very long, which is the case with Mom's; the first because, since she is no longer smoking and her lung functions have improved dramatically, she no longer needs this treatment. As a side note, her oxygen consumption has also been dramatically reduced. The cranberry juice is going to be transferred to dinner, in order to spread fluids out and make sure I don't over hydrate her, again. I also decided, after breakfast, to move the natural anti-coagulants, garlic and vitamin E, to dinner, as, she should be receiving 162 mg aspirin but I only gave her half that, this morning, because of the other anti-coagulants. With the Protonix, I think she can handle a double dose of buffered, 81 mg aspirin. As well, one of her consulting neurologists suggested that I administer the glipizide about half way through her meal. I'm going to wait to see how her blood sugar settles, though. He suggested this because he thought that her blood sugar might drop dangerously low in the half hour previous to a meal. However, as her blood sugar readings are showing, today, this probably won't happen. I'll keep this technique in mind, though, as the days peel off the calendar and her blood sugar readings continue to provide me with information. I will also be actively pursuing information on nopal water and 80% aloe vera gel juice (without added sugar, this time) this week and trying those.
Lunch
I know, her blood sugar was pretty high. We went to Costco, today. She was wandering around with her walker while I checked out calcium/vitamin D products and when I caught up with her, she had settled herself beside the "White Cheddar Cheetos" sample table, was throwing away one sample cup of 3 Cheetos and starting on another. I asked her how many she'd had and she couldn't remember. Neither could the sample distributor. The distributor said, "That's all right, I don't mind." But, obviously, her blood sugar did.
Her blood pressure was pretty low, as well, probably from the full 5 mg dose of lisinopril I gave her this morning. So, I won't be doing that, again.
I also forgot to give her vitamin C with her iron, but I purposely gave it to her with her meal, rather than before. I'm going to see how this works out. The results will tell in her CBC. This particular form of iron carries specific instructions on the bottle that it works better with food, so, we'll try that, for awhile.
A Not So Miscellaneous Stat
This stat leads a discussion about how and why I will (and will not) be administering insulin to my mother.
Yesterday, as the nurse at the SNF explained to me the schedule and technique for administering insulin (by injection) to my mother, she volunteered a piece of information that has intrigued me, since: "It'll take a couple of hours for her blood glucose to drop back to normal after you inject insulin." Although I didn't say anything, my mind responded thus, "My mother's blood sugar drops back to normal on its own in a couple of hours, as long as she doesn't load her system with glucose. What's the point of giving her insulin?"
I had already decided to follow the recommendation of the neurologists that I "not worry" (translated, "not administer anything to artificially induce blood glucose reduction") until she tested in over 200, rather than the SNF's recommendation of starting to inject insulin in regulated doses at 151. However, at the time I decided this, I had no idea how or how quickly insulin injections work. Today, incidentally, gave me a chance to test my observations and thoughts out, when she came in at 173 just before lunch. I did not administer insulin. I did not change any of the planned foods for lunch. I just sat back and observed.
When Mom awoke from her nap it occurred to me to take her blood sugar, just to see if it was still flying above the clouds. Sure enough, she was back to a perfectly normal reading, recorded above. Without insulin. Without anything administered at lunch, except cinnamon, to encourage her blood glucose to drop. And, I might add, after having consumed a soup with added teriyaki flavored beef jerky. If any of you are cooks, you know that one of the key ingredients that makes teriyaki teriyaki is sugar.
So, I won't be administering insulin below 200, that's for sure. I may not even administer it in a certain range above 200, depending on what else I discover about her recovery level. As well, with a variety of other techniques, I may be able to keep her blood glucose from ever shooting above 200, except, perhaps on the isolated sugary holiday in which I simply can't monitor her sugar intake at someone else's house.
Dinner
Her blood pressure recovered from my judicious but unnecessary overdose of lisinopril this morning, so I gave her another 2.5 mg tonight. As usual, she ate all her dinner, although, as it always does with Cobb Salad, it took her a good hour to get through it. I think she likes to take a long time with Cobb Salad, in order to savor it. It is the only dinner, over the last few months, of which she consumed all without being cajoled. Since her appetite has returned, though, to its former state of a few months ago, I expect that getting her to eat everything before her (and sometimes asking for seconds), will no longer be a problem.
You'll notice I took her blood glucose again just prior to dinner, even though I'd taken it a few hours previous. I did this because, after she awoke from her nap she decided she wanted some popcorn, which I prepared soon after taking her between-lunch-and-dinner blood glucose reading. I never refuse her popcorn, as it has many properties that allow her body to work to maximum effect. Thus, she and I split a 3.5 oz bag of generic microwave "lite" butter-flavored popcorn. I gave her no medication with it. As you can see, her blood sugar remained within acceptable levels throughout the evening.
|
Blood Glucose: Time: 0933 Reading: 116 |
Blood Pressure: Time: 1016 BP: 151/74 Pulse: 60 |
BREAKFAST:
|
Breakfast: 1030 & Meds What she ate: 1 hard over egg, heavily peppered 1 6 oz slice sugar cured ham steak 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 |
| lisinopril/5 mg | 1 tab with meal | gave her a full tab because of high systolic and slightly higher than normal diastolic readings |
| 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 |
Obviously, Mom's medication schedule has changed, and will change once more, but, before I address this, in a separate paragraph, I want to note something about her breakfast medication. Because her systolic was so high, I decided to give her a full tab of lisinopril, especially since I'd forgotten to take her blood pressure last night, so I purposely did not give her any lisinopril with dinner. As you may have noticed in the above lunch stats, this was probably a mistake, as her blood pressure came in pretty low. So, I'll not give her any lisinopril this evening, unless her blood pressure is high, again. If it is, I'll only give her half a tab, then continue with 1/2 tab morning and night, as usual, unless her blood pressure drops significantly.
You'll notice that the breathing treatments and metformin are no longer on her schedule. She has been taken off both these: the second because four of her consulting doctors "don't like metformin for elderly patients", especially if the patient's diabetes is a result of old age rather than life style and hasn't been going on for very long, which is the case with Mom's; the first because, since she is no longer smoking and her lung functions have improved dramatically, she no longer needs this treatment. As a side note, her oxygen consumption has also been dramatically reduced. The cranberry juice is going to be transferred to dinner, in order to spread fluids out and make sure I don't over hydrate her, again. I also decided, after breakfast, to move the natural anti-coagulants, garlic and vitamin E, to dinner, as, she should be receiving 162 mg aspirin but I only gave her half that, this morning, because of the other anti-coagulants. With the Protonix, I think she can handle a double dose of buffered, 81 mg aspirin. As well, one of her consulting neurologists suggested that I administer the glipizide about half way through her meal. I'm going to wait to see how her blood sugar settles, though. He suggested this because he thought that her blood sugar might drop dangerously low in the half hour previous to a meal. However, as her blood sugar readings are showing, today, this probably won't happen. I'll keep this technique in mind, though, as the days peel off the calendar and her blood sugar readings continue to provide me with information. I will also be actively pursuing information on nopal water and 80% aloe vera gel juice (without added sugar, this time) this week and trying those.
Lunch
|
Blood Glucose: Time: 1358 Reading: 173 |
Blood Pressure: Time: 1359 BP: 99/52 Pulse: 72 |
|
Lunch: 1420 & Meds What she ate: approx 8 oz Marie Callendar's Beef Pot Roast soup with 1.5 chopped green onions and some added beef, in the form of beef jerky 11.5 oz V-8 juice with 1/4 tsp. cinnamon |
||
| Med/Dose | Administration | Explanation |
| 36 mg Iron Protein Succinylate | 2 18 mg tabs with meal | to pull her out of what I hope is her temporarily severely anemic state |
| 500 mg acetaminophen | 1 tab with meal | her lower back was bothering her significantly because of all the walkering she did today |
I know, her blood sugar was pretty high. We went to Costco, today. She was wandering around with her walker while I checked out calcium/vitamin D products and when I caught up with her, she had settled herself beside the "White Cheddar Cheetos" sample table, was throwing away one sample cup of 3 Cheetos and starting on another. I asked her how many she'd had and she couldn't remember. Neither could the sample distributor. The distributor said, "That's all right, I don't mind." But, obviously, her blood sugar did.
Her blood pressure was pretty low, as well, probably from the full 5 mg dose of lisinopril I gave her this morning. So, I won't be doing that, again.
I also forgot to give her vitamin C with her iron, but I purposely gave it to her with her meal, rather than before. I'm going to see how this works out. The results will tell in her CBC. This particular form of iron carries specific instructions on the bottle that it works better with food, so, we'll try that, for awhile.
A Not So Miscellaneous Stat
|
Blood Glucose: Time: 1736 Reading: 96 |
Blood Pressure: To Be Taken Later |
This stat leads a discussion about how and why I will (and will not) be administering insulin to my mother.
Yesterday, as the nurse at the SNF explained to me the schedule and technique for administering insulin (by injection) to my mother, she volunteered a piece of information that has intrigued me, since: "It'll take a couple of hours for her blood glucose to drop back to normal after you inject insulin." Although I didn't say anything, my mind responded thus, "My mother's blood sugar drops back to normal on its own in a couple of hours, as long as she doesn't load her system with glucose. What's the point of giving her insulin?"
I had already decided to follow the recommendation of the neurologists that I "not worry" (translated, "not administer anything to artificially induce blood glucose reduction") until she tested in over 200, rather than the SNF's recommendation of starting to inject insulin in regulated doses at 151. However, at the time I decided this, I had no idea how or how quickly insulin injections work. Today, incidentally, gave me a chance to test my observations and thoughts out, when she came in at 173 just before lunch. I did not administer insulin. I did not change any of the planned foods for lunch. I just sat back and observed.
When Mom awoke from her nap it occurred to me to take her blood sugar, just to see if it was still flying above the clouds. Sure enough, she was back to a perfectly normal reading, recorded above. Without insulin. Without anything administered at lunch, except cinnamon, to encourage her blood glucose to drop. And, I might add, after having consumed a soup with added teriyaki flavored beef jerky. If any of you are cooks, you know that one of the key ingredients that makes teriyaki teriyaki is sugar.
So, I won't be administering insulin below 200, that's for sure. I may not even administer it in a certain range above 200, depending on what else I discover about her recovery level. As well, with a variety of other techniques, I may be able to keep her blood glucose from ever shooting above 200, except, perhaps on the isolated sugary holiday in which I simply can't monitor her sugar intake at someone else's house.
Dinner
|
Blood Glucose: Time: 1915 Reading: 139 |
Blood Pressure: Time: 1951 BP: 155/65 Pulse: 60 |
|
Dinner: 1951 & Meds What she ate: Cobb Salad as described in previous posts with, this time, the addition of bits of honey cured ham steak, chopped green olives, bits of lean pastrami on a bed of a mixture of herb greens and dark greens Approx 3 Tbl homemade Ranch dressing |
||
| Med/Dose | Administration | Explanation |
| 36 mg Iron Protein Succinylate | 2 18 mg tabs given with dinner | 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 |
| lisinopril/2.5 mg | 1/2 a 5 mg tab with meal | standard dinner med |
Her blood pressure recovered from my judicious but unnecessary overdose of lisinopril this morning, so I gave her another 2.5 mg tonight. As usual, she ate all her dinner, although, as it always does with Cobb Salad, it took her a good hour to get through it. I think she likes to take a long time with Cobb Salad, in order to savor it. It is the only dinner, over the last few months, of which she consumed all without being cajoled. Since her appetite has returned, though, to its former state of a few months ago, I expect that getting her to eat everything before her (and sometimes asking for seconds), will no longer be a problem.
You'll notice I took her blood glucose again just prior to dinner, even though I'd taken it a few hours previous. I did this because, after she awoke from her nap she decided she wanted some popcorn, which I prepared soon after taking her between-lunch-and-dinner blood glucose reading. I never refuse her popcorn, as it has many properties that allow her body to work to maximum effect. Thus, she and I split a 3.5 oz bag of generic microwave "lite" butter-flavored popcorn. I gave her no medication with it. As you can see, her blood sugar remained within acceptable levels throughout the evening.
posted by Gail Rae @ 23:59
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home