Today's Stats:

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  0907     Reading:  134

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1001     BP:  112/56     Pulse:  68

Breakfast:  1030  & 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 6 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	1/2 1000 mg tab 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
aspirin/81 mg	1 tab with breakfast	standard breakfast med - given for anti-coagulant properties
Daily Senior Multivitamin	with breakfast	standard breakfast supplement
folic acid/400 mcg	with breakfast	standard breakfast supplement
garlic/1250 mg	with meal	standard breakfast supplement

Conspicuously Absent Meds & Supplements
Med/Dose	Administration	Explanation
lisinopril/2.5 mg	1/2 tab with meal	her blood pressure is right on the money, so I decided to wait on this

    Well, damn, that cookie is still shaking itself out, it looks like. I'm sorry about this. I'd like to be able to give my mother a sweet, here and there, more often. But, at least, for the time being, this doesn't look like a possibility. I guess I'd better try experimenting with Splenda, again. I still have some. Both she and I, though, can detect a curious, rough flavor from it, aside from the fact that it is way too sweet. Now, too, that her taste is returning, this may be even more of a problem.
    My only problem with her blood pressure, now, is trying to find some way to get in at least 2.5 mg of lisinopril. Maybe 1.25 mg will do the trick...I'll have to check with the doctor. If so, I'm going to have him prescribe the 2.5 mg tab, for twice a day...this way, if she ever needs more, we won't use the Rx too fast, and, if she needs less, we're covered.
    Today we pick up the Glucotrol XL. She's been on standard glipizde. I'm hoping the extended release with help control her blood sugar a little better, along with all the other stuff I'm doing. Maybe it will even allow her to have cookies a bit more often.

Lunch

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1423     Reading:  123

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1447     BP:  96/51     Pulse:  70

Lunch:  1455  & Meds What she ate:  approx 8 oz Marie Callendar's Chicken Pot Pie soup with added frozen peas and peppered turkey breast 1/3 of a bag of microwave "lite" popcorn 11.5 oz V-8 juice with 1/4 tsp. cinnamon
Med/Dose	Administration	Explanation
2 oz/100% Aloe Vera gel	1/2 hour before meal	helps increase cell sensitivity to insulin
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
vitamin C/500 mg	1/2 1000 mg tab with iron supplement	helps the body metabolize iron

    I am assuming her low blood pressure is because she's somewhat dehydrated, although she looks more plumped out than she ever looked at the hospital or the skilled nursing facility, and that's not saying much. Damn, this dehydration issue is getting to me. Just in case her BP is dropping because of a redoubled assault of her anemia (although she's looking nicely ruddy) I stopped cutting back on her lunch time iron and gave her two 18 mg capsules instead of one. I also made (yes, made, it was a battle) her drink a good 8 oz of water before lunch, then, of course, factored in the 11.5 oz. of V-8 juice and the water in the soup.
    Her blood glucose looked good, and I am pleased because I was able to find 100% Aloe Vera gel today. You'll notice I administered it to her 1/2 hour before her meal. I've read in some places that pre-meal seems to work and in others that with the meal seems to work. I figure, I'll try both. At this point, I'm scheduling it for lunch. That won't change, unless I find reason for it to change, since she takes her other diabetic medications at breakfast and dinner. Now, all I have to do is find nopal pads and start making nopal water for her to drink all day long. I tried the natural food grocery where I got the aloe vera gel and, surprisingly, although they carry lots of local produce and there is a large Latino community here who would definitely be interested in nopal pads, they don't carry them. The woman who told me about this told me I should be able to find them at one of two non-alternative groceries, one of which is out of the way and I haven't visited. The other is our regular grocery and, so far, they've only had canned, pickled nopal products. We've got a prickly pear out back, but I need to look up information on how to harvest and prepare the pads. I should probably do that soon. I think, though, first, I'll give the Aloe Vera gel some time to work and see what that does. As well, on Saturday, she'll be switching to the extended release version of glipizide. I don't know that this will make a difference, but I hope so. I thought it wasn't available in generic, but apparently it is, now, newly available. So far no insulin, using the expanded scale of above 200. I'm thrilled. I hope we'll never have to use it.

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1932     Reading:  112

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1939     BP:  144/65     Pulse:  57

Dinner:  2005  & Meds What she ate:  1/6th of the ambrosiac Spirit of Tomato Pie
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
vitamin C/500 mg	1/2 1000 mg tab 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 tab with meal	finally, her blood pressure was able to take this
vitamin E/400 IU	with meal	given for anti-coagulant properties
garlic/1250 mg	with meal	given for anti-coagulant properties
calcium-vitamin D/500-200 mg	with meal	believed to be an osteoporosis preventative

    Well, I've got her out of her dehydration. No, she's not over hydrated, either. When she's getting used to Prescott, again, her normal systolic blood pressure is a little elevated. Since we'll be going up and down for at least a month, I expect this to continue, for awhile, unless her elevated level of exercise has an salutory effect on her. However, I will take note that I'd like her systolic to come in a little lower, despite the fact that some elevation allows her to take the lisinopril without a problem. We'll see what happens.
    Other than that, her appetite is good and she helped me make dinner. She cut the green onions. She hasn't been interested in or able to help me make anything in the food line for a long time. Good day. Sunshine.