Today's Stats:

BM? Non-stat Breakfast

Breakfast:  1315  & Meds What she ate:  2 hard over egg, heavily peppered 2 slices thick cut sugar cured lean bacon 1 slice toasted oat bran bread with 1.5 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: 1215	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
100% Aloe Vera gel/1 oz	just before meal	helps increase the cells' sensitivity to insulin when used with glipizide
Protonix/40 mg	1 pill at least 1/2 hour pre-meal	standard pre-breakfast med
glipizide ER/10 mg	1 pill with meal	standard breakfast and dinner med to increase cells' sensitivity to insulin
aspirin/81 mg	1 tab with breakfast	standard breakfast med - given for anti-coagulant properties
lisinopril/2.5 mg	1/2 of 5 mg tab with meal	given for kidney protection when her blood pressure can handle it
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; a natural antibiotic and anti-coagulant
levaquin/500 mg	2 tablets 2 hours after taking iron & breakfast supplements: 1420	to address UTI
acetaminaphen/1000 mg	2 tablets with antibiotics	standard breakfast supplement; a natural antibiotic and anti-coagulant
1/2 cup pure cranberry juice w/12 oz water	with antibiotics	standard twice a day supplement for kidney protection and enhancement of waste management

    She was hungry again, this morning. Could be that 2 eggs will become the norm for her.
    The reason there is a question mark after the Bowel M acronym in the title is that I'm not sure if she had a bowel movement. When I returned from the feed store and picking up some movies for the weekend, she was sitting "funny" at the table, out of whack with the alignment of the chair, so I knew she'd walked about while I was gone. I asked her if she went to the bathroom.
    She responded, "Yes."
    "Did you take off your underwear and throw it away?"
    Sometimes she does this and doesn't put on new underwear.
    "No," she said. "Where is the toilet paper, by the way?"
    "Did you have a bowel movement?"
    "Yes."
    "Okay, well there isn't any toilet paper in there, so I need to clean you. Let's head back into the bathroom."
    "I cleaned myself."
    "What did you use?"
    "I tore off some of that paper by the toilet and used it."
    Since I always empty her garbage after her bath and make sure a liner is in there without any paper underwear, I interpreted this to mean that I forgot to empty her garbage and, as she is wont to do when it is possible, she must have ripped apart a wet diaper and used it to wipe herself, and must have flushed it down the toilet.
    "Did you flush?"
    She looked at me as though I was mad to ask such a question. "Of course!"
    The toilet was not backed up, nor was there anything in the garbage. When I cleaned her she was a tiny bit soiled, but it was unclear if she'd had a bowel movement. Sometimes she thinks she has when she hasn't and vice versa. Today would have fit in with her new schedule, and I did think about that this morning, intending, in fact, to put toilet paper in the bathroom before I left to go to the feed store, but I forgot.
    I guess everything turned out okay.
    She was complaining of stiffness and soreness just before she laid down for her nap, so I gave her 2 extra strength acetaminophen and "gave her permission" to "nap as long as you want, we don't have any plans tonight."
    "Good," she said.

Non-stat Lunch

Lunch:  1700  & Meds What she ate:  8 oz artificially sweetened, low fat strawberry yoghurt with 1/4 tsp. cinnamon approx 1/4 cup MCS's home made bread and butter pickles 11.5 oz V-8 juice
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
tolterodine tartrate ER/4 mg	Once per day	4 week trial to see if it inhibits her incontinence

    Yoghurt has become a regular part of her lunch. She considers it "refreshing". I put cinnamon in her yoghurt, now, as this makes more sense. She's drinking her V-8 juice more easily, now, even though she swore, previously, that she couldn't taste the cinnamon.
    She's snuffling like she might have a cold, but nothing else. She isn't moving as stiffly as when she laid down. I think we're up for the evening.

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  2022     Reading:  125

Blood Pressure:     Time:  2026     BP:  121/52     Pulse:  58

Dinner:  2045  & Meds What she ate:  approx 6 oz leftover More than Mac & Cheese approx 6 oz Easy Ham & Bean Soup approx 4 oz sauerkraut with chopped Polish sausage and caraway seeds
Med/Dose	Administration	Explanation
100% Aloe Vera gel/1 oz	just before meal	helps increase the cells' sensitivity to insulin when used with glipizide
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 ER/10 mg	1 pill with meal	standard breakfast and dinner med to increase cells' sensitivity to insulin
lisinopril/2.5 mg	1/2 of 5 mg tab with meal	given for kidney protection when her blood pressure can handle it
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
1/2 cup pure cranberry juice w/12 oz water	with or after meal	standard twice a day supplement for kidney protection and enhancement of waste management

    This evening, even after her nap and a light lunch, she complained of tiredness; not shakiness, not lightheadedness, "I'm just tired." She surprised herself that she was ready to head for bed at 2130. Although her normal bedtime, for the last several weeks, has been around 2200, still, 2130 seems "awfully early" to her, but she went to bed anyway.
    Her urine seems clear. We have one more day, I think, on the antibiotic. Then we'll see if this UTI is gone or if it's simply been masked by the antibiotics. She might have something that actually has to be approached in a different manner, although I wouldn't know what that would be.
    At any rate, her appetite has remained good, her stats remain good, I think she'll survive, as she often says about herself.