Today's Stats

Non-stat Breakfast

Breakfast:  1245  & Meds What she ate:  1 hard over egg, heavily peppered approx 3 oz slice roastedsugar cured lean ham 1 Costco blueberry danish 6 oz orange juice diluted w/8 oz water
Med/Dose	Administration	Explanation
Niferex-150 [150 mg elemental iron]	1 hour before breakfast: 11:45	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	2 250 mg tablets 2 hours after iron ingestion: 1445	to address UTI
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

    I forgot the cinnamon this morning. Considering what she had for breakfast, probably wasn't a good idea to forget it but, oh well.
    Otherwise, everything looks good, nothing to report except meds and food and when everything was ingested.

Lunch

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1652     Reading:  206

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1654     BP:  140/70     Pulse:  65

Lunch:  1700  & Meds What she ate:  8 oz lemon low fat artificially sweetened yoghurt with 1/4 tsp cinnamon and about 1 Tbl wheat germ (her request) approx 1/3 cup MCS's bread and butter pickles 11.5 oz V-8 juice
Med/Dose	Administration	Explanation
None

    Well, you can see the sweet roll at breakfast floating lazily through her blood. I was a little surprised at her blood pressure then realized that I took it immediately after she'd awakened, walked into the bathroom, gone through the whole changing underwear thing, stood up, walked out to the living room and sat down. So, considering that, it's actually quite good.
    It is a pleasure not to be giving her medication at her midday meal. I wonder how many people can say that at 87, after a couple of years of internal and external health crises, they are cutting back on medication and supplements (although I'm increasing her iron supplementation)? Oh, god, I remember, the last few years before MPS's mother-in-law died, when she and her husband traveled, they had a small suitcase (like a squashed, old time make-up case) loaded with her medicines. I remember that her husband would freak if he thought they might have forgotten a dose of something. Weird. I don't worry about it if I forget a dosage of any of Mom's stuff. I just roll with the punches, which are usually feathery, if any punches are thrown. I am willing to state, without knowing very much about MPS's mother-in-law's medical history, that part of what did her in early, in her late 60's, I believe, was her prescribed drug history. Makes me shudder.
    I remember something similar being discovered regarding my grandmother (my mother's mother) right after my grandfather died. My grandmother was not only on an impressive array of medicines, herself, many of which my mother felt overlapped, but was taking my grandfather's leftovers. I believe my grandmother was about 82 at the time this was discovered. Needless to say, this situation was corrected immediately. As it turned out, many of the conditions for which she was being treated had disappeared and she no longer needed to be medicated for them. As she recovered, over the months, from being over medicated, there were further cutbacks in her meds. She lived to be 93, I think, or 94. If her medicating situation hadn't been discovered and monitored by an advocate (her daughters), she may very well have been killed, in part, by medication, much earlier than she actually died.
    Anyway, back to today's lunch. Mom remembered last week, when I reinstated yoghurt on our menu after a couple of years' lapse, that she used to put wheat germ in her yoghurt. I remember the jar in her refrigerator...ohhh, which reminds me, I'd better put the wheat germ in there...I never knew it was for that. It was I who decided to switch the cinnamon from her V-8 juice to her yoghurt. It's more appropriate to a sweet base, and she no longer lingers, sometimes for an hour, over her V-8 juice.
    So, the rate of sweets is going to be severely cut back, to former levels, immediately. I think the yoghurt midday (it is surprisingly sweet, almost too sweet for me, artificially) should help keep sweet cravings to a manageable level. I froze all but the two sweet rolls we ate this morning. The rest of the berry custard thing is frozen.
    So, I continue to feel like shit, but she's doing fine.

Non-stat Dinner

Dinner:  2045  & Meds What she ate:  approx 3/4 cup a Mediteranean black bean and corn salad, very tart, delicious approx 3 Tbl roasted garlic hummus approx 7 pita chips
Med/Dose	Administration	Explanation
100% Aloe Vera gel/1 oz	just before meal	helps increase the cells' sensitivity to insulin when used with glipizide
Niferex-150	1 150 mg tab 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

    Notice that meal? Light, delicious, full of fiber, Mom smacked her lips. I was very curious about her blood sugar, but I restrained myself. The FNP would have been proud.