Today's Stats:
BM Breakfast
Getting her up this morning was like negotiating with the Devil. She was very, very tired. Could be the remnants of what I think was a slight cold. Although she wasn't haven't respiratory distress this morning of the type she had yesterday and wasn't coughing at all, she seemed to be breathing more heavily than usual during the standing part of her bath, so I immediately moved the oxygen concentrator into the dinette and hooked her up to 3/lpm continuous flow, as I did yesterday.
She ate a great breakfast: 4 oz sausage with 1.5 eggs and a Costco oatmeal cookie (she wanted a sweet roll but we didn't have any). I gave her, again, 1 tablespoon of Benefiber®.
She was very tired this morning, even though she was on oxygen. She wanted to lay back down at 1300 but I kept her up until 1340 with a very slow moving Yahtzee game, in which she was not at all interested. We didn't even play it out to the end. That's right, it took that long to play an interrupted game! I told her I'd let her sleep for awhile, but no later than 1700.
Her Bowel Movement at 1345 surprised both of us: Fair volume, excellent consistency, very easy elimination, gooey clean-up. I guess dailies are becoming the Order of Her Days, which is fine. I will continue the Benefiber® but, considering the slick, magnetic consistency of today's movement, I think I'll cut back to half a tablespoon in the morning instead of a whole tablespoon. That should take care of her feces' self-smearing consistency.
Lunch
I didn't give her another lisinopril. It was a judgment call. I'm still noticing that high pulse rate. It bothers me. I'm hoping it's just that she has a cold. Her energy level remains very low. I'm a little worried.
She had a good appetite, though. She had yoghurt and a large bowl of mixed and dry roasted nuts for lunch. I've continued her on oxygen all day, although for most of the evening between lunch and dinner I put her on the tanks on pulse action, but dialed it to 3/lpm. Then, just before dinner, I noticed that her breathing was pretty shallow and, with the "new" cannula she wasn't breathing deeply enough to trigger the pulse action so I switched the regulator to 2/lpm continuous. That seemed to help.
Dinner
Damn pulse rate. I'm not happy about that. I gave her a third lisinopril before she went to bed. Unfortunately, I also felt the need to give her two extra strength acetaminophen, which tend to raise her blood pressure, because her back was bothering her again tonight and it was obvious.
In the meantime I also re-reviewed the literature that came with the Macrodantin. I'm concerned because "fast heartbeat", "shortness of breath" and "unusual/persistent cough" are listed among those symptoms that could signal medication related lung problems. Unusual fatigue is also listed. The problem, though, is that she was having that dry CHF related hack before she went on the medication and the only change that's occurred is that she isn't hacking and often and yesterday the coughing she was doing turned phlegmy and stopped some hours after the Mucinex expectorated her. She hasn't been coughing today. Her heartbeat, though, remains faster than usual. I even went back and checked her bp charts for the last several months. Interestingly, the last period when her pulse rate was hitting the highs was last summer, June, July and August, and then she was regularly going into the 80s. Her blood pressures were wandering about as they are now but were mainly much higher.
Anyway, because of the large bowl of nuts at lunch (I first gave her a small bowl and she looked at it with disgust [I'm smiling, now, remembering her expression] and said, "Is that all I get?!?" So, I gave her a bowl and serving twice as large) her appetite was only fair. We finally had the Cobb salad and it's not unusual, although not typical, either, for her to leave about a quarter of it uneaten, which is what she did tonight. Her liquid intake has been pretty low today, as well, and she almost refused to finish her 14 oz of cranberry juice tonight but I insisted, reminding her that she hasn't had much liquid today.
Anyway, I may be worrying "out of school". I'll give it a few days and see. Mom told me tonight she's "sure" she'll "feel better tomorrow". What a woman!
|
Blood Glucose: Time: 1137 Reading: 108 |
Blood Pressure: Time: 1200 BP: 122/57 Pulse: 60 |
Getting her up this morning was like negotiating with the Devil. She was very, very tired. Could be the remnants of what I think was a slight cold. Although she wasn't haven't respiratory distress this morning of the type she had yesterday and wasn't coughing at all, she seemed to be breathing more heavily than usual during the standing part of her bath, so I immediately moved the oxygen concentrator into the dinette and hooked her up to 3/lpm continuous flow, as I did yesterday.
She ate a great breakfast: 4 oz sausage with 1.5 eggs and a Costco oatmeal cookie (she wanted a sweet roll but we didn't have any). I gave her, again, 1 tablespoon of Benefiber®.
She was very tired this morning, even though she was on oxygen. She wanted to lay back down at 1300 but I kept her up until 1340 with a very slow moving Yahtzee game, in which she was not at all interested. We didn't even play it out to the end. That's right, it took that long to play an interrupted game! I told her I'd let her sleep for awhile, but no later than 1700.
Her Bowel Movement at 1345 surprised both of us: Fair volume, excellent consistency, very easy elimination, gooey clean-up. I guess dailies are becoming the Order of Her Days, which is fine. I will continue the Benefiber® but, considering the slick, magnetic consistency of today's movement, I think I'll cut back to half a tablespoon in the morning instead of a whole tablespoon. That should take care of her feces' self-smearing consistency.
Lunch
|
Blood Glucose: Time: Not taken |
Blood Pressure: Time: 1719 BP: 134/59 Pulse: 75 |
I didn't give her another lisinopril. It was a judgment call. I'm still noticing that high pulse rate. It bothers me. I'm hoping it's just that she has a cold. Her energy level remains very low. I'm a little worried.
She had a good appetite, though. She had yoghurt and a large bowl of mixed and dry roasted nuts for lunch. I've continued her on oxygen all day, although for most of the evening between lunch and dinner I put her on the tanks on pulse action, but dialed it to 3/lpm. Then, just before dinner, I noticed that her breathing was pretty shallow and, with the "new" cannula she wasn't breathing deeply enough to trigger the pulse action so I switched the regulator to 2/lpm continuous. That seemed to help.
Dinner
|
Blood Glucose: Time: 2036 Reading: 142 |
Blood Pressure: Time: 2035 BP: 129/59 Pulse: 75 |
Damn pulse rate. I'm not happy about that. I gave her a third lisinopril before she went to bed. Unfortunately, I also felt the need to give her two extra strength acetaminophen, which tend to raise her blood pressure, because her back was bothering her again tonight and it was obvious.
In the meantime I also re-reviewed the literature that came with the Macrodantin. I'm concerned because "fast heartbeat", "shortness of breath" and "unusual/persistent cough" are listed among those symptoms that could signal medication related lung problems. Unusual fatigue is also listed. The problem, though, is that she was having that dry CHF related hack before she went on the medication and the only change that's occurred is that she isn't hacking and often and yesterday the coughing she was doing turned phlegmy and stopped some hours after the Mucinex expectorated her. She hasn't been coughing today. Her heartbeat, though, remains faster than usual. I even went back and checked her bp charts for the last several months. Interestingly, the last period when her pulse rate was hitting the highs was last summer, June, July and August, and then she was regularly going into the 80s. Her blood pressures were wandering about as they are now but were mainly much higher.
Anyway, because of the large bowl of nuts at lunch (I first gave her a small bowl and she looked at it with disgust [I'm smiling, now, remembering her expression] and said, "Is that all I get?!?" So, I gave her a bowl and serving twice as large) her appetite was only fair. We finally had the Cobb salad and it's not unusual, although not typical, either, for her to leave about a quarter of it uneaten, which is what she did tonight. Her liquid intake has been pretty low today, as well, and she almost refused to finish her 14 oz of cranberry juice tonight but I insisted, reminding her that she hasn't had much liquid today.
Anyway, I may be worrying "out of school". I'll give it a few days and see. Mom told me tonight she's "sure" she'll "feel better tomorrow". What a woman!
posted by Gail Rae @ 23:59
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home