Today's Lunch Stats:

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1548     Reading:  149

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1553     BP:  152/64     Pulse:  52

I've taken a few stats, over the last 8 days...

...although haven't been consistent, as Mom's been doing very well. Normal meals, lots of vegetables and meat. Over last weekend MPS and her vegetarian daughter visited for a couple of days, so we consumed even more vegetables than usual. I also made chopped berry pancakes (with a mixture of frozen blueberries, marionberries and raspberries) that were delicious. I was surprised that my mother was conservative with the maple syrup (since we use any kind of syrup infrequently, I see to it that we always have real maple syrup). I asked her about her conservation during breakfast and she confessed, "It's awfully sweet, you really only need a little." That's what I like to hear. We also ordered pizza from a local Streets of New York parlor, the only decent, close chain pizza here. The only decent non-chain pizza (besides my own, which is unbeatable) is 45 minutes away. I ordered our "usual" (which means the combination I always order when I'm not making the pizza from scratch): extra sauce, light on the cheese, pepperoni (light on this as well, just enough so Mom recognizes there's meat on it), green peppers, fresh garlic, onion, green olives, artichokes and sun dried tomatoes. Mom, MPS and I ate that one and my niece ordered the Pizza Primavera, loaded with vegetables, a mixture of cheeses and sprinkled with fragrant herbs. The following night, the last night of the visit, MPS (with help from everyone) made a Thai stir fry with fried tofu and flat soy noodles and I augmented it for us carnivores with chicken breasts braised in my Augmented Hoisin sauce. Since the visit we've been eating home corned beef, Cobb salads, More than Mac & Cheese and Easy Ham & Bean Soup.
    I'll be posting what few stats I took later, and probably be picking up stat collection again today, or, I don't know, maybe tomorrow.
    I discovered an interesting phenomenon a few days ago. If my mother consumes one cup of tea, either herbal or tea plant based, caffeinated or not, during the day sometime before bed, her feet don't evidence any swelling. She pees a bit more, but she also registers the need to pee and gets herself to the bathroom before she leaks through. It also reduces, slightly (emphasis on "slightly") her flushing at night and encourages her to be aware of her thirst during the day. Throughout the week she's consumed Lemon Zinger and Decaffeinated Earl Grey tea. Both work equally well, and it only takes one cup, which she leisurely sips.
    Since the last review there have been no additions or subtractions to her meds and supplements and all have been taken as usual. One slight change: I accidentally bought pure aloe vera juice instead of gel a couple of days ago, so, instead of 2 oz. 100% aloe vera gel twice a day, she's been getting approx 3 - 4 oz. aloe vera juice three times a day. We'll switch back when she finishes this batch of juice. I've been peddling back just a bit on forcing liquids on her since the tea seems to stimulate her awareness of her own thirst and keeps her bodily liquid flow steady. She continues to eat at least 8 oz. of artificially sweetened active culture low fat yoghurt at the rate of about four times per week. I'm not sure if it's "helped" anything, but it isn't hurting anything, either, and she's remaining UTI free.

Combined BM No Stats: 3/13 - 3/18/05

BM 3/18/05
    Her Bowel Movement occurred as we were bathing her. Adequate volume, excellent consistency, easy elimination, medium clean-up.

BM 3/17/05
    Her Bowel Movement occurred while we were bathing her. Adequate volume, excellent consistency, easy elimination, very easy clean-up.

BM 3/13/05
    Her Bowel Movement occurred between lunch and dinner. Small volume, one large, tightly packed turd, so hard that after letting it sit a couple of hours, as usual, it still clogged the toilet. Easy elimination, though, and very easy clean-up.