Today's Stats:

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1119     Reading:  83

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1141     BP:  111/58     Pulse:  72

    Good looking stats. I awoke her and she was ready to be awake, although she was slow getting her hand to a place where I could take her blood glucose.
    Normal breakfast.

Lunch

Blood Glucose:     Time:  Not taken

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1626     BP:  125/53     Pulse:  63

    Not much to say. Lunch consisted of yoghurt (this time peach, we ran out of lemon, as did the store); 6 green pimiento stuffed olives and about half a cup of MCS's Bread & Butter pickles.

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  2005     Reading:  135

Blood Pressure:     Time:  2004     BP:  137/70     Pulse:  63

    I know the reason for her somewhat elevated blood pressure this evening. My mood suddenly and surprisingly turned bad, very bad, during our exercise session. Although the exercise session did not go well the bad mood is, of course, my doing, not hers. But, she reaped the "harvest". I was a bear all evening and took it out on her. She's good at absorbing my bad moods externally, but they play havoc on her internally. I'm sure she felt my stoniness was undeserved by her. She's right. It was undeserved.
    We had take-out pizza for dinner; a good one with sun dried tomatoes, green olives, extra sauce, light on the cheese, pepperoni, sausage and onions. Someone at the take-out place (not a franchise place) must have been having a good evening because the pizza was perfect: Loaded, all ingredients fresh and not too well done and lots of sauce. Normally when I order extra sauce, which is why I do it with this place, we get just about enough to be able to tell there's sauce on the pie. Last night the amount of everything was perfect.
    Despite my horrible, stony, can't say anything nice mood, she went to bed late, around 0030 Sunday morning. I went to bed later and slept horribly.

Today's Stats:

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1212     Reading:  105

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1211     BP:  117/62     Pulse:  76

    She was up until midnight last night, which isn't odd considering that we ate dinner at around 2200. I'm working her back to a "normal" awakening time.
    Breakfast this morning was back to usual; bacon, egg, toast, orange juice and 1.5 tsp Benefiber®.
    I'm going to try to keep my "mouth shut" about her high pulse rates from now on. I don't think they are anything to worry about, even though I can't seem to keep myself from worrying a little.

BM Lunch

Blood Glucose:     Time:  Not taken

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1717     BP:  113/51     Pulse:  73

    Yep, she's a touch dehydrated and particularly disinterested in liquids, today. I'm water torturing her as I write. Other than this I'm satisfied. She awoke from her nap on her own just as I was headed in to awaken her. For lunch she had 8 oz yoghurt with 2 tsp wheat germ, 5 pimiento stuffed green olives and 11.5 oz V-8 juice.
    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 1700 straight up: Fair volume; excellent consistency in the form of medium sized shit rocks; very easy elimination; very easy clean-up, no more smearing. I think I've finally figured out the correct dose of supplemental fiber.

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  2035     Reading:  125

Blood Pressure:     Time:  2030     BP:  128/60     Pulse:  66

    Good, good, good. Everything looks good. For dinner she had 6 Buffalo wings and about 2/3 cup small curd 4% fat cottage cheese. Just before dinner she announced that she was "very hungry" and suggested that perhaps she "needed" a piece of "that chocolate cake, if there's any left". There is some left but when I reminded her about it after dinner she decided she was "too full to handle it".
    She retired at 2245; her light went off at 2300.

Today's Stats:

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1406     Reading:  107

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1405     BP:  107/58     Pulse:  68

    That's right, she didn't arise until 1400. She didn't retire until early in the morning, this morning and didn't really settle down into sleep until just before 0300. You can read about it over at the main journal.
    Anyway, she had berry buckwheat pancakes with real maple syrup and loads of margarine for breakfast with 3 oz sausage patties. She also got her 1.5 teaspoon dose of Benefiber®. Everything looks good, doesn't it!

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  2147     Reading:  135

Blood Pressure:     Time:  2146     BP:  123/58     Pulse:  59

    No lunch stat today. I had a really hard time keeping her up and moving until evening; so hard that I finally gave up. I did, however, give her one extra strength acetaminophen at lunch (which consisted of 8 oz non-fat artificially sweetened yoghurt with two teaspoons of wheat germ and 11.5 oz. V-8 juice) because she was complaining, again, about her back hurting.
    I can only assume that her glucose reading is her body continuing to savor the morning's berry buckwheat pancakes, since her lunch was meager, as she preferred. For dinner she had three Costco pork ribs, about a cup of peas mixed with onions, bacon and Freek feta dressing and about 1/3 cup of MCS's Bread & Butter pickles. Coming about 45 minutes after an hour long exercise session (which I'll be posting later), she was hungry and ate every bit.

Today's Stats:

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1221     Reading:  88

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1225     BP:  113/64     Pulse:  58

    Whew! Looking good again. Today for breakfast, because she mentioned before she rose from bed that she was "really hungry, I hope you've got a good breakfast planned," she got 4 oz. ham steak with her egg and two pieces of toast with cinnamon.

Midday

Blood Glucose:     Time:  Not taken

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1748     BP:  131/62     Pulse:  68

    I wasn't concerned about this blood pressure. I was barking at her about something when I took it, hmmm...oh, yeah, breathing through her nose instead of her mouth when she has the oxygen cannula in that's connected to a tank through the OCD.
    Surprisingly, she said she wasn't very hungry. I suggested a glass of orange juice (8 oz juice, 6 oz water). She was enthusiastic. Drank it right down.
    She seems to be "getting better" today. Although I've had her on oxygen all day, I switched back to the tanks this evening. She didn't seem to need a continous 3/lpm flow from the concentrator. She's is good spirits, again, doesn't look drawn and sickly anymore.
    Good.

BM Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1916     Reading:  138

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1912     BP:  120/50     Pulse:  61

    Very nice readings, especially since she had orange juice a couple of hours earlier. I guess her diabetes must be packing for vacation.
    She had a hearty helping of mac & cheese with extra Vermont White Extra Sharp Cheddar, chopped Bermuda onions, green peppers and celery, a mixture of ground beef and sausage and a healthy sprinkling of pepper. She ate well. Looked good, too, and remained alert through a movie we watched.
    She had a Bowel Movement at about 2015: Fair volume, excellent consistency, very easy evacuation, almost very easy clean-up. I think it was a good idea to cut the fiber back to half a tablespoon (1.5 teaspoons). I might cut that back even further to 1 teaspoon a day. She gets lots of fiber anyway and I'd like to be able to continue giving her olives.
    I think she really was experiencing a cold. When I talked to my business friend at the oxygen company today when they called to take our weekly order for tanks and supplies I mentioned that I thought my mother was having a cold and she mentioned that she's been having problems with draining mucus into the throat and cold symptoms, too. "Everything's blooming again because of the rain," she reminded me. "Doesn't your Mom have problems with allergies?"
    Yes.
    I hadn't thought of that. At any rate, she's recovering, slowly. I don't think she was having a reaction to the Microdantin, per se, but I do think that, now that she's on it, I have to be extra vigilant when something affects her pulmonary system.

Today's Stats:

BM Breakfast

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!

Today' Stats:

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1138     Reading:  96

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1151     BP:  128/66     Pulse:  79

    Back to Canadian bacon this morning. I also gave her a tablespoon of Benefiber® to help augment the rest of last night's bowel movement. She experienced some minor respiratory distress in the bathroom just previous to her bath and hacked up some phlegm, so I immediately put her back on oxygen through the concentrator, since that is continuous, and gave her a 600 mg tablet of Mucinex to help her expell the phlegm. I was actually relieved that she was coughing up phlegm. I was beginning to worry that the Macrodantin was causing her high pulse rate and might be affecting her lungs, as that is one of the "rare" side effects but, apparently, she's got a bit of a cold. I took her arterila temperature and it was normal, 99.5°. I told her, with the Mucinex, she needed to stay up for awhile to help it work and, although she didn't have much energy, I was able to keep her up until 1500. All the time she was up during her "morning" I kept her on the oxygen concentrator at 3/lpm continuous flow.
    About an hour after breakfast she complained of some minor back pain. Once I'd determined it wasn't in her kidney area I gave her an extra strength acetaminophen.
    Still concerned about the high pulse rate but am not sure what to do. Maybe it's a result of the cold she appears to be suffering.

BM Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1915     Reading:  85

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1909     BP:  127/62     Pulse:  65

    Well, her pulse rate's coming down and she was no longer experiencing respiratory distress when she awoke. That's right, no lunch stat because I let her sleep until a little before 1900. She seemed to feel much better, didn't even remember that her back had been bothering her.
    For dinner she wanted "something spicy" so I made chile polish sausages on hot dog buns with chopped green onions and grated sharp yellow cheddar cheese. Once again, as usual, I guess, she ate like a champ. She stayed up late, too, until almost midnight, watching old situation comedy after old situation comedy. I tried to get her to play a board game but she refused, saying she'd rather watch TV.
    Her Bowel Movement occurred just before she went down for her nap at 1445: Fair volume, probably the last of yesterday's movement; excellent consistency; very easy elmination; very easy clean-up.

Today's Stats:

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1214     Reading:  66

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1226     BP:  108/58     Pulse:  68

    I started in on her at 1000, then 1030, then 1115 and 1130, then, finally, at 1200, she consented to awaken, mainly, because, I wouldn't stop waking her up. Good, I thought. I noticed, when I picked up the water jug kept by her bed to give her water after the two pills I give her immediately after she awakens that she had drained it last night. 32 oz of water. She never drinks her water at night, in fact she always tells me she can do without that glass. I'm glad, now, that I never take her seriously. I remember, too, that she awoke a couple of hours after retiring last night to pee. That's not unusual, but it doesn't happen that often. As well, this morning, she hadn't shed nearly as much water as she usually does. Her stats show that she's pretty well hydrated, now, I think, although I'm keeping after her.
    Again she had ham steak with her egg, 4 oz this time. Since she's been a dehydrated I didn't want to push the sodium and potassium too much. I did, though buy some sweet rolls and she chose a cherry Danish. I'm glad I did this. I'd promised her a sweet roll last night and it looks like her blood sugar can use the boosting. At the moment I've got her drinking caffeinated Chai tea and eating some mixed nuts and dry roasted peanuts. It seems that the vacation her diabetes is supposed to take may be on the horizon. This morning I wondered if perhaps I should consider dropping her glipizide, but, for the time being, I'll just keep on eye on her readings.
    I'm trying to keep her up all day today. It didn't seem to be working by being gentle so, as I "predicted", I harassed her, a little. When she wouldn't cooperate with an exercise session an hour after breakfast (dropping the weights, again, and slumping in her chair) didn't want to play Sorry, didn't even want me to style her hair (we washed and set it last night) and denied that sleeping all the time was doing her any harm, I cited several things: 1) If it isn't harming her, why did she have no energy? 2) If it isn't harming her, why was she having more and more difficulty moving around? 3) If it isn't hurting her, why are her heart and lungs laboring more than usual? 4) If it isn't hurting her, why are we having a problem with extreme states of hydration and dehydration almost from day to day? She listened to me with a sour, disgusted expression. I didn't expect any less, or more. I certainly didn't expect her to drop her pride and agree with me. She mentioned that she had to go to the bathroom and I said, "If sleeping all the time isn't doing you any harm, then rise from your chair as though your joints haven't frozen; walk into the bathroom as though you haven't been in bed for a week." That made her mad and she stood up like a trouper, walked like she hadn't been shuffling for weeks and harrumphed all the way.
    While she was on the toilet I told her I was sorry for being so rough but nothing else seemed to be keeping her out of bed (this is my usual apologia, which you know if you're a regular reader; I steam up then drop to my verbal knees in regret). I told her that I'd probably start, later, to feel really bad for roughing her up and if she made a move toward taking a nap I'd probably let her. "But, Mom, I'm sick of always having to make nasty choices when it comes to getting you moving and keeping you up. I know that I'll have to continue to make them, but I'm sick of it, and some of that frustration is bound to influence my behavior toward you. I'm not a Buddhist Monk and not interested in becoming one."     She nodded. "No," she agreed, "that you're not." We both chuckled and the tension dissipated.
    My upbraiding seems to be working for the duration. Already she's sitting forward in her chair, fidgeting, instead of relaxing into a sitting-nap position, which is a good sign, paying attention to a movie. Maybe later we'll do exercises. Maybe not. But, I told her, no naps today. She's already slept enough, in the last several days to count for several naps. This may mean that she'll go to bed a bit early, tonight, but maybe not. We'll see. I might even lose on the nap score, but, if I do, I'll severely restrict the time she's down.
    Oh, yeah, to try to head off the usual dehydration constipation I gave her a tablespoon of Benefiber® this morning, and may give her some at lunch, too. We'll see.

Lunch

Blood Glucose:     Time:  Not taken

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1726     BP:  107/53     Pulse:  73

    Still noting her high pulse rate. Since I am pre-dating this from two days hence, I can't remember what she had for lunch. Oh, yeah, I remember. Marie Callendar's Pot Roast Soup with extra chopped green onions and carrots, extra peas, extra meat in the form of beef jerky and added sweet curry powder. Blood pressure looks good, though.

BM Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  2049     Reading:  123

Blood Pressure:     Time:  2047     BP:  121/58     Pulse:  71

    Still noting her high pulse rate, but her blood pressure's good enough so I don't feel the need to check it at bedtime.
    For dinner she had a 4 oz piece of ham steak+egg+1 oz slice of Vermont Extra Sharp White Cheddar sandwich on an onion bun and about a half cup of MCS's extraordinary Bread & Butter pickles. She ate like a dog and asked for more pickles, so I gave them to her.
    Her Bowel Movement occurred by surprise as we were getting her ready for bed at 2335: Fair volume, excellent consistency, very easy elimination, very easy clean-up. I predicted for her that she'd "have the rest" sometime tomorrow.