Today's Stats:

BM Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1040     Reading:  76

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1053     BP:  116/56     Pulse:  61

    Whoa! Look at that blood sugar! After brownies and ice cream just before she went to bed! You never can tell! She also had a brownie for breakfast. I'd forgotten to put them away last night. She noticed them on her way through the kitchen into the dinette after her bath and decided that's what she wanted instead of toast. With blood sugar like that up there I figured, it can't hurt. Also got one rounded teaspoon of Benefiber®.     Her bowel movement occurred just before she went back to bed instead of accompanying me on our planned outting, at 1235: Excellent volume; excellent consistency; very easy elimination; very easy clean-up.

Lunch

Blood Glucose:     Time:  Not taken

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1647     BP:  108/54     Pulse:  67

    Everything looks good but she's spent most of the day sleeping, although I don't know why. I worked hard to get her up early and keep her up...we had plans. Just before we were to embark on our plans, about two hours after I'd awakened her, she headed back to bed.
    For lunch she had 8 oz yoghurt, 11.5 oz V-8 juice, 5 mini dills and 6 green pimiento stuffed olives.

Non-stat Dinner
    Today has been such a weird day for Mom, and thus for me, that dinner stats got lost in Mom's up and down, mostly down day. Down as in sleeping, that is.
    I'm not sure when we ate but it was late. I went to Taco Bell, food we haven't eaten for over a year, I think. She had a burrito supreme, a taco supreme and a bowl of pintos and cheese.
    She was up very late watching a very long movie. I can't remember for sure when we ate dinner but I think it was around 2200, during a break in the presentation.

Today's Stats:

BM Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1322     Reading:  91

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1338     BP:  118/58     Pulse:  65

    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 1345 while we were bathing her: Fair volume, rock-shit consistency, very easy elimination, very easy clean-up. I was planning that we'd have her blood drawn this morning but she had a hell of a night, although she said she didn't remember it. I'll describe it over at the main journal site. So, I let her sleep in, until I got nervous. Yes, she got her Benefiber®, one rounded teaspoon in her orange juice.

Non-stat Lunch
    Can't remember why I didn't take her blood pressure...oh, yeah. She awoke very late in the morning. I decided to see how long she'd sleep in if I didn't get nervous. I started to get nervous at 1300, though and she was just shuffling into the bathroom when I headed in to awaken her. She stayed up the rest of the day without a nap, surprisingly. We were in the middle of a hot Sorry game when she decided she wanted some lunch. Thus, I forgot to take her blood pressure. I can't remember exactly but I'm pretty sure she had her standard yoghurt, V-8 juice and pickled things lunch.

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  2025     Reading:  131

Blood Pressure:     Time:  2024     BP:  125/56     Pulse:  62

    Nice looking stats. She had sauerkraut with caraway seeds and polish sausage and 5 radishes for dinner; and dessert about an hour later: A Honey Bear Brownie from the batch I made earlier in the day with a generous scoop of English Toffee ice cream with ground up bits of Heath bars in it. She was in sugar heaven, although she and I both complained that the brownies were too sweet and weren't "dark enough". The link is to the recipe I used; one among many that came up in my search but they all seemed about the same. This recipe was chosen at random. We both remember the original I used to use years ago and of which I've lost track, as being darker (with more cocoa, probably) and less sweet. It was also from the label on a box of Hershey's cocoa. The Hershey's company, though, does not list a Honey Bear Brownie recipe at their site so I guess over the years they've disavowed it. I've decided that I'm going to retry the recipe, when it gets cooler, with about half the sweetening agents and somewhat more cocoa.

Today's Stats:

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1230     Reading:  90

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1230     BP:  112/54     Pulse:  59

    Looking good. 1 rounded tsp Benefiber® in orange juice.

Non-stat Lunch
    Can't remember why I didn't take her blood pressure for lunch but during periods when it seems steady I don't worry about taking it and it's easy for me to forget. I'm sure that's what happened on this day. Can't remember what she had for lunch, either, but it was probably her usual.

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  2006     Reading:  114

Blood Pressure:     Time:  2006     BP:  132/62     Pulse:  61

    We had left overs for dinner; left over tomato pie and left over macaroni and cheese. Although her blood pressure was a little high, it wasn't a part of a pattern so I decided not to take it again before bed and see if it evened itself out in the morning. As you'll note, it did.

Today's Stats:

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1237     Reading:  123

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1238     BP:  113/55     Pulse:  61

    Everything looks good. It's another rain soaked day. I'll keep an eye on her breathing.

Lunch

Blood Glucose:     Time:  Not taken

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1755     BP:  121/61     Pulse:  66

    Still looking good. She was very dehydrated this morning when she awoke so I was pleased that I'd manage to stock away enough liquid to get her blood pressure up a bit.
    For lunch she had her usual yoghurt, 11.5 oz V-8 juice, 6 green pimiento stuffed olives and 5 mini-dills.

BM Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  2139     Reading:  95

Blood Pressure:     Time:  2137     BP:  144/66     Pulse:  63

    As usual on wet days, she was on oxygen all day, I had to remind her to breath through her nose when she was on the pulse regulated tanks, and her blood pressure was up this evening. When I saw this reading I intended to check it at bedtime and probably give her a third lisinopril, but she went to bed very late her for (almost 0100 8/25/05), we were having a great time talking and laughing and I forgot. I think she'll be okay in the morning.
    For dinner we had left over My Mac& Cheese, tomato pie and finished up the blueberry cobbler and some lemon sorbet that's been in the freezer since late July.
    Her bowel Movement occurred at 2010: poor volume, less than I expected; good consistency, although it was rock shit, again; very easy elimination (she swore, just seconds before she eliminated, that she did not think she'd be having a bowel movement; yes, I asked, as I often do); very easy clean-up.

Today's Stats:

BM Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1242     Reading:  93

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1252     BP:  119/59     Pulse:  60

    Her stats look good. She ate a good breakfast but it was hell getting fluids down her.
    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 1445, just before she napped: Poor volume, I expect she'll have another one within the next 24 hours; good consistency but smeary, so I guess she's still working off the excess soluble fiber; very easy elimination; not very easy clean-up.

Lunch

Blood Glucose:     Time:  Not taken

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1745     BP:  115/54     Pulse:  60

    Good pressure. Although she was "a little hungry", she remembered that we'd talked about having KFC for dinner tonight. I told her that it was too early to have a large meal + meds so she opted for some yoghurt (with wheat germ) and 11.5 oz V-8 juice.
    She looks better, since her nap, and is breathing better than I expected and much better than this morning (for information on this see today's post at The Mom & Me Journals dot Net. The humidity has increased and a storm is in the process of building as I write but she isn't mouth breathing anymore, although she's moving verrrry sloooow. Oh well. I take whatever I can get.
Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1955     Reading:  126

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1955     BP:  139/68     Pulse:  61

    Yes, I will be taking her blood pressure again before bed.
    For dinner we had KFC. She ate an Original Recipe thigh, about 3/4's cup of their Mac & Cheese and about 3/4's cup of their green beans. Oh, and blueberry cobbler with cream.

Bedtime

Blood Glucose:     Time:  Not taken

Blood Pressure:     Time:  2212     BP:  148/72     Pulse:  74

    It's one of those rain days wherein she's been having trouble breathing and has been on oxygen all day, so, considering her dinner reading, I had to check her blood pressure again. Good thing. I gave her a third lisinopril before sending her off to dreamland.

Today's Stats:

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1211     Reading:  88

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1223     BP:  120/59     Pulse:  59

    When I peaked in on her at noon she was untangling herself from her bedsheets, ready to rise. Everything looks good, everything's been going good.

Lunch

Blood Glucose:     Time:  Not taken

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1755     BP:  110/55     Pulse:  69

    Nice looking blood pressure.
    For lunch she had her usual, 8 oz non-fat, artificially sweetened yoghurt, 6 pimiento stuffed green olives and about 1/3 cup of MCS's Bread & Butter pickles. I continue, by the way, to put a heaping table-type teaspoon of wheat germ in her yoghurt. No V-8 juice today. She didn't want it; she wanted water. She so rarely asks for water that when she wants it, she gets it, lickety split.

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  2026     Reading:  120

Blood Pressure:     Time:  2025     BP:  133/65     Pulse:  68

    Yes, I will indeed take her blood pressure again before she retires, although I think the cause of the high systolic was that she and I were having an animated conversation which she insisted on continuing while I was taking her blood pressure, wagging her fingers to accent her statements, thus tensing the muscles in her arm. This wrist cuff can be awfully sensitive.
    For dinner we had home made ham salad on a bed of dark greens and mmmm, Blueberry Cobbler. She insisted on having hers with heavy cream, which I always have in the refrigerator because I use it to make cocoa in the evening and I never know when she's going to want it on something.

Bedtime

Blood Glucose:     Time:  Not taken

Blood Pressure:     Time:  2210     BP:  123/62     Pulse:  78

    This was taken a full hour before she retired. It was at this time that she first "threatened" retirement, so I took it. It's fine. No need for a third lisinopril.

Today's Stats:

BM Non-stat Breakfast
    I awoke and have carried on through the day in such a bad mood that, although I finished chores and worked with Mom lickety split without a hitch, I completely forgot to take stats.
    I did note, however, her Bowel Movement: Occurred at 1235; good volume; excellent consistency; very easy elimination; clean-up a bit slick and messy but less than it has been, lately. I think I'll cut back to 1 tsp. Benefiber® in the morning for her.

Lunch

Blood Glucose:     Time:  Not taken

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1817     BP:  133/61     Pulse:  68

    I took only one stat today, this "lunch" stat, which is to say I took it after she awoke from her nap and before she had her second meal of the day. It was this stat that caused me to realize that it would be best if I not take any more stats today, at least not blood pressure stats, and blood glucose stats are practically no longer necessary. I barked at her as I was taking this stat, can't remember what I barked about, probably lack of fluid consumption or something along that line. You can hear my barking in her systolic. So, I decided, no more stat taking while I'm feeling frustrated and in need of a break.
    I'm lucky, actually, that my mother's health is such that I can get away with not taking her stats when I'm having a day or two of bad mooding.
    Forgot to mention: For lunch she had left over pizza from last night, two pieces, which she devoured with much delight.

Non-stat Dinner
    And, for that matter, not much of a dinner, except that my mother considered it the supreme dinner. Since she'd had a hearty left over pizza lunch I decided today's dinner would be a good time to feed her the piece of chocolate she thought she'd want a couple of nights ago but decided against. Chocolate cake goes well with pill taking. That's all she had for dinner, which happened about two and a half hours after her second meal of the day, and all she wanted.