Today's Stats:

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1306     Reading:  100

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1305     BP:  114/56     Pulse:  61

    A slight change in breakfast food, this morning. We had sausage and eggs, which means she had 1.5 eggs. One piece of home made whole wheat toast.
    Her right knee has been bothering her mightily since she arose. Our plan was to try again, today, to visit the hardware store that has an amazing baking section but she simply wasn't interested. In fact, she insisted on laying down for a nap at 1450, a little over two hours after she arose. I might add, I attempted to awaken her at 1115 this morning, exactly 12 hours after she retired last night, and she was stubbornly uninterested and told me to let her sleep, she'd "get up when I'm ready." So, I let her sleep.
    Before she napped, because she was actually wincing every time she put weight on her knee (which is unusual for her), I gave her one 200 mg ibuprofen. I hope this helps. It's entirely possible that, again, today, we'll get in only two meals.

Lunch

Blood Glucose:     Not Taken

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1738     BP:  117/56     Pulse:  61

    Her entire body felt much better after her nap.
    She had a very light lunch: A banana and 11.5 oz V-8 juice. She said she wanted to wait until dinner to "load up".

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1952     Reading:  132

Blood Pressure:     Not taken

    Since dinner followed fast behind lunch and her blood pressure seems to have gone back to her normal range, I decided not to irritate her by taking it again. Her blood glucose shows that she was still enjoying her banana.
    For dinner I made what I call meatloaf patties: A mixture of lean ground beef and sausage with chopped onions, green pepper, celery, sundried tomatoes and seasoning topped with cheese; accompanied by quick pickled beets without sugar. Neither of us likes pickled beets with sugar.
    She retired at 2230 and was up within 15 minutes, finally retiring at sometime after midnight. I guess, after a 36 hour mostly sleep period, she's ready to rumble again.

Today's Stats:

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1202     Reading:  121

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1217     BP:  122/63     Pulse:  61

    Well, I guess yesterday's double dose of lisinopril did the trick. We'll see what the next few days' stats reveal.

BM Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1916     Reading:  84

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1920     BP:  121/54     Pulse:  56

    No lunch stats as she didn't actually have a lunch. She slept through it and by the time she awoke I figured, well, we may as well have dinner. Although I'm not sure how she did it, sometime after breakfast she pulled her back. She began complaining about it after she had her Absolute Head 'Em Up, Move 'Em Out bowel movement so I'm thinking her insistence on sitting on the toilet long after her bowel movement was complete and reading one of her tabloids cover to cover may have had something to do with the kink in her back. We'd planned to go to a local hardware store here that has a fully stocked baking section to look for interesting cookie cutters but her back problem nixed this. I gave her one 200 mg ibuprofen for her back while she was sitting in the rocker after her bowel movement. About a half hour after that she decided to lay down. When she awoke her back must have been much relieved because she was mystified about why I was asking her how it was.
    We also planned to order delivery pizza from a local place for dinner. After I was disconnected twice because of their busy night I gave up and Mom said, "Well, why don't you get us hamburgers, onion rings and fries?" So, I did. Her portion, which was somewhat more than mine (I rarely eat fries unless I'm in the mood for ketchup and I'm rarely in the mood for ketchup; I rarely, as well, eat fast food hamburgers anymore so last night I ordered a grilled chicken sandwich), was hefty and she polished it off.
    Her bowel movement occurred between 1430 and 1500: Excellent volume, truly a cleaner-outer; good consistency, a bit on the smeary side; easy elimination; somewhat challenging clean-up because of the smeariness.

Today's Stats:

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  0956     Reading:  124

Blood Pressure:     Time:  0956     BP:  146/68     Pulse:  60

    Check out the time. She did that all by herself.
    Because we've been battling high systolic blood pressure for more than a few days, I decided to give her two 2.5 mg lisinopril and see if that would do anything.
    I again administered two tsp Benefiber this morning. I think I mentioned, I'll be keeping that up for awhile until I determine that it is either the right dose or it's too much. I can't imagine that, at least for the time being, it will be too little.
    With breakfast she had another of those perfect lemon/blueberry/allspice scones I baked, mainly because we had no other type of bread. I am, as I write this, baking a loaf of 100% whole wheat bread in the bread machine.

Lunch

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1535     BP:  135/65     Pulse:  77

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1554     BP:  133/67     Pulse:  70

    Two 2.5 mg lisinopril at breakfast and her systolic is still high for her. I gave her yet another 2.5 mg lisinopril at lunch. I'm, frankly, baffled; that's why I took two readings. She continues not to display any evidence of CHF, unless I'm misreading her. Maybe it really is time for her to graduate to two 5 mg lisinopril a day. I'll discuss this with her doctor on November 1st. We'll have more readings by then.
    She wasn't terribly hungry when she awoke from her nap, which was a mere 1.5 hours. All she wanted was a banana and 11.5 oz V-8 juice. I figured, considering her early rising this morning, we'd have an earlier dinner than usual.

BM Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1850     Reading:  90	Blood Pressure:     Time:  1850     BP:  137/82     Pulse:  58
	Blood Pressure:     Time:  1854     BP:  152/71     Pulse:  57

    You know, maybe this is a period of worsening of her Chronic Renal Failure. Maybe this is why, over the last few days, we've had some strikingly low BG readings, despite what she's been eating. Maybe she now needs a bit more than even 5 mg lisinopril per day. Needless to say, I administered her regular medication, which brought today's lisinopril total up to 4 2.5 mg tablets. I'm very curious about what results her BMP (blood to be drawn this coming Monday) will reveal; especially her BUN, potassium and sodium levels.
    For dinner we revived an old favorite, homemade nachos. She requested something spicy and filling and this fit the bill: A plate full of Tostitos Scoops, each filled with a drop of canned generic hot chili with beans and meat; a drop of Medium Roasted Chipotle Salsa; the entire batch sprinkled with loads of chopped green onions, a healthy sprinkling of MPBIL's Southwestern Fire spice and maybe 1/4 cup per serving of grated yellow sharp Cheddar. She requested dollops of sour cream on her plate, which I granted. She was really hungry and ate her dinner almost as fast as I typically eat mine.
    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 1830: Fair volume, which could be considered good, considering her cleansing bowel movement yesterday; excellent consistency; very easy elimination; very easy clean-up.

Today's Stats:

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1149     Reading:  94

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1209     BP:  135/70     Pulse:  54

    Her blood pressure bothers me but, again, she is not showing signs of fluid retention. As usual, I'll keep my eye on it.
    Instead of bread, this morning, she had a lemon/blueberry/allspice scone.

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1926     Reading:  71

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1925     BP:  111/60     Pulse:  67

    Well, goodness, her blood pressure is fine.
    She did not have lunch because she was not up for it. By the time she awoke from her nap it was too late for lunch. She was not hungry so I allowed her to continue with just coffee until her appetite was triggered around 1930. I prepared a wonderful dinner: 6 oz marinated rib-eye steak; a dinner salad of varied greens, radishes, carrots, onions, green pepper and green pimiento stuffed olives with my home made Ranch dressing; potatoes au gratin with yellow cheese. Although she made the mistake of putting A-1 Steak Sauce on her salad and couldn't eat as much of it as she wished, she ate heartily, nonetheless, and exclaimed that all our dinners should be as good.
    She went to bed early, for her. She extinguished her light at 2200.

Today's Stats:

BM Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  0816     Reading:  105

Blood Pressure:     Time:  0835     BP:  138/60     Pulse:  54

    I awoke her early this morning because I had lots to do to clear a path through our very small kitchen to the range, which was scheduled to be replaced with our new one today. Today I again gave her two level teaspoons of Benefiber® in her orange juice. Since it doesn't appear that this amount is changing the consistency of her bowel movements, I'll probably continue this for awhile to see if this doesn't keep her eliminatory activities somewhat more active.
    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 1015: This was the Head 'Em Up Move 'Em Out evacuation I've been anticipating: Excellent volume; excellent consistency; very easy elimination; very easy clean-up.

Lunch

Blood Glucose:     Not taken

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1558     BP:  121/59     Pulse:  58

    We had the same thing for lunch that we had yesterday. This time, though, Mom watched me cook it on the new range.

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  2005     Reading:  62

Blood Pressure:     Time:  2013     BP:  145/69     Pulse:  53

    I was surprised at her BG. That's a little too low. I probably should have insisted on a snack between lunch and dinner. Whenever she gets curry in something for lunch her blood sugar seems to drop. I didn't take this into account today.
    I gave her an extra lisinopril at dinner. I think her BP was a result of me being snippy. I seem to be having a little trouble controlling my mood, again this year. It must be seasonal.
    For dinner we had sauerkraut with turkey/artichoke/garlic/sundried tomato sausage and lemon/blueberry/allspice scones. She retired at 2230. Her light went off at 2300.

Today's Stats:

BM Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1231     Reading:  93	Blood Pressure:     Time:  1300     BP:  145/61     Pulse:  57
	Blood Pressure:     Time:  1308     BP:  117/63     Pulse:  56

    The difference between the BP taken at 1300 and the one taken at 1308 is a change of batteries. I couldn't believe how high the first one was so I let Mom relax for a little over a minute and attempted to retake her BP. At this point the monitor refused and flashed the "low battery" signal. It could be that the batteries have been low for awhile and I simply haven't noticed. Could be that this has been causing her high readings. I don't know.
    I gave her two teaspoons of Benefiber in her orange juice this morning, just to see if it might help clean her out.
    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 1330 while we were performing her bath: Fairly good volume; excellent consistency; very easy elimination (obviously); very easy clean-up. It still isn't the Move 'Em Up, Head 'Em Out evacuation I've been expecting but she felt "lighter" afterwards. Just because I know she still probably has fecal matter backed up in her colon, I decided to give her two teaspoons of Benefiber® this morning rather than her usual one rounded teaspoon. It's possible that my concern is unnecessary but it certainly won't hurt her to eliminate a little more than she has been.
    I've been forgetting to mention that as of Saturday she's only been receiving one Niferex-150 iron supplement capsule. We low before I noticed. I reordered on Friday but the pharmacy wasn't able to get them until today. Thus, I spread the remaining two over the weekend.

Lunch

Blood Glucose:     Time:Not taken

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1755     BP:  127/61     Pulse:  59

    I know I didn't give her an extra lisinopril at lunch but I don't remember why.
    For lunch she had Marie Callendar's Beef Pot Roast Soup with extra green onions, carrots and beef, seasoned with sweet curry powder and Maharajah curry powder.

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  2051     Reading:  105

Blood Pressure:     Time:  2050     BP:  139/63     Pulse:  55

    I also didn't give her an extra lisinopril at dinner. Again, I don't know why.
    For dinner I fixed tuna melts on roasted garlic Artisan bread sprinkled with Parmesan and set under the broiler for about 10 minutes. The tuna was mixed with chopped egg, onion, celery and sundried tomatoes, glued together with mayonnaise and seasoned with celery salt, salad seasoning and onion powder.

Today's Stats:

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1213     Reading:  109

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1239     BP:  131/56     Pulse:  61

    Considering that we finished the apple pie last night, I'm pleased with her blood sugar. Of course, there wasn't much left.

Lunch

Blood Glucose:     Not taken

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1738     BP:  145/64     Pulse:  54

    Usual lunch: 11.5 oz V-8 juice, a banana and 7 pimiento stuffed green olives.
    She also received her "third" dose of 2.5 mg lisinopril. I'm thinking it's time to up her dose to 5 mg a day. Good thing we've got an upcoming appointment for the doctor soon.

Non-stat Dinner
    I seem to be lagging in my stat awareness. I forget to take them at dinner until it's a little too late.
    At any rate, her medication schedule hasn't changed and I'm continuing to administer three 2.5 lisinopril tablets a day.
    For dinner I fixed our usual Mac & Cheese with chopped onions, green peppers and celery and some ground beef-sausage mixture.