Today's Stats:

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1015     Reading:  120

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1014     BP:  137/78     Pulse:  65

    Not sure why her BP was so high...maybe she's retaining water and it's been collecting so slowly that I've been unaware of it. Before I do anything I'll see how she reads tonight. I'm pleased with her relatively early awakening, though, although it happened with a bit of coaxing from me.
    Breakfast was normal, with bacon.

BM Non-stat Lunch
    She took only a very short nap, from 1300 - 1400, approximately. Had a very light lunch: V-8 juice and 8 oz yoghurt.
    Her Bowel Movement occurred upon awakening, at 1500: Poor volume; fair consistency, lots of little shit balls; a bit of difficulty eliminating; easy clean-up, some retrieval of tiny, sticking shit balls. I'm thinking that she might needs something to move the fluid along in her body.
    Soon after breakfast she complained about both her knees bothering her. I gave her an ibuprofen about 45 minutes after breakfast and egged her into drinking a cup of instant decaf coffee to get the tablet down and dissolving.

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1917     Reading:  89

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1911     BP:  153/69     Pulse:  63

    Well, something's definitely going on with her blood pressure. I decided to give her 10 mg lisinopril for dinner: Her usual 5 mg dose with the addition of two 2.5 mg lisinopril tablets from her last batch of pills.
    For dinner I served sauerkraut and kielbasa, to a purpose. I decided that I would give her 20 mg furosemide before she went to bed to pull water off her and see if that, with the pills, lowers her BP. I'm sure now, from studying her all day, that she is, indeed, retaining water in her torso. I think this may be why her energy level has been so low over the last week.

Today's Stats:

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1120     Reading:  118

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1119     BP:  139/63     Pulse:  55

    I'm a little surprised at her systolic, but I had a hard time getting her to relax in the bathroom. She finally told me that it was too cold for her, so I guess it's time to rachet the baseboard heater up. It goes up, in the winter, by degrees until, sometime at the end of December, it's on full blast 24/7 until late spring.
    The only change at breakfast was that I served bulk sausage with her egg scrambled in, seasoned with MPBIL's Southwestern Fire spice. Tomorrow we'll return to bacon with breakfast.

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1837     Reading:  86

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1836     BP:  119/56     Pulse:  65

    Mom slept the good sleep this afternoon during her nap. I didn't disturb her. When she awoke she refused any lunch so I decided to hydrate her on coffee and make dinner, which would take about an hour to get on the table. That was fine with her. So, no lunch at all today.
    Dinner, however, made up for it. I started with a basic recipe for Potatoes au Gratin, then added the rest of the corned beef, chopped; the small bit left of the Canadian ham, chopped; 5 green onions, sliced; about 3/4 cup chopped celery; about 1/2 cup chopped green onion; about a teaspoon of a savory mix of typically Italian spices. Excellent. Afterwards, we finished off what little Rocky Road was left from the carton I bought last week; about 3/4 cup apiece.
    Afterward Mom said, "That was the perfect dinner."
    I love to hear that from her.

Today's Stats:

BM Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1322     Reading:  112

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1322     BP:  121/64     Pulse:  56

    It was my folly, today, to think that since she rose an hour earlier yesterday than the day previous, I could coax her to repeat the same behavior today. Silly me.
    When I attempted to rouse her at noon she flatly responded without opening her eyes, "Another hour."
    She must have known what she needed because precisely an hour later, while I was chatting with the oxygen supply company people outside, she arose, bathroomed herself and took herself out to the dinette to await my return.
    Her stats look good so, despite going through yet another valley of super-prodigious sleep, I'm fine with what's going on.
    I did notice, as she lay down for her nap, that her right eye looks a little blasted but it didn't look that way previously so I'm not worried. I'll just keep my eye on her eye. She's not faltering, nor is she any more (or less) demented than usual so I think we're fine.
    I forgot to put bacon out to thaw last night so we had polish sausage for breakfast. One egg, this morning, for her.
    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 1545: Good volume, excellent consistency, easy elimination, very easy clean-up.

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1920     Reading:  119

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1918     BP:  127/54     Pulse:  66

    I should mention that these stats were taken a full 45 minutes before she ate dinner and an hour and a half before she took her pills. Although she did have a light snack of V-8 juice and six pimiento stuffed green olives when she awoke at a little after 1700, it wasn't enough to keep her from getting hungry before I could "legally" administer her last set of pills. So, I took the stats early before I went out to get her choice for dinner, Taco Bell food (a burrito supreme, a taco supreme and half an order of pintos and cheese) and waited until after she ate to administer her pills.
    No extra pills today, by the way, for any reason.
    She remained up until 2245. Her light went off at 2300.

Today's Stats:

Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1320     Reading:  104

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1318     BP:  121/70     Pulse:  63

    She was up before the times shown above, today somewhere between 1245 and 1300, a good hour before yesterday's arising. It took me awhile to get around to taking her BP and BG: I'd managed to misplace the "instruments of torture" yesterday when I was cleaning up and took a break during her bathing to look for them. I expected her pressure to be higher because we'd already begun the activity associated with bathing, but it came in very nice, considering all her movement.
    Normal breakfast except she again asked for two eggs.
    About a half hour after breakfast she complained about her knees. When she complains about pain I know it's significant, so I gave her a 200 mg ibuprofen tablet.

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  2029     Reading:  73

Blood Pressure:     Time:  2028     BP:  115/54     Pulse:  58

    No lunch today. She slept through it. Once the ibuprofen for her knees kicked in and she relaxed, she was in the bedroom and out like a light.
    She is was in very good humor this evening. When she awoke she wasn't interested in eating, so I gave her a big cup of coffee and we read all afternoon and evening long until dinner, which consisted of about 8 oz small curd 4% fat cottage cheese, six Buffalo wings and 11.5 oz V-8 juice.
    Her stats look good and we managed to get through was was working up to be some abdominal fluid retention without furosemide, which is good. I'll use that stuff if necessary, but it pulls the bejesus out of her and leaves her feeling wasted for a good 24 hours.
    She retired at 2330. Her light went out at 2345.

Breakfast Stats Only, today...

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1402     Reading:  93

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1401     BP:  129/66     Pulse:  56

    ...and you can sort of see why. Breakfast occurred at about 1445, after a very late arising. I have begun postulating, over at The Mom & Me Journals dot Net as to why this occurred but I didn't stop it from happening. I knew I wasn't risking dehydration because she was a bit pudgy with fluid last night and I was hoping she'd lose it while she slept. As well she asked me, three separate times, to let her sleep. I finally stopped awakening her every half hour at 1300. An hour later she was up of her own accord, feeling rested.
    Thus, she had only two meals today: A hefty normal breakfast which included two eggs; A hefty meal of a KFC Original Recipe thigh, about 3/4 cup of their macaroni and cheese and about 3/4 cup of their green beans. Since she didn't get her "morning" pills until about 1430, I waited until 2130, a good hour and a half after dinner, to administer her evening pills with about 8 oz orange juice.

Today's Stats:

BM Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1117     Reading:  113

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1128     BP:  129/61     Pulse:  60

    Back to bacon as breakfast meat.     Her Bowel Movement occurred just before we bathed her at 1120: Fair volume, which is fine since she had a bowel movement yesterday; excellent consistency; very easy elimination; very easy clean-up.

Non-stat Extended Lunch
    Although 1515 is a bit early for lunch, after we'd covered four more chapters in the book we're reading aloud she announced that she was hungry and "could use a little something in my stomach." I don't expect this to be the last "lunch" she'll have today, as she just now laid down for her nap and will probably want "a little something more" when she awakens. I gave her about 3/4 cup of heavily peppered cottage cheese and maybe 1/2 cup of a jar of marinated vegetables I picked up somewhere that looked good: artichokes, roasted peppers, baby corn cobs and slices of heart of palm marinated in a variety of spices, vinegars and olive oil.

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1954     Reading:  72

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1949     BP:  129/67     Pulse:  72

    I am absolutely positive that Mom's "high" blood pressure tonight was because I had her moving around a lot from rocking chair to bathroom to rocking chair just before I took it and she was perturbed with me.
    "I don't have to go to the bathroom!"
    She did.
    "I'm sure my underwear doesn't need changing!"
    It did.
    "You're hands are cold!"
    They were. I warmed them. That didn't seem to make any difference.
    "I am relaxed."
    She wasn't and, after the above, wasn't about to completely relax. So I took her BP anyway.
    For dinner I served some left-over tomato/sausage/otherstuff marinara over chicken/garlic ravioli sprinkled with fresh grated Parmesan.

Today's Stats:

BM Breakfast

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1105     Reading:  128

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1118     BP:  120/60     Pulse:  59

    I notice last night's ice cream waving "Hello", from the stands of my mother's blood.
    Her blood pressure looks good.
    Breakfast meat this morning was bulk sage sausage scrambled into her egg.
    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 1050: Good volume; excellent consistency; very easy elimination; very easy clean-up.

Non-stat Lunch
    Lunch seems to go a lot easier, now that I'm not bugging her to relax for her blood pressure reading. Today lunch occurred around 1630: yoghurt and V-8 juice, that's all she wanted.
    Over the last few days, as the air pressure has been bouncing around, I've noticed Mom's breathing to be occasionally lightly labored, so I've had her on tanked, pulse oxygen a lot, 2/lpm, when she's been up. There's not sign of unusual fluid retention, no hacking, and she hasn't been unusually tired except for yesterday when she slept off the minor storm that passed through Friday afternoon and evening.

Dinner

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1902     Reading:  80

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1906     BP:  152/60     Pulse:  57

    I'm a little concerned about her systolic blood pressure, especially since she's receiving 5 mg lisinopril morning and evening, now. But, it could be a reaction to the active weather pressure changes over the last few days. We'll see how her pressure performs over the next week. I may boost her up to 10 mg morning and night, depending on what lays itself out statistically over the next week.
    Tonight for dinner I served her the last of the Costco chicken pot pie. We've had a lot of leftover, lately. I'm trying to clean out the freezer to make room for baked goods we'll be distributing later.
    I've decided that whenever I think of it, starting tonight, I'm going to post an updated review of all the medications and supplements she's on, since they seem to be changing fairly frequently. Tonight, as well, once I've posted her current med/supplement chart, I'll put a link to it under the "Special Posts" links section of The Mom & Me Journals dot Net. Each time I publish a new medication/supplement schedule, I'll refresh that link to direct interested parties to the current list. As well, each schedule will be titled in green.

Past Current Medication & Supplement Schedule

12/12/05: Change in Med Schedule: Amount of Benefiber at breakfast now 1 tablespoon + 1 teaspoon; change involves upping her dosage from 1 tablespoon.
ADDITIONAL NOTE: It seems at sometime after the original publication of this schedule I upped her Benefiber dosage from 2 tsp at breakfast to 1 tbl (an addition of 1 tsp) and didn't note it. I'm not sure when I did this but it was definitely within the last month.
BREAKFAST

Med/Dose	Administration	Explanation
Niferex-150 [150 mg elemental iron]	1/2 to 1 hour before breakfast	to keep her iron deficiency anemia under control
vitamin C/500 mg	1/2 1000 mg tab with Niferex-150	helps the body metabolize iron
100% Aloe Vera gel/1 oz	just before meal	helps increase the cells' sensitivity to insulin when used with glipizide
Protonix/40 mg	1 pill at least 1/2 hour pre-meal	standard pre-breakfast med; helps protect her intestinal lining to prevent ulceration and bleeding
glipizide ER/10 mg	1 pill with meal	standard breakfast and dinner med to increase cells' sensitivity to insulin
coated aspirin/81 mg	1 tab with breakfast	standard breakfast med - given for anti-coagulant properties
lisinopril/5 mg	1/2 of 10 mg tab with meal	given to lower her blood pressure and protect her kidneys; works by relaxing the blood vessels
Daily Senior Multivitamin	with breakfast	standard breakfast supplement
folic acid/400 mcg	with breakfast	standard breakfast supplement
garlic/1250 mg	with meal	standard breakfast supplement; a natural antibiotic and anti-coagulant
1 1200 mg Omega-3 Fish Oil capsule	with meal	Although her PCP is not concerned about her cholesterol and triglycerides, I've added this to see if it helps keep these levels optimum. As well, it seems that there are other benefits ascribed to this supplement which may or may not apply to my mother, including sharper mental functioning and increased skin elasticity.
1 12 oz cup Yogi Tea Detox or Peach Detox tea	with meal	This tea is specifically designed to promote liver and kidney functions.
1 tbl + 1 tsp Benefiber	with meal, in orange juice	promotes timely, easy bowel evacuation; may occasionally be given in lower or higher doses
1/2 tsp cinnamon	with meal, sprinkled on toast	said to increase cell sensitivity to insulin

No regular LUNCH medications or supplements.

DINNER:

Med/Dose	Administration	Explanation
100% Aloe Vera gel/1 oz	just before meal	helps increase the cells' sensitivity to insulin when used with glipizide
Niferex-150 [150 mg elemental iron]	just before meal	to keep her iron deficiency anemia under control
vitamin C/500 mg	1/2 1000 mg tab with iron supplement	helps the body metabolize iron
glipizide ER/10 mg	1 pill with meal	standard dinner med to increase cells' sensitivity to insulin
lisinopril/5 mg	1/2 of 10 mg tab with meal	given to lower her blood pressure and protect her kidneys; works by relaxing the blood vessels
vitamin E/400 IU	with meal	given for anti-coagulant properties
garlic/1250 mg	with meal	given for anti-coagulant and antibiotic properties
calcium-vitamin D/500-200 mg	with meal	believed to be an osteoporosis preventative; although current research suggests that it does not perform well in women; I give it to her anyway because I doubt that it will hurt her and the extra Vitamin C is probably good for her
100 mg Macrodantin	with meal	to prevent UTIs

OTHER THAN MEALTIMES:

Med/Dose	Administration	Explanation
Concentrated oxygen, 2-3/lpm continuous	when she's sleeping	to make sure she doesn't become breathless
Tanked pulse oxygen, 2-3/lpm	when she's sitting around or indulging in light moving	if she becomes breathless; she does not always use this when she's up
Tanked oxygen, 2/lpm continuous	when she's moving or exercising	almost always uses this

    You'll notice cranberry juice is no longer on the supplement menu. With all the other anti-oxidants she gets and considering that she now receives a daily dose of antibiotics to prevent UTIs, cranberry juice is no longer a medical supplement for her, it's something she may or may not drink during the day. She gets plenty of anti-oxidants as it is, so I'm not worried about making sure she gets cranberry juice every day, anymore.

    The following are prescribed meds, treatments or supplements (all the rest are OTC supplementals which, although approved by her PCP, were not suggested by him):

• Protonix (Rx)
• Glipizide (Rx)
• Lisinopril (Rx)
• Macrodantin (Rx)
• Oxygen, 2-3/lpm pulse and continuous
• 81 mg Aspirin
• Oscal: Calcium/Vitamin D combo

    The following are administered occasionally, as needed:

• Opcon-A for itchy, weepy eyes
• Phillip's Milk of Magnesia to break through constipation
• Ducosate Sodium if a little more help is needed to break through constipation
• Extra Strength Tums for very occasional upset stomach
• {Rx} Furosemide 10-20 mg once to twice a day for very occasional abdominal water retention
• {Rx} Metoclopramide 5 mg administered 1/2 hour before meal in the case of very occasional nausea