Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1328     Reading:  151

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1401     BP:  147/64     Pulse:  53

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2055     Reading:  137

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  2055     BP:  115/56     Pulse:  65

    Surprise, surprise! I'm actually recording these on the day they were taken. Mom has just retired. It is her intention to read herself to sleep, tonight, but she hasn't yet settled into her reading position in bed. She's still sitting on the edge of her bed, looking for Mr. Man.
    Although I arrived home from my later-than-early errand at 1300 on the nose and Mom was up on her elbow in bed waiting for me, the new glucometer arrived and it took me half an hour to read the pertinent parts of the instruction booklet (yes, Virginia, I read instruction booklets before operating devices), test it's mechanism with the control solution, set the significators on the meter and take her blood glucose. I guess it was high because of dinner last night, although, you know, it occurred to me that Mom may have gotten up, eaten or drunk something while I was gone and, knowing I would be back no later than 1300, gone back to bed. I noticed that her oxygen was off when I came home, although there didn't seem to be any evidence in the kitchen that anything that would affect her reading had gone down her throat. I asked her and she said, "No," but she may not have remembered. At any rate, I'm not concerned because that should help boost her HA1c, hopefully into mid to high normal range.
    I forgot to wait to take her blood pressure at the breakfast table. It'll take me a couple of days to remember the routine change. Her breakfast was a bit richer than usual: An egg scrambled into crumbled, fried, defatted sausage and a delicious scone bought from a local bakery on the way home from my errand; I'd promised her last night that I'd pick up some sort of sweet roll for breakfast. I picked up two types and gave her a choice; the other was a cream cheese Danish. She'll probably have that for breakfast tomorrow.
    Otherwise, we had a good day. Very short nap. I doubt that she slept. She was down for maybe fifteen minutes sometime between 1800 and 1900. She said she didn't want any lunch, wanted to wait until dinner to eat, but when I offered her a 1 oz bag of peanuts her eyes lit up. That was at about 1930. A blood sugar reading of 137 an hour and half after a bag of peanuts, considering that she'd had a rich, sweet cranberry scone for breakfast, is an excellent reading.
    I also bought an airy, crunchy loaf of Vienna bread from the local bakery. It just looked good. I decided, this evening, to use it to make toasted yellow sharp Cheddar, defatted (in the microwave) pepperoni, slice olive toasted sandwiches, lightly sprinkling the cheese with an herb mixture; served with a side of pickled asparagus. I'm sorry to say that I noticed that Costco, once again, has discontinued the pickled asparagus. Fuck. I bought four jars when I saw them. We're on the last jar, now, and as of the last time I visited Costco, they no longer had them. I'm sorry I didn't prefigure that they'd only have them for a limited time and buy more jars. They are a great fill-in when we don't have MCS's bread and butter pickles. Although the ingredients of the pickled asparagus do not include sugar, some combination of spices and probably balsamic vinegar makes them taste rather like B&B pickles, so Mom liked them very well.
    It's 0002, 3/19/06. Mom's light is off. A few minutes ago it was still on. I'll start figuring 12 hours from midnight.
    No bowel movement today, so if she doesn't have one between breakfast and lunch, tomorrow, I'll probably give her a tablespoon of Phillip's. Her feet were a little swollen this evening and she didn't really drink a lot of liquids, so I know she's carrying around some baggage. I may give her some, anyway, at breakfast, just to help clean her out. I have a feeling she's getting a little backed up, her last few movements have been only fairly good to fairly poor. She could probably use a light cleansing.

Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1307     Reading:  129

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1324     BP:  127/63     Pulse:  57

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2044     Reading:  101

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  2043     BP:  112/64     Pulse:  56

    I had a little bit of a problem this morning...almost forgot stats to do stats, and I think I learned something, although I'm not sure. We'll have to see. Mom was up and in the bathroom around 1230, I was wrestling with cats. By the time I got to the bathroom I had forgotten to take stats until about halfway through her bath. I took her blood glucose immediately, between face and arm washing, but decided to wait on the blood pressure until she was comfortably seated at the table for breakfast; it was a quick bath; she had only barely leaked at night, which I rather expected since her feet were not even the tiniest bit swollen when she'd retired last night. I've done this before and it has made no difference, as morning irritation is as likely at the table as it is in the bathroom. But, low and behold, I got a relatively decent blood pressure reading! Frankly, it's a hassle taking it at the table because of the way our furniture is positioned. I'm wondering, though, if Mom feels more settled at the table because the "handling" of her that's involved in bathing is over and she knows she can relax and will be allowed to handle herself. It could also be because we were able to perform a quick bath.
    Her nap was also relatively short. She wasn't interested in lunch, either; I couldn't even tempt her with peanuts or olives, two of her favorite things, so I honored her her lack of interest. By the time she'd "worked up an appetite" (which is, actually, a droll way of putting it), it was about 2030. I served chili dogs with home made chili on whole wheat bolillo rolls with lots of chopped fresh Bermuda onion and freshly grated sharp yellow Cheddar. Once again, pre-dinner, she mentioned the possibility of "something sweet later", and I was willing, but I petitioned her at 2200, then again at 2300, and she wasn't interested.
    She retired at midnight, straight up. Tonight she wasn't interested in reading herself to sleep, so her light was off by 0015 (it takes about 15-20 minutes to get her ready for bed and squared away in her bedroom, which usually includes conversation and light play with the cats, who always attend to her when she wakes up or retires). I told her that I had an errand to run on Saturday for which I couldn't leave until 1145 and may not be back until about 1300. "That's okay," she said. "I won't have any trouble sleeping in." That's an understatement! "Why don't you pick up some kind of sweet rolls on your way home?"
    I'll see what I can do.

BM No Stat Day (my fault):

    Oh, what a night! Mr. Man, our new kit-kat, who has been sleeping through the nights, decided last night was going to be his First Hurrah! He didn't disturb Mom but, well, the last time I looked at the clock (and yelled at him) it was 0559. I was up and down and up and down with him, trying to tire him out. It seems, though, that I actually fed the flames. Mom slept straight through; didn't even awaken for a bathroom break. I finally began sleeping sometime after 0600. I set the alarm so I'd awaken around 1000. I don't remember it going off. I probably turned it off in my sleep. At 1230 I shuddered awake. Mom was still asleep, I was underslept, and decided to take some time to awaken, drink coffee, get things done. So Mom actually slept about 14 hours. When I tiptoed in at a little after 1400, her eyes were open and she was ready for the day. When I approached her with the first Instrument of Torture, the glucometer, she made a face, so I threw stats to the wind for the day.
    The surprising thing, and it's something upon which I commented to her later in the day, the almost 14 hours seemed to really do her good. She was in an excellent mood, not prone to drag at all, talkative, "active" (I put that in quotes because essentially, what this means, is that she made several well observed trips from her rocker to the garbage to throw away Kleenexes), tried to take a nap around 1715 but discovered she wasn't interested, generally had a very good day. I told her, half joking, half serious, that maybe she had gotten to the place where she needed a bit over 12 hours of sleep each night. She, of course, greeted this with good humored agreement!
    We had only two meals, breakfast and dinner, which was home made cheeseburgers on onion buns with asparagus spears and a few Doritos Nacho Cheese chips. She mentioned just before dinner that today might be "a good day for dessert" but was too full after dinner. She retired at 0015. Her light went off at 0030.
    I think, on Friday, I'll do reconnaisance at 1230 but if she resists, I'll let her go until about 1330, in line what what seems to be her increasing sleep needs.
    I also noticed that, since I didn't bug her about drinking water as much, her fluid intake fell a little below (by anywhere from a cup to a pine) the two quarts I try to ply her with but her feet weren't swollen at bedtime so I think maybe I've been a little over solicitous with fluids.
    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 1620: Fairly good volume; excellent consistency; very easy elimination; easy clean-up.

Mini-Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1242     Reading:  116

Blood Pressure:     Not taken

    My fault, completely, that stats weren't taken and my excuses are legitimate but flimsy. This morning I returned from several errands just in time to awaken my mother at her 12 hour night sleep limit: 1230. I took her BG but got so involved in trying to square away supplies and manage her trek into the bathroom and all the little things I do to prepare us for her bath that I created a great deal of excitement and decided I wasn't interested in knowing what her BP is when there are more than the usual morning irritants affecting it.
    This evening, well, I just plumb forgot because we were busy talking, watching news, etc. I'm sorry I did because we did, indeed, have strawberry shortcake for breakfast and I was curious to see how her blood sugar would look in the evening. She took a later and longer than usual nap, today. She was having problems with body stiffness so I gave her an adult aspirin right after breakfast. That seemed to help but, when she finally went in to nap at 1600 I was so tired from lack of sleep, continuing cold trials and a very early, very long, very busy morning that I decided to nap, as well. I didn't awaken until 1915 when I heard the toilet in her bathroom flush.
    Needless to say, she didn't have a lunch. Because we were pretty much on schedule for dinner and I figured it would take me about 45 minutes to an hour to prepare dinner, I gave her coffee and she ended up having only two meals today, instead of two meals and a light snack lunch (which, lately, has been consisting of V-8 juice, heavily peppered cottage cheese and a 1 oz. package of peanuts). For dinner we devoured the rest of last night's dinner, substituting pickled asparagus spears for the broccoli we had last night. Everything was just as good the second time around.
    She and I were both feeling much better post nap. She stayed up until just about midnight. Her light went off around 0030.

BM Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1221     Reading:  107

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1254     BP:  156/69     Pulse:  56

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2006     Reading:  128

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  2004     BP:  106/53     Pulse:  58

    For dinner I served roast chicken (she had a thigh and a leg, her favorite parts), very lightly steamed broccoli, Uncle Ben's Original Style Long Grain and Wild Rice (with no additions, which is unusual, but we're getting low on vegetables) and Hollandaise Sauce, which Mom insisted on putting over everything in abundance.
    She announced, just before dinner, that she thought we should have strawberry shortcake again. I agreed provisionally, saying that I'd serve it "later" if "we" weren't too full. As it turned out, we were both too full all evening, even though she didn't retire until midnight, turning her light off at about 0030. When I kissed her goodnight, though, she suggested that we have the shortcake for breakfast. I quickly figured shortcake against the berry pancake breakfast we occasionally have and agreed, why not?
    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 1740, upon awakening from her nap: Fairly good volume; good consistency; very easy elmination; a bit smeary to clean-up.

Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1311     Reading:  125

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1348     BP:  137/71     Pulse:  55

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2120     Reading:  113

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  2116     BP:  104/66     Pulse:  56

    I was surprised and pleased to notice that her blood sugar adapted well to the chocolate cake she had last night. The extra glipizide probably helped. So, I think, I'll make it a routine, at least until we see, on April 4th, how her HA1c is faring, to slip her an extra glipizide when she has sweets in the evening.
    Dinner was mac & cheese with lots of meat and added chopped onion, celery, garlic and sun dried tomatoes. Also extra cheese, sharp white Vermont Cheddar, as usual.
    I posting this two days after the fact so I don't remember much except that, considering the amount of snow we had, even though I shoveled quite a bit of it from our driveway, despite the fact that I wasn't feeling really good, we stayed in and enjoyed living in our personal Christmas Card.
    As usual, late retiring and late arising continues.

BM Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1310     Reading:  124

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1305     BP:  152/74     Pulse:  53

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2022     Reading:  109

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  2019     BP:  104/53     Pulse:  56

    Kitten Interference is continuing with her morning blood pressure. Oh, I remember why her blood pressure wasn't taken yesterday morning: As soon as she settled in the bathroom Mr. Man "asked" to be cuddled on her lap, which is what Mom did for a good half hour. Knowing that Mom loves to do this and that cuddling pets is guaranteed to lower blood pressure, I sat on the floor and waited until both Mom and Mr. Man decided they'd had enough.
    Dinner was four buffalo wings and a cup of heavily peppered cottage cheese. Mom had already told me that she was looking forward to "something sweet" tonight, so, about an hour afterwards I gave her a piece of the frozen chocolate cake and the rest of the ice cream (there was maybe 3/4 of a cup left). I also gave her an extra glipizide.
    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 1810: Fairly good volume; excellent consistency; very easy elimination; easy clean-up.
    She has been arising and bedding down almost exactly 12 hours apart today and yesterday, both days at 1300 and 0100. Her naps have been lasting about 1.5 hours. She isn't moving much; we've been snowed in and although she loves the way our area looks and our home is warm and snug, she shivers internally at the sight of snow and is reluctant to move, much.