BM Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1032     Reading:  154

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1032     BP:  144/76     Pulse:  74

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1959     Reading:  130

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1959     BP:  124/64     Pulse:  57

    Once again, Mom was up on her own at 1015. I was amazed. She was fully conscious, already in the bathroom and ready to go when I heard her. This worked out well, as we received a Surprise Cat Package about an hour after she'd awakened which set the active tone for the day.
    Still doing banana bread at breakfast. We've got one or two days left on this loaf. She also had a lunch, today: a 1 oz bag of peanuts and an 11.5 oz glass of V-8 juice.
    Her nap occurred at 1445 and was of typical length: she was up at 1630.
    She voiced a preference for "something spicy" for dinner, which, for her, means something hot. I served buffalo wings and cottage cheese. I also gave her a second glipizide because of the height of her BG. It's usually closer to normal at this time of day. As well, about a half hour before we ate, around the time I was taking stats, she mentioned that she was sweating. I felt her forehead. Sure enough, she was. Since she almost never sweats, this concerned me. She said, "Maybe whatever's been making me feel bad the last couple of days broke."
    I hadn't been aware she'd been feeling bad and told her so.
    "Oh," she said, looking a little confused, "it was nothing. No reason to mention it."
    Usually I pick up on her not feeling good and ask her about it, although I recalled giving her aspirin and guaifenex a couple times over the last few days.
    She did a lot of mouth breathing last night so I put her on tanked, pulse oxygen last night around 1830. I also noticed, when we were preparing her for bed (she retired at 2345; light went off at 0000 4/2/06 straight up) that her belly and face looked puffy, so I gave her what probably amounted to about 8 mg of furosemide; it was half a 20 mg pill out of which the center of the cut side had crumbled in the bottle. Her feet, though were not unusually puffy when I rubbed down her legs and her arms could have mistaken her for being dehydrated.
    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 1745, and was a repeat of yesterdays: Fair volume; hard consistency, yet again another big rock of melded smaller shit rocks; very easy elimination; very easy clean-up.

BM No Stat Day:

    As you know, every several days or so I decide not to bother Mom with stats. Sometimes I'm aware of a reason, sometimes I'm not. Today, I just looked at her as she was sitting on the stool (she arose at 1130 under her own steam this morning) and decided, nah, not today. When I told her this she said, "Good."
    In the morning we've been doing banana bread at breakfast ever since the day after I baked the loaves (one's frozen). Breakfast laid out the same way today.
    Since I'm writing this two days hence, I can't remember exactly what kind of day Mom had, although we watched a movie. The "rain" we were supposed to receive Saturday arrived today as all day heavily overcast skys and intermittent sprinkles, so I was in my element; had lots of energy, did "intermittent" (meaning not daily) chores, and an out-of-the-house errand. I do recall that Mom's nap was much shorter than I expected, considering the weather.
    Dinner was braised beef country style ribs with Uncle Ben's Long Grain and Wild Rice and Broccoli with home made Hollandaise sauce. Mom ate every bit on her plate and made pleasure sounds throughout dinner.
    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 1515: Fair volume; rocky consistency (one big rock consisting of several little rocks welded together, to be specific); very easy elimination; very easy clean-up.     She retired at 2340; her light went of at 2355.

Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1240     Reading:  168

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1240     BP:  142/66     Pulse:  61

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2001     Reading:  140

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1956     BP:  113/56     Pulse:  69

    The gods only know why her BG was as high as it was this morning, especially since I gave her a second glipizide last night. Maybe it was the extra aspirin twice yesterday and the guaifenex. I gave her some guaifenex this morning, too, as she was still a bit "coldy" and internal lung congestion was obvious. Who knows.
    This evenings high BG is probably related to the piece of banana bread she had this morning, although it wasn't a big piece. I don't know. I just hope that her HA1c comes up. If it doesn't, I'm at a loss and I guess the best thing to do is to ignore it and go back to work on her BG readings. I'm prepared to handle any HA1c eventuality except it remaining low.
    She had a 1 oz bag of peanuts and 11.5 oz V-8 for lunch, which occurred after her nap 1645.
    Dinner was a home made cheeseburger with dill pickle relish, a thick slice of Bermuda onion and, for her, ketchup, which she usually doesn't have but for which she was in the mood tonight.
    She awoke on her own at 1230. She retired at 2320. Her light went out just a few minutes ago at 2340.

BM Full Stat Day

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1136     Reading:  148

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1126     BP:  139/83     Pulse:  74

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2017     Reading:  102

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  2015     BP:  127/58     Pulse:  60

    Very good day today: Mom was in a superior mood. She awoke on her own at 1115. By the time I noticed her, she was in the bathroom working herself up from the toilet. She had, again, hardly leaked, but we did a full bath, anyway: I just got the feeling that the all over skin stimulation of a full bath might get her going even more. For breakfast I served cranberry scones instead of toast. I didn't make them: I got them at one of our local organic stores and they were made with spelt instead of wheat flour.
    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 1445: Fair volume; somewhat smeary consistency; very easy elimination; somewhat challenging clean-up.
    Although, etchnically, she had two naps, one at about 1530 and one at about 1800, the longest was the latter of one half hour. I don't think she really slept through either; just "rested her eyes".
    I served the rest of the tomato pie for dinner, adding more cheese and some pepperoni inside the crust, since she actually wanted pizza but I wasn't up to ordering and going out to get the pizza in the rain (which is unusual; normally I'll look for just about any reason to go out in the rain).
    She received two adult aspirin today because she was notably stiff and complaining of body aches: One in place of her normal 81 mg aspirin in the morning and one after dinner. She retired at 2355. Her light went out at 0030, 3/30/06.
    Forgot to mention, I gave her 400 mg guaifenex at breakfast for obviously internal lung congestion and coughing; as well, she said she felt like she "had a cold". Also gave her a second glipizide at dinner because of the biscuit crust to the tomato pie and the tomatoes in it.

Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1306     Reading:  138

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1333     BP:  138/68     Pulse:  55

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2006     Reading:  93

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  2001     BP:  114/55     Pulse:  58

    Well, the chocolate cake was swimming in her veins this morning. Despite this, she had a raspberry filled donut with breakfast. Lunch was just a bag of peanuts, again, at about 1830. Then, dinner. Nice BG, nice BP. We had sauerkraut and artichoke/sundried tomato/garlic sausage.
    She retired at 2315. Her light went off at 2345.
    Slow, easy, rainy day.

BM Half Stat Day:

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2130     Reading:  107

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  2128     BP:  99/50     Pulse:  61

    I intended to take her stats this morning but somehow that got lost in the rush to get her up within an acceptable time frame. It's been a very slow, very lazy day for her; long nap, complaint of an "iffy" right knee this evening, very little energy. Good mood, though.
    Lunch was just a 1 oz bag of peanuts.     We spent a good 15 minutes discussing dinner about an hour before we actually had it. We went through three possibilities: Take-out pizza, left over home made corned beef hash and sauerkraut with sundried tomato/artichoke/garlic sausage. We were both leaning toward that when Mom suddenly got that sugary gleam in her eye. "Do we have any cake and ice cream left?"
    Yes. We still have frozen pieces of chocolate cake and ice cream.
    "Doesn't that sound good for dinner?"
    It didn't to me, I'm not in a sugar mood today, but I didn't see why Mom shouldn't have it, which she did. I gave her an extra glipizide, just in case.
    Although I'd thought, last night, that yet another 10 mg of furosemide might be in order it wasn't. She'd completely shed every last bit of retained fluid and continued to do so throughout the day, evidenced by her evening BP.
    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 1655. She thought she was going to eliminate around 1630 but was unsuccessful. She actually asked for some Phillip's, so I gave her the standard low laxative dose, two tablespoons, and an 8 oz glass of water. Although it didn't have near enough time to work, she was back in the bathroom a little less than half an hour later: Excellent volume; fair consistency, pretty smeary; very easy elimination; fairly challenging clean-up.
    She headed for bed at 2355. Her light went off at 0030, 3/28/06.

Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1345     Reading:  124

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1423     BP:  143/65     Pulse:  57

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2034     Reading:  113

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  2033     BP:  119/60     Pulse:  55

    No, Mom didn't get up as late as it looks. After awakening her at noon she asked for another hour. At 1300 we spent a long time in conversation and admiring our cats before I even bothered to ask her for her finger for testing. She was moving slow this morning and coughing a lot...without internal lung congestion. Although her feet looked fine, her face was puffy and the coughing was pretty frequent. I decided to give her 10 mg furosemide at breakfast, which, as you can see from her "A.M." blood pressure reading, happened close to 1530. I also left her on concentrated continous 3/lpm oxygen while she bathed. During and after breakfast for an hour or so I put her on tanked pulse oxygen. By the time she went down for a nap, about 1745, she was breathing fine on her own and not coughing.
    No lunch, again. Dinner happened a good half hour after after I took her stats. It was a frozen chicken thing I made some time ago, with lots of veggies and mushrooms, covered with an herb sauce.
    I noticed, while I was rubbing her legs down, that her feet had begun to swell again. Also, she was a little dazed today; not a big deal, but I had to remind her a few more times than usual how to arise from the toilet, to drink fluids (although I didn't give her any more than usual, even though she was taking it off regularly because of the furosemide), little things. Partly I think this was because of the fluid retention, then artificially pulling it off. Partly I think it was because we've got a low moving in, yet again, with rain in the forecast for three more days. Partly, I think, I need to push her into moving a little outside, again, although, obviously, it'll be a couple of days before that happens, so I need to stress the informal exercise sessions, maybe twice a day and definitely every day. She remains in good humor, though, and extremely willful. Good signs, both. If her feet are still a bit pudgy tomorrow morning I'll give her furosemide again. It will be 10 mg. I'm thinking, though, that the time has come that she might need 20 mg when she needs it. That might help take the fluid off and keep it off until her body remembers, yet again, what to do with fluid.
    She retired at 0038, 3/27/05. Her light went off at 0055.