Surprisingly, Full Stat Day:

1st Blood Glucose:     Time:  1815     Reading:  105

1st Blood Pressure:     Time:  1810     BP:  133/63     Pulse:  58

2nd Blood Glucose:     Time:  2255     Reading:  284

2nd Blood Pressure:     Time:  2250     BP:  156/71     Pulse:  58

    You'll notice the peculiar time for the first stats, and the peculiar change in the title: "1st" instead of "A.M."; "2nd" instead of "P.M."
    Mom's first readings were not fasting readings. She'd already been up for a couple of hours, eaten dill pickles, sourdough bread and butter on her own, moved around a little, entertained herself and was about to go back to bed when I awoke from a nap in the livingroom. I didn't bother to do anything but make sure she was well hydrated and clean.
    The, the first reading of the day took place when she awoke from her nap. We also had breakfast at that time. I was so impressed by her BG reading, considering the sourdough bread, although it's light in carbs, that when she asked if we "have any more sweet rolls" I defrosted a raspberry Costco Danish for her. Her eyes glittered.
    She didn't actually have dinner, but drank a lot until she went to bed. The reason I took her stats before she went to bed is to determine if I should administer her second glipizide and lisinopril so close to the first. Her stats told me all I needed to know. So, she missed only one iron capsule and two garlic tabs.
    She retired at 2300. Her light remains on. I'll report when it's extinguished.
    Her light went out at 2340.

BM Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1310     Reading:  110

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1304     BP:  122/62     Pulse:  60

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2047     Reading:  134

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  2043     BP:  135/68     Pulse:  59

    She's looking good this "morning". She actually awoke about 1245. When I managed to find the BP cuff, she was sitting up in her bed. "Whew! I'm just about ready for a nap," she said, once she had her balast balanced. That clued me that it's going to be a slow day for her.
    I started checking on her at 0900 (since I'd been up, by a cat quirk, at 0300) but didn't actually talk to her or rouse her in any way until 1100. At this point she mumbled, "Let me sleep," in response to me "A or B" question. I saw no reason not to oblige.
    I am, by the way, pleased to see the effect of a day of fresh fruit, vegetables, deviled eggs and croissants. I think we'll be doing this more often, and parts of it, here and there. My mom loves fresh fruit, as long as it's in season. Except pears. Thank the gods. I'm not much for pears, either, unless they're not quite ripe, with room temperature cheese. Mmmm. That sounds good. Maybe we'll do this during pear season.
    It's still early in the day, as you can see. I'll be back. Just wanted to record stats up to now.
    Bowel Movement at 1300: Excellent volume; soft consistency; very easy elimination; somewhat challenging clean-up.
    Lunch was normal: V-8 juice and peanuts.
    Dinner was left over macaroni & cheese with lots of good stuff; vegetables, extra meat, extra cheese. She made it clear, earlier, she was interested in comfort food.
    She was mostly sedentary today. I didn't push it. I took a nap on the sofa after she arose from her nap. I think she vegged out on TV while I slept. I awoke to carpenter ants with several queens swarming on the ceiling of the dinette, but that's another story.
    She retired at 1045. I noticed her light was out by 1100.

BM Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  0936     Reading:  133

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  0958     BP:  132/61     Pulse:  60

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1932     Reading:  111

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1943     BP:  128/69     Pulse:  56

    Yes, her morning coincided with most people's mornings, today. It was company day. Although she didn't awaken on her first call, 0830, she did on her second, 0920.
    All meals were, well, different today. For breakfast she had a fruit and vegetable plate, including my home made ranch dressing as a vegetable dip; three deviled egg halves; a croissant.
    Although technically she didn't move as far as she has been on our driveway walks, because she was walkering across naked earth with a small-gravel covering which has been rained and stepped into the ground over the years, thus, moving was challenging exercise. She was outside until about 1300.
    Our company left at 1400. Mom was in bed for a nap by 1430. She was up, however, before 1630.
    For lunch she and I split what was left of the fruit plate: fresh strawberries, pineapple, mango, blueberries and marionberries. And coffee.
    For dinner we sort of split what was left of the deviled eggs: she got four halves, I got three.
    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 0945: Fair volume; slightly smeary consistency; very easy elimination; slightly challenging clean-up.
    I did not give her extra evening Benefiber, as the amount of fresh fruit and vegetables (broccoli, snap peas, tiny baby carrots, grape tomatoes, celery, hmmm...and something else, can't remember) should operate just as well as Benefiber.
    It's still early, although she's been in a light daze all evening. I rubbed her legs early tonight, between 1700 and 1800, just for relaxing stimulation. I expect her to go to bed much earlier than she usually does. I'll record that time later. Whether I decided to arouse her tomorrow after exactly 12 hours or to let her go until noon or so, well, that'll depend on what I observe in the morning.
    As I attach a final definite bedtime to mom, this evening, by amending the timing of this post, Mom's light has just gone out. She wandered, with slow satisfaction, into bed at 0915, almost exactly 12 hours after arising, or, well, opening her eyes with that intention. Good day for her. She even said so before going to bed.

BM Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1312     Reading:  137

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1326     BP:  119/59     Pulse:  60

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2116     Reading:  119

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  2111     BP:  127/68     Pulse:  69

    Once again, for breakfast, a substitution of croissant for toast. As well, a substitution of polish sausage for bacon.
    She's been very excited about impending company, so she napped for less than 45 minutes. As well, we had a walkering session, two laps, although this time she hunched and her back bothered her, so she grumbled about it.
    Lunch was her usual, V-8 juice and peanuts.
    Dinner was light, since neither of us was terribly hungry (I think it was the excitement): my favorite dinner which I haven't had for years and she enjoyed, too: Heavily peppered cottage cheese, medium hot salsa (well, I ate the really hot stuff) and lightly salted tortilla chips. Mmmmm!
    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 1315: Good volume; excellent consistency, neither rocky nor squishy; very easy elimination; very easy clean-up. At this point I've been giving her an extra teaspoon of Benefiber every other evening. That seems to have cleared up the rock shit problems.

Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1419     Reading:  104

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1449     BP:  126/63     Pulse:  66

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2126     Reading:  175

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  2121     BP:  132/64     Pulse:  55

    Today turned out to be the protracted sleep day I thought we were going to have a couple of days ago. I'm not sure what the problem was, but there were some definitely symptoms. When she awoke she was stuffed to the gills, coughing up obvious internal lung congestion, and just didn't feel good "all over", although her structural stuff, knees, back, joints, were fine. She was just very tired. I gave her an adult aspirin at breakfast and 200 mg (half a generic tablet) of guaifenex. Within a couple of hours the congestion had cleared up, she felt better, but was back in bed by 1700 and slept through until 2000. It shows in her evening blood sugar, that's the only thing I can think of that would have kept it this high.
    For breakfast, again, a croissant was substituted for toast. This has never raised her BG this high, before, so I'm sure it was all the sleep.
    No lunch. For dinner she was "famished", so I made a cholesterol taste treat for her: Home made sausage, egg and cheese croissants. I put curry in the sausage. I'm hoping that ameliorates her BG tomorrow, especially since Thursday is going to be a big day: Lots of fruit, cranberry scones; we're having company.
    She retired at 0035 6/21/06. Her light went out at 0100 straight up.

BM BM Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1306     Reading:  137

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1321     BP:  146/73     Pulse:  71

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2009     Reading:  129

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  2003     BP:  153/75     Pulse:  75

    Mom's been feeling very alert and energetic, today, so I'm not sure what the problem with her BP is, but I'm not going to worry about it. She doesn't seem to be retaining unusual amounts of fluid, or anything.
    Breakfast was egg scrambled in crumbled, fried, defatted bulk sausage with a southwestern heavy-on-the-chili spice and a croissant.
    Lunch was normal, V-8 juice and peanuts.
    Dinner was a version of my Quick Chicken Curry, made with the left over roast chicken from a couple of nights ago, three tsp curry powder instead of two and loads of chopped vegetables including broccoli, Bermuda onion, green pepper, celery and carrots.
    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 1500: Poor volume; hard consistency; very easy elmination; very easy clean-up. She is, by the way, getting an extra teaspoon of Benefiber in her evening liquid. Maybe we need more, but not as much as an extra Tbl. I'm going to wait awhile before I include it in her Current Meds & Supplements.
    She had yet another Bowel Movement on her way to an earlier than usual retirement at 2235: Poor volume (although both these poor volumes together would have made for a fairly good volume); much less rocky consistency but smooth; very easy elimination; very easy clean-up.
    She hasn't gone to bed, yet. Isn't even looking that way. I'll report back later.
    At of 2254 she has retired but her light is on. She may be reading for awhile, considering that this is an unusually early bedtime for her. I'll record lights out time later. 2305, lights out.

Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1409     Reading:  107

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1426     BP:  107/59     Pulse:  66

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2129     Reading:  148

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  2124     BP:  129/62     Pulse:  65

    Thinking about it, although I called yesterday, over at The Mom & Me Journals dot Net a "protracted sleep day", that seemed to apply only to the morning through mid afternoon. When I figure it out, from the time she officially awoke, she was awake a full 12 hours without a nap. She only got in two meals, but they were hefty.
    Today, she awoke before the 12 hour mark. I awoke her, but she didn't fight it, admitting, when I roused her, that, "I guess I'd better get up."
    Breakfast substituted, again, a Costco Danish for toast. I was curious to see how her BG would perform during a "normal" day which included lunch and separated breakfast and dinner by a good seven hours.
    Today did include a nap, but not a prolonged one; almost two hours, which is about average. Lunch was V-8 juice and peanuts, her usual. I forgot her second iron capsule, though, but I'm not going to worry about that. I forgot it occasionally over the last Health Review period and she still made it out of anemic range. I have vowed, though, to try to keep up with this, see if getting closer to three iron capsules every day pulls her even further out of her anemic state.
    For dinner I had planned on making the left over roast chicken into chicken curry over the left over rice, but she remembered the pot pies from yesterday and asked if we had anymore. We did, and, considering how well her BG performed yesterday, I figured, ah, what the hell. She seems to be in comfort food mode for the time being.
    Good day all around. No walkering...I, frankly, forgot it. But, we talked about it tonight as I was rubbing down her legs; talked, specifically, about how important it was. Last night, when she finally headed in for bed, her foot caught on the first of the two low steps out of the living room and she wilted to the floor. I was able to pick her up but it's been so long since I've done this that she forgot how to relax and lean into me; thus, she fought my attempts at first and I had to shout her into letting me "do the work". All of this scared me a little, so, tonight as I rubbed her legs down I initiated a discussion about how important it is for her to move a little every day, just to keep her legs strong enough to support the little movement that she practices. I didn't go into a song and dance about how, the more she moves, the more she'll want to get out, nor about preparing for visits, or anything like that. I just stressed the importance of keeping her legs working so she doesn't wilt again, or fall, or trip. She agreed.
    She retired at 0030, 6/19/06. Her light went off at 0050.