BM Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1306     Reading:  151

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1340     BP:  119/63     Pulse:  64

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2102     Reading:  116

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  2105     BP:  141/68     Pulse:  58

Awakened: at 1245 - slept 11h 35m.

Meds and supplements administered after BG taken:

• glipizide ER 10 mg
• Niferex-150 Forte
• Protonix 40 mg;
• 500 mg Vitamin C

Bathed: between 1330 and 1400

Med administered after BP taken:

• None. BP low so waited until breakfast to give her lisinopril.

Ate breakfast: between 1415 and 1445:

• 14 oz diluted orange/pomegranate juice mixture (2/3 cup juice, the rest water) with 5 tsp Benefiber
• 2 pieces bacon, defatted
• 1 egg, heavily peppered, fried, defatted
• 1 piece low carb, low sugar, whole wheat toast with approx. 1 Tbl corn oil margarine and 1/2 tsp Vietnamese Cassia cinnamon
• 16 oz detox tea, drunk slowly between breakfast and her nap

Other Meds & supplements administered with breakfast:

• 10 mg lisinopril
• 1,000 mg garlic
• 1 Senior Vitamin
• 1 81 mg aspirin
• 1 oz pure Aloe Vera gel

Walkered: Inside house between 1500 and 1520.

Napped: from 1615 - 1745.

Lunch at 1800:

• 16 oz coffee
• 1 oz roasted, salted peanuts

Bowel Movement at 1915:

• Very good volume;
• loose consistency but not diarrheaic
• very easy elimination
• very challenging clean-up
• NOTE: She expelled feces all day, which I noticed every time she peed; so I cleaned her up three times before her actual bowel movement. As well, during her bath she expelled a very small turd, which is when the bottom cleanings started. I think the laxative I administered on 9/5 and 9/6, in addition to the fiber she received in the morning and in her diet, finally kicked in. I'll have to remember this the next time I am tempted to use laxatives...light touch, very light touch, and wait a little longer.

Walkered: Inside house between 2000 and 2030.

Dinner served at 2115:

• Mac & Cheese including:
  • 1 package Kraft Mac & Cheese
  • 8 oz bulk pork sausage, browned and defatted
  • 6 oz very lean ground beef, browned and defatted
  • chopped Bermuda onion
  • chopped sun dried tomatoes
  • chopped green pepper
  • chopped celery
  • 1 clove fresh garlic, minced
  • 4 oz grated Vermont white sharp Cheddar cheese

Meds and supplements administered about 1/2 hour before dinner:

• 1 Oscal tablet
• glipizide ER 10 mg
• Macrodantin
• 1 Niferex-150 Forte tablet
• 1,000 mg garlic
• 400 IU vitamin E
• 1 oz pure Aloe Vera gel

From her nap through to retiring she drank about 32 oz decaf coffee

Energy Level: Still low, partially, I think, because of the gray, rainy weather, which is why I had her walker inside. No complaints of aches or pains, though, when I asked. She seemed somewhat more alert than yesterday, considering that I was able to get her to do some walkering without any protest. As a note to myself, when she walkers inside, at the moment she is covering a distance of about 400 feet during each session (which involves three laps from dinette to back arcadia door to dinette), which comes to just under a 14th of a mile. Today, during both sessions, she found it necessary to take a very short sitting rest before the third lap, "to ease her back". Before, and a half hour after each session, I asked her how her back and knees "were doing".
"Fine," she said with mild surprise. "Just fine."

Leg Rubdown: between 2315 and 2345.

Retired: at 0000, 9/10/06; she read in bed until 0030, when her lights went out.

Meds & Supplements Administered at bedtime:

• Niferex-150 non-Rx capsule
• 10 mg lisinopril

Mom's A.M. BG's after Cobb Salad Dinner: 9/12/04 - 9/9/06

Date	BG	Additional Comments
09/12/04	118
10/20/04	90
12/02/04	93
12/08/04	104
01/07/05	90
01/22/05	71
01/23/05	102
06/21/05	133
08/08/05	108
08/17/05	88
09/13/05	108	toasted garlic cheese bread with salad
10/21/05	104
10/28/05	116
12/28/05	104
02/26/06	132	toasted garlic cheese bread and sweet pickles with salad; crumbled potato chips instead of croutons
05/03/06	117
05/06/06	141
05/09/06	105
05/15/06	140	also had ginger/biscotti cheesecake for dessert
05/22/06	140
06/11/06	104
07/21/06	113
08/13/06	143
09/03/06	136	No O.J. 09/02/06
09/07/06	121	No O.J. 09/06/06
09/09/06	151

Assumptions Regarding AM BG's after Dinners:

• Unless otherwise noted, assume that she always has diluted orange juice for breakfast.
• Until around December, 2005, assume that she usually ate a light lunch which consisted of 11.5 oz V-8 juice, often a 1 oz bag of roasted, salted peanuts and one of the following:
  • different types of pickles or olives, including bread & butter pickles (made with sugar)
  • 3/4 cup heavily peppered 4% milk fat small curd cottage cheese
  • sliced cheese and sliced luncheon meat
  • crackers and cheese
  • 1.75 oz microwave popcorn
  • 8 oz hearty chicken vegetable or beef vegetable soup
• Since January, 2006, her lunches, at her request, have been even lighter, usually 11.5 oz V-8 juice and a 1 oz bag of salted, roasted peanuts.
• From August 2, 2005, until the present, her only diabetic medication has been 10 mg glipizide ER twice a day, administered upon awakening or at breakfast (depending on her BG measurement) and at dinner.
• She has slept on average 12 hours a day (including naps) since August 2, 2005, and on average 14 hours a day (including naps) since January, 2005.
• She was more active before January, 2005. Since then, her activity level has been eccentric: Mostly sedentary with an occasional week or two a month when she gets out more for short trips or walkering in our yard. No formal exercise sessions since January, 2005. Informal chair exercising about three or four out of seven days every week since January, 2005.
• November and December 2004 and 2005 included Mom eating a fair amount of sweet holiday baked goods from baking here and home and visiting.
• I picked the four particular dinners (Cobb Salad, Mac & Cheese, Chicken Pot Pie, Salmon & Side Dish) because these are four of Mom's favorites, which she often requests. I lined up Mac & Cheese and Chicken Pot Pie one after the other because, especially in the cool months, which are coming up, it often happens that we have two (or more) rich, starchy dinners in a row.

BM Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1217     Reading:  112

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1256     BP:  129/69     Pulse:  57

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2009     Reading:  141

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  2015     BP:  145/70     Pulse:  55

Awakened: at Noon, straight up - slept 11h 45m.

Meds and supplements administered after BG taken:

• glipizide ER 10 mg
• Niferex-150 Forte
• Protonix 40 mg;
• 500 mg Vitamin C

Bathed: between 1230 and 1300

Med administered after BP taken:

• lisinopril 10 mg

Ate breakfast: between 1315 and 1345:

• 14 oz diluted orange juice (2/3 cup O.J., the rest water) with 2 Tbl Benefiber
• 2 pieces of bacon, defatted
• 1 egg, heavily peppered, fried, defatted
• 1 piece low carb, low sugar, whole wheat toast with approx. 1 Tbl corn oil margarine and 1/2 tsp Vietnamese Cassia cinnamon
• 16 oz detox tea, drunk slowly between breakfast and her nap

Other Meds & supplements administered with breakfast:

• 1,000 mg garlic
• 1 Senior Vitamin
• 1 81 mg aspirin
• 1 oz pure Aloe Vera gel

Napped: from 1510 - 1710.

Lunch at 1730:

• 11.5 oz V-8 juice with 1 tsp curry powder
• 1 oz roasted, salted peanuts
• At 1830, asked for coffee to sip; was given 16 oz instant decaf coffee, which lasted through dinner until 2000

Bowel Movement at 2000:

• Fair volume
• somewhat smeary consistency
• very easy elimination
• somewhat challenging clean-up

Dinner served at 2045:

• Cobb Salad including:
  • a mix of fresh greens and herbs
  • avocado
  • green olives
  • steamed broccoli
  • Bermuda onion
  • grated carrot
  • grape tomatoes
  • green pepper
  • about 1 oz fresh grated Parmesan cheese
  • multi-grain croutons
  • about 3 Tbl Greek/Italian dressing, very low sugar, standard fat
  • about 2 oz diced ham

Meds and supplements administered about 1/2 hour before dinner:

• 1 Oscal tablet
• glipizide ER 10 mg
• Macrodantin
• 1 Niferex-150 Forte tablet
• 1,000 mg garlic
• 400 IU vitamin E
• 1 oz pure Aloe Vera gel

At 2200 asked for more decaf coffee. She drank about 10 oz before retiring.

Energy Level: Pretty low, after yesterday. No complaints of aches or pains, though, when I asked. Moved little; refused a walkering session on the driveway and a short errand trip to pick up supplies. After her nap, though, she felt somewhat revived and, when she walked, instead of shuffling she sauntered, with one hand in her jeans pocket. She also moved more throughout the evening and night. All of her movement throughout the day consisted of:

• Walking back and forth from the living room to the bathroom
• living room to dinette (to throw away collected used tissues)
• dinette to living room (to read in dinette or watch TV in living room
• living room to bathroom to bedroom and the reverse (after awakening, to take nap and to go to bed at night

Leg Rubdown: between 2330 and 0000. I consider this exercise because it stimulates her circulation, alerts her nerves and relaxes her entire body.

Retired: at 0045, 9/9/06; she read in bed until 0110, when her lights went out.

Meds & Supplements Administered at bedtime:

• Niferex-150 non-Rx capsule
• 10 mg lisinopril

BM Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1007     Reading:  121

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1033     BP:  151/75     Pulse:  57

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1907     Reading:  156

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1903     BP:  119/61     Pulse:  63

    Breakfast: Normal, without O.J.
    Lunch: V-8 juice with 1 tsp sweet curry powder.
    Dinner: Strogansaur (my own recipe; without noodles) with lots of beef and lots of chopped veggies, including celery, carrots, Bermuda onion, fresh garlic and green pepper.
    She didn't actually eat a lot of dinner. I'm not sure why...she just wasn't very hungry, even though she raved about "the mixture", which we haven't had for a long time.
    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 1100: Excellent volume; somewhat smeary consistency; very easy elimination; fairly challenging clean-up.
    She retired at 2330. Her light initially went out at 2345. Then, at 0030, 9/8/06, she was back up going to the bathroom, claiming that she hadn't yet gotten to sleep. So, I'm splitting the difference and letting her sleep until noon, "tomorrow".

Three Quarter Stat Day:

Blood Glucose:     Time:  1235     Reading:  148

Blood Pressure:     Time:  1302     BP:  115/60     Pulse:  70

Blood Glucose:     Time:  2058     Reading:  159

Blood Pressure:     Not taken

    Breakfast: Normal except no O.J. Detox tea and a cup of coffee, instead.
    Lunch: V-8 juice with 1 tsp sweet curry powder.
    Dinner: Cobb salad with: avocado; cherry tomatoes; herb greens; green pepper; Bermuda onion; carrot; steamed, cooled broccoli; radishes; diced ham; freshly grated Parmesan cheese; chopped garlic stuffed green olives; full fat, full salt croutons; a new Green Goddess dressing without sugar but with lots of other flavorful stuff, not a "lite" version.
    When she awoke this morning she seemed weaker than usual. She also had lost a lot of water through the night, more than I expected. I worried that she might have lost so much water that she was low in sodium; her weakness reminded me of her previous low sodium episode. And, yet, her BG was much higher than I expected. I chalked this up to the O.J. yesterday. She was also complaining of her back hurting on her right side (not where a kidney is) and was having trouble straightening fully. I chalked that up to the vigorous walkering yesterday. Since rain was definitely in the air and had begun to fall before her breakfast was over, I decided to go light on the exercise, today, and scrap it all together if it looked like she needed a day of rest. I also gave her an adult buffered aspirin instead of her usual 81 mg aspirin at breakfast. After awhile, this seemed to perk her up and within a couple of hours she seemed to not remember that her back had hurt, although she continued to seem a bit weak on her right side.
    At 1500 she decided she wanted to lay down for a nap. I didn't stop her. She slept for four hours. I finally decided, because I was nervous, to awaken her at 1900. She seemed well rested but still a bit weak on the right side. That's when I gave her the V-8 juice, which is extremely high in sodium, and harassed her to drink it in a timely manner, which she did. I made sure that the Cobb salad for dinner included lots of sodium and potassium loaded stuff. I was surprised at her high BG reading, again, although I suppose I should be getting used to this. Something is definitely wrong, or going wrong. As well, I think she's not holding onto water and losing all the sodium I've been adding to her diet. I'm not sure how that's happening. I've been careful about holding to a strict not-too-little-not-too-much fluid intake, today, and yet, she shed so much water between dinner and retiring that she actually leaked through her double paper underwear, which she hasn't done for ages. She did, however, seem much revived by the time she decided to retire, at 2330. She was in bed by 2350. Her light went out at 0015, 9/7/06.
    I also gave her another dose of Phillip's Milk of Magnesia, as she hasn't eliminated any more and I'm sure she's backing up in there. This also has two different types of sodium in it. I hope it helps.

BM Three Quarter Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1221     Reading:  138

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1240     BP:  129/66     Pulse:  59

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2029     Reading:  127

Blood Pressure:     Not taken

    Breakfast: Normal, including O.J.
    Lunch: V-8 juice with 1 tsp sweet curry powder.
    Dinner: Rib eye steak marinated in Worchestershire sauce with garlic powder, onion powder and lots of four peppercorn pepper; quick pickled beets (no sugar).
    Her Bowel Movement occurred at 1510: Fair volume; excellent consistency; very easy elimination; very easy clean-up. Because it had been a couple of days since she'd had a bowel movement and the volume wasn't good, I decided to give her 2 Tbl Phillip's Milk of Magnesia before she retired, with four ounces of water (which is all she'd drink).
    She had a three lap walkering session today on our driveway. She did pretty good, but was awfully tired afterward.
    She retired at 2355. Her light went out at 0030, 9/6/06.

Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1251     Reading:  116

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1320     BP:  128/64     Pulse:  58

Blood Glucose:     Time:  2036     Reading:  143

Blood Pressure:     Time:  2031     BP:  139/62     Pulse:  56

    Breakfast: Completely normal, including the reinstitution of O.J.
    Lunch: V-8 juice with 1 tsp sweet curry powder.
    Dinner: Buffalo wings with heavily peppered cottage cheese.
    She was snoring this morning, so I let her sleep in an extra half hour. She's dragging around today, too, so I didn't insist on the four hour awake period between awakening and her nap; she went in for a nap at 1600. I also, so far, haven't had the heart to whip her into walkering, although I might, later this evening. Her neck seems to be fine, though, today, and no back or knee complaints. Just general tiredness.
    Well, it looks like the O.J. may have to make a permanent exit, unless she gets lots of moving in during the day. I think, even on days when she's feeling sluggish, I need to get her moving a little. At least now I know.
    She retired at 0015, 9/5/06. I'll report when her light goes out. Lights out at 0030.

Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1204     Reading:  136

A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1218     BP:  145/70     Pulse:  55

Mid Day Blood Pressure:     Time:  1830     BP:  129/70     Pulse:  68

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2027     Reading:  125

P.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  2022     BP:  147/69     Pulse:  58

    You'll notice I took an extra mid day BP, today, because I was a bit taken aback by her continuing high BP, especially since I can't seem to tie it to any CHF symptoms. It could just be cause of her annoyance with my new routine for her, and my insistence, once again, upon taking her BP regularly.
    Breakfast: Almost normal, except that I substituted her O.J. for the detox tea; her second cup of liquid was coffee.
    Lunch: V-8 juice with 1 tsp sweet curry powder.
    Dinner: A serendipitous concoction of chopped chicken breast, marinated in a ginger/soy concoction, stir fried with loads of chopped vegetables: Bermuda onion, green bell pepper, celery, carrot and fresh garlic.
    Her walkering today was a vigorous (for her) outdoor session involving three laps of the driveway. She took only one rest, just before the third lap. I didn't keep her from resting, she just kept going.
    This evening, though, she had a painful kink in her neck, although she was not feeling any small-of-the-back or knee stress. The kink in her neck, though, was bothering her so much that she was sitting funny and causing her upper back further stress. I gave her an adult buffered aspirin and a lengthy upper back massage, which seemed to help.
    She retired at 2345. Her light went out at 0015, 9/4/06. Despite her refusal to complain, I sense that I may have put her through a minor ringer on behalf of controlling her blood sugar and blood pressure without medication, over the past few days. She's handled in well. I may give her a break, tomorrow. I'll see how tired and worked over when she awakens in the morning.