Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1206     Reading:  138	A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1221     BP:  135/70     Pulse:  74
	A.M. 60" Dig Oral Temp:     Time:  12:45     Reading:  97.5

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2018     Reading:  207

Medication Changes:

Gave her an extra glipizide when we had dessert to cover that and because of her high blood glucose reading just before dinner (see Miscellaneous Notes for breakfast and about Hospice RN advice).
• Added Ipratroprium to 3rd breathing treatment; have decided to do this normally, as she isn't coughing nearly as much, the RN noted more wheezing than last week in her left lung and she seems to sleep better when she has both.

    Dinner:  Taco Bell, at her request [1 Burrito Supreme and 2 Crunchy Taco Supremes, with 3 packets mild sauce]; 1 slice Marie Callendar's Lemon Meringue Pie.

Miscellaneous Notes:

• The Hospice RN arrived just before I served Mom breakfast. I put out a plate of pumpkin/cherry/pecan muffins for him. I had asked Mom if she wanted toast or a muffin and she opted for toast, so I beefed up her O.J. accordingly. Then, while the RN visited, Mom reached for and downed a muffin. This explains why her blood glucose was so high just prior to dinner.
• Regarding Mom's blood glucose, the RN was very encouraging about allowing Mom to have "anything she wants", at this point, especially since there is no evidence that her Type 2 Diabetes is affecting anything else in her body. He illustrated this with a story about one of his Hospice clients who had been denying himself beer, which he really loved. The Hospice RN advised him that such denial wasn't necessary, thus allowing the fellow to enjoy one of his earthly pleasures. A week later the fellow "was gone". The point of the story, I think, is obvious.
  He and I discussed this, as he isn't aware of what Mom would have if I gave her perission to have "anything she wants". Especially since her Diabetes is so easy to control, now, I, of course, have widened what was already a pretty wide latitude, am still able to control her blood glucose much better than either the hospital, the intermediary care center or the rehab facility and Mom eats really well, loves everything she eats and gets quite enough sweets, thank you.
  Funny, after our initial discussion and after my mother had retrieved a muffin from the plate, I surreptitiously moved the plate across the table from her. The RN smiled at me and mentioned that he understood "what [I] was doing" when I exercised some control over her diet. I didn't explain but I don't think he's aware of the one occurrence I am trying to control: A sugar haze. Yes, we could, conceivably, go back to the diet she used to eat, by choice, some years ago, and she'd probably be thrilled...but, then, she'd be in sugar haze territory all the time and this would affect her dementia and her energy level. She'd be spending even more time sleeping, working off the sugar haze before she gleefully entered it, again, upon awakening. My preference is to have her as alert and non-hazy as possible. Aside from being easier to care for, she is also more alert when awake when her internal body isn't coated in syrup. Now, maybe this is controlling for my preferences rather than hers and, yes, maybe it's true, since she's "dying" she should have a choice...but I know, from asking her recently, that she prefers to be alert. I also know that her dementia prefigures her ability to make wise health choices and, yes, again, even as one is dying there can be "wise choices" to be made regarding one's declining health, even and especially if a caregiver is involved. And, anyway, I'm not a health Nazi, and I'm sure she's not feeling deprived. If she was, she'd say so. On that I can count.