BM Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1457     Reading:  136	A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1454     BP:  127/72     Pulse:  70

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2332     Reading:  98

    Dinner:  Just Marie Callendar's Razzleberry Pie, 1/4 of it, her choice.
    Bowel Movement:    Occurred while in the bathroom getting ready for bed: Good volume; excellent consistency; very easy elimination; easy clean-up.

BM Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1524     Reading:  137	A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1521     BP:  119/67     Pulse:  65
	A.M. 60" Dig Oral Temp:     Time:  1538     Reading:  97.8

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2214     Reading:  106

    Dinner:  Hefty bowl of ham and bean soup; slice of Marie Callendar's Razzleberry Satin pie.
    Bowel Movement:  Occurred during bathing: Good volume; excellent consistency; very easy elimination; very easy clean-up.

Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1418     Reading:  122	A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1415     BP:  132/73     Pulse:  68

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2126     Reading:  94

    Dinner:  Fresh salmon filet; about 3/4 cup of mixed, seasoned rices; about 1 cup brussels sprouts; 1 piece Marie Callendar's lemon meringue pie.
    Miscellaneous Note:  The glipizide experiment seems to have "worked". Overnight her body dealt with the extra sugar in the pie she had nicely without getting an extra glipizide. Thus, I used the same lack of strategy tonight with dinner and did not up her glipizide dose because of the pie she had. I'm expecting good blood glucose results in the morning.

BM Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1333     Reading:  102	A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1331     BP:  127/66     Pulse:  72
	A.M. 60" Dig Oral Temp:     Time:  1342     Reading:  98.4

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2047     Reading:  114

    Bowel Movement:  Good volume; excellent consistency; very easy elimination; very easy clean-up.
    Dinner:  A hefty bowl of homemade bean & ham soup with chopped onions, celery, carrots, garlic, green chili and canned diced tomatoes (with cilantro and lime), also added juice of a lemon and a can of Salsa Ranchera; a slice of Marie Callendar's lemon meringue pie.
    Medication Notes:  I considered giving her an extra glipizide with her pie, tonight, but, considering her blood glucose level before dinner, tonight, how high it was last night and how low it was this morning after a high carb dinner and an extra glipizide, I calculated that it should be okay in the morning, even if it's over "normal". This will be a good experiment.

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.

BM Full Stat Day:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1343     Reading:  96	A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1341     BP:  129/70     Pulse:  70
	A.M. 60" Digital Oral Temp:     Time:  1338     Reading:  97.9

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2056     Reading:  142

    Bowel Movement:  Occurred, as usual, during our bathing time. Very good volume; excellent consistency; very easy elimination; very easy clean-up.
    Medication Changes:  Added Ipratroprium to her third breathing treatment, tonight, on a hunch after she had a spell of dry hacking when she awakened from her nap.
    Dinner:  Fazoli's meat lasagna with broccoli on top.

Full Stat Day + Typical Breakfast:

A.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  1416     Reading:  143	A.M. Blood Pressure:     Time:  1414     BP:  155/86     Pulse:  80
A.M. Arterial Temp:     Time:  1418     Reading:  100.8	A.M. 60" Digital Oral Temp:     Time:  2:34     Reading:  98.0

P.M. Blood Glucose:     Time:  2045     Reading:  138

Medication Changes:

• She wasn't up long enough for her third breathing treatment today.
• Gave her a 325 mg tab of acetaminophen with dinner. I can't remember why, now. It wasn't because of her temperature, though, I don't think. I don't have a record of taking it. It was, though, a touchy day for both of us and she was pretty stiff. It was probably the stiffness that prompted me to give her the acetaminophen.

    Dinner:  One pan fried egg with ham slices; about 3/4's cup of pickled (without sugar) beets.
Miscellaneous Observations:

• No problems with blood glucose today, obviously. With breakfast I gave her a homemade pumpkin/dried cherry/pecan muffin instead of her usual toast with cinnamon.
• Her blood pressure, particularly her diastolic, was pretty high this morning, but I didn't give her extra lisinopril, chiefly because she was irritated with me when she first awoke and her arm remained tight as a drum through three separate blood pressure measurings. The one above is the best of the three.
• I took her temperature twice, once with the arterial thermometer and once with the 60" oral digital thermometer, because, despite the arterial measurement, her forehead felt cool. I think the arterial thermometer is acting up again. I'll probably be switching exclusively to the Digital oral 60" thermometer for awhile.