Mom & Me Four Archive

...silently, I contemplate. This has been much of the cause of my daze. I've been reading. And contemplating. Nothing about old age, or dying or health care for the elderly. No, much to my own surprise, I've been reading stuff I'm interested in; stuff I'd be reading if I wasn't a caregiver. Thus, I've been in a world of my own. It continues, although not as heavily as was true even yesterday.
    I've been noting with alarm by the few stats I've been taking on Mom that her blood pressure is inching up, despite the fact that for the last almost-a-week she's been taking 10 mg lisinopril twice a day. I believe the reasons are:

• for a good three weeks it has been a difficult chore to awaken her and keep her out of bed during the day.
• When she is up she has been near to impossible to move. There have been times when I've literally had to yell her up out of her rocker to get her to the bathroom every two hours.
• Her more than prodigious sleep has skewed her medication administration to the point where I've barely been able to manage a good 8 hours between doses. I've been seeing to it that she now takes her evening dose of lisinopril just before retiring. Last night, since I was unable to get her out of bed until 1420 (the effort of which included "bothering" her every half hour from 1100 on until I finally pulled an exasperated drill sergeant routine on her at 1415), she not only took her lisinopril just before bed, she also took her glipizide then, as well.
• Because of the downturn in her normally low energy level which has encouraged all the sleeping and lethargy, I believe, she's been retaining water again. I'll be giving her 20 mg furosemide when she awakens from her nap today.

    Anyway, I decided, today, I'd better kick my ass out of my Dazed Zone and insist that she move, at least a little, for awhile, anyway, especially since the weather is so unusually warm and bright. So, we walkered outside on the driveway this afternoon. I figure that getting her moving a little and whittling her night sleep down to 11 hours so that she will receive at least her lisinopril once every 12 hours instead going for a fourteen to sixteen hour period between her evening and morning dose should bring her blood pressure back into her normal range and maybe keep her from retaining so much water. I'm considering increasing the informal exercises I lead her through (which lately have been happening only every other day) up a notch or two. If it turns out that none of these appears to affect her blood pressure and it continues to run high, then I'll give up, call the doctor, haul her down for another appointment and put her on something stronger. So far, though, her lab results remain predictable month to month so I am unwilling to believe that a little more movement and a little less sleep won't do the trick.
    I think her increased lethargy has been, in part, a reaction to me dazing out and doing some of my own reading. I've considered this throughout my dazing days but have needed the mini-vacation, thus haven't fought her lethargy. Time, I guess, despite her resistance (which is hardy, which indicates, I think, that she's not out, just a little down), to get her going again.
    I can't help but admit that I've been in need of a vacation from caregiving and her lethargy has made a mini-vacation possible, as well. Her lethargy has been a two way street. She, however, is no longer capable of getting herself moving, so it'll have to be by my energy that she revs up.
    I will catch up, as much as I can, on stats within the next day or two. In the meantime, it will help me to record the following here:

1. BM today at 1530: Fair volume; excellent consistency; easy elimination; very easy clean-up.
2. Pizza for dinner last night, 1/04/06 (probably for tonight, as well); Vegetable laden ham & bean soup for dinner 1/03/06; Left-over jamboree for dinner 1/02/06 (mac & cheese with additions + sauerkraut & polish sausage + quick beef curry); Quick beef curry for dinner 1/01/06.
3. 325 mg aspirin given at breakfast this morning (instead of usual 81 mg) because she was complaining of a back ache.

    She did very well walkering on the driveway, by the way. I expected that she'd only be able to do one "lap", but she did two, with only one rest. She mentioned, afterwards, that her legs were shaky, which isn't a surprise, but considering how little she's moved, lately, I was surprised how well and quickly she stepped up to the plate.
    I guess, as well, it's time for me to insist, again, that she go along with me on errands. On 12/29/05, as I mentioned briefly in a previous post, I suggested that it might be time to get her moving again. She agreed. The following day, though, when the opportunity to move was upon her and she adamantly refused, I reminded her of the 24 hour agreement and she staunchly opted for a "cancellation of said agreement". I've been going along with her but I think it's time to exercise a little priority over her do-nothing desires.
    Last night, by the way, we received the book I ordered, The History of Old Age and began reading it aloud. We haven't gotten far although we also read a little today. Already, though, I am impressed and, as well, taken to task. Although there are a (very, as it turns out) few of the myths of old age to which I didn't subscribe because I knew better, there are quite a few others that the book, only a few pages into the text, is soundly routing, most of which concern my understanding that the elderly "used to" be taken care of within a close family and/or community circle. Couldn't be further from the truth in most Northern European cultures and societies, as it happens. As well, another surprising fact came to light which should have been obvious from my understanding of longevity in history: It has only been within the last half of the 20th century that people who live long enough to be called "elderly" can expect to die before any of their children. The book, too, is a beautiful production, full of well reproduced pictures. Both pictures and text are printed on very high quality paper. The cover and binding are excellent. It could almost be considered a "coffee table book" except that its innards invite closer perusal than a mere "coffee table" reading. Expect me to be including bits of information from this book as we continue.