Monday, February 6, 2006
I did a little out-of-site updating...
...over at The Dailies last night...I was too tired to make it over here. You'll notice there was some movement outside Saturday and Sunday. I forgot about that today and when she decided, 2.5 hours after breakfast, that she was going to go down for a nap, I harassed her a little, "threatening" her with a walk on our driveway instead of a nap, then remembered, oh, yeah, she's been moving the last few days. Maybe I'd better let her be. So I did.
Got the results back from her 2/03/06 blood draw. Surprising. Although things haven't changed too much, her Hemoglobin A1c is startlingly low, despite all the goodies she had over the holidays and the fact that I have not been "careful" about refined carbohydrates. I left a phone message for her doctor to call if I should worry. I also included a discussion of this in her health review, which I faxed today and will add here a little later. I'm wondering if we've actually begun the "vacation" part of her Chronic Renal Failure, now, and if this is the indication: That, despite her normal to relatively high blood glucose readings, lately, especially in the morning, her body needs more glucose than she's been getting. She'll be thrilled to hear that! I thought about it, too, and asked her doctor if maybe it was time to cut her glipizide in half, dumping the evening dose. That might raise her A1c without me shuttling around to feed her any more refined carbohydrates than she's already getting. Of course, her blood glucose numbers will be coming in higher in the morning than they have been, but, apparently, and believe me, this is just a guess, this is one of those "differences" between type 2 diabetes, developed in old age and type 2 diabetes developed when one is in one's prime.
There are a few other marginal out of range readings, as well. For the first time I've got a reading that's in range for Prescott and Out of Range for Mesa, so I added a new color into the blood test. Her BUN, although also marginally out of range, is better this month than usual.
Her MCV result, which is usually in range (although in high range), was a touch out of range on the high side on Friday. MCS said this can happen when the patient is having trouble breathing and, sure enough, Mom has been choked with the allergic reaction of sinus drainage for a few days, including Friday. I've had her on tanked oxygen during the day because of this. However, the condition cleared up yesterday. Today she's got a little lung congestion and I gave her 200 mg Mucinex for that just before she went down for a nap. This congestion was obviously of the in-lung, not around-lung category. Today, though, she hasn't been mouth breathing when sitting.
I'm not going to be able to Fed-ex our income taxes until Wednesday, probably. With Mom being amenable to getting out and with the rush to compile her BP, BG and Health Reviews I'm a little behind, especially since our last couple of tax sessions have involved going over taxes in years past, at Mom's request. But we're still doing good on this.
We've also done a lot of movie watching over the weekend. This time, Mom liked all of them that she watched: In Her Shoes, Flight Plan and Lord of War, although she only saw the beginning of this one. I started it too late and she decided she wanted to take a nap. I was so impressed with it, though, that I bought the DVD. We watched the special features included with the edition I bought yesterday afternoon and her interested was rekindled in the movie, so I'm sure we'll be watching it again. I also rented The Aristocrats which she didn't watch, her choice. I knew it was going to be a toss up and purposely read the back of the box to her and told her what I knew about the movie. I also told her that I was going to watch it alone first, so the she wouldn't ruin my first viewing of it, explaining to her how she manages to do this. She laughed good-naturedly. After I'd stayed up really late Saturday night to watch the movie I told her what the joke was and described how the middle part was embellished by a variety of comedians (including a mime, my favorite rendition; my second favorite rendition was Martin Mull's take on it involving the African tribe). I used three syllable, polite-company words. She got the idea and, as I figured, wasn't interested in watching it.
I think today is going to be pretty slow and motionless for her. She spotted the In Her Shoes video and swore she hadn't seen it but would like to, so we'll probably be doing that when she awakens. I'm hoping she'll be interested in seeing Lord of War, too. So, I'll be putting off finishing up taxes until tomorrow. I think I'll do it when she's not awake, so I'm not slowed up anymore.
You know, her low HA1c might also explain her low energy level, of late. Although it's been higher than last winter, because of the warmth and brightness of this winter I've been expecting her to be a bit more energetic than she has been.
Anyway, I think I'll set up the Health Review for this month, then do a few non-daily chores while Mom's still sleeping.
Later.
Got the results back from her 2/03/06 blood draw. Surprising. Although things haven't changed too much, her Hemoglobin A1c is startlingly low, despite all the goodies she had over the holidays and the fact that I have not been "careful" about refined carbohydrates. I left a phone message for her doctor to call if I should worry. I also included a discussion of this in her health review, which I faxed today and will add here a little later. I'm wondering if we've actually begun the "vacation" part of her Chronic Renal Failure, now, and if this is the indication: That, despite her normal to relatively high blood glucose readings, lately, especially in the morning, her body needs more glucose than she's been getting. She'll be thrilled to hear that! I thought about it, too, and asked her doctor if maybe it was time to cut her glipizide in half, dumping the evening dose. That might raise her A1c without me shuttling around to feed her any more refined carbohydrates than she's already getting. Of course, her blood glucose numbers will be coming in higher in the morning than they have been, but, apparently, and believe me, this is just a guess, this is one of those "differences" between type 2 diabetes, developed in old age and type 2 diabetes developed when one is in one's prime.
There are a few other marginal out of range readings, as well. For the first time I've got a reading that's in range for Prescott and Out of Range for Mesa, so I added a new color into the blood test. Her BUN, although also marginally out of range, is better this month than usual.
Her MCV result, which is usually in range (although in high range), was a touch out of range on the high side on Friday. MCS said this can happen when the patient is having trouble breathing and, sure enough, Mom has been choked with the allergic reaction of sinus drainage for a few days, including Friday. I've had her on tanked oxygen during the day because of this. However, the condition cleared up yesterday. Today she's got a little lung congestion and I gave her 200 mg Mucinex for that just before she went down for a nap. This congestion was obviously of the in-lung, not around-lung category. Today, though, she hasn't been mouth breathing when sitting.
I'm not going to be able to Fed-ex our income taxes until Wednesday, probably. With Mom being amenable to getting out and with the rush to compile her BP, BG and Health Reviews I'm a little behind, especially since our last couple of tax sessions have involved going over taxes in years past, at Mom's request. But we're still doing good on this.
We've also done a lot of movie watching over the weekend. This time, Mom liked all of them that she watched: In Her Shoes, Flight Plan and Lord of War, although she only saw the beginning of this one. I started it too late and she decided she wanted to take a nap. I was so impressed with it, though, that I bought the DVD. We watched the special features included with the edition I bought yesterday afternoon and her interested was rekindled in the movie, so I'm sure we'll be watching it again. I also rented The Aristocrats which she didn't watch, her choice. I knew it was going to be a toss up and purposely read the back of the box to her and told her what I knew about the movie. I also told her that I was going to watch it alone first, so the she wouldn't ruin my first viewing of it, explaining to her how she manages to do this. She laughed good-naturedly. After I'd stayed up really late Saturday night to watch the movie I told her what the joke was and described how the middle part was embellished by a variety of comedians (including a mime, my favorite rendition; my second favorite rendition was Martin Mull's take on it involving the African tribe). I used three syllable, polite-company words. She got the idea and, as I figured, wasn't interested in watching it.
I think today is going to be pretty slow and motionless for her. She spotted the In Her Shoes video and swore she hadn't seen it but would like to, so we'll probably be doing that when she awakens. I'm hoping she'll be interested in seeing Lord of War, too. So, I'll be putting off finishing up taxes until tomorrow. I think I'll do it when she's not awake, so I'm not slowed up anymore.
You know, her low HA1c might also explain her low energy level, of late. Although it's been higher than last winter, because of the warmth and brightness of this winter I've been expecting her to be a bit more energetic than she has been.
Anyway, I think I'll set up the Health Review for this month, then do a few non-daily chores while Mom's still sleeping.
Later.
