Monday, April 3, 2006
Most of Sunday involved advance trip preparations.
Most of today, when I reawaken (after finally going to bed), will be the same, including a trip to Costco to pick up some supplies. We're both looking forward to the trip. We'll be meeting friends (MCF and family) after her appointment, probably at their house, relaxing for an hour or two then picking up another "leg" of the friends' family, visiting there for a bit and going out to dinner. I don't expect we'll get home until close to 2300, maybe even later. However, it's been along time since we've seen these people and the visit will not only be pleasantly exciting, it'll keep us off the freeway until well after rush hour. I also got some tips from MCF on freeway construction, which will help us out a lot. It's too early for chip sealing on the interior streets so with just a slight jog through the city on our trip we'll get right through and hit our hotel at about 1100. This will allow Mom to have some lunch, for which we'll both surely be ready, and take a refreshing nap before we need to head to the doctor. His office is very close to where we'll be staying, which is good.
Sweetest thing happened tonight: Mom realized Tuesday would be Mr. Man's first full day without us at home. She worried about how he'd adapt. This evening she took him into her lap and talked to him about how he needn't be scared on Tuesday, we'll be home "before bedtime", and not to worry about us.
As I write I'm printing up information on Byetta, the brand name for exenatide, a new prescription medication for Type 2 Diabetics made from Gila Monster venom. I've been keeping an eye on this one and it has recently been approved for use by the FDA and is now in the TriCare Formulary. I'm not actually sure that it will be a good idea for my mother: Some of the possibilities will have to do with how her HA1c performs this time. It could be that keeping her on glipizide ER 10 mg once to twice a day will be the best bet. But, it has occurred to me that this medication might be a good idea once a day at night after a dose of glipizide ER 10 mg in the morning. The reason I'm thinking that it might help if her HA1c is too high this time is that one of the benefits of exenatide is that it not only controls high blood sugar but low blood sugar, as well. It also appears to correct pancreatic cell mechanics in some diabetics.
The best, most available information is through Medscape. You have to be a member to access this information, so I couldn't provide a direct link. The link attached to the previously mentioned brand name is available to everyone, being the producing company's site, but doesn't give nearly as much information on exactly how the drug works and what is both known and not known about it. It does mention, however, that currently it is only available in two dose per day injection pens and that the shelf life of exenatide is only 30 days, which may or may not be true; thus, each pen should be thrown out after 30 days, according to the brand name website, even if there are doses remaining. This, of course, I'd want to recheck with her doctor. If it looks as though she could use some help with her current diabetic med program, I'd like to start by dosing her with 10 mg glipizide before breakfast and 5 mg exenatide before dinner.
I've also been doing some research on her high erythropoeitin and her low HA1c levels. The first is common in anemia, including iron deficiency anemia, as the body tries to correct the anemia by producing more erhythropoeitin. low HA1c levels are common in those suffering from Chronic Renal Failure. As well, my Mosby's Manual of Diagostic Laboratory Tests suggests that what is being called a low HA1c in my mother is actually perfectly acceptable: Low, yes, but not out of the normal for non-diabetics or diabetics. So, I've been thinking a lot about exactly what I want to discuss with the doctor on Tuesday.
Anyway, it seems, while I type here, printing is being held up on one of the documents, so I'll sign off. Not if I'll check in between now and Wednesday so, you know, as usual...
...later.
Sweetest thing happened tonight: Mom realized Tuesday would be Mr. Man's first full day without us at home. She worried about how he'd adapt. This evening she took him into her lap and talked to him about how he needn't be scared on Tuesday, we'll be home "before bedtime", and not to worry about us.
As I write I'm printing up information on Byetta, the brand name for exenatide, a new prescription medication for Type 2 Diabetics made from Gila Monster venom. I've been keeping an eye on this one and it has recently been approved for use by the FDA and is now in the TriCare Formulary. I'm not actually sure that it will be a good idea for my mother: Some of the possibilities will have to do with how her HA1c performs this time. It could be that keeping her on glipizide ER 10 mg once to twice a day will be the best bet. But, it has occurred to me that this medication might be a good idea once a day at night after a dose of glipizide ER 10 mg in the morning. The reason I'm thinking that it might help if her HA1c is too high this time is that one of the benefits of exenatide is that it not only controls high blood sugar but low blood sugar, as well. It also appears to correct pancreatic cell mechanics in some diabetics.
The best, most available information is through Medscape. You have to be a member to access this information, so I couldn't provide a direct link. The link attached to the previously mentioned brand name is available to everyone, being the producing company's site, but doesn't give nearly as much information on exactly how the drug works and what is both known and not known about it. It does mention, however, that currently it is only available in two dose per day injection pens and that the shelf life of exenatide is only 30 days, which may or may not be true; thus, each pen should be thrown out after 30 days, according to the brand name website, even if there are doses remaining. This, of course, I'd want to recheck with her doctor. If it looks as though she could use some help with her current diabetic med program, I'd like to start by dosing her with 10 mg glipizide before breakfast and 5 mg exenatide before dinner.
I've also been doing some research on her high erythropoeitin and her low HA1c levels. The first is common in anemia, including iron deficiency anemia, as the body tries to correct the anemia by producing more erhythropoeitin. low HA1c levels are common in those suffering from Chronic Renal Failure. As well, my Mosby's Manual of Diagostic Laboratory Tests suggests that what is being called a low HA1c in my mother is actually perfectly acceptable: Low, yes, but not out of the normal for non-diabetics or diabetics. So, I've been thinking a lot about exactly what I want to discuss with the doctor on Tuesday.
Anyway, it seems, while I type here, printing is being held up on one of the documents, so I'll sign off. Not if I'll check in between now and Wednesday so, you know, as usual...
...later.
