Friday April 19th 2024

Tweety, BSN, RN · Apr 19

Good morning (for another 30 minutes).

Joe, hope you have a good day.

Stars, perhaps you can put Nannie on a bowel regimen that won't stop her up, like a Miralax pack a day. Maybe her doc can prescribe it so it's paid for or recommend something else. Reminds me that my first clinical was in a VA home and they had a "stool chart" where the nurses and aides would mark if a patient had a bowel movement for the charge nurse. I listened to report and they charge nurse would say "Mr. Smith, no changes, no bowel movement". "Mr. Jones, no changes, had a bowel movement". These things are important. LOL

Keto is a horrible diet and that's all I'll say. LOL. I do acknowledge people lose weight on it. I have a friend that's doing low carb and is losing weight. Most people do. He's paying a nutritionist that is coming up with a plan for him. He's done low carb several times before and has had success and then put it back on afterwards. I guess paying someone will make a difference? I think like my best friend one has to be consistent when you're at your goal weight in order to not put it back on. I totally understand because that's me.

I was dead asleep when my alarm woke me up at 6AM and still feel sluggish even with two cups of coffee. I probably should have let my body be my guide and not set an alarm and rest, but I'm working tomorrow and have to get to bed early. Did a couple of loads of laundry. I'm planning on making a white bean and barley stew later for some meal prep. Got the beans ready in my InstantPot instead of canned so I can watch my sodium. Luckily carbs don't bother me. 🙂.

No Stars In My Eyes · Apr 19

Good Afternoon~

dianah, a housekeeper would be nice.....would be like having a wife to do the chores! SiL says she has Nannie on the waiting list at Senior Center Daycare, and that would be two days a week, on which she would come over and get Nannie up, dressed and fed, and drive her over there. But first she has to get to the top of the waiting list and who knows how long that'll be!

I woke up around 10 AM and went back to sleep until 11 AM. Then I got up and took Momo downstairs so she could eat and do her business down there, instead of peeing on my comforter. Well, she ate her breakfast and then peed off the edge of the chux, and then pooped, then peed again on the chux on her side of the sofa. I don't get why she has to pee on the sofa, but at least she gets it on the chux.

Momo doesn't care a thing about what's going on around her; she is blind in her left eye, and doesn't pay any attention to anything except for food and me. So she probably isn't even aware there is a mouse in the house. Maybe if she was younger than 7 years old, she would be more aware of the mouse? In the last 8 years we have only had one mouse, years ago, and it was caught by the trap soon after it was set and put down.

I rolled up all the change from the change jar....and I think I have about $30+ . I practically went cross-eyed by the time I was through, and I had to recount the pennies twice to make sure I got it right. So, shortly I will run it over to the bank and exchange it for green paper money. I only have to get 2-3 things at the grocery store. That's a good idea about the Miralax, it is so darn expensive, and she does have that OTC allowance with her Medicare supplement thingy. I will let SiL pick some up; I can leave a note at the doc's office to ask for it to be added to her prescribed meds so it will get covered.

Today is supposed to be 88 degrees and later a 51% chance of precipitation. Guess I'll take my umbrella with me. I'm not sure if one of the iL's is going to come by later today. SiL said something about coming over today or tomorrow after she gets off work which will be for 3-2 hours; and I THINK she said something about taking Nannie over to her house on Saturday? Well, all will be revealed soon, I'm sure.

Okay, I might as well get up and get going...........

Editorial Team / Admin · Apr 19

Hello all,

Tweety, after my lab results came back, I got the dreaded call to make an appointment with my PMD to "discuss" my A1c (went up from 6.4 to 6.8) and cholesterol (actually is stable at 239, I am reluctant to take statins). I had already gone on the keto plan. As I indicated in their pre-plan survey, I wanted to be vegetarian, so the version they gave me has lots of eggs and cheese -- which may be good for my A1c but not for my cholesterol! *sigh* Where's my magic wand? I'll wave it and *POOF* : weight-be-gone! Why do you say keto is a horrible diet? I have been thinking about switching to South Beach...

No Stars, I hope you get some Nannie relief soon.

Hello Joe!

It is nice out, probably will reach 80 degrees today. I am a little distracted, for we have a friend who has been struggling with a form of leukemia. He is in his late 70's. His wife and I have been texting back and forth, but I haven't heard from either of them for probably two weeks now. So, I am concerned. I don't want to invade their privacy and just show up there. But as I said, I am distracted, and concerned.

Have a good day!

nursej22, MSN, RN · Apr 19

Good afternoon. Sunny and getting warmish. It's still not even 60. I had to go to the bank and get cash to pay the people who did the work on the house: power washed the vinyl siding, painted the trim, replaced the floor and steps of the front porch with composite decking. I was down at the demo gardens to check on the roses we transplanted. They look all wilted. Dh and I are going soon with buckets so we can carry water to them from the faucet that is about 200 ft. away.
I think I've tried most "diets" at some point. For now, I follow CDC recommendations for preventing DM. Emphasis on plant based, high fiber, avoiding concentrated carbs and highly processed foods, healthy oils. I think one of my meds was somewhat responsible for some weight gain. I've stopped it now and feel better.
A housekeeper sounds like a great idea, even just an hour or two a week.
Yes, I remember "the bowel chart" at LTC.
A pub sounds fun.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Apr 19

Dianah, I apologize that I stepped in. I tend not to want to give out opinions about diet because one size doesn't fit all and people don't want to hear it.

My issue with the keto is that it's high fat and not the good kind usually. Obviously people are going to lose weight, and get excited that it in the short term also might lower their blood glucose or A1C or kept it steady. Losing weight in and of itself regardless of how is healthy.

Besides the saturated fat part, which is known to be unfriendly to the heart, your muscles wind up storing fat instead of carbs. Carbs are meant to be stored in the muscles for easy energy access. It will favor fat if that is what is there, and then glucose is floating around the vessels in higher concentration.

The latest craze is continuous blood glucose monitoring and people obsess over getting a steady flat line on their immediate glucose levels and accomplish this with low carb and high protein and fat. What's wrong with this is that your blood glucose is supposed to spike some after a meal and then your body kicks in and knocks it back down as it takes that glucose and stores it. We are not meant to have a flat line. But that's an off the wall rant.

A better idea for getting down A1C is to be as low fat as possible, and get your muscles to get the fat out of them and to get the glucose out of your blood stream and store it in the muscle for energy. Low fat plant based diets are perfect for this. The literature is full of people that dramatically lower their A1C and get off of medication being low fat whole foods plant based. I'm not biased here, it's there.

My last A1C was 5.0 and I eat a lot of unrefined and processed carbs and fruit and you've seen me on facebook, and while I have gained some weight the last couple of years, I don't think I'm too overweight. I was a bit disappointed in that A1C actually but I know it was taken after overindulgence over the holidays through Valentines and overindulged.

Mind you I am not strictly following any kind of diet and do eat animal products, albeit sparingly and sometimes go weeks without it.

Anyway that's way more information that you asked, LOL and you do you and what's best for you based on the professional advice you get and I'm happy to share what I do, but only to share what I do, not say it's what you should do.

Editorial Team / Admin · Apr 19

I do appreciate your input, Tweety, as I consider you a wise supply of information. Thank you!

No Stars In My Eyes · Apr 20

I read somewhere recently that Magnesium helps lower A-1c as well as statins do. I dunno, but thought it was interesting, so I am mentioning it here, because of the above conversations. Maybe look it up and see?

G'night!