Friday, July 2, 2004
Whew, what a day! I love days like this...
...that begin one way and end another. Which is to say, it began verrrrry sloooowly for Mom. I intended on awakening her at 1000 or so but got involved in a phone conversation with MCS right after doing some more research on anemia. Mom got to sleep in until 1140. She had awakened earlier. She was propped on her elbows and looking around when I peaked in on her a little before 0700 but wanted to go back to sleep so I let her. I regretted that decision when I finally got around to rousing her at 1140 but her day started with some sort of internal bang and continued from there.
I'm pretty exhausted. My days always begin at least a few hours before hers. This morning it was more like several hours. Once she arose we hit the ground running. She needed only a little prodding to accompany me on my errands and extended one well beyond my wildest hopes, spending a good half hour walkering up and down aisles at the drug store under her own recognizance (which has only recently begun again) marveling at all the goods and choosing a new crossword puzzle magazine for herself while I looked for the specificities that brought us to that store. By the time she was ready to go she was lightly panting and clearly good to rest. I considered turning her oxygen up to 4/lpm but decided against it, considering that she is in the process of building her aerobic capacity and a little panting is to be expected. It certainly seems like I should give her body a chance to test, push and strengthen itself.
If you've checked in on Mom's Daily Tests & Meds (which I'm sure you haven't, as almost no one goes there) you'll know that she and I had a mildly protracted discussion about when days "should" begin and end. During this long 8 months of convalescence from her back injury and her bouts with anemia it's been common for her to start late and end early. Tonight, though, she considered, at my suggestion, that since we rarely have a definite schedule to keep, we can certainly change the rules about when a day should begin and when it should end. If one eats breakfast just before 1300, there is certainly no reason why one shouldn't be eating dinner at 2210. She had enough energy and vitality to appreciate my reasoning, even taking delight in the possibility that what we were doing was a touch European and maybe even just this side of wicked.
The day, from about 1500 on, was labor intensive for me up until just before she went to bed, which was less than an hour ago (the time, now, is 0041, 7/2/04). She entertained herself well between television, crosswords and moving about the house looking for things. I thought I was having trouble hydrating her but discovered that when she is active she hydrates well and quickly and seems to hold on to fluid better than when she is sedentary. This is interesting for me to ponder and I'm curious to see if this trend continues.
I picked up the Niferex-150 a very strong combination of iron polysaccharide and ferrous bisglycinate chelate (of which there is actually a lot of information but I couldn't decide to which to direct you) today and I'll begin administering one 150 mg tablet in the morning as soon as she awakens with 500 mg vitamin C. That'll be it for the day. This is not the highest daily amount of iron she's ever taken. During her first bout with anemia when I knew nothing about iron supplements I followed her PCP's recommendation that I administer ferrous sulfate, 65 mg (elemental iron) three times a day. Aside from the fact that this is an awful lot of iron, it was also the least absorbed supplement and the one whose distinction is that it translates into free radicals in the body immediately upon digestion. I'm looking forward to her "as needed" blood draw next week to see if this supplement has a somewhat more heightened effect than the iron protein succinylate I've been administering. I'm not unhappy with the current supplement. It's just that the highest concentration I can get it in is 18 mg capsules, which is an awful lot of capsules to administer in order to deliver the boost she needs right now. As well, this is the iron that our yard man in Mesa was prescribed after his blood transfusion and he's never looked back. He now takes two daily doses of Niferex-40 by prescription and this seems to do the trick for him. We'll see what Niferex does for my mother.
You'll have to excuse me, I'm dead on my ass and need some sleep if I'm going to be up to the activity I have planned into which to coax Mom tomorrow. I have much I'd like to muse about but life intervenes, as usual, and, while I depend on the activity of writing to help me deal with this part of my life, doing life takes precedence.
Later.
I'm pretty exhausted. My days always begin at least a few hours before hers. This morning it was more like several hours. Once she arose we hit the ground running. She needed only a little prodding to accompany me on my errands and extended one well beyond my wildest hopes, spending a good half hour walkering up and down aisles at the drug store under her own recognizance (which has only recently begun again) marveling at all the goods and choosing a new crossword puzzle magazine for herself while I looked for the specificities that brought us to that store. By the time she was ready to go she was lightly panting and clearly good to rest. I considered turning her oxygen up to 4/lpm but decided against it, considering that she is in the process of building her aerobic capacity and a little panting is to be expected. It certainly seems like I should give her body a chance to test, push and strengthen itself.
If you've checked in on Mom's Daily Tests & Meds (which I'm sure you haven't, as almost no one goes there) you'll know that she and I had a mildly protracted discussion about when days "should" begin and end. During this long 8 months of convalescence from her back injury and her bouts with anemia it's been common for her to start late and end early. Tonight, though, she considered, at my suggestion, that since we rarely have a definite schedule to keep, we can certainly change the rules about when a day should begin and when it should end. If one eats breakfast just before 1300, there is certainly no reason why one shouldn't be eating dinner at 2210. She had enough energy and vitality to appreciate my reasoning, even taking delight in the possibility that what we were doing was a touch European and maybe even just this side of wicked.
The day, from about 1500 on, was labor intensive for me up until just before she went to bed, which was less than an hour ago (the time, now, is 0041, 7/2/04). She entertained herself well between television, crosswords and moving about the house looking for things. I thought I was having trouble hydrating her but discovered that when she is active she hydrates well and quickly and seems to hold on to fluid better than when she is sedentary. This is interesting for me to ponder and I'm curious to see if this trend continues.
I picked up the Niferex-150 a very strong combination of iron polysaccharide and ferrous bisglycinate chelate (of which there is actually a lot of information but I couldn't decide to which to direct you) today and I'll begin administering one 150 mg tablet in the morning as soon as she awakens with 500 mg vitamin C. That'll be it for the day. This is not the highest daily amount of iron she's ever taken. During her first bout with anemia when I knew nothing about iron supplements I followed her PCP's recommendation that I administer ferrous sulfate, 65 mg (elemental iron) three times a day. Aside from the fact that this is an awful lot of iron, it was also the least absorbed supplement and the one whose distinction is that it translates into free radicals in the body immediately upon digestion. I'm looking forward to her "as needed" blood draw next week to see if this supplement has a somewhat more heightened effect than the iron protein succinylate I've been administering. I'm not unhappy with the current supplement. It's just that the highest concentration I can get it in is 18 mg capsules, which is an awful lot of capsules to administer in order to deliver the boost she needs right now. As well, this is the iron that our yard man in Mesa was prescribed after his blood transfusion and he's never looked back. He now takes two daily doses of Niferex-40 by prescription and this seems to do the trick for him. We'll see what Niferex does for my mother.
You'll have to excuse me, I'm dead on my ass and need some sleep if I'm going to be up to the activity I have planned into which to coax Mom tomorrow. I have much I'd like to muse about but life intervenes, as usual, and, while I depend on the activity of writing to help me deal with this part of my life, doing life takes precedence.
Later.
