Mary, the "Healthare worker" checked her B/G  at my request the other day and it was 383 mg/dl.  She is diabetic too need I say.  She had taken her insulin in the morning and had not eaten anything since.    Her doctor   prescribes one dose of slow acting insulin a day.  Obviously something is not working.  If I remember right one reason is she cant afford another more effective kind.  Now that is a good reason isn't it?  She has "insurance" through her place of work.   Things continued on a couple days and for some reason she was going to take another b/g test and she said she mentioned that here insulin was in the car.  Insulin in the car?  For Seattle we have had some hat days recently which meant the car had been reaching temps of well over a hundred many times.  No wonder the insulin was no good.  I asked here why the she kept it in the car and she said it said after opening it could be left out of the refrigerator.  Where in world did she read that? Obviously  she was going to re-read it again.  I wonder how long she has been doing this?  Like most diabetics who has a bad a1c she claims she did not remember what it was.  Can you imagine some doctor not trying to get to the bottom of why her a1c was so bad?  In my opinion a HMO doctor is just spending their time collecting their check when they allow this. How do you sort them out when this occurs? The good from the bad. She is not quite of SS age yet so has to pay the high co-pay fees of her insurance which is through Group Death oops I mean Group Health.   

Frustratiions of getting Kay to eat.

 This is a drawing Kay did when she was about 16.  She was pretty good.

 I got up early because Kay was restless and continually moved in the bed a little.  So I just got up.  (4:15)  After reading the paper a while I decided I'd get some breakfast. This was about 5:45.  If she is up I get breakfast for both of us of course.  As she was not up and doesn't usually get up until somewhat later I just pre-prepared her egg cup for poached egg on toast in milk.  I will put bread in the toaster to make toast, put milk in the microwave, get the water boiling for cooking the egg so that when I want to start I put the egg in the water start it cooking, push down the toaster handle, go over to the mic and start it going.  Then I can take out the milk when hot, butter the bread, and finally take up the egg and put it on the toast in the milk bowl.  For both of us if she is up.  It's nice to be able to do this for both of us which takes a lot less steps on my bad knees than if I have to do it twice. Today she came in just as I started the toaster so I put in another piece of bread and her egg in the pan and another bowl of milk. Not a lot of extra steps but will make fewer than if I had had to wait until she got up later.  Unfortunately things do not go as planned. Usually just when I tell her to sit down and eat she heads for the bathroom.  All of the above can work but what if she isn't hungry?   Then I will have to throw it out because eating it later doesn't work.  I don't want to refrigerate it as the bread will be unacceptably soggy.  That's what happened today. It's there but I don't think she will eat it.She was not hungry and put the bowl in the reefer. That's where it stands now. As far as eating the kind of food she should be eating. One probablem is she is snacking on things that ruin her appetite when it is time to eat. A while back I wondered how this was effecting her so had the Dr.  (reluctantly) include a A1c test.  This was during the time she was having the low iron problem. Her test came back 6.2 which is more than mine and I am diabetic! So you people out there who are not diabetic and think it doesn't matter what you eat take a second look. The results are the same as if you were diabetic.  What you eat is important. Hi collestorol, blood pressure, heart trouble, andever thing that blood has something to do with is effecting you. 


Yesterday she moved extremely slowly.  Not good at all.  But last night before bed she cleaned the kitchen and besides just stacking the dirty dishes in the sink, (which helps) she actually put them in the dishwasher and turn it on and did the dishes. Something she rarely does the dishes. 


One thing more.  She came to the room and berated me for getting her up.  Goes with the territory.  She is back in bed now.
Here is a sample of the breakfast.  Egg on toast in milk.

ll Sheldon June 17, 1920. April 4, 2001. Four years in the 3rd Infantry Division WW2 His story. Find it at Four years in the 3rd Inf in WW2
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How to get Kay to eat properly

How do I get Kay to eat properly?  Yesterday I made her breakfast of the same  when I made my own poached egg on milk toast.  But she didn't eat of bite of it.  Today I intended to make a piece of French toast but she started eating a piece of bread and butter and an orange before I could get it made so she didn't get to eat something with protein in it.  A couple weeks ago in a blood test her A1c came back 6.2.  That is higher than my A1c which was 5.2.  She is either diabetic or is eating so poorly that her blood sugar is high fom the way she eats like that above. Doctors dont like to prescribe medicaton for someone especially with b/g of 6.2  a1c because the patient is going to go hypoglycemic because of overdosing the medication.  They don't want to give the job of controlling their blood sugar to the patient because the patient does not know enough and the a1c isn't high for the doctor to prescribe medication without the patient going hypoglycemic from too much medication.  So the dr pays his bills by constant visits by the patient.  Of course the simple solution is for the patient to manage their own medication.  But Kay is not able to do this in her condition.  Some day this condition will catch up with her but as it varies from patient to patient we wont know until it happens.


Bill Sheldon June 17, 1920. April 4, 2001. Four years in the 3rd Infantry Division WW2 His story. Find it at Four years in the 3rd Inf in WW2
If you can't wait to get new posting to this web page get on the list of automatic mail when something new is posted ................KE7PLR......................

Kay today

I got up at 6:00 AM and cleaned up then read the paper for a while until Kay came in so I quit to make breakfast. Poached egg on toast in milk.  I had to urge Kay to come in and eat.  But she just sat there in her nightgown doing nothing. I tried to even feed her but she would not eat except for one bite.  In a little while she got up and went to the bedroom and lay down for a while. She hasn't said a word so far.  I am supposed to take her to the lab and get some blood drawn so they can test her potassium, and kidney function which the GFI was 45 the other day.  I've asked for an A1c too which the doctor has agreed to although she thinks it unnecessary.  She is sitting at the kitchen counter but doesn't seem to be eating.  I did a perfect job on the egg too.   


Bill Sheldon June 17, 1920. April 4, 2001. Four years in the 3rd Infantry Division WW2 His story. Find it at Four years in the 3rd Inf in WW2
If you can't wait to get new posting to this web page get on the list of automatic mail when something new is posted ................KE7PLR......................