first war
Nice sunny day to visit Kay. She was not anywhere to be found so I notified the caregiver and she began looking into other rooms and found her in bed in another room. I took her to the usual place with the iron furniture. She ate about half a pudding and something else I forget what. I brought the scales and after taking her to the enclosed area outside I weighed her. She weighs 92 with her normal clothes on. She continues to gain weight. I think that must be from how she is eating now that she is off the puree diet. Not only that but if they did what I asked they are also giving her more tasty food. I must talk to them about what they are giving her. What I am giving her cant be responsible for it I don't think. Something has to be responsible for her weight gain. Another big survey has come out in the past few days showing that low salt does nothing to extend your life span. This is in addition to the CDC survey a year or so ago.
I think I will start mailing out the DVD's if I have enough. envelopes. If not I will have to wait for a little while until Tom comes on Thursday. In the meantime I am going to start on improving it with my new Sony Movie Maker where it is seriously in need of improvement. You will note that one of the songs about half way through the music and singer is shrill. that comes from the fact that I recorded it wrong. In the meantime I will replace it with a better quality rendition. I can also do some picture in picture stuff to improve it too. Hopefully more interesting.
Normal visit today. The only thing new is that she seems to need increased personal attention That was expected sometime in the future. Looks like the future is now. I called the caregiver to take care of her but it works better if I help. Sad to see her in this condition. Like many in this condition they resent being handles by someone else. Usualy she will listen to me but not always.
She did not eat all her pudding today. They might be giving her food she prefers and also in the form she likes better than Puree.
When left she was at the elevator and the care giver helping me leave her suggested Kay wave goodbye to me from the window. That worked well as Kay and the caregiver waved to me when I got to the ground floor. Nice of the caregiver to think of that.
There is good news tonight. Kay has gained 2 or 3 pounds this past week on her new eating schedule. Today she weighed 90.8 pounds. that is up from 85 a week ago when I weighed her. So taking into consideration clothing she should have gained 2 or 3 pounds. They took her off the puree diet and started seasoning her food. I suggested some foods she would normally eat but I don't know if they are actually giving them to her. But the point is she is gaining weight. You can argue with me on the amount but I don't think there is any doubt she is gaining weight. The clothes she wore today looked like about the same amount she had on the last time. One of the caregivers today said she ate well at lunch but she really tore into the pudding before I could get the spoon to her. She acted like she was very hungry. I don't put a lot of faith in what a caregiver tells me in some subjects because I think they are programed to give one kind of answer to certain questions and how a patient eats is one of them. Besides that I got there just about an hour after her meal. Sunday transportation was quick today. We hung out together today until a half hour or so before time to go when we went to the activity room to sit with the others. I had to leave her there which was not easy for me. She seemed to take it ok. She hasn't kissed my had the last couple days or did she seem to want to kiss me goodbye. I take note of these things trying to anticipate if there is anything she is losing. That would indicate a change in her mental state I would think.
The visit today was pretty dull. I am still working on what to do about her diet. I have asked them to take her off the puree food. they actually just give her puree food not because she chokes but takes little pieces out that she cant chew and puts it on her plate or the edge of the table. Most anywhere. But this is done not for her benefit but for their benefit. They just don't want to admit it. She has even eaten popcorn the past two time I brought it. Don't ask me how she does it. I didn't offer it to her I just did not want to refuse her when she asked for it. I think the nurse was speechless when I told her. The past three days she has eaten a pudding which is 6 or 8 oz. I cant test her for weight loss under their diet if I keep giving her pudding every day. Tomorrow no as I am out of it.
Good visit with Kay today although it took me forever to get home. It was the day Tom could deliver my order of supplies today which included some pudding to give to Kay. He wants to see if she eats it with as much gusto as she did at OCB last time. The answer is yes. It was gone in 30 seconds I think. Also a truffle I gave her. The sun was out so the first thing I did after giving her the pudding was to take her outside and soak up some sun. We were protected from any breeze so it was really a good experience. Afterwards we went back to her room and hung out there until time to go.
I have gotten an accurate weight on Kay and she weighs 84.4 with her clothes on. They probably weighed a pound and a half. This weight indicates a continual downward trend. I maintained that when I started this exposure that she lost 15 pounds from last June to a couple months ago. Everybody pooh poohed that claim and did not believe it. When we met with the State of WA social services agent the Cascade represetative gave some figures that showed she did not lose the weight. Contrary to what I thought she had lost which was 15 pounds in about 4 or 5 months. As I got my figures from the Cascade medical department there was not much I could do to counter that claim. If the Cascade representative was correct the figure I got from the same department was either wrong or I got it mixed up somehow. Therefore I had to use other means to determine if she was not eating enough to keep from losing weight. We got figures from Multcare on on what she weighed when she went to Multicare for treatment but they were inconclusive as far as I was concerned. They gave her weight in some instances where I do not remember ever weighing. Which was over 130 pounds. Besides I seem to remember her going to the Doctor there and they do not always weigh her. Recently it seemed to me that she is continuing to lose weight as her arms are just skin and bones. I decided that the only thing to do was to monitor her weight and see if she continues to lose weight. So today she weighed 84.4 with her clothes on which is about 5 or 6 pounds less than when this is all started.
I have contacted the nurse there who handles these things and have asked to change her diet from puree foods to regular food she has been used to eating until she went to Cascade Gardens. I am in the process of making up a list hoping they have enough of variery to give them a try. They will only do non puree for 72 hours. I think this is BS by the nurse as it is easier not to puree food than dish it out with all the other food plates. I find you can get some little white lies from these people when the truth would do just as well. I also want them to give her food she likes and not all that stuff from Food Services of America who supplies Cascades food. For the non puree diet either way should work ok. One important item is to put salt in her food. Her blood pressure is good so she does not need a low salt diet. The CDC did a long survey of 40,000 people and found that those on a low salt diet did not live an hour longer than those with normal salt.
No visit to see Kay today. I have the flu or cold. I won't go near her until it is safe. Tom and Peg took a 12 oz container of pureed potato soup from Fred Meyer . She ate the whole thing. I kept telling everyone she was hungry all the time. You don't lose 16 pounds when you start at 105 without going hungry all the time.
