Keeping them on the straight and narrow.

 Kay was watching TV after breakfast when I got there.  This was in the dining room where she had eaten breakfast. There is a TV there also.  She was actually looking at it which surprised me as usually doesn't even look at it.  I took her to our picnic spot and gave her the usual which she  ate quite a bit.  Must have been still hungry as this was only about 8 45.   I took her downstairs to the 2nd floor and we sat and watched the coming and going.  Then back upstairs for the remainder of the visit.  

They had one of their ordinary meetings where residents can ask questions of the officials, and managers.  You must remember though that this place has been in business for 16 years and I think has things pretty well figured out how they run the place.  Residents come, die and new ones take their place.  Managers for the main continue on managing the place as they learn to their advantage.  I am pretty sure for instance that the Fed's have ordained they provide a balanced diet of the current opinion of what is healthy.  Like it does in the schools.  Unfortunately they did not include a book of recipes. But more on this later.  

The past week I was offered doses of insulin that were entirely wrong two times.  The place here  has contracted to provide the medication prescribed by the doctor and they are required to adhere strictly to what he orders.  Makes sense as more people die from medicine mistakes than are killed in auto accidents. One of the mistakes could have been serious under some conditions if I had not caught it. So I brought this subject up. The head nurse had not gotten back to me after getting my email  about it.  I would not have brought up the subject if she had just commented to even in passing that she was looking into it.   Anyway that gave them something to chew on.  I got to thinking later about why these mistakes can happen other than just carelessness. The first mistake where the nurse was going to give me less than doctors orders probably happened because the eyesight of the nurse went bad.  She told me that on her BD a few days ago she seemed to start going blind.  Her mom did not believe her.  But you certainly go blind suddenly.  I have also not seen her here since then.  She was also a major player the Saturday when the nurse failed to show up here leaving scores of people here without their medicine or treatment.  The nurse that tried to give me almost double my prescribed amount is young and just out of school.  This is apparently her first job.  What should be looked into I think is the possibility that she needs glasses.  Being young and good looking and throw in a certain amount of vanity doesn't mean she doesn't need glasses. The sheet they use to know what is the right amount might be printed poorly. It is hard to tell the difference between a 5 and an 8  sometimes. 

What I learned about food will have to wait until tomorrow. 

Next to God

 Today I will be looking into Hospice care for Kay.  Just gathering information as Tom will be taking a well deserved trip back east to see Robby and family.  Then to visit Gettysburg.   I had a great opportunity to make a point with a nurse today about how  to take an accurate reading of  b/g.  They all seem to have the idea that the quicker they take the strip out of the blood the better. Obviously they have no idea about how capillary action works.  Today the nurse took my reading and it was  146 which it has never been fasting for a long time.  I just commented that I did not think it was correct.  Surprisingly she said she would take another reading.  That surprised me but I quickly took her up on the offer and the next one read 88 which is drastically different and that her first reading was a bad reading.. Of course she should have done a third and proved which one was correct.  But  from experience I knew the second one was the good one I was also able to tell her when she got the strip in the blood to keep it there a second or so.   I don't know if it will make any permanent difference as I have demonstrated it to another nure previously but that bonehead is too hard headed to change his way of thinking.  He is the last person to take instruction from a patient. What does a patient know about anything?  "I'm a nurse"  Next to God.  I see Kay today. 

Oaul's incident

 Paul who sits across from me at the dining room table got a bad headache after sitting down at the table.  His actions were very slow.  Everything he tried to do was slow.  I got him something to eat which was not left at the normal time. After a while he began to shake.  I went to the med room and told the nurse that Paul was shaking.  Paul had said his b/g was 240 when checked.  The nurse said he was ok but did nothing but look at him.  Then went back into the med room.  Back at the table I asked Paul how he felt.  He said he was still shaking inside.  I went back and told the nurse who seemed to resent it but did come out and stood by and looked at him.  But did nothing like taking his pulse, blood pressure, or b/g test. I guess Paul was having a diabetes incident of some kind. He also said he was dehydrated. Everything pointed to some sort of diabetic problem from the little I know about it.  But not doing something like taking his vitals or b/g readings seems strange to me.  Some of these nurses working here do seem to indicate they have physic powers of observation.  Like stand by and look inside you.  Like this "nurse" did.  I guess you have to keel over to get them to do something like check b/g or b/p.  It doesn't make me feel at all confident at their abilities.  

Just the Truth Mam

A new day. I think I will live a while.I still feel lousy but better I think.  I've mentioned how these people who run these institutions lie to you. When the truth would do better.  The nurse came to administer med and check me over. She is one of the worst for fibbing.   I sleep on my recliner chair because if I lay down flat in bed I would cough much worse than sleeping on the incline.  You all know that.  I am not really cold in the apartment but it would be nice to have a little covering.  I could just get one off the bed but that leaves it unmade and I thought I could avoid that by just having them give me a light weight covering. So I asked her if they could provide me with a light blanket.  She said no because they don't have them.  Of course they have them. I heard this building has 105 rooms and they provide bedding for 105 rooms so they have blankets.  Why did she have to lie?  She could have just told me  tear up the bed and use one of them if she didn't want to bother with my request.  But  lie, that's the first thing they think off. Well, it certainly does  nothing to gain respect from me because if they lie in little things they certainly will lie in big things
I'll wait for the housekeeper and ask her.  Otherwise I will use a blanket from the bed.  I did that before. When the housekeeper came in she obligingly gave me the blanket I need.  So why did the nurse tell me they could not give a blanket?  What is wrong with the truth?
 
 I don't know when I can go see Kay.  Right now my cough is the most depressing problems.  You know how lousy you feel when you have to cough all the time. 

I have been trying for days to get the name of the antibiotic I am taking.  It seemed to be effecting my eyesight.  I asked a teck and he didn't tell  me the name but said he looked it up and coffee has lots of effects when using this pill.  I am blind enough now that  I dont need to be more blind than I am.  If permanent or not it would be nice to know.  I like coffee and want to know.  So I called the med room and asked for the spelling of the medicine.  I didn't catch the name right away as she laborously read it out letter by letter.  But when I hung up and looked at the name it was the hydro pill I take and not the antibiotic.  I think this is the teck who when I asked her a similar question when I first came here said she could not pronounce the name of a pill I had asked the name of.  I don't think she can read.  I've had two medical mistakes here in two days.  Omitting my antibiotics yesterday and giving me the wrong name today.  How many other mistakes do they make?  More later.
     
Google messed up and I lost about a hour of writing.  So what ever I said will be lost.  Mainly they are getting tired of having to bring my med and food. I don't know if this fits management way of doing things but it is the workers attitude.  If you have ever had pneumonia you know how weak you can get. I was trying to figure out how if I should take the effort to take a shower.  Finally I decided I should no matter how  listless I feel. I didn't want to jump for joy but I got through it ok.  I then decided that maybe if I forced myself to walk I could build up my strength even though  I feel so lousy.  I set the timer for 25 minutes and every 25 minutes  I will walk.  

I just missed a hilarious picture.  I found in the past if you are a photographer be ready.  On my walk I met two maintenance workers going to a  room to clean it as the former occupant had moved out (or died). There was the young husky guy and the director a 30ish blond. He was walking behind her hands free but she was carrying a ladder and considerable other equipment.  It would have been a great picture.

They won't like it but I intend to hold off going to the dining room until tomorrow morning. I have made three walks so far but I need more as it is about 500 feet to the dining room.