Had a doctor's appointment last week. The good news is that Mom's belly is so low, her skin is actually starting to sag a bit from being so stretched out before. This means her ascites has improved greatly. The doctor was very happy that she's gained 2 pounds. He said it indicates that her nutrition has improved. She's been eating a lot more eggs and I got some frozen teriyaki chicken (all she has to do is microwave it), and she loves it. She hasn't had any more fruit or veggies since that two weeks when she had one orange and half an apple and got my hopes up, but she hasn't had chinese food or anything superheavy in salted brine in probably more than a month. She asked the doctor if she can drive again, and he told her not yet. He did say that if she continues to improve (i.e. gain weight and strength) that he will allow her to drive, starting with a 5 mile radius from the house. This may be as soon as her next appointment with him (in May), however, as it stands, she was too weak to stay sitting up for 15 minutes to wait for him to come into the room, and he said if she can't even do that then she's not strong enough to drive and have a good reaction time.
The not-so-good news is that she has been confused lately, worse than usual. I'm going to ask the doctor if we can increase the toxin-clearing medication to clear her head a little more. I wonder if her increased confusion is caused by irony; that her ascites fluid is gone. She weighs less and her other medications would build up more, causing more confusion. She keeps confusing night and day, days of the week, and forgetting things quickly. Today, for instance, she took her PM pills this morning. Last Saturday morning at 8:30 am, she called me because she thought I'd left the house without telling her. I was in bed, asleep, but she thought it was Friday night at 8:30, and didn't actually check my room to see if I was there, so she called me from her bedroom. It is unclear if she ate before her glucose blood test (she was to fast for this, but we're not sure) and it appears that her glucose came back at 95 and her A1C came back over 600. This means that on that particular day, it's difficult to say if she ate before or not, and her blood sugar wasn't bad, but her blood sugar over the last three months has been too high on a regular basis. It's the tea she drinks - she pours an inch of sugar in the bottom of the bottle. I've offered Splenda, but she is hesitant toward change in her life (hint: understatement). But in her confusion, she said she ate at 7 am and we tested her blood around 9 am....then she later said she was mistaken and didn't eat that morning. I really don't know. I can't watch her 24/7 and she often wakes at 3 am for a snack.
We just received another blood test request from the doctor to retest her potassium. It seems it was too low last time, and they want to make sure it is accurate before raising the dose. Too much or too little potassium has dire consequences.
A friend is giving me some furniture today that will hopefully help organize this house a bit. One item is a dresser I intend to put into Mom's room. It will help house her several months-worth of medications and might help her to organize her clothes so that the dining room table is no longer a functional dresser.
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