Thank You

For not letting me lose my temper, even though Mom was being very difficult today. She had a good positive check up yeterday, as well as a great PT session. If I had that type of a day, say one with weight loss and a good Hg1AC, I'd be floating on air. Instead, Mom tried to go on a salt rampage for lunch. I wonder what provoked it?

First, I tried to take a nap, because I woke up twice during the night with low blood sugar. Then, I became aware that somebody was out in the kitchen, dropping metal cans on the floor, with a loud 'clunk'. When I went out to the kitchen ( my bed is in the living room), Mom had just emptied a can of beef gravy into a saucepan, and was trying to open a can of tomato paste. I opened the paste for her, then saw her holding a can of onion soup.

Being diplomatic, I asked 'what is the sodium count' and she replied '120 per serving and 2.5 servings in a can. That seemed unusually low for a can of condensed soup, so I read the label of a second can on the counter. It had 900 milligrams of sodium per 1/2 cup serving--quite a difference for an 84 year old woman who has congestive heart failure.

Instead of yelling, which was my first instinct, I said 'why are you doing this? It's pretty self destructive, and seems a bit unfair to Ginny and me, who are working hard to keep you healthy." Her first excuse was that we did plenty of things that she did not want us to do, and the second was that she was not going to follow a long list of diet rules. I replied 'the difference is that eating a great deal of salt is going to put you in the hospital'.

It's more the timing--just when she's on the verge of success, she wants to pull the plug. oh well,