All imaging test results that I acquired...
...from Mom's PCP have been posted and uploaded. Added to what I mentioned earlier are two Echocardiograms and a Carotid Sonogram. I also made some corrections to a few previously posted and uploaded tests as follows:

1. The CT of Chest Without Contrast that I earlier reported as having been taken on 9/22/02 was actually taken on 9/27/02.
2. I added commentary to the Chest X-ray taken on 9/17/02, placing it by precipitating event and connecting it to the CT of Chest Without Contrast taken on 9/27/02, as this test precipitated that test.
3. I got a full copy of the blood draw tests taken on 9/17/2002 and was able to fill in two values for Hypochromia and Ovalocytes under the Slide Review/Morphology portion that had been cut off on my earlier copy.
4. I changed the date of the blood draw test previous reported as 5/23/03 to it's correct date of 5/22/03, which had been obscured on a previous copy.

    I still have nine fluid (blood and urine) tests to post. Fluid test results typically take longer to input than the imaging tests and are a strain on the eyesight so I'm going to defer those to next weekend.
    I'm thinking in terms of soliciting all the reports that Banner Hospital has on her that were taken during her brief stay last fall, any reports from her hematologist that I don't have (I think I have most if not all of them, actually), and any formal hard copy reports from the gastro-enterologist who performed her colonoscopy. I'm going to defer that, too, until we return from Prescott in the late fall, as we aren't up there yet and, now that Mom is released, as soon as our refinancing is done I think we could use a doctor/lab test result-free couple of months.
    There are also two medication changes to report. As of yesterday her PCP decided to lower her iron dose from two pills per day to one. As well, he suggested moving the one 2 mg Detrol from morning to night rather than prescribing a 1 mg Detrol tablet twice a day. We started both of those changes today. I will update her medication schedule this weekend.
    She's been looking and feeling good today. We played Yahtzee tonight for the first time in I can't remember how long. She had trouble remembering how to play at first and needed frequent reminding but came round nicely toward the end and "let" me win two out of three games.
    There are also going to be some interesting adjustments regarding her eating habits. The better she feels the more she wants to eat but I think by increasing her activity we should be able to take care of some of that. Not that I don't expect her appetite to increase as she becomes more active and feels better but I'm beginning to think that her problems over the last year or so have been accelerated in part by a vicious cycle that she fell into and I didn't catch in time as she developed anemia: Lethargy drained her alertness, increased her snacking (out of boredom), which increased her blood sugar, which increased her lethargy...and pretty soon we were in crisis mode. I do not believe her anemia was caused by the cycle but now that we are beginning to control it, despite not yet determining its cause, I want to avoid her slipping into this cycle again and aggravating all her other manageable conditions. We've talked about this on and off over the last week and I've begun to slowly institute measures that will help keep her alert, active and as healthy as possible. Emotionally she is not pleased, but she understands the thrust of these new strategies intellectually and I think with a careful eye and much good humored repetition from me she will accept and eventually welcome the changes, just as she did winnowing sugar out of her diet. I expect this means we'll be operating as a team, once again. I can't wait!
    Later.
- posted by gail rae @ 02:00   email...this post