h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I didn't say that right... she chewed the sausages then spat out EACH mouthful, so she never actually ingested anything.

One thing about my father is that he never lost his appetite.

one suggestion maybea corn beef hash, no large solids to chew but still getting meat and veg - thenmam! the restaurant down the road has sent this for you and it wouldn't be nice to refuse it would it

My mom has got two breathing machines now, a cpap machine which supplies breathing air at elevated pressure and an oxygen machine that feeds elevated oxygen into the system.

Not as good as a good aerobics regimen, perhaps, but beyond a certain age that becomes increasingly impractical.

Thankfully, her health insurance covered everything.




She fought the device at first, had trouble adjusting to wearing a breathing mask.

Most people do have some initial trouble adjusting, I think.

She's sleeping more than twice as much as before, its easy now to see her chest rising and falling when she breathes, where it was nearly impossible before.

She still cries out a lot in her sleep, still walks in her sleep, needs help and support whenever she moves at the moment.

Yesterday, she had a flashback experience during which she was apparently re-experiencing giving birth.

When she came out of it, I asked if she remembered having the flashback experience and she said that she did.

That was rather heartening.

On past occasions she's had flashback experiences, she's generally remembered nothing.

She still has frequent falling incidents, usually when walking in her sleep (or trying to).

It takes a lot of time for this kind of treatment regimen to work, usually the doctors budget a year before the first re-evaluation.




Her appetite has more than doubled since she started using the cpap, she's eating normal sized meals now and frequently asking for more.

She was on elevated oxygen a couple of months before the cpap and that alone did not produce any appreciable effect on her appetite.

She was eating so little I was afraid she was going to starve herself to death.




I've had my own cpap since 2008, elevated air pressure only.

The first thing I noticed after a preliminary phase, getting used to sleeping with a breathing mask on, was that it was much easier to breath while I was sleeping.

The next thing, after about six months, was that my blood changed color.

It had been black at the beginning of the treatment regimen, had been for years and it turned red again, which it hadn't been since my early forties.

Blimey. I never heard of black blood before.

I'll have to research a "cpap machine" - I can't imagine Mum ever asking for more. Today I made her chicken & mushroom soup with a slice of buttered bread, she ate about 1/3rd and ignored the bread. The ice cream went down well though, she actually finished the bowl

I'm afraid Mum hates corned beef Prof, a relic from the War. I get her minced beef, shepherd's pies, cottage pies, etc. She'll eat quite a bit of those.

Have you tried nutritional supplement drinks (or similar)? When my grandma had no appetite, her doctor actually suggested Slim Fast (a meal replacement drink actually meant for weight loss--other brands exist--it's just that the doctor specifically mentioned this one, likely because it's the most familiar over here) as a substitute for the more expensive supplement drinks--more variety, more vitamins and minerals, as it was meant to be a full meal replacement, and about half the price.

GB, in the past I have found Complan very good and use it myself sometimes when I am feeling low. Had one the other night as I was too hot and tired to eat so it was ideal.

I have found that when people get to your Mum's stage they have a distinct preference for sweet things and really does it matter so long as they eat. I found trying to encourage them to eat is one of the hardest, most frustrating things of all when looking after someone.

When my late husband did it I ended up barely eating myself as I felt guilty and everything tasted like cardboard - no pleasure whatever.

Take care,
Websailor

Mum's been on nutritional supplement drinks (Calogen) since she left the Beacon on a soft-food-only diet (due to her aspiration pneumonia). It's supplied by the NHS. I will get her a pack of the meal replacement powder to make up a drink for her, but she doesn't like too much milk (only has a splash in her tea). I'm ultra cautious to ensure I don't serve up any food on the no-no list, and don't buy it in anyway. I've been adding a half-sugar to her multiple cups of tea, she had been sugarless for decades while trying to control her figure. If I add any more than half a sugar she wouldn't drink it "too sweet". She won't have puddings that are sweet (by choice) she prefers tart tastes but when I found some rhubarb Activia yogurts she refused to even try one, pulled such a face she reminded me of my older girl the first time she tried something she disliked

I'm doing well with the ice cream - she's not refused any yet and I'm off to Tesco before hers this morning to check out their flavours.

Does she like bananas? I believe they are a good high-calorie staple food.

I'm buying bananas one at a time, if I buy a bunch she attempts to eat one and ignores the rest, they go black

I spoke too soon earlier. I warmed a salmon & white sauce in pastry parcel but she only ate one mouthful before asking me to take it away (she adores salmon usually) and when I served her up some Cherrylicious ice cream (she loves cherries) she had only one mouthful, said she couldn't eat any more, wasn't hungry. According to the carers book, she left her breakfast (Oat So Simple) too.

We all go off our food when it's hot.

If you can get her to just nibble on anything, and keep up her fluids, you will be doing the very best for her.


lil x

The Complan can be made with milk or water. Personally I prefer the chicken one rather than the sweet ones.

I sometimes wonder with the not eating thing whether it is simply the only means left of asserting their will, or whether their brains just don't process information sensibly any more.

I don't think it is any good getting stressed but the waste food used to upset me, especially as they are a generation that would not dream of wasting food, and made my generation eat it or go without. Well it was wartime but the habit sticks

Mind you the heat could be aaffecting her appetite at the moment too.

Anyway Must not supposed to be here at this hour

Websailor

Mum wasn't eating all that much before the hot weather. I did leave her some fresh drinks and a bottle of water out.

I went to the loo after posting here earlier and my toilet wouldn't flush. As I only have the one, that's a minor emergency so I rang my insurance company and they'll send an engineer out on Saturday morning "you can flush the toilet with a bucket of water so it's not classed as an emergency". I thought I was having a bad day. Then I loaded Facebook and found a message from my cousin in Whitby, her Dad, Mum's younger brother and my one remaining Uncle, is in Hull Royal Infirmary with a bleed on his brain, having been transferred from Scarborough Hospital - they're going to operate tomorrow. This man, *gulp*, is 91, he's been carer for his wife who's blind and diabetic for as long as I can remember, and needs a wheelchair when they go out. My cousin is their only child, you may recall G & I took Mum to visit them a couple of years ago (Gnomon tweaked the photos for me). She's beside herself with worry as she can't really leave her Mum for long to go visit her Dad.

I'm so glad that I organised a phone call between the siblings on his birthday earlier this month and I also got to speak to him myself for a few minutes. His voice has never changed, I remember it from being a little girl. Mum will be devastated if he goes before she does. Dear Lord, I don't know what to do, whether to tell her or not. I am tempted to pop over to Hull Royal tomorrow (a 40-min drive for me) after I've visited Mum but am not sure they'll allow visitors on operation day. It would be great to see my cousin again though.

http://picasaweb.google.com/109163337517290185142/Favourites#5533146023327183346

that was a lovely day.

On the black blood, some might call it 'blue', but definitely not an ultramarine, more like prussian blue or charcoal black with a little gloss.

From accounts I've seen, something affecting chronic workaholics given to long and sustained high levels of physical exertion resulting in depletion of oxygen in the blood and the color change.

From my own experience, physically move five or ten tons of military material per day with sheer muscle over a long term and eventually it catches up with one.




One of the accounts I've seen had to do with a TV star who did a great deal of the physical production work associated with her show herself.




Also a significant possibility, the syndrome may be associated with hyperkinetic physiology.




Took my Mom to the doctor yesterday, got a referral for follow up treatment on her sleep disorder and expect a call or visit from a social worker today.




I think her appetite was perhaps in decline on account of very low rates of aerobic exertion drastically reducing available oxygenation in her blood.

She's almost unable to move about without assistance at present, though her condition has had its ups and downs that way since her heart attacks and stroke.

I'm creeping up on old age and boy! am I trying to keep it to a slow creepdefinitely in no rush as I don't want to be there when I reach it

Ditto, Prof, seeing what my Mom is going through, I've got to plan better for myself.

we're strong stuff Iti, we'll survive mate

My mom woke up late last night, after sleeping nearly all day (she's supposed to)and wanted to be fed.

I opened with a fruit plate, with a quarter of a small cantaloupe, a mango eviscerated and filleted, on opposite quarters of the plate, a white peach, six big strawberries, filling in between, a kiwi fruit in the middle, a whole banana distributed around the kiwi fruit, everything cut into bite sized bits, followed up with a small serving of streusel cake and a cup of milk, her vitamins and minerals selection, calcium carbonate tablet, vitamin D tablet, B complex tablet with additional PABA and B 12 with intrinsic factor, then a salisbury steak frozen dinner with small servings of potato and sweet corn on the side, along with a fresh salad of one large outer leaf of lettuce finely shredded, a quarter of a large avocado and a small roma tomato (about 1 1/2" dia x 2" long), cut up into bite sized bits, a dash of lime juice and blue cheese dressing.

Then I gave her a cup of cherries with half a dozen chocolate coins for desert.

At that point she called for a cheeseburger, I called for a half hour break and she decided to go back to bed.

Three weeks ago, she would have finished no more than one course.

She's still having frequent nightmares and flashback experiences and talking in her sleep.

Not walking in her sleep at the moment, but only, I fear, because she is too feeble.

We're lucky if we can get Mum to eat two mouthfuls of any meal

Yesterday the lunchtime carer reported that she refused lunch so all she had was a cup of tea. The teatime carer rang my landline, I'd just got back from Jaxon's Christening in Sheffield. I went round and Mum's left wrist was swollen and hot. Carer wanted me to take her to A&E, so I rang through and they sent a first responder who ordered an ambulance and off she went - I followed in my car. After 6 hours in A&E, an x-ray which revealed nothing and a box of anti-biotics, I got her to bed at 11pm and crawled into my own bed at 12.30am.

I don't know how much longer she will last on not eating.