what Mom didn't do

Yesterday, Friday, Mom decided she didn't want to walk, so she's going to have to go out for a walk today. Her feet are still very puffy, which makes me wonder whether it hurts her to walk. Dad has left a message with Dr. Royfe, the parents' primary care physician, and we hope he gets back to us early next week about those feet.

As I mentioned before, Mom's vitals and blood work are fine: she isn't ingesting too many carbs (we'd see this in her blood sugar), and she isn't consuming too much sodium (we'd see this in her blood pressure). But Decadron has many unpleasant side effects: it breaks down muscle tissue, which can lead to weight loss through loss of muscle mass; it also increases appetite, which is a good thing when you're trying to feed the patient more protein; and it's been known to cause swelling in the extremities, which is probably what we're seeing now.

The end result is that, lately, Mom has been less enthused about walking, and her feet may be one reason why. It's also possible that the weather is another reason. No matter: we've got to get Mom moving today, even if that means just walking her around the back yard.


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