balade

We'll be taking Mom out to the park today for her walk.

A few other health notes:

Mom's diuretic, Maxzide, has helped reduce the swelling of her feet, as has our insistence on keeping her feet comfortably raised whenever she's seated at her couch. We'll be stepping down Mom's dosage from one Maxzide pill a day to half a pill per day.

Yesterday, I needed to find out whether Mom would be able to gargle or swish salt water around in her mouth, so I gave her a swallow of plain water and asked her to swish it around like mouthwash. As I suspected would happen, she swished the water around, then swallowed it. I don't want to risk re-doing the experiment with actual salt water; the last thing Mom needs is for me to play havoc with her blood pressure. To help her out with her thrush problem, we may need to purchase a medicine, such as the aforementioned Gentian violet, that can be applied directly with a swab to Mom's tongue.

During Mom's walk two days ago, I asked Mom to raise herself on tiptoe five times, which she did. This signaled the beginning of a new exercise regimen for her; she absolutely needs to strengthen her legs if she plans to be able to get into the car, onto a bar stool, and up off the couch or toilet ever again. As things stand, Mom tries her best to do all these things, but she's too weak to do them alone. Whether she'll ever be strong enough to move about more independently is doubtful, but we at least have to try to get her stronger.


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