My addendum to yesterday's blog: Forgive, Keep Moving, Stay Present & Eat Healthy.
For anyone interested in what happened after my pseudo-mother-in-law went to the hospital, we have one more thing to add to yesterday's list of lessons learned looking at the winter side of life.
Forgive, Keep Moving, Stay Present, Eat Healthy...
and
Hydrate.
There are actually different theories about water drinking and some think we can get all of our water needs from our food. The problem with buying into that philosophy is that you need to have a very hydrating diet in order for that to actually work. We're talking about daily: over 1/2 gallon of raw milk and half a pound of raw butter (aka farm fresh or unpasteurized), or lots of raw fruits and vegetables. Most people don't eat enough of those things to stay hydrated. Even though many fruits are very watery - like the obvious watermelon, cucumbers and tomatoes, the water from them will hydrate somewhat but only if the fruits are raw and unadulterated. Keep in mind here that it takes water to digest protein, sugar and fiber, so if the fruit has sugar added to it, like fruit cups, or it's extremely fibrous, like a banana, it takes equal amounts of water to digest as is in the fruit itself, or it may even borrow water from your body to aide in digestion.
So drink water, people. And try to avoid water with fluoride and chlorine (most tap water) as these are not only poisonous, but they acidify your water, which won't hydrate you as well as water closer to your own pH (which should be 7.3 - just slightly alkaline).
You see, once we talked to the doctor, it turns out that the primary issue with Marcus' Mom was dehydration. Makes sense because she doesn't really like to drink water regularly. After the hospital pumped fluids into her intravenously, her pain subsided, she got her appetite back and she was much more coherent.
I forgot how much dehydration can fubar a person up. Apparently the early signs of dehydration are
dizziness, lack of coordination and concentration (often coupled with slurring), cramping, loss of appetite and shaky hands. The more extreme signs of dehydration are severe weakness and muscle fatigue where you simple cannot do normal, everyday things, loss of balance, and body aches. The most extreme signs are kidney failure and blood clots.
It's also worth noting that when someone is already weaker and more sedentary, like an older woman might be, they go faster to extreme dehydration than a younger, more robust person. Though Marcus' Mom walked stairs for exercise as recently as one month ago, her exercise routine has slowly diminished over the last few years to where she's only doing light exercise once or twice every two weeks. Not enough to stay healthy. For an older person, even going for a moderate, 30-45 minute walk 5 days a week will help ward-off all kinds of ailments that plague older people.
All in all, the doctors say there's nothing wrong with her that they can find after blood tests, a CT-scan and their battery of neurological questions... other than dehydration and her sodium levels being too low. Overall, it looks like the diet really is working.
So, my thanksgiving day involved calling in about half a dozen paramedics to help my elderly pseudo-mother-in-law get to the hospital so she didn't have to sit in her own pooh/pee. And then relaxing the rest of the day with Marcus, too tired for the first time in my life to prepare Thanksgiving dinner.
But I figure the date is arbitrary, and we're planning a thanksgiving feast another day.
And what better way to be thankful than to deal with a loved one having a difficult time.
So, I'm thankful. For my loved ones. For how agile and mobile I am. For the fact that I can pooh and pee on my own. For the fact that my relationship can thrive even in the face of a temporarily (fingers crossed/pray to Goddess) invalid parent. For my health. For my talent. For my friends and loved ones. And for all of you, subscribing.
Pandering a bit? Maybe. But I really am glad that when I click "publish post" it goes out there...even if the pool of you is currently smaller than I'd like, I take comfort in the knowing that you are out there, reading.
Now go drink some water.
