Cheep Cheep, Little Birdie

In addition to her Alzheimer’s, mom is contending with Diabetes. As we move into the sleepy time of the year it is harder to get enough food into mom to keep her sugar balanced with the amount of insulin she has to take. We are steadily, and at the Dr’s direction, reducing her insulin to accommodate the decrease in food intake. One of the things that we do to help keep the sugars up overnight is to put corn starch in her applesauce, or other fruit cup. It doesn’t change the flavor too much and it takes longer to break down in her system, so her sugars are steadier in the mornings.

This morning her sugar was a bit low. It’s the third day in a row that her sugar has been in the 80’s and 90’s. They want her sugars to say between 100 and 125 these days, so I needed to bring it up. She is often sleepy in the mornings and not much inclined to have applesauce popped down her throat when she wants to sleep. Today was such a day. I put some cornstarch in peach mango sauce and we played feed the little birdie! I raised the head of her bed so that she won’t choke on anything and I said, “cheep  cheep little birdie, here comes Momma with your food.” At which she giggled and popped open her mouth. As with so many other things in her life, laughter is the key to mom’s willingness to engage or participate.

One thing to note, with Alzheimer’s it becomes harder and harder to swallow things. I have come to understand that’s why, in part, she chews all her pills. So keeping her head up to let gravity help move the food down is really critical, and her new, moving bed, is a great blessing in that regard. I no longer have to make her sit up on the edge of the bed in order to feed her something. She can relax and lay back and just let her bed do all the work!