Janet Wilder > wrote:
: W. Baker wrote:
: > Janet Wilder > wrote:
: > : DH is in the hospital. He developed a massive urinary tract infection
: > : that hit his kidneys. They are giving him IV antibiotics.
: >
: > : Yesterday the delivered a lunch that was accompanied with a slip of
: > : paper that said "ADA Diabetic" It was two huge slices of whole wheat
: > : bread, two packages of crackers, a cup of minestrone soup (complete with
: > : potatoes and macaroni)and a dish of canned fruit. There was one slice of
: > : American cheese, one slice of ham and one slice of roast beef. I
: > : estimated the carb count to be over 80 grams and stopped at that.
: >
: > : Of course I called the dietary department and had a salad sent up. I
: > : also demanded that his meals be kept to no more than 30 grams of carbs
: > : per mea1 (he can work around that by leaving off the ubiquitous bread or
: > : roll that they seem to find an absolute).
: >
: > : Besides bringing him food from home, how does one get the hospital
: > : kitchen to provide for him? Should I make up a menu and give it to them?
: >
: > : I'd appreciate any suggestions (as well as prayers for his speedy
: > : recovery so he can get away from the dietary staff that is trying to
: > : kill him)
: >
: > : TIA
: > : --
: > : Janet Wilder
: > : Bad spelling. Bad punctuation
: > : Good Friends. Good Life
: >
: > Hospitals are the pits regardign food. When I was in after that auto
: > accident last year, I had quite a hard time, but finallyws given a n
: > alternate menu from which yu coul dorder anfor any meal. I took to havien
: > ghte cottage cheese adn fruit saad at breakfast, lettuce and all, and
: > sometimes for lunchtoo. Once you get the menu sheets, you can just not
: > order some foods, but you may well have too little left to satisfy hunger.
: > I kept nagging etc. I had a aterrible time maintaining my bgs because
: > they didn't hve metformin ex adn I wasn't going to risk the terrible runs
: > along with the pain, dizziness, etc that I was suffering. they gave me a
: > pretty hefty dose of a sulf after I had eaaten a very carb controlled meal
: > and i hypoes big time. they would only test me before a meal and I had
: > only a few strips from home with me(husband in hospital too) so had a
: > hard time adjussting. I took to keing soem orange juice and crackers on
: > my bed tray in case I hypoed again. they waned to fil bme up with carbs
: > and sulphs( or is it sulfs?)! It was terrible! Fortunatly, it was only
: > about 4-5 days. When I got home I had to start my metformin back at 1 a
: > day graadually building up to my 2,000mgs a day dose, even with the ex
: > version.
: >
: > I fought the whole time, even seeign a diatbetes person(I think md, but
: > not sure) to whom I showed my log book for my pre-hospital numbers. I
: > don't think she believed the numbers and kept encouraging me to eat those
: > damded carbs=juice, toast, cereal, milk on the breakfast tray wit a smal
: > pile of eggbeaters! Once I got that alternate menu with the salads, etc
: > on it I wa dong a bit better, except for that sulf!
: >
: > Wendy

: They haven't given him any menu. The gal from food service comes in and
: offers choices. He was in the shower today so she asked me to make the
: choices. Breakfast was either bacon and eggs or french toast. French
: toast?? I said the former. She said it came with a muffin. I said that's
: okay he can have half an English muffin. She said, no, it comes with a
: bran muffin. Sigh. Lunch choice was some kind of meat with rice
: (RICE???) or tomato stuffed with tuna salad. I chose the tuna. It will
: probably come ringed with canned fruit <g> Dinner was either meat with
: noodles or turkey with mashed potatoes and stuffing. No, I am not
: kidding. I asked for a chef salad.

: DH is on coumadin and he needs to have his vitamin K levels kept even.
: He eats salad every day so they need to give him salad every day. Last
: night his IV got tangles and he bled all over the place. He's definitely
: not getting enough vegetables.

: --
: Janet Wilder
: Bad spelling. Bad punctuation

Two thoughts If they have a chef salad that she had not originally
offered, they must have some list of alternates that re alwasy
available. Ask about it so you can know to order these either orally or
in writing.

I know about those coumadin issues, as my husband is also on that and we
were woried at the time of the auto accident. That is why he was flown
out first. He gets a proton(?) test every week to keep his levels in
order or he ca nthrow clots or bleed depending on which way he goes.
How often are they checking your husband's levels? If he is gettign fewer
vegetables (or those tiny oprotions of vegetables or salad greens they
think is correct) they should be adjustsing his coumadin levels constantly
as they did Syd when he was in the hospital. When Syd was in with his
congestive heart failure and had a badly handled catheter, he bled all
over the bed nand no nurse noticed it except my D-I-L who was in traing at
that time. They had to reduce his Heparin and remove the catherter which
was a great relief to him. It is so important to have his levels checked,
probably several times a day while in the hospital.

Good luck with these issues. Could you try for a Kosher menu? It might
give you some written choices.

Wendy