food for the patient (m)

Aunts "X" and "Y", my father's surviving sisters, live in the same house.  They both are recently widowed and neither has children.  My cousins, brothers and I share in their care.

Aunt Y went to the hospital last Saturday.  Diagnosis: congestive heart failure. Basically, the heart doesn't pump as efficiently and you can get a build-up of fluid in your body which compromises your oxygen levels which affects your breathing, mental state, etc.   Sounds worse than it is as one could live for a long time with this condition provided one did the right things.

Aunt Y got released on Friday into the care of the family.  The instructions from the doctor were simple:

-minimize fluid intake--no more than 2 liters of fluid per day (water, coffee, soup, etc).  Think: large size Coke bottle which is 2 liters.
-maximize "output"--take diuretic pills, avoid salt.

Everybody got it?  My cousins all nod their heads.

Now, here's what they brought to the aunties for meals:

-shrimp salad
-chicken salad
-tuna salad
-potato salad
-coleslaw
-a tray of lasagna with sausages and meatballs
-turkey soup with grated cheese on the side (loaded with sodium)
-rasperry danish
-dozen of donuts

I offered to bring grilled chicken, baked sweet potatoes, a green salad and some fresh cut up fruit.  The room stopped "we've got enough food," they said.

For tomorrow, they were talking about ordering Chinese food.