Know Your Normal

A friend of ours  -  let's call him David - was feeling a little "off".  Not quite right, nothing he could put his finger on, but just not right.  He went to his doctor and told him "Something's not feeling right, but I just don't know what it is."


His doctor said, let's take a look.  Took a blood pressure reading, hooked up the EKG, looked at David, and said "I don't want you to be alarmed, but some things are going to start happening fast.  I'm sending a nurse to call your wife.  You've got something going on with your heart, and I'm calling a cardiologist to meet you at the emergency room."


Two hours later, they had a diagnosis of a large blockage.  It wasn't a surgery that needed to happen that day, but it did need to happen within a week.


David went to watch his son graduate from college.  He let his work know that he'd be out for several weeks.  And then, he checked himself into the hospital and had heart surgery.


His doctor told his wife not to worry.  "I almost never see people when they have more than a fighting chance.  They've almost always had a massive coronary before I see them.  He is going to be fine.  We got this taken care of before there was any damage to the muscle."


David found out later that if he'd waited as much as two weeks to see the doctor, he would not have survived the massive coronary that was waiting for him.


It bears repeating.  Know your normal.


If things don't seem right, call your doctor.  If your doctor won't listen, find a different one.


Today, I'm happy to say that David is celebrating his six month new lease on lifeaversary, and is looking forward to walking his daughter down the aisle next month.   His story had a happy ending.

Meals

It's been a rough couple of weeks.  I got glutened sometime two weeks ago, and I am struggling to regain my balance.  In addition to the mood swings and the constant stomach pain, the intestinal consequences, the outbreak of boils, and the constant sugar cravings that accompany my gluten reaction, I've had little to no energy to get out and go grocery shopping after a day of work.

I finally started to feel more like myself over the weekend.

I managed to pack my meals for the week on Sunday.  I only work 4 days this week, so I packed 4 lunches.

1) Monday-
(I work 1-9, so I need dinner)
Shepherd's Pie.  I made a big batch - and I froze 4 portions, took 1 to work with me. 
Side salad with lettuce and other veggies in the house.
Banana

2) Tuesday-
GF tortilla wrap with lettuce, sprouts, onions, bell peppers, and other tasty goodness, ham and fake cheese.
Cocunut Milk Yogurt with mixed berries and granola.

Due to the nature of GF bread products, I pack the tortillas separately, and then assemble everything just before eating.  Otherwise, the tortilla falls apart before I get to eat my meal.

3) Wednesday
Bento Box Lunch
1 hard boiled egg
Carrot and Bell Pepper Strips
Hummus
Deli Ham
Fake cheese sliced into quarters
GF crakers

4) Thursday
Salad - a big, green salad with
Lettuce, bell peppers, onions, peas, beets, pumpkin seeds, Craisins, sliced Brussels Sprouts, and grilled chicken.

Friday, we're going to be flying, so I'll be packing my allergen friendly stuff in my purse.  For me, this consists of a bag of tuna, 2 packets of fast food mayo and 1 of mustard.  If I'm lucky, I'll find a packet of pickle relish to add to the pack.  I travel with a spoon and celery sticks.  (Eating this tuna salad on a celery stick is one of the few approved uses of celery sticks!  ha!)   I'll also be bringing this combination back with me on the plane.Fortunately, this is a short hop, and not a 16 hour flight.

Making a Fascinator

I made a Fascinator on Thursday to wear to work on Saturday in celebration of the Preakness - oh, and the Royal Wedding.  It was actually very easy to make!

I used the pages of an old book that was falling apart to make a large paper flower.  Since I used a Dr. Seuss book, I used bright purple berries to make the centers of the flowers.  I hot glued the flower petals together.

I bought a spool of tulle and a spool of sparkly rhinestones from the endless crap supply in my basement, and a headband from the grocery store.  I scrounged some floral wire up at work, and the next thing you know, I had a fascinator.

I looped the tulle into 8 very big figure 8's, and then tied it in the center with the floral wire.  I did the same thing with the blingy tape, and wired it onto the tulle with the same floral wire that I wrapped around the tulle bow. 

I then hot glued the paper flower into the middle of the bow.  I wrapped the wire from the flower around the headband and Voila!  It's a fascinator! 

Oh, the feathers!  I forgot them!  We had a stash of feathers at work that someone brought in for craft projects.  I brought 3 of them home to use for my project. 

The Invisible Library

The Invisible Library connects libraries across all dimensions of time and space.  The library itself exists outside of time and space.  Librarians journey into different worlds to save the unique stories of each dimension.

Irene works for The Library.  She has been sent to a London to retrieve a book of Grimm's Fairy Tales.  People have been killed over possession of the book, and the current location of the book is a mystery as the last owner of the book was beheaded - his body left upstairs, and his head impaled on the fence in front of the house.


As Irene gets ready to leave the library, she is assigned a new librarian to train.  Kai has never been in the field before, and it is Irene's responsibility to train him in the subtle art of field work.  Neither of them is prepared for the reality of this dimension where chaos rules, the Fey are government officials, and nothing is as it seems.


Danger surrounds Irene and Kai at every turn as they seek for this mysterious volume.  Chased by the Fey, Detectives, Zeppelins, secret societies, and the Agents of Lichtenstein, Irene and Kai are swept into the chaos of this world within moments of their arrival.  When Irene receives word that the notorious evil Librarian Alberich is at large in this dimension, their very survival is called into question.


Will Irene and Kai manage to retrieve the book before their time runs out?




Note - this die hard Harry Potter fan loved the book!

Vegetable Pasta

I pick up a box of produce from our local farmer every couple of weeks.  For $25, I get a huge amount of vegetables that last for the better part of two weeks. 

It's also my favorite time of year - Asparagus Season! I just can't get enough of the tasty vegetables cut fresh from the plant.  So, I took a whole bunch of asparagus and combined it with my other favorite spring veggies and came up with this fantabulous dish!

Vegetable Pasta

Cook 1 box of macaroni noodles as directed on the box.
Drain pasta, and leave sitting in the colander.

In a skillet, saute the following vegetables in olive oil (slice them, cut them, anyway you want)
I used
Peas in Pods (sliced diagonally)
Onion
Asparagus
Mushrooms
Small Bell Peppers
Tomatoes

Season well with Mrs. Dash.
Add the macaroni to the vegetables, stir to combine.

Celiac and Me

I am a Celiac.  This means that I can't digest gluten.  The gluten destroys my body from the inside out.  The pain from having gluten is insidious, effecting ever aspect of your life. The symptoms are myriad, which make diagnosis difficult.  Celiac Disease is an immune disease that causes inflammation and damages the small intestine's lining, causing other complications.

Like many people, I was diagnosed later in life.  I don't know how long I've had Celiac Disease, but I suspect it's been a good chunk of my life.  I was diagnosed in my late 40's.  My life before and after this diagnosis has been night and day.  I have energy and endurance now that I just didn't have before.

Diagnosis was difficult.  Through most of my late 30's and early 40's, I struggled to find what was going on.  I had constant stomach pain that woke me up in the middle of the night.  It felt like that scene from Alien - where something was trying to rip it's way through my stomach.  My joints ached constantly.  I was always tired.  No matter how much I worked out, I couldn't lose weight.

I went to Weight Watchers.  I followed their diet to the letter.  I couldn't lose weight.  I was working out an hour a day, 5 days a week - and still no weight loss.  My leader told me to log everything - exercise, food, blood pressure, and GI symptoms -  for two weeks.  I did.  She read it, and then told me I needed to go to a doctor because something else was going on.

And thus began the journey from hell.

My Family Practitioner - whom I had been seeing for years - and who had told me to go to WW in the first place - called me a liar to my face.  "If you'd really been doing this, you would have lost weight.  Stop lying about what's going on and blaming other things for your failures."   TRUE STORY.

Same practice, different doctor - took a bored glance at my log (which filled most of a composition notebook at this time, and included food I'd eaten, workouts, and symptoms.)  She told me "I don't deal with fat people.  Find a different doctor."  TRUE STORY

That's some quality medicine for you.  Hey, this practice is located in Maryland.  I know I'm not the only one who's had issues with them.  If you hear this from your doctors in Central Maryland, find another doctor!

Next practice - when I had been dealing with yet another case of bronchitis and pneumonia - third time in two years.  I got the lecture about losing weight, but this doctor actually mentioned the word "allergies".  He then prescribed me mega doses of allergy medicine.  Claritin and Flonase were my staples, and in the spring, I got to supplement with Benadryl.   This wonderful combination left me a zombie most of the time, but I felt a little better.

Third Practice - My Current Practice -
Walked in for my well person check up with my food log.
My nurse practitioner took a look through my log, looked at me and said "This looks like a food allergy.  I don't specialize in allergies.  Let's send you to people who do and get you some answers."

I was stunned.  FINALLY - the help I needed.

The answers have been coming over the past few years.

First was the Celiac Diagnosis.

Next, we found the Dairy Allergy.

And then, Soy.

I now know what "normal" feels like.  I have stamina.  I have energy.  No more stomach issues.  I sleep through the night.  No more boils.  No more canker sores.  No joint pain.  (Well, except the arthritis in my left knee that bugs me on occasion.)

And all of those prescription grade allergy medicines?  Gone.   During my high allergy time - tree pollen season - I take over the counter Zyrtec for 3 weeks of the year.  That's it.

Oh, and the weight?  I haven't changed my workout habits at all.  If anything, I'm working out less now than I was years ago.  I'm down 40 pounds.  40.  No Weight Watchers, no extreme liquid diets - just eating food I can tolerate and getting to the gym 3 or 4 days a week.

I'm not sharing this for the hell of it. I share this for anyone who might have a health issue going on and has the frustration of doctors not listening to you.  You know what's right in your body and what's not.  You know your normal.  If your normal changes, get yourself to the doctor.  If your doctor doesn't listen to you, find another doctor.  Change practices.

Being a Celiac makes life challenging.  Long distance flights are a nightmare. Food on an airplane?  Yeah, that's not going to happen.  Airlines don't really care about your food allergies. Eating out is a challenge.  Travel is a challenge.  There's no "grab and go".  You have to plan excursions before you leave, making certain you have food with you.

But, when you know what is going on, and you understand how to take care of yourself, you can make the world work for you.  

Cucumber Margaritas

Back in the day, we had a Cinco de Mayo Party.  It was the 80's, and we were in college.  We made Margaritas.  We made Daquiris.  We talked, we laughed, we ate tacos, and then we ran out of strawberries.

So we made Daquiris with watermelon.  And then cucumbers.  And then tomatoes.

By the time we got to the tomatoes, we were just curious what the concoctions tasted like.  One half blender full split between 20 people, we all got just enough of a taste to go "eeewww".

I went out to a Mexican restaurant over the weekend.  Guess what they're offering?  I just can't stop laughing at this!

Star Gate (SG-1)

I've been catching up on television shows I missed the first time around.  You know, back in the 90's when I had three little preschoolers running around the house!  I am a big Sci-Fi Fan, and my co-workers love, love, love Star Gate.  So, I decided to watch it.  I found it at the library - had to put it on hold and have it sent to our library.  I'm almost done with Season One.  Let me tell you, it is a hoot.  It reminds me of the original Star Trek.  I adore the show.  It stars Richard Dean Anderson (MacGyver - for my generation) in the lead role. 

I hear there are other actors in the show - people like Amanda Tapping, Christopher Judge, and Michael Shanks - but this hard core Richard fan is only watching for one reason.

If you're looking for some fun and campy tv, this could be it!

Iconic Sydney Photos

I could flood my blog with pictures of Sydney for the next month, but honestly I think you'd get sick of them after a while!  Instead, I have gone through my photos, and I am posting my favorites.  Believe it or not, I've got over 500 pictures of just the Sydney Opera House.  So, I'm going to attempt to narrow things down somewhat!

Look at this tree! Royal Botanic Gardens.

Sydney Observatory. See that ball on the roof? It drops at 1 pm every day.

Hey, look at the lion and unicorn on the post office!

These cockatiels are everywhere.

Manly Beach!  Love these beaches!

 More beach!

View from the Toranaga Zoo across the harbor to the Opera House.

The Opera House.

The bridge.

More from the Royal Botanic Gardens.