What I've been up to

So I haven't posted in a while, but I wanted to give you a little update on life at my house. Cindy is working so many hours she's exhausted all the time, but other than that and some really achy legs she's doing great. Me, I'm trying to keep busy even with the kitchen in the state of hold it's in. Mom, well that depends on the day. Some are better than others. The shaking is as bad if not worse, the breathing is getting worse and now she's done something to her hip. But her spirits are pretty good and we pray alot for her to get better.

They came out Tuesday to start the reconstruction on the kitchen and finished up yesterday (Wed). It went very smoothly and they even removed some old paneling we hated from the laundry room for us. They were a fairly neat crew too, sweeping up and trying to put stuff back where it went when they were through. Nice bunch of guys too.

Today the floor guys is suppose to come out and let us pick the new flooring out. Not sure how long we will have to wait until they actually come out and put it in, but I hope it's pretty quick. It shouldn't take but a couple of hours to install and replace the little bit of padding under the carpet that needs it. Then the other group will come back out and put in the quarter round that goes over the flooring and touch up any paint that needs it and we will be all fixed up. They told us it could be up to two weeks until every thing was finished, including waiting on the flooring to be ordered, but I'm hoping they will have it in stock and we can get it all finished off by this time next week.

But even through all this I've managed to cook most nights and mom and I have eaten a lot of peanut butter. Couldn't get in the kitchen the last few days so had to be something shelf stable and peanut butter worked well.

I've also managed to get in a little extra cleaning while they've had things pulled out, mover and such. I mean I can't tell you the last time I cleaned under the microwave or the side of the stove that's next to the wall....Yeah! It's been a good time to weed out stuff we don't use too. Some things have gone in the trash and others are waiting for a new home somewhere else.

While I wouldn't willingly go through all this again, it has been good for us. We have a new paint job, cleaner kitchen and we have lots of really hot water ...giggle. The best part is we know there isn't any invisible mold growing under the surface making us all sick.

I hope all is well with you and your family, take care, have a wonderful day and may God bless you richly!
Vikki

Fans gone, work still to come

Well we finally got the roar of those darn fans out of our heads. They came a picked them up Sunday afternoon. Yeah!!!! It's funny, now everyday normal noises sound so darn loud.
I was so glad for them to be gone, I almost didn't mind the huge mess left behind. Unfortunately, they had to remove part of the insulation in the walls and well there were little bits of it everywhere, not to mention all the dust and mess from cutting away sheet rock.
But after a couple of hours it was livable. We can't put the stuff back in the bottom of the pantry because there is no wall there. I just don't feel safe putting food stuff where it is open into the garage, even if it's covered in plastic. The contractor came out to discuss repairs and he said to count on two weeks to get everything replaced, repaired and restored after the insurance signed off on it. So I guess we'll be in a little bit of limbo until then, but at least we can get into the kitchen for now! Warm scrambled eggs never tasted so good! I know me an eggs right.
Thank everyone for their thoughts and prayers. We're trying to get back to as much normalcy as we can.
Mom's still not feeling well, but both Cindy and I are doing ok. I still have headaches but nothing unusual about that. But Cindy seems to be back to her normal self, except very tired. They're working her pretty hard at work this week. She's trying to get all the offices set up before the store opens next week. They are doing what they call a soft opening (not sure what that is really) this Friday, so they have her schedule to work all weekend. Bless her heart they had her work 20 straight, rather long days (going between the closing store and the new store) just before she got sick. Not sure she's up for another long stretch so I hope they give her some time off next week. She's not used to these long days after they had cut her back so far. Working 10-11 hours a day after being used to less than 30 a week is a bit hard to get used to when they don't give you a day or two off either.
Well enough whining from me, just wanted to report that we can hear again, and I'll be able to start blogging again, at least for a while. Not sure at this point when the construction part will start. But it will be nice to have a floor that doesn't ripple and puff and most of all WALLS. It's too weird looking a all the molding, foot boards, toe kicks and walls being gone at the bottom of the walls. It's only about 2 foot up but it just gives a rotting, dirty look to the whole place. Especially under the cabinets being all open. Ick! I'll try to get some pictures if I can get my camera to work properly so you can see what we're dealing with, or at least see the before and after shots when they get finished. I just hope this doesn't cost us a small fortune. With the $2,000 for the water heater and the $700 for the car and the $500 for the deductible, we're swimming in a hole already.
Take care, hope life at your house is less adventuresome!
Hugs,
Vikki

Mom's finally Home!

Well after over 2 months in a rehab center to receive daily blood work and antibiotic therapy to treat the blood disease, she's finally back home. This has been one rough year so far in our family, especially for mom. Starting in January when she had the valve replacement surgery.
She been in and out of hospitals, care facilities and rehab centers with very little time in between. Best we can figure her longest stay at home was just shy of three weeks. That was just before she developed the bacterial infection in her blood, which too longer to recover from than first thought.
We are so thankful she's home and we're praying she will stay healthy and grow stronger and not have any more trips to the hospital for a very long time.
Thank you so much for all the prayers, happy thoughts and emails. We are all so thankful and appreciative to you all. God has been with us and with your prayers he has helped us through this tough time.
Now if he will just help me out with my budget and getting us back to eating decently.

What I've been up too

As most of you know, mom has had a really hard time since the valve replacement surgery in January. She came home very imbalanced with severe left side weakness. On a walker and not looking all that great. They had sent her for a week of rehab after the surgery but it wasn't enough to help her take care of herself. I spent every night up so I could help her get up to go to the rest room. She couldn't get out of bed by herself and when she walked, even with the walker she would start falling towards the left side.

First the two sides of her heart managed to become out of rhythm (arrhythmia) and had to go back in the hospital about a week after she came home. She was there for a week or so before they got it corrected. Meds didn't work they ended up having to shock her to get it back in rhythm. They put her on some new meds and sent her home. This was in February just a few days after the surgery.
Not to go on about everything, we had to take her back to the ER for the 4th time on Easter Sunday. She was so weak that morning when she got up, after having been doing much better, that I had to go help her get dressed and walk to the kitchen. She was shaking so badly I had to poor her coffee and fix her breakfast for her. Then when trying to help her walk into the living room so she could get into her chair, she fell. I just couldn't get around the walker to get in front of her in time and I couldn't hold her up with the hold I had on her from the wrong side. She fell, hit the couch , all tangled up in her walker and my crutch. I don't know what happened but when we went to help her up she couldn't move her legs or help us get her up at all. I called the kids (niece and her b/f) and they ran over and helped us get her up. She couldn't walk at all at that point or sit up without falling over. I had to sit right behind her and hold her up. She couldn't stop shaking and was freezing to death. She had been shaking and getting more unbalanced for the last week or so but nothing like this.

When they first got her into an exam room they immediately told us she had some kind of infection and the first thought was kidney. She had them before and had kidney stones removed. But even with the worst kidney infection she had never been this weak and sick and never this fast.
After 4 days umpteen test and dozens and dozens of blood test they found she had a staph infection in her blood. The major concern was that the bacteria would grow on her new heart valve and it would have to be replaced. Bless her heart she was so so sick and getting weaker all the time. They finally put in a PIC line (which is a catheter that goes from just above the elbow to just over the heart) to deliver antibiotic straight into the blood line. She has to have hour long antibiotic treatments everyday and have blood work done several times a day to monitor bacteria levels. She has to be weighed several times a day to make sure she's not gaining any fluid. Since she needed all this for the next 6 weeks she was moved to a speciality long term hospital here in Mesquite where they could care for her and monitor her progress.

She's been there for almost 3 weeks now and she's doing wonderfully. While I know you can't kill a staph infection, her blood is now bacterial free. She still has 3 weeks to go, but she's getting so much stronger. She is still on the walker but she gets an hour a day of physical therapy and an hour a day of occupational therapy.

She's just bored and being a hospital instead of a rehab center we can't check her out on Sunday to take her to church or to dinner. Everyone came to see her the first few times she was in the hospital so now no one going to see her and Cindy and I can't go everyday (most but not all). They won't let her get up and walk down the halls so she has to sit in her chair most of the day and she's bored out of her mind.

I've been trying to cook cheap and easy so not doing so well on low carb at ALL. But I'm getting back with it. No more pasta and rice (both cheap meal stretchers) but I'm keeping the beans. I just believe they have to much nutrition and fiber to stop eating and they are cheap! So the beans stay and I have a box of brown rice to use very sparingly in small amounts. Not sure I'll replace it when it's gone, but for now I'll use 1/4 -1/3 cup in a few things to help stretch them a bit farther.

Another thing I've learned over the last month is that things like rice and pasta fill me up while I'm eating much much faster than protein. I know the reason, they break down and digest much much faster than do the proteins. But in an hours I'm starving if I eat the carbs and I'm full if I eat protein. I'm hoping adding beans will help make me full faster and keep me that way. Not that I would ever want to eat beans every single day, but I have stocked up on 4-5 bags of dried beans.

Well that's what's going on with me. I'm trying to get new recipes together so I can start posting them on my other blog and get back to blogging about my day to day here.

Have a wonderful day, take care and thank you for reading!

Making this real quick

Hi guys, no I didn't fall off the end of the earth, though to be quite honest it kind of feels like it.
Mom is home and doing wonderfully. They put her on lasix in the hospital and she has lost all the built up fluid caused by the leaky valve, the surgery and as a bonus, it's keeping the fluid off a glad in her neck she normally has to have drained ever few months!

The looked at her cat scan and did another while she was in the hospital this last time and determined that either just before, during or right after the surgery she had a small stroke and that is what has caused the left side weakness. The bad news is there isn't really anything they can do about it. The good news is that it only seems to bother her at night and early mornings. During the day she fine for the most part.

She's still on her walker but getting around on her own for the most part, I'm still on night duty because she can't seem to get out of bed without some help and night time is when she has the most trouble falling over. So I'm up all night, sleep during the day after Cindy gets home. So I'm having to figure out meals I can cook or prep at night that mom can finish off or just cook then next night. So far I'm doing pretty good. I just need to find time to post all the darn recipes...giggle
This last week we had lasagna roll ups with fresh salad, Pork chops with broccoli and squash, garlicky chicken rolls with broccoli slaw, we picked up dinner one night, we had eggs one night and stuffed pepper with broccoli. Except for the pork chops and eggs I had everything ready to be popped in the oven, reheated in the microwave or just tossed together at the last minute. Mom cooked the pork chops but I had the broccoli in the fridge ready to go.

I'll get my recipes posted as soon as I get time. I can't believe how busy I've been. But I miss you all, I hope your all doing well and for all my fellow bloggers, I'm so so sorry I'm so behind on reading and keeping up with you guys. Take care, until I get another few minutes to chat again.

What I’ve been up too

Well mom is still in the hospital, we had hoped she’d come on on Monday but that didn’t happen.  Her heart was still out of rhythm and the meds weren’t correcting it.  So they put her under and shocked her heart.  The good news is her heart is back in rhythm and her pulse is back down in the 60-70 range where it belongs.  The bad news is,  it didn’t help the breathing issues.  So her cardiologist,  Dr.  Jessen has set up a meeting with her pulmonologist to see what they can figure out. 

The pulmonologist (super doc), Dr. Torres came in to see her this afternoon and he said his advice was to let her go home tomorrow and then have her come into his office.  We don’t know if Dr. Jessen will discharger her or not, but we’re hoping and praying he will soon.

I on the other hand seem to be getting inspired to get us on a budget.  I think I have it figured out so I can get our credit cards paid off, actually it’s just one that needs help. Some how we managed to let this one get out of hand.

I’m trying to do what is called pantry shopping, which is planning menus from the food you have on hand.  So far so good, but I have to wonder what on earth I was thinking when I bought some of the food in there.

This week we bought a few fresh veggies, eggs of course, and a few house hold things like laundry powder and toilet paper.  Not too bad.

I’ve also, decided that I’ll continue with my recipe blog.  I’ve found the whole time I’m cooking I’m telling myself how to make it lower carb.  So maybe I can post recipes with both versions.  Anyway, I think I’ll give it a try.

So that’s what I’ve been up to.  I hope once mom is back home I can post more regularly.

Mom is finally coming home!

Unless something changes, mom will be coming home Thursday.  She’s done so well in rehab, that they think she is ready to go home.

They have set up a therapist to come to the house to work with her for a bit longer until they determine that she’s back to normal or there about. 

I’m still a little worried about the left side weakness, it still comes and goes.  I’d feel much better if I knew what was causing it, but since they haven’t done any more testing, I guess getting and answer isn’t something we can expect.  

Once she’s home and gotten some rest and healed a bit more, we can start investigating on our own.  Not sure which doctor to start with, but maybe her primary could lead us in the right direction.

If this year long journey has taught us anything, it’s that you have to take your health into your own hands.  If we had excepted what the first doctor told us, she would never have gotten the surgery and I’m not sure how much longer she would have been with us. 

So we will just have to handle this new challenge when she’s up for it.

Thank you to everyone that has kept us in your thoughts and prayers.  Believe me, it helped.  This has all gone way to well not to believe God had his hands all over it. 

So thank you for the prayers and Thank you God for all you’ve done for us.

Update on mom

It's been a week since my last post I know. I'm sorry I keep saying I'm going to get better about blogging on a regular basis, and then some how, I don't.
Well a quick update on mom. They moved her over to rehab (same hospital different building and set up) on Saturday. She's doing very well. The physical therapist comes and works with her three times a day. They are working on building the muscles back up in her legs and teacher her how to get up and down without pushing, pulling or putting any pressure on her chest.
The occupational therapist is coming twice a day to work with her on getting dressed, personal hygiene and other such things, without straining, pulling or stretching her arms and shoulders (so she doesn't put any pressure or pull on her chest)
Then there is another activity therapist that comes once a week, he's got her playing games while doing physical activities. Such as playing dominoes but when you don't score you have to hold your feet up until you do, or raise your arms over your head or some such thing. Sounds odd but it's actually kind of fun.
Every Tuesday the doctor, therapist and anyone else that works with her, all get together to discuss her progress with her and set goals and projections. Only having been there a few days when this Tuesday (yesterday) came round, there wasn't too much to discuss, but the projected day of release is set for Feb 5th as of now. It could be sooner or it could take longer, but that's the goal right now.
The left side weakness is still coming and going, which is very worrisome to me. But the doctor and therapist keep saying she just needs to strengthen the muscles on that side more. That with therapy she will recover. I sure hope they know what they are talking about.

Thank you for all the Prayers

We as a family we would all like to express our gratitude to all those that have sent up prayers on her behalf.  Prayer is a very very powerful thing and it not only blessed my mom, it made us all feel better knowing that so many people were praying on her behalf.

Mom came through the surgery like a trooper.  The surgeon said her pressures were already going down when the surgery was over and that she will feel so much better now that she’s had the valve replaced.

Our pastor and one of the elders of our church came out and prayed with her before she went in to surgery and that made her and us feel better too.

I can’t even begin to explain how happy and relieved I am.  I was so worried.  I knew she was in God’s hands, that I had no doubt of, but what his plans were, well that part I worried about. 

I’m so very thankful that God answered our prayers and brought her through the surgery so well.

So again thank you so much for all the prayer and for those praying for a speedy, easy healing.

A very grateful Vikki

Winter weather and other breaking news

First off, we were under a freezing rain warning last night (Sunday) and I heading out to the doctor this morning I was created with the most amazing trees. While thankfully the roads were clear the trees, grass and shrubs were coated in a thin layer of ice. The day was gray but the trees made it very magical. The glisten even without the sun. Pine trees looked as if they were made of velvet, because of the sheen the ice gave them. Cedars looked as if they had all been frosted. Dormant trees appeared to be made of glass. Even on gray dreary days, God shows us his beauty.

Also, a quick not about my doctor visit today. She told me I was definitely wheezing, to which I told her I could hear. Said my throat was starting to become infected and that I was running a low grade fever. She prescribed 2 inhalers until my asthma clears up and then just the Advair for a month or so to keep it clear. She wrote me a script for the z-pac and told me if I wasn't better by Friday or had any more trouble call her and come back in.

So I should be all fixed up soon.

Mom's surgery on the 16th is quickly approaching and it has left us all with mixed feelings. We're very happy the end is finally in sight and that she will finally regain her strength and stamina, not to mention just feeling all around better. But we're also very nervous, she's high risked and even with both doctors being so confident, it still leaves that little doubt in the back of your mind.

We're turned it all over to God, or at least we're trying and know in our hearts she will do wonderfully, but if you'd send up prayers on her behave, we would all be very grateful!

Well that's all the breaking news I have, I hope all is well with each of you and that you have happiness, health and Love!

Checking in

I've been fighting a cold and allergies for the last month. For some reason I don't seem to be able to kick it, although I think mom and Cindy both had it about this long too. Anyway, I haven't felt much up to anything other than just getting done the things I have to get done each day. When I have felt a bit better I've been cooking, trying out new recipes and trying to prefect a few more.
I'm sorry I have neglected this blog, but I've been able to post a few new recipes to the other one. I hope to get to feeling better soon so I can keep up a little better. I will make a post of things I've been eating and get an update on how I'm doing as far as weight loss goes. I'm sure I've gained a little weight since I've not been able to eat as well as I should. I've not had nearly enough veggies and drank too much diet Dr. Pepper. Other than that I've not eaten anything "off limits" or high carb.

feeling better finally

After about 2 1/2 week of this nasty cold/allergy/crude, I'm finally feeling better. I've been back in the kitchen working on Chicken recipes as you can tell if you've looked at my other blog.
I've neglected this blog terrible but I just haven't felt like sharing much. Forgive me for that.

So where am I right now? Afraid to even look at the scales. Everyone in this house has been sick for weeks so we've relied way to much on take out, not a good thing at all. My sleep pattern is all off again, grrrrr I hate this so mom and I have not been keep up with our exercise. Basically everything has been on hold.
But I've managed to get in a few good recipes during the last few days. I made a yummy chicken soup, prefect for warming up the bod and the spirit. A fabulous Chicken Potpie and Chicken Tetrazinni using Spaghetti squash. I made pumpkin flax seed that's not too pumpkiny but oh so yummy.
What's next? I don't know but I've got left over pumpkin in the fridge so maybe some pumpkin soup? Pudding? maybe even a cheese cake.
Also, I want to do a review of Jennifer Eloff's Splindid Low-Carb Desserts cookbook very soon. This is definitely a cookbook you're going to want before you start planning your holidays.

So I've got lots I want to get done in the next few days, so come on back and see what's going on and don't forget to check out my recipe blog
Have a wonderful week!

Update on Mom

We'll we finally got some answers for mom. But they sure we're what we were looking for. As most of you know, she's slowly suffocating because she has a heart valve that's just given out. It needs to be replaced.

When they were running all the tests to find out if she were healthy enough for the surgery, they found she has Pulmonary Hypertension. So the search for the cause began. First of, did she have sleep apnea, one of the major causes of P H. So off she goes to see an specialist in sleep disorders. They found she had a slight case and gave her a cpap. But the PH didn't improve. So then it was blood work, an echo,cat scan, and and a few other things. The only thing they found was that she really needed to get the valve replaced soon.
Next they sent her off for an MRI and more blood work. She got all the tests down except the MRI, they bruised her up pretty good trying to get her in, but it was too small. They finally got it reschedule at a different place last week, and she saw a rheumatologist to see check for lupus.
This week she saw the number one Pulmonary Specialist in Texas. Well all the test were in and after 6 months the answer is.... the weak valve is what is causing the PH and they will not do the surgery because of the PH and her weight.
This latest super specialist ( that's what her Cardiologist and Pulmonologist call him) says he thinks he can get her through it. It will be very risky, but if he can find a doctor that will do the surgery, he thinks he can help her pull through.
He had a meeting with the doctor he has in mind this evening, and mom is suppose to call him back again tomorrow. All prayers, will definitely be welcomed and deeply appreciated.
He told her not to exercise too much, nothing that would exert her to the point of panting or gasping. Of course at this point just going to the bathroom can cause that. But she needs to keep moving as much as she can.
Anyway, that's where we are right now. Thank you for all the prayers up to this point and any your willing to send up on her behalf now.

Sleeplessness update

I'm so tired of fighting this insomnia. It's been going on for a over a year. But I refused to see a specialist about it. Well now my bi-pap machine has stopped working, I can't get it fixed and the only way to get a new one is to have another sleep study done. My doctor retired so I'm having to see a new one. Wish me luck, I've not been this long without my machine since I got it. What little sleep I do get, can barely be called that. I hope they will do the sleep study quickly. Very quickly.