Very Berry Detox (smoothie)

I found this recipe in Deliciously G-Free by Elisabeth Hasselbeck. She has lots of really good recipes in her book. If you are going gluten free --- I recommend this book. She calls this a detox but it really is a delicious smoothie. It was very refreshing on a warm day.

1/2 cup blueberries
1/2 cup raspberries
1/2 cup blackberries

(I didn't have raspberries or blackberries --- I had blueberries and strawberries that we had picked ourselves and then frozen. Frozen worked really well. Added a bit of cold to the mix - really delicious!)

1/2 cup baby spinach leaves
1 cup brewed red bush or green tea (we used organic decaf green tea)
1 tablespoon sugar (we did not add this - berries are sweet enough)
4 ice cubes

Place all the ingredients in a blender and blend on high speed until smooth. Serve immediately.

cut out all soy

I have cut out all soy from my diet ---- interestingly I have had several people tell me that they really don't eat soy and cutting out soy would be easy for them. Then I started listing what soy is in - soy is used as a filler in so many things I don't think people realize how much soy they are truly getting. So here is a list of just a few things I found soy in - the list is endless - so I am just listing some.

Soy is found in the following:

Shortening - so anything made with shortening - many baked goods unless you make it at home and don't use shortening.

Almost all processed crackers, cookies and chips - unless you buy organic

Most breads - even though we were buying the good breads - whole wheat or rye from the bakery - they had soy.

Soy is in many types of chocolate - especially many chocolate chips

Mayo - is made with soy - so all salads with mayo used as a base

Tuna in a can - yep - even when it says tuna and water - they throw in soy - only the very expensive albacore white tuna is truly just tuna and water.

Vitamins - no kidding

Gum --- this was a killer for me - I LOVE to chew gum.

Chinese food - think soy sauce (sadly I love Chinese food - I have found that I can modify some of the recipes and make them without soy sauce - still kind of a tough one) 

Various forms of tea - this was just so sad for me - I love tea and drink it alot - now I drink organic decaf green tea. But I had to give up my favorite - Constant Comment - most Bigelow teas have soy in them.

Granola bars - isn't this just a sad one to give up - I now make my own - my family loves them but since I have also given up sugar in any form (except that found in fresh fruit) I haven't eaten the granola bars I made - they had honey in them. Family said they were good though.

Soy lecithin is an incomplete form of soy but still soy - and I have had to give that up --- that is often the form of soy you see added into many things. Still, it is soy.

Again - this is just a few things off the top of my head

New study

Mercola has a very informative article on a new study that links Breast cancer to aluminum.

He lists vaccines as a major source of aluminum.

Here is a link to the article:

article

There are two other sources of aluminum that I have found. Aluminum is found in deodorant and baking powder. A few years ago I switched to using Arm & Hammer Essentials Natural Deodorant. It is aluminum free and can be found at most grocery stores. Tom's is another good brand that I have used.

The baking powder is harder to find - I have not found it in the local grocery stores but Trader Joe's carries Rumford Aluminum-Free Baking Powder. They don't have it all the time but seem to stock it during the holiday baking season. It was fairly inexpensive there. I am sure you can find it at your local health food store, too.

Just wanted to share a few products that I have found that work well and are aluminum free.

Herbal tea for colds

What a wonderful find! We tried this for the first time this year and both brands worked fabulous.

Traditional Medicinals Gypsy Cold Care &

Yogi Cold Season

Both are organic, caffeine free, herbal teas specifically blended to help cold symptoms. It is amazing but you can feel your airways opening up as you drink them. We are huge fans of the Yogi teas but found the Traditional Medicinals Gypsy Cold care to be just as good.

Tom update

Tom has been rather down about his progress. He doesn't have the mobility in his foot. He had pain in his foot for 9 months prior to diagnosis and now hasn't walked on it for 3 months. He just feels he hasn't walked normal for about a year and isn't sure his body knows how to do it at this point.

So he called his doctor and asked to be sent to a physical therapist. His doctor agreed but didn't suggest anyone in particular. We called a friend who recently had knee surgery and had to go through physical therapy. She really liked who she went to. Tom called that therapist and has an apt. for tomorrow afternoon. He is looking forward to having a plan and help in his healing. He feels like he has been just stuck lately and not progressing at all.

Tom also has been rather down as he doesn't feel like mobility is happening as fast as he wants. He gets alot of anxiety when he just sits in a chair. It has just been a hard recovery and he needs something positive to show him he is moving forward. Please pray that the physical therapist gives him hope and gives his a plan with goals (short term and long term) so he can see progress as he meets the various goals. Just pray for his spirits to be lifted. (Thank you!)

The BOOT

My husband woke up with the flash when I took the picture -- and he looked at me in horror - and said, "you aren't taking pictures of me sleeping, are you??" Nope, just your foot! This is the boot he needs to wear to keep the foot safe from getting banged around. The boot is huge and heavy. But needed for protection. He can still feel it when it gets bumped though.

update on Tom

We are home. We had some excitement but most everything is good news.

1) They sent a sample of the tumor to pathology during the surgery and the initial tests came back that it is not cancer and is a benign tumor. (Excellent news!) So the surgery proceeded. They will still send the whole thing that was removed in for more detailed testing just to be sure.

2) The surgery took longer that expected. We were scheduled for 90 minutes. They told me up front it could easily go 2 hours and not to worry. It actually went about 2 1/2 hours. But they told me that some people's body's just don't easily 'give up' the tumor and he might really have to dig it out and others it just comes out easily. There is no rhyme or reason --- but knowing my Tom - I just figured we were looking at more difficult and therefore more time.

3) It is really good that we got in for surgery so soon - the doctor noticed that there was a weak spot in the bone due to the tumor that was very close to being a fracture. He felt that was where Tom's pain was coming from and it was that pain that caused Tom to really seek out an answer to this. We are very thankful that it didn't fracture and could be fixed the right way with a great doctor instead of the fracture happening and being rushed into emergency room --- and not getting as experienced of a doctor in this type of surgery.

4) Tom did have some problems waking up while in recovery --- although this didn't NOT surprise me at all. He was so stressed about the upcoming surgery that he didn't sleep much the week before - a couple hours each night. So when they put him under and he got to sleep --- his body was just ready to sleep. And not wake from that peaceful sleep. So it wasn't really a reaction to the meds as much as a body just worn out and needing sleep.

5) They also had trouble managing his pain afterward. The doctor really thought that Tom would end up spending the night. (We found this out when we talked to him this evening - more on that one in a minute). They were able to find some pain medication he could tolerate and was strong enough for him. Still he was in recovery for double the length of time as they couldn't wake him and couldn't control the pain. It was bad enough that the doctor had been told about it and really was surprised that Tom was able to pull around enough to go home.

6) But we did head home. The whole sitting up in the car with the foot down --- that was painful for him and caused him to be rather light headed by the time we got home. I am so surprised that we actually got him in the house without falling. But he is now sitting comfortable in the recliner.

7) And then the problem arose - I went to fill his pain meds and when I got there they told me that the whole form wasn't filled out and Tom's name and info wasn't on it - so they couldn't fill it. And narcotics can not be phoned in. I was told to go back to the hospital to get it filled in correctly. I went back and got there at 8:05 p.m. --- it is day surgery - the day is over. They are locked up and gone. Okay now it is officially time to panic. I drove home and got the number for the doctor - knowing he is not the on call person --- and called the paging service. For some reason they paged his doctor instead of the on call person. When he found out what the hospital had done (and it was an error on the hospital's part as it was their stuff not filled in --- the doctor had done his part on the form and turned it over to the discharge nurse as part of the paperwork and you can clearly see his part was done.) That dear, sweet, wonderful doctor who wasn't even on call - drove to his office and met me there -filled out a new handwritten prescription for us. The only issue was it was his downtown office in the 3rd ward. It was now 8:30 p.m. and I was concerned - I am not as familiar with the 3rd ward and during the day the area is totally safe - at night - not so much. My husband comes out of his fog enough to suggest I go get our next door neighbor and have him drive me. Excellent suggestion!!! Don't know why I didn't think of it first but that is why more heads are better than one. (Many thanks to my wonderful neighbor and to our fabulous doctor -- who helped make this be a 'little issue' and not a big one!) My neighbor knows that area really well and was delighted to drive me. I also finally got to eat a sandwich in the car while he drove! That helped me feel better.

So we now have the appropriate strong narcotic meds and Tom is a happy camper! Hopefully the night will go smoothly. They also sent us home with an antibiotic because of the risk of infection.

And counting

One Day to Surgery!

My husband is very nervous! Please pray for him. And for a fairly painless recovery.

You just can't make this stuff up!

You will all never guess where my husband and my oldest are right now????????

Children's Hospital.

My oldest was at our confirmation retreat. He went outside during free time and played football with his group of guys. And I still don't have the full story of what happened but his thumb is now very swollen. We believe it is broken. I believe it falls under the category of boys will be boys.

They have had x-rays and are waiting to talk to the doctor. Apparently, the hospital is very busy today --- a nice spring day - kids play outside and lots of broken bones.

passed with flying colors

My hubby had his work up for surgery.

He had to have blood work, an EKG, chest x-rays, pee-in-the-cup (thank you), blood pressure check. He did share that he wasn't 'violated' so it was an overall good day! (In man terms this means that there was no prostate check required for surgery!)

He passed with flying colors! Thank God for that --- as this surgery is really a must. His ankle bone could give way at any moment. Waiting really isn't a good option.

husband and family update

Some of you have received this in email form but I decided to post it here so that everyone will have the information and know what to pray for (please pray).

Tom has had pain in his foot for awhile and we have had the doctor look at it but it 'seemed' sprained. Well, we went again to the doctor (different doctor) since it never seems to heal - and they did an x-ray. Interesting fluke is that they took the x-ray at an odd angle that they don't normally do - and thank God they did that as it is the only angle that gave a glimpse of the problem. So they recommended an MRI -- and after that we were told he has a bone tumor or a cyst. (Scary)

So we got sent to the foot specialist (surgeon). We saw him on Tuesday. He is 95% sure that it is a cyst. And that is REALLY good news!! At least we are not (most likely) dealing with cancer. He can't be 100% sure until it is tested but he is an expert and I am resting comfortably with his 95% outlook.

BUT he said this is the biggest cyst he has EVER seen. The problem is that it has eaten away all the bone marrow and instead it is all cyst. It is about the size of a fist in his heal - it is huge --- and the doctor said HUGE about 20 times while we were there - they couldn't believe it hadn't broken the bone yet - which is a good thing. Because there is a concern it could happen at any time the doctor bumped someone else from the surgery schedule and put my husband in. He is having surgery on Monday. While we are thankful this is a cyst - bone cysts are still a big deal. The doctor told him that this is one of the most painful surgeries. Extremely painful.

For those of you interested in medical stuff and not squeamish - here are a few more details -

They have to go in and cut a kind of hinged door where they peel back the bone. Then the doctor goes in to remove the cyst - and then he will scrape out the inside and scrape the bone fully so no cyst remains. (This is the painful part). Now there will be a hollow bone. So he will use bone from cadavers and other putty --- the cadaver bone is fully sterilized (and I am not sure of how they do this but the technology is amazing.) so that when it is used there is no issue with rejection or getting a disease from the material used. Then he closes up the bone and staples it shut. The body still recognizes that the cadaver bone is bone material and it will help it to regenerate new bone material. Plus something is needed to fill the space until his own bone can grow. As his own bone grows back (the body is amazing and this is kind of like the healing that goes on after a bone breaks) the material stuffed in there will be reabsorbed by the body.

Tom will not be able to put weight of any kind on his foot for a LONG time --- in the first two weeks any pressure will pop the stitches. He will not be walking for most likely 6 months. He will be out on short term disability from work for most likely at least a month. He is very upset about this forced immobility. I am just so happy it is a cyst and not something so much worse. This might be painful but it is fixable.

There is always a concern for my husband to have surgery as he reacts to many meds. He is allergic to penicillin and reacts negatively to many pain meds. I have to say this is the first time I have had a doctor WARN us over and over how the first 3 days will suck and how painful this surgery is. He was even told to error on the side of too much pain meds rather than less. (Doctors NEVER say that!!)

So Tom is worried about this all. He won't be able to do much moving and will need his family to get things for him.

After Tom's surgery - we have his post op apt on Tuesday of the following week in the AM and that afternoon my middle child has to go in to a children's dermatologist / surgeon as he has a mole that is changing. He most likely will be having surgery in May sometime to have that removed.

My oldest is getting confirmed the first weekend in May - and I was asked if there is a party for him - and sadly nope - we are just having the grandparents over after - and hoping they bring dinner with them!!

So if you made it this far - thank you. Please pray for the doctor and his staff. Pray for successful surgery and healing for Tom. Pray for my sanity. My husband doesn't handle pain or being cooped up well.

Deodorant

I have found a new natural deodorant. It has no aluminum and no paraben. I have been worried for some time about aluminum but have struggled to find a good alternative. I tried going without and just washing frequently --- but I just never felt fresh. Felt kind of gamey. I am excited to try this new one. It is by Arm & Hammer - called Essentials Natural Deodorant. 

I have to update ya all on how it works.