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March 29, 2023

OUCH! Broken Bones

I know, it's been awhile! Been living my life. Still on the medical diets. One has been changed back to the Mediterranean Diet, because the doctors discovered I have fatty liver disease and not gastroparesis, so it's still the GERD/gastritis diet, the low fodmap diet and now I have to blend in the Mediterranean Diet. And then I'm scheduled to see an allergy doctor in May to be tested. My dietician thinks I may be allergic to dairy and soy, so she wants a full food panel done to see if I may be allergic to anything else because I have asthma as well as the other food related issues.  

26 Feb 2024 Update: I was allergy tested in June 2023. The results were 11 food allergies. Two weeks ago I was given an IgE environmental allergy test and I am allergic to four things - two types of dust mites, ragweed and mold. Both the ragweed and mold have cross-reactions with plant and fungi food products. Oh boy! 

Five weeks ago, I fell again and this time I broke my shoulder. It's been a trip and I'm still in pain, which brings me to admit I'm really thankful for pain-pills. I'm also thankful for my hubby and the doctors and grabbers and railings and the fire department medics and the ambulance ride to the ER and my physical therapist and all the YouTube videos that kept me entertained and all those who have called or emailed me to check up on me and those who prayed and are still praying for me to be healed. Thank you, everybody! 

I'm also thankful for faithful, gracious friends. Right now I'm praying for two who haven't been so gracious to me lately.  I mean really, especially when your friend is hurting physically, you two have to sock it to me emotionally? What gives? 

Somebody recently asked me how many bones I've broken. I had to sit and think about it. I believe I've mentioned that I was diagnosed with ADD by Dr. Grace Ketterman a while back. A sport doctor told me that ADD can affect the muscles as well as the brain because the enzyme that bridges the gap between the nerves isn't there either and muscles may get the message late or not at all from the brain. This time though, I'm pretty sure I tripped, hit my chin on the wall furnace (it quit two days after this and apparently I knocked some soot down inside the furnace which clogged up the pilot light.), grew a noggin egg on the chin too,  and landed on a soup kettle full of water that I had on the floor in front of the furnace for air moisture with my chest. I was black and green for a few days! Ouch! 

So anyway, here's my list:

1. pinkie toes - You know those things that reach out in the dark to grab your toes as you walk by! LOL! 

2. right foot - was running out the front door to get into the car for a shopping trip. I missed the step and fell right off the front porch. It was three days of pain and swelling before my parents decided it was more serious than just a sprain. Was on crutches for 6 weeks at Thanksgiving to Christmas time that year with a knee-high cast.  

3. tailbone twice - first time I fell out of a tree and the second time it broke when I was moved from a gurney up on to an operating table before a medical procedure. 

4. knee-bones = I fell over our toddler son when he lifted his feet up while I was holding his hands. Landed really hard on a concrete sidewalk and then became paralyzed a month later and had to lay flat on my back in bed for another whole month. 

5. herniated disc L4-5 - stepped into a hole when going after my naughty doggie and down I went. Worse pain I have ever experienced and I was on round the clock strong pain-meds for about 5 months before I could get a pain shot in my back. Pain that bad takes over your whole life and I could barely function for I was constantly looking at the clock to see when I could take my next dose. Thankfully, the Lord has taken that pain away as long as I'm good and don't lift anything heavier than a sack of sugar. Wore a brace on my foot for a time for drop foot then it was changed out for a built up ugly grandma shoe. 

6. meniscal tear = at some point, I developed a meniscal tear on the side of my knee and it would catch, then I'd stumble and down I'd go. Thank the Lord that my physical therapist discovered the issue and sent me to a bone doctor who repaired it and then fished out a round "pearl" at the same time. He said it was a piece of loose cartilage from the tear that was beginning to calcify like a bone. 

7. an avulsion fracture in my wrist = another fall. gashed my eyebrow open at the same time and broke my glasses. 

8. and now the scapula fracture to my shoulder, but

my battle-cry is...

Anybody remember the Weeble Toy Commercial from the 1970s? The theme song said "Weebles wobble but they don't fall down!" The saying should have been "Weebles wobble but they don't stay down!" 

This ole gal has begun physical therapy as of last Thursday and my battle cry will be this bit of scripture found in Micah 7:8 - "Do not gloat over me, my enemy! Though I have fallen, I WILL RISE! Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light!" 

June 04, 2022

I'm Thankful for Grocery Stores that Carry These Food Brands



I've been busy. My kitchen and recipe box have been turned upside down. Last fall, I had several GI tests and consequently, I'm following 4 medical diets. A YouTube friend,  Possum Patty, calls it the Freedom Diet - dairy-free, fructan-free, soy-free, sugar-free, etc. 

Who in their right mind asks to have lactose and fructose malabsorption, GERD/gastritis, gallstones or a fatty liver? Not me. They came as a complete surprise. But I decided that the best thing about these overwhelming diets, are the abundance of products out there now for people with food intolerances and allergies. Food brand companies and grocery stores are finally getting it! You make or stock, I buy! 

So, while I have to make a few recipes at home from scratch with my new-to-me Kitchen aid stand mixer and oven, I felt like I needed to write down the food brands I've been enjoying. Told hubby that if it doesn't taste good, do you think I would be eating it? Nope! So this list is one that will be a post in progress as I try more brands and hope it will help someone else out there who is as clueless as I was in the beginning about what to look for. 

One piece of advice: READ THE INGREDIENTS! When you go shopping, you will need to read the ingredient list of EVERY product before you put it into your grocery cart until you establish your brands. What may be right for me, may not be right for your tummy and we learned, for instance, that even if it says GLUTEN-FREE on the package, it may be made with an ingredient that my body can't tolerate such as agave syrup or inulin.

  1. A & W Sugar-free Root beer Drink Mixes
  2. Annie's Gluten-Free Mac & Cheese
  3. Bob's Red Mill (gluten-free grains)
  4. Canyon Bakehouse Gluten-Free Bread
  5. Rice or Corn Chex Cereal 
  6. Crazy Richard's sugar-free peanut butter
  7. Crunchmaster Chips
  8. Earth Balance Soy-free Margarine (red carton)
  9. ekSel Toaster Bags
  10. Enjoy Life Allergy-Free Cookies 
  11. Fair-life Lactose Free Milk & Milk Products
  12. Frito-Lay Corn Chips
  13. Fody Foods (low-fodmap)
  14. Gimbal's Scottie Dogs Licorice (Peanut-free, Dairy-Free, Gluten-Free, Soy-Free, Egg-Free, Kosher Pareve & No High Fructose Corn Syrup)
  15. Goodie Girl  Gluten-Free Cookies
  16. JOY Gluten Free Ice Cream Sugar Cones
  17. Katz Gluten Free Foods (Donuts, Yum!) 
  18. King Arthur Gluten-Free Flour
  19. Lilly's Stevia Sweetened chips and candy
  20. Modern Mountain Flour Company
  21. Pamela's Gluten-Free Graham Crackers
  22. Pillsbury Gluten-Free Cake Mixes
  23. Polaner Sugar-free All-Fruit Spreads
  24. Popcorners Popped-Corn Snack (Sweet & Salty Kettle corn - red package)
  25. Pukka Herbal Teas 
  26. Schar Gluten-Free Breads
  27. Silk Coconut Milk. 
  28. Stevia In The Raw (sugar-free sweetener)
  29. So Delicious Dairy Free Coconut milk yogurt & ice cream. 
  30. Sugar-free gelatin and pudding. 
  31. Tate's Bake Shop Gluten-Free Coconut Crisp Cookies (white package)
  32. TERRA Real Vegetable Chips