It's been a long long time since I've posted. Truth is I didn't have anything to share. With mom in the hospital yet again and then when she came home she was in such pain, I simply didn't feel like watching what we ate. We ate too much take out, too much junk and too many nights of everyone scrounging for something to eat. Even when I could get myself in the mood to cook and feed us all better, another bout of depression would hit and I just couldn't do it. With mom out of commission, and me unable to drive that left Cindy to buy groceries and in this heat it's been hit or miss. More just picking up what we had to have for a few days and unfortunately that included a great deal of convenience food (something I've never liked).

She had dr. appointment after dr. appointment, test after test and no one could find out why her legs hurt her so badly. Her home nurse visited 2x a week and her PT 2x a week and neither of them could figure it out either. She got to the point she was sleeping all the time and was very very restless, talking and moving a great deal in her sleep. I urged and fussed until she agreed to get an appointment with her primary doctor to talk about having another sleep study done. But before she could make the appointment, Vickie (her home nurse) came for her visit and found she'd gained 7 pounds in one day. (Hmmm why didn't she tell me that?) She called and got her in to see the Dr. 20 minutes later. Back in the hospital she went. She had fluid around her heart and they put her on a lasix drip immediately. After a couple days they got her balanced on oral meds and then after only 4 days (sarcasm), she got to come home. Guess what? No more leg pain. She's doing very well now. She's still on the walker, but she's walking a great deal more and getting out of the house a little. She feels better and has been taking on cleaning projects, buy groceries (if someone takes hers, still can't drive yet).

Now she's on a strict sodium reduced diet along with fluid restrictions to keep the fluid from building up again. Now I need to learn how to cook salt-free. Boy you wouldn't believe just all the things that have sodium in them!!! I mean even ketchup and mustard have salt. So I have another challenge on my hands.

It's been nearly two years now since this all started. Since the first diagnosis that she needed to get the valve replaced immediately, finally getting it done in January, all the complications and setbacks since. We're really hoping this last trip to the hospital, is just that, her last trip. Seems every time she comes home she's doing so well until suddenly she's not, and then she ends back in the hospital. We counted it up and she's spent nearly twice as much time in a hospital or one rehab center or other than she has at home this year.

We've all been under so much stress for so long, that I think we've all forgotten how to just relax. My sleeping patterns are worse than ever. I'm having awful bouts of depression and all this rain we've had has had my allergies in full swing.

Cindy bless her heart has not only had all the stress of dealing with mom's health but work as well. It finally got to be too much for her and she had to take off for about a week and "run" away from home. She just needed some time to not worry about anyone or anything but herself. Now if she could have just stop calling home to make sure we were ok, she might have relaxed a little more…giggle. He knees and ankles are giving her problems again.

Mom feels so bad for having put us through this, not that there is anything to be sorry for. But we all live with guilt when it comes to the way our life effects others, even more for those closest to us.

I'm so not posting this for sympathy; it's why I didn't post it while it was all going on. But I did want to explain why I seem to have just abandoned both blogs. Sometimes life just takes all of our attention!

Hopefully, I can get refocused, re-energized, and inspired to get back with it. I just need to figure out how to cook low carb, cheap, and salt free…giggle so the focus is going to have to change a little, but I'll do it. God's been with us all the way through this and he'll guide me through this latest hurdle too. One thing is for sure, canned foods (not that we use them often anyway) are almost all out of the question at this point. No more canned beans, I'll have to make sure I always have cooked beans on hand. On the plus size they're much cheaper anyway!!!!

That's where we are now and I promise to try and post more often. Adding recipes, but with fewer pictures, I still don't have a camera and my phone is iffy at best…giggle

I hope you're all doing well, that your summer is going well and the heat isn't too horrible where you are.

Take care until next time,

Vikki

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I had so many people tell ask me to please keep this site open because it was helping them, that I decided to keep it open.  So thank you for all the emails, comments and communications letting me know that it is really serving a purpose.  You guys are the bestest!

After a week or two trying to create budget friendly recipes my family could enjoy I found out sometime about myself.  Every time I cooked a new dish I found I was automatically telling myself how to cook it and make it lower carb.  I guess no matter what else happens in my life, I will  always have a low carbers mindset.

Since I intend to keep us as low carb as financially possible, I’d keep this blog going.  I can simply share my new budget friendly recipes and notes on how to de-carb farther to take them from moderate carb to low carb.

I hope you can still find recipes you can use to help you keep your low carb lifestyle fresh and interesting.

Again, let me thank you all for your support, encouragement and letting me know that this blog not only helps me but that it’s of some use to you guys too!

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

I'm sorry for my sudden absents, but I've not been feeling too well lately, and I've been terrible worried about mom after her lasted episode. She became weak and shaky, she was sweating horribly bad, became nauseous and extremely dizzy. After a number of hours in the hospital, where they preformed and EKG, CAT scan and tons of blood work.

They declared all tests clean and sent her home calling it vertigo. They gave her a couple of scripts for the nausea and the dizziness.

Not knowing what caused it or the continued shakiness, has left me worried to say the least. She will finally get in to see her doctor on Friday; I only hope he can give her something answers. However, truth be told I'm not holding my breath.

I've been working on a few recipes including an updated version of coconut flour waffles. I hope I can post a few before too long. I hope that my life will settle back down and I can bet back to posting regularly.

For all those who have had my family and me on your prayer list. Thank you so so much and please keep mom there. We just don't know what is going to happen. I'm not even close to ready to lose her.

I hope your all doing well, Live me a note sometime to let me know how your doing and if there is something I can do to help.

Hugs,

Vikki

There was nothing but bad news at my house today. First the people from CC's came out to put the quarter round down it's just as thin as what we had before. In other words, it fits down in the holes they cut, but does not cover the linoleum. So now they have to order more, rip all this up and start all over again, gggeeesh I'm not sure we will ever get our kitchen back together again.

Then we got the really, bad news. Mom will not be able to have the surgery. The Pulmonary specialist that put all this off believes that her chances of survival are slim, and most likely, if she survives, she will never come off the ventilator. Her cardiologist had already told her that without the surgery, she would most likely not live more than two years, and the last 6 months she more than likely would not be able to walk or talk.

The pulmonary specialist, Dr. Taylor, wants to see her again in 2-3 weeks and then they will set her up for respiratory therapy. He told her is she lost lots of weight and worked hard at the therapy and kept using her c-pap. There would be a slim chance of the surgery in the future. However, he didn't give her much hope.

So please pray for her! I don't think this has all sunk in yet. I just cannot get my head around the idea that she is not going to make it, and there is nothing they can do. That simply cannot be the true.

Since I refuse to sit back and watch her suffer, I have a great deal of research to do. Because there simply HAS to be something, we can do. She is, basically in good health except for the chronic asthma, and of course she needs a new heart valve.

Like I said in the beginning this was a day of bad news. But I promised to keep you up to date.

As you know, we've been getting some work done on this old house. We had her interior painted, well at least the public rooms. The painting and repairs ended up taking the full week the contractor estimated. We were hoping for less but they did such an excellent job that it was worth the time. The only complaint we had was the smell. Nothing he could do about that, but the fumes made us all sick.

Then came the new carpet and linoleum floors. They were on time I have to give them that, but after that it all went down hill in a hurry. The installers they sent out were both Hispanic. Nothing wrong with that of course except one of them didn't speak any English and the other didn't speak English well and had a very heavy accent, so it was hard to understand him. Not that he tried to communicate much.

I consider myself a very open understanding person. While I truly believe everyone should be given a chance to work and make a honest living, it is also my opinion that one of the members of the installation team should have been able to communicate clearly in English.

That was my first complaint. Second, we had asked at the time we bought the flooring that the vinyl go down first so that they wouldn't track a mess all over the new carpet. Well the lead installer informed us He was a professional and that we shouldn't worry. He then ignored everything we had to say from that point on. They put the carpet down first, didn't vacuum the floor before installing as we had been told they would. They barely sweep a little. I had to call their supervisor because he kept insisting he could stretch the carpet in my living room with the furniture piled on one side of the room!!! We were not going to have that; we would end up with loose carpet. His supervisor called him and he begrudgingly removed the furniture.

When they started on the linoleum, they didn't take up the existing floor. Which we had been told they were going to do, but they didn't remove the quarter round (the little wooden trim placed over tile or linoleum to help hold it in place and finish it off so it looks nice). He said he was going to caulk it instead. Mom told him she most definitely didn't want caulking, because it looks dirty. She told him our contract states that they would take it up and replace it. He refused to do so, kept saying it would break and they didn't replace broken trim. She calmly told him at least a dozen times we would have someone else replace it but to please take it up. He just kept cutting the vinyl. I'm trying to get in touch with their supervisor while this is going on. Finally, mom is screaming at him to stop. You have to understand, my mom never yells about anything. I mean she just simply does not lose her temper.

Anyway, I finally got the supervisor on the phone and told him what was going on. He called them, but the installer just kept on cutting the vinyl without taking up the quarter round. I called the supervisor back; he said he told him to take it up. I explained, not so calmly at that point that he was still cutting it and that I though he should get his butt out here to handle this. Of course, he didn't think that was such a good idea.

The installer finally stopped cutting and took up the quarter round before cutting the rest of it. It was too late; half the flooring was to short. When they finally finished we refused to pay for the vinyl flooring. We did pay for the carpet however.

The next morning mom called the company to find out what was to be done about the floor. She talked to a very nice woman that said she would talk to the supervisor, he was in a meeting at the time, and call her back. It was much later in the afternoon but she did call and said they would make it right. She asked if the supervisor could come by and look at the floor. Mom told her we would really appreciate if he would.

Yesterday the supervisor and another man (I believe he was the first man's supervisor), came by, took pictures and apologized for the problems we had. They were going to see if they could find trim to cover it, our handy man had already looked and couldn't find an wide enough. They senior of the two promised they would either find trim that would cover it or replace the whole thing. He promised to get back with us either last night or today. So far, we're still waiting. However, I am now hopeful that we will end up with a beautiful new floor. When is the question?

I just thought I would let you know how it was all going. Or not going as the case may be.

I remember back when people actually listened to the consumer. As someone recently mentioned to me, back when there was really, something called work ethics. You know while I was in school it was part of the curriculum. I remember being taught was work ethics were and how important it was. It was essential to good business practices. I doubt it still is. It seems everyone wants the highest payment possible for the least amount of work. While before if you hired someone, you could trust it would be completed quickly and correctly. Now you can't count on anything. Sad, but unfortunately all to often what happened to us has become the norm, not the exception.

I have shared some of the forms I use to make my grocery list, menus, and record my meals.  Your more than welcome to use any you think will help you.  Just look down on the left hand side where it says files. 

Let me know how they work for you. 

As some of you know we've been doing some renovating around the house.  Allergies have become a major source of concern with mom's surgery on hold.  Cindy has to see a specialist for her many allergies.  So we're having the carpet and tile replaced to ride us of those dust breeding grounds.  We're having linoleum put in to replace the tile and a very low pile carpet that's suppose to reduce allergy symptoms put in to replace the existing carpet. 

We've had all the living spaces painted with low odor paint.  The vents cleaned.  The exterminators out to rid us of the ants, spiders and other creepy crawly nasty stuff. 

We've dusted, cleaned and cleaned out nearly every part of the house, with the exception of a few personal spaces that we're still working on. Like my room.  Lord help us all.  Being a kindergarten teacher for so long, I developed an over active packrat gene.  I mean I could and did use all this junk in my classroom.  But I don't have a classroom any more and I need to get rid of the egg cartons, the curriculum books, the 20+ years of lesson plans and files. 

My grandmother died 7 years ago and I still have all her financial records because I was her legal guardian for lack of a better phrase.  She didn't need much help, just someone to manage her meager finances  something she was not good with.  I had all her bills sent to me and I paid them, made sure she had cash on hand, pick up and paid for her prescriptions, that kind of thing.  She did just fine managing her life...giggle.  I only hope some  day I will be as together as my Nanny was.  I still miss her so much.  I guess that's why I'm still holding on to the last pieces of her I have left.  But all these papers are not my Nanny, she's in my mind and my heart.  So this stuff has got to go.

I have so many pairs of shoes that I can't or wouldn't wear that need to be donated somewhere.  I don't wear dress shoes any more, I have no need for them.  But there are women out there that do and can't afford them, for job interviews and such.  I have my crocs ( thanks 'Nette) and I'm good with those and my church shoes.

Well I just wanted to let you know why I've been so absent from the forum, here and everywhere else in my life.  Hopefully by the end of June we will have everything back in place and life will continue. 

Mom got a call from her cardiologist tonight.  Her latest blood work results were in and Dr. Ryan ( cardiologist) and Dr. Taylor (pulmonary specialist) had review the results and the results were not favorable. 

He said that if she has the surgery, they are afraid she will not be able to take her off the respirator.

He wants to do a follow up in 3-4 months!!!!  She's trying to get an appointment so he can explain it further and give her an idea of what she can do to help improve matters. 

So anyone that's been praying for her, please please keep it up.

Vikki

Well the slow wheels of this surgery have now started backing up.  They finally called her back with the results of her last sleep study.  The verdict is she does have a mild case of Apnea so she will be getting a C-Pap. 

So were happy they finally have the answers they wanted so maybe we can move on.  That's when we find out, that the other 2 tests they were suppose to have run while she was in the hospital, never got run.  So she had to go yesterday to get those run. We are supposed to get the results by Monday. 

It seems that we have been waiting on this forever.  It has in fact been right at 3 months. If you remember this Dr. Ryan told her she needed this surgery as soon as possible. 

Bless her heart ( literally), it's getting harder and  harder for her to breath when doing the simplest things like walking around in the house.  I know she's worried.  We've all been praying.  I just want them to hurry up and make her better.

Well that's all I know for now.  Oh, except she went to her primary doctor yesterday afternoon and he check her bgl and took a look at her numbers ( her record of readings).  He told her they were looking really good.  They have in fact been as good as I think they will get with this kind of stress.  Staying in the 90's to low 100 with minimal amounts of insulin.  Several days she has only taken her morning and evening Lantus, not needing any Humalog during the day at all.

Thank you so much to all of you who have been keeping her in your prayers.  We are praying that they will be satisfied with the latest test results and schedule the surgery next week. 

Thank you again and may God bless each and every one of you.

 For all my friends that have been praying for us.  I want to tell you just how much it has meant to us all.  Mom got to come home tonight (Monday) and she's sleeping sorta soundly in her own bed. 

Dr. Taylor the Pulmonary doctor that ordered all the test, managed to get all of them done while she was in the hospital.  Getting the lung scan done just under the wire.  The sleep study was postponed.  She has to be checked out of the hospital 48 hrs. before they can check her in again as an outpatient.  More red tape.

But they got everything else done, so if she can get to breathing well enough and get the sleep study done quickly, maybe they can schedule the valve replacement and this will all be behind us before too long.

So thank you all so much for all the prayers, well wishes and happy thoughts.  Know that it has helped so much, and is dearly appreciated by my whole family!  God Bless you all!