Working on the Diet

I have decided that it may be helpful if I start, occasionally, blogging about the gluten-free/dairy-free/paleo-type diet I am on. This go round with the diet has not been as easy as the first go round. The first two months of the diet, I knew there was a chance that the diet could prevent the need for surgery, so I really stuck to it and did a great job. Now that surgery is over, I find it a little more difficult to be so strict on the diet. However, I am doing pretty good, it is just a slower start than before. The main struggle I have had is not having anything sweet to eat (other than fruit). So I have been searching Pinterest for recipes over the past couple of weeks. Up until now, everything I have tried to bake (gluten free/dairy free) has miserably failed. Which is uncommon for me because I usually have no problem with baking/cooking. Anyway, I have recently found a couple of things that are really good and wanted to share for others who are trying to follow the same type of diet!

First, a vanilla cupcake recipe. I found this recipe on Pinterest. It says they are vanilla cupcakes, but I think they are more like muffins. Either way, Jordan and I both really like them! The first time I made them (the recipe makes 6) I just did plain cupcakes. We liked them so much I decided I would try to add some things into the cupcake/muffins. So, on Sunday, I made 2 with blueberries, 2 with sprinkles, and 2 with chocolate chips. (the chocolate chip ones are for Jordan- he doesn't follow the diet). Here is the recipe:

3 T butter, melted or coconut oil      (I used dairy free butter)
3 large eggs
1/3 cup organic sugar (if using honey, reduce to 1/4 cup)
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup coconut flour      (I used brown rice flour)
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
Mix together butter, eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl.Combine the coconut flour with the baking powder and mix together. Then, add to the butter mixture; whisking until there are no lumps in the batter. Put batter into 6 greased muffin cups or muffin cups lined with aluminum foil baking cups. Don’t use paper because the muffins will stick to the bottom of the baking cups. Bake at 400 degrees for 15 minutes.

Here is the link to the recipe site. She also has an icing recipe in her post that I have not tried.
alifeinbalance.net

The second item I wanted to share, is the Bisquick Pancake mix I found at Walmart! I rarely go to Walmart, but was very pleased with the amount of gluten free items they had. I haven't found a ton of stuff at HEB, but I have been told I will have better luck if I try the big HEB in Kyle. Anyway, I used almond milk, sunflower oil, an egg, and the bisquick and we had pancakes Sunday morning. Jordan and I both liked them and thought they tasted "normal". :)

For some unknown reason, this picture refuses to upload right side up. So, I guess sideways is better than nothing! :)

Recovery and Follow up Appointment

Well, it's already been one month since the surgery! I can't believe how fast the time has gone. I am nearly back to normal as far as recovery goes! The internal pain is gone, my strength is back, general movement is much easier, the glue and stitches on my incisions have dissolved, and I am feeling pretty good! The incisions are still a little tender when touched, but it's nothing unbearable at all.

RECOVERY:
Here is a little "back tracking" because I missed a few weeks of posting about the recovery:
I don't remember much of anything about the surgery, coming home, or being home for the first couple of days. Jordan stayed home with me Saturday and Sunday, Carla and Jana stayed with me on Monday, my Mom stayed part of Tuesday, and then I was on my own. My days consisted of me on the couch getting sucked into Downton Abbey. I successfully started and finished 3 seasons within about 4 days and became hooked. Lucky for me, season 4 had just begun, so I caught the first couple of episodes of that online and am now up to date with the regular TV showings. Every couple of episodes, I would try to get up and walk a circle or two around the living room, as the Dr. suggested. One week after surgery came time for one of two annual Market trips for the store. Market (in Dallas this time) is where we purchase all of our merchandise for the store. The Dr. had told me that I could go if I felt like it, but I had to be in a wheelchair the whole time. By that time, I had been taking the pain killers every 6 hours rather than every 3, so I thought I was doing pretty good. I guess I didn't realize that the pain was minimizing only while I was on the couch. I went to Bible class the Wednesday night before Market, and by the time it was over, I was feeling pretty weak. But, I decided to stick with the plans of going to Market. However, that was a bad decision. By the end of the first day (mind you, I rode in the wheelchair 95% of the day), I could barely stand. I had not taken my pain meds every 3 hours and I was miserable. Jordan was just about to hop in the car and drive 4 hours to pick me up. However, once I got in bed, got a heating pad, and lots of pain meds, I thought I could recover. The next day I stayed on top of the meds and the next evening was much easier. So, if at any point you plan to have this surgery, my suggestion is to do NOTHING for at least 10 days following surgery.

Anyway, the next week I started returning to work, partials days at first, and doing jobs that allowed a stationary position. Next thing we know, 4 weeks had passed and we are headed back to Houston for a follow up appointment! The drive seems to be getting shorter each time we go, and we get to stay with my brother and sister in law and see my precious niece, so it is really not bad at all.

FOLLOWUP:
This is how awesome our Dr. is- my appointment was at 8, and we didn't leave until about 9:30. No, she wasn't late and we didn't have to wait- she was actually meeting with us that long! She is so good to never rush us, answer all of our questions, and explain things thoroughly. So, back to the appointment. She is very pleased with how my body is "reacting" to the surgery! So far, it has done exactly what was planned and even a little better. The return of a cycle without any help from medication was very exciting! The incisions are healing well (she has me rubbing Vitamin E oil on them to help with the scarring). We got a little bit of disturbing news from the biopsy/culture samples that were taken from my uterus during surgery, though. The nurse had called about 2 weeks ago to inform me that I had a staph infection, and to let me know they were putting me on antibiotics. She said this is just caused from bacteria not leaving the body and was nothing to be worried about. But, when we got to the follow up appointment, she had some more news. The biopsy showed precancerous cells in my uterus. She is a little concerned about this (and it really scared me, at first), but she said that with the return of the cycle, the body should flush this cells out. She plans to do another biopsy (if we are not pregnant) in 6 months, because she wants to stay on top it. Good news, though, the chances of the cells progressing into "real" cancer are very very low! For those of you who do not know, I have had similar results from biopsies of my cervix over the past 3-4 years, but that issue has "fixed" itself and is no longer a concern. (and is not connected to the issues in the uterus). So, we are confident that there is not much to be concerned about and that the Dr. will stay on top of the issues.

We will go back in 3 months for another follow up! Until then, my instructions are to continue the gluten free/dairy free diet and finish out my long round of antibiotics.

Thanks again for your prayers, concerns, cards, visits, food, etc!

Discharged from hospital and back home!

I am running a day behind on updates because I did not have the energy, nor was I alert enough, to type yesterday. We are now back home in San Marcos and I have been ordered rest. I am not complaining about the rest one bit!

We got to the hospital at 6 AM yesterday morning and they took me straight into the pre-surgery waiting area. I had already taken a Xanax to help calm me before they started the IV so I was doing pretty good at that point. Next thing I knew, two hours had passed, we had a prayer and the nurses took me one direction and the family the opposite direction. I don't remember anything else until about 12:30-1:00 when they had moved me out of the OR, out of the recovery room, and into the day surgery room. The nurses had a hard time waking me up after the surgery so they called Jordan into the recovery room to try and help them wake me up. Once we got into the day surgery room, I remember a LOT of pain, they gave me morphine, and they let two family members in at a time (so family was rotating turns, except for Jordan). The nurses had expected me to be discharged around 3-4 on Thursday. We were far from discharging at that point. I was in and out for the next 2-3 hours and ended up in an overnight patient room where Jordan and I stayed the night. I was only able to walk from the bed to the wheelchair at that point so going home was not an option. My blood pressure was really low, so the nurses came in several times throughout the night to keep checking on my BP and to give me more pain meds. Other than check ups and pain meds, we both slept pretty good. Poor Jordan, I had to have asked him the same questions about 5 times each. This morning showed great improvement. I was able to walk to the bathroom alone (in my room), got to eat a biscuit and have a glass of real milk :) Then Dr. Jemelka came in to talk with us this morning. We were supposed to have a follow up appointment with her this morning, but that didn't work out due to staying over night. The appointment has been postponed for a couple of weeks.

The surgery ended up taking right around 3 hours. She found that my ovaries were 2x-3x the size they should be, so she did the ovarian wedge resection to make the ovaries a normal functioning size. She also took cultures from my uterus due to concerns with the inflammation.We will have the results of that in a couple of weeks. She found that one of my fallopian tubes was blocked, so she cleared that one out. Lastly, she found three "sections" of endometriosis. She removed the endo. with a laser and "sewed" the areas back together when she was finished. I ended up having 5 incisions in my stomach. The stomach area is very very weak and tender now. It's amazing to find how much of your body movement relies on and uses your stomach muscles.

I am getting a little break from the diet for the next 1-2 weeks, but then she wants me back on it for 6 months. She will then reevaluate the situation.

We are so thankful that the surgery went smoothly and so thankful for your prayers!

Pre-Op Appointment

We made it to Houston just fine, but with yucky weather the whole way! I met with the Dr. and did all of the check in/registration/blood testing/waiting room business. My surgery has been moved up from 12 noon to 8 AM tomorrow. Less time to fast...yay! This liquid only diet is for the birds. I did get news from the Dr. that she wants me to continue the dairy free/gluten free diet for 6 more months :( I know some people like this diet, but it is not for me! I do have permission to eat whatever I want, though, following surgery :) She is wanting me to gain some of the weight back that I have lost over the past 2 months, so hopefully I can manage the diet and weight gain at the same time. This may call for an occasional cheat :)
That's all I have for now. We have to be at the hospital at 6 in the morning.

Thanks for the prayers!

Surgery

As most of you know, I will be having surgery on Thursday in Houston. We will be leaving tomorrow morning to make my pre-op appointment tomorrow afternoon. We will then return home Friday evening.
We have chosen over the past year to keep the struggles of infertility to ourselves and our families. However, when we found out that I would need surgery, we requested the prayers of the church. We still did not give much information, though. Please know that we have only kept things quiet because it is a difficult topic for me to talk about. I know that there are people who have struggled with similar problems for much longer than a year, so I feel a little silly being so down about our struggles. Even so, it is not an easy situation to deal with.

Many have asked why we are going to Houston and what the surgery is for. So, I wanted to share with you what the surgery is about. I have chosen to only share this post (via facebook) with members of the church. We are going to Houston because there is a Dr. there that specializes in the treatment of polycystic ovarian disease (PCOD), which is what I have been diagnosed with, among other issues. You can click the Caritas link below to read about the Dr and her office.
Here is our treatment plan as well as details about the type of surgery I will be having:
-I have been on a dairy free, gluten free diet over the past 7 weeks. This is an anti-inflammatory diet that has hopefully helped with the inflammation of my ovaries.
-I have been using the Creighton Model Charting System. http://www.creightonmodel.com/
-On Thursday the Dr. will do the Ovarian Wedge Resection, Laser surgery for Endometriosis (if she finds that I have endometriosis), selective hystero-salpingography, and a hysteroscopy (scope inside uterus).

The surgery will be laparoscopic and should last 2-3 hours. The recovery time is expected to be 2-4 weeks. Hopefully the recovery will be closer to the 2 week mark than the 4 week. :)

I have included some websites with more information if you are interested.
http://www.naprotechnology.com/surgical.htm
http://www.caritasfertilitycare.com/naprotechnology.php

ANTICIPATED RESULTS

Following the wedge resection, the cycles tend to become more regular again in about 80 percent of cases. Ovulation becomes more effective and Clomid can still be used but, in this case, at much lower doses.

Because women who have polycystic ovaries often have very long cycles, their risk of cancer of uterus and breast in increased. Cancer of the uterus, in particular, may occur in as many as 25 percent of these women. This is due to the continuous, prolonged stimulation of estrogen in the absence of progesterone (which happens with these long and irregular cycles). Progesterone can be administered on a cyclic basis to prevent this from happening.

After a wedge resection and when the cycles become more regular (in 80 percent of the cases), there is a natural regulation of the cycle because ovulation is now occurring more regularly, there are no longer prolonged episodes of estrogen stimulation and progesterone is produced on a regular basis thus preventing cancer of the uterus and breast.

In addition, while the male hormones are often elevated in women with Polycystic Ovarian Disease, and it requires medication to keep them down, these hormone levels decrease with wedge resection.
Finally, this is a procedure which, while improving a woman’s health, also results in regular menstrual cycle with regular ovulation and an improvement in fertility. The pregnancy rate following this procedure is nearly 70 percent in the experience of the Pope Paul VI Institute.

We greatly appreciate your prayers and support at this time. Please also pray that whatever the results may be, we will always trust in the Lord and His plan. We will try to keep you updated when I come out of surgery on Thursday.

A Plan for 2014

Those who know me well know that I am an extreme planner. I have already transferred important info from my 2013 agenda into my new 2014 agenda, set up my calendar of bill payment reminders for the year, and making plans for 2014 at work.... I would be thrilled if I could fill in the plans of everyday for the entire year of 2014. If possible, I would have work schedules, traveling plans, Dr. appointments, grocery lists, meal plans, date nights, laundry times, cleaning times, studying times, etc, etc, all "penciled in" for the rest of the year. Unfortunately, life does not work out this way. And oddly enough, not all people prefer to function this way. I can't image! ;) Even more so than wanting to be able to fill in all the little details that will make up the year's schedule, I just would like to know what the year has in store overall. Once again, I luck out in that department. What I am coming to realize, though, and trying to remind myself of daily, is that even though I do not know and cannot plan for what the future holds, I can find comfort in knowing that my Heavenly Father does know and is in control of my future. The hard part for me is trusting, waiting, and not worrying.

Throughout different struggles in life, I find that we often ask God, "Why?". Why is this happening, why isn't this working, why I am going through this, why me and not someone else, etc. As I have been facing a somewhat personal issue (a little too personal for the internet) throughout 2013, I have struggled with asking Why?, I have struggled with trusting, I have struggled with patience (among many other things). A dear family we know who had to bury their 8 year old son this week, said that they realized they should not being asking God, "Why?". They are finding comfort in the fact that God is in control. Who are we to question the Lord Almighty, the Creator of the universe, our loving Father?

Instead of wondering why things turn out the way they do, my goal for 2014 is to remember that my Heavenly Father has everything under control. Even if things don't work out the way I would have planned, I pray that I always remember that He loves me, is with me always, and that is truly all I need in this life.

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and do not lean on your own understanding" Prov 3:5
"He who heeds the word wisely will find good, and whoever trusts in the Lord, happy is he." Prov 16:20

My Cup will be Half Full

With no permanent residence, the last 2-3 weeks have been quite the adventure for me and Jordan. I would be lying if I said it was all fun and easy! Several times we have expressed our frustration with the situation. “We are so tired of lugging our suitcases around everywhere” “We are so tired of eating out” “We are so tired of unloading and repacking every night or two” Complaint, complaint, complaint…

After visiting with a good customer and friend at work yesterday, I began to have a different outlook on our current situation. As she was shopping, we started visiting about the holidays and about the pillows her mother in law had previously purchased from us for her birthday. She mentioned using them in her guest room, and I told her we are getting a new house and I thought that would be a great idea for our new guest room as well! Turns out, she and her husband are in the same situation as Jordan and I. As we continued discussing the similarities of houses we had looked at, places we are staying, and so on, she said something that made me stop in my tracks. She mentioned that throughout this time period, they have really become so grateful for the things they do have and less concerned with material blessings. (They, also, have nearly all of their belongings in storage and have been living with the “bare minimum”.) In more or less words, as her eyes began to water, she told me how she really felt that they needed this time to get their priorities straight in life and to realize the things that are most important. Eventually, our conversation came to a close, we wished each other well, and she went on her way. The rest of the night, this conversation ran through my head. How terrible of an attitude I have had! Don’t get me wrong, I am so grateful for all of those who have housed and fed us and am so excited to get to move into a new house, but all the while we have been waiting, my attitude has not proved to be one of thanksgiving. Life really could be a lot worse and more difficult for us than it is! 

Each year at Christmas, Jordan and I have a tradition of giving each other one ornament. We carefully choose which ornament to give to one another, whether it be a silly ornament or a "meaningful" ornament. This year Jordan made me the best ornament yet! He made a wooden house and wrote several things on it, including our new address. One thing he wrote, though, really stuck out: "Our first house, but not our first HOME". All of the actual structure, furniture, decor, etc make a house, but love and family make a HOME. I have realized that the old saying is true "Home is where your heart is". Although we don't have a house right now we have many homes (time share, friends houses, families houses, etc). And we will always have many homes as our hearts will always be in Yoakum and in Dripping, but OUR home is wherever we are together! (if I had the ornament with me, I would add a picture. Maybe some day I will get it up here!) :)

With running a business, I encounter so many people on a day to day basis. I often wonder what I can do to influence their lives for the better. In the meantime, this customer in particular, has influenced my life for the better! So grateful for her and all the sweet people we have met throughout the past 3 years with the store. I pray that I always portray a Christ-like attitude that will encourage our customers and all those I encounter.  “In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” Matthew 5:16

I resolve to see my “cup” as half full rather than half empty this year. “Rejoice in the Lord always, again I say rejoice” Phil. 4:4

Who knew a conversation about these pillows could turn in to so much?!