Check in August 2009

[kb9oyo]

July was a challenging month to say the least. My brother and sister came in from out of town for their yearly visit to my family and the trek to our jointly held farm in central Indiana. I hadn't been feeling very well, but I had seen my own doctor before he left the country for 3 weeks on his vacation. I was a bit short of breath and had been coughing as well. He prescribed 10 days of antibiotics and I was on my own.

Things got worse and after 2 weeks, I called the substitute doctor who had never seen or heard of me. They made time for me that day and when he saw me, he assumed that since I was fat and had edema in my legs that I was obviously in chronic heart failure. He took some blood tests, had me get a chest Xray, change my regular medications (added Lasix and a much stronger blood pressure medicine). Then **he** left town for the rest of the week!

I tried the new medications for two days, but things didn't improve, so I called their next substitute doctor on their list who also had never seen me or knew anything about my health history. She agreed that she could see me in her office or I could wait till my own doctor got back into town on Monday. She wasn't able to access any of the test results that the first substitute doctor had done. She did say that if I felt worse, I could go into the ER, but it really sounded more like a C.Y.A. statement rather than directions that I should go immediately to the hospital.

I waited until 2am on Saturday morning when I couldn't sleep, felt like I had to concentrate on breathing in and out, and felt very frantic. I woke my husband up, and had him call 911. By the time that I got to the hospital, I was dehydrated, and my blood pressure was so low, they couldn't take it. The rest is history, the ER diagnosed blood clots in the lungs and I spent the next two weeks in Intensive Care. The Dietary Department did try extra hard to work with me on the GF diet. I was a bit surprised that they didn't have one that was preset, though. They did go out to the local grocery store and purchase a box of GF Corn Chex so that I didn't have to endure any more of the saltless, too thick Cream of Rice (UGH!!) They agreed that they could take some of their GF broth and thicken it with cornstarch so they could stop sending up dry, overcooked meat without gravey for their meat and saltless potatoes. They even found some GF desserts so I could have variety from the pudding which was the only thing that they listed that was GF.

I still have some recovery to do. I am still using a walker that I wasn't before I got sick and my endurance isn't all that great yet, but I am improving.

Moral of the story: Don't get sick while your Doctor is out of the country!!


Sue B in Illinois
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Sue Beyer

[nancw]

Oh Sue - how scary! So glad you are on the mend, but that was a horrible series of mismanagement by those doctors. I hope you let your primary doc know how poorly you were treated (or not, to look at it another way) by his/her cover system.
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Nance

gluten, dairy, soy, rice, yeast and 99% grain-free

[HadassahSukkot]

Oh my goodness Sue! You poor thing!

Definitely have a talk with your PCP. I am sure he would be "enlightened" to say the least about his backup system of doctors.

We're going slow so far this month... I had an appointment yesterday for my gestational diabetes 'fasting' test... and I won't hear back from it for a while. DH said he will call on Monday and ask if it came out ok. It was a real bear to take, since I had the "full OB program" to do this week, which included every sample usually taken and an ultrasound to check on the baby's development.

We don't have A/C here in most offices or stores, and it was up in the high 80s with lots of humidity yesterday, and you know we all loved sitting in the waiting room or the patient's cabins to have blood taken or BP, etc I felt like I was pouring sweat at one point, and getting hungrier by the minute. I hadn't eaten (wasn't allowed to!) since 10pm the night prior, and was there first thing at 8 to get my 'lovely' drink.

Since I was slightly dehydrated (not supposed to have more than a sip of water prior to the test) and nervous about the test, it took 4 tries to get my blood from my arm. Yeah - veins like to hide when I get nervous I wanted to ask if we could just return on another day...

Our little boy is growing nicely, and we'll be meeting him on "the outside" sometime mid-November. Jonathan was there for this appointment, and I think behaved rather nicely for a child his age, and was fairly quiet as well. Everyone loves seeing him when he does come visit.

I go back in 3 weeks, this time for the doppler and "full program" and I'm not sure when it is that I start visiting every 2 weeks, I do know it's probably sometime September or October.

It does not seem for real that we're already that far in pregnancy to even begin thinking of going over to the hospital and letting them know to expect us in November...
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[Flygal]

My gut has had a wonderful month, however my outer body isn't doing too well. Two weeks ago I got thrown from a horse and suffered a buised pelvis and other deep tisues injuries. Thank God I didn't break any bones. I've been scooting around the house in an office chair with wheels and using a walker when I go out. (I can stand but not put pressure on my left leg.) I had planned to ride my motorcycle to Colorado leaving the 16th of Aug. for a Women and Motorcycling conference in Keystone. Obviously that's not going to happen. Wellll, this weekend I decided to go to CO anyway. I had travel points so I booked an airline ticket, and I'm renting a car when I get there. Hopefully, I'll be able to walk with just a cane by then. I just figure the old adage about making lemonade out of lemons applies.

We've had a lot of cool weather in Wisconsin (until 2 days ago), so I've done a lot of GF baking. I must say that I've become quite proficient, plus I'm really enjoying the challenge. So going GF has had some positive results. It's really wonderful to eat and not have immediate stomach problems. The greatest thing is that I can eat hard cheese and yogurt now. Hadn't been able to do that in years.

In spite of the injury, things are looking up. I'm really thankful to all of you for your support and information.
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Judy

[Kimmus]

August... wow... I think it is the busiest and most stressful month of the year (well, right behind December)!
My oldest is going to college this fall. Getting all that paperwork, loan apps, books... and wondering what we are forgetting!
My husband and I have both had paycuts. I'm looking for a new job... still! My current one is about to send me over the edge, even though I keep reminding myself that I should be glad I still have a job!
Teenagers are just oh so trying at times. But I won't even go there for now.
Lets see... on the good side... My daughter did have an awesome trip to Rome, Paris, and London. The tour guide was AWESOME in helping her find GF options. She even had an official GF pizza in Rome. She said it was wonderful. The trip home wasn't so much fun, though. American Airlines fed her something that was not GF, so she spent 3 hours of the flight vomiting in the restroom. They had paramedics waiting for her when she landed in Chicago (she's diabetic too). I was afraid they wouldn't let her on the plane then to come home... if they thought it was swine flu or something. But all went well... she made it home and slept for two days.
Otherwise we all are doing well. Can't wait til September... my favorite month of the year -- everyone is back into a routine, weather is good, and it will be time to can salsa!
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Kim --
Mom of a celiac teen (GF BD Oct-04)

[mrsppmrxky]

Sue and Flygal, I am so sorry for your health issues and Kimmus I am glad you daughter is doing better now!

I am sorry that I have been MIA so much. I just have not felt like talking much. I am still feeling lost without my sister! She was my best friend that I could call just to talk or if I needed advice she was the one that I turned to. That has just left a huge hole in my life that is taking time to deal with.

Not much is going on in the P household for now. that can be a great thing. LOL We are still plugging away to get the Disability backpay and trying to get the VA to help.

I broke down at Booksamillion and bought a $20 GF cookbook. This book is but the culinary school and the recipes look really tempting. I even went and bought soy flour to make up one of the formula flours. I have made their loaf bread that is made with sparkling water instead of milk. It only has yeast and baking powder, but it has jumped out of the pans both times all over my oven. Of course this causes a huge mess, but the loaves have fallen. (I know, go back to my reg. sandwich bread TNT recipe) LOL This loaf tastes like Roman Meal bread and IF...........huge "IF"............I can get the bread to do like it is supposed to do, it comes the closest to a 'normal loaf of gluten bread texture' I have ever tried.

I have been very disappointed with the book. I am thinking that a culinary school should only have recipes that work. LOL I am afraid to try some of the other recipes in there because of the failure of the bread! They have 5 different formulas for their flour mixes and most of the recipes use at least 2 different formulas to bake anything. (they are not cheap mixes either. LOL)

MrP and I are in the same cycle of sleeping all the time right now with our fibro. So, if we don't get much accomplished around the house at least we understand where the other one is at on the sleeping and pain scale.

I am learning to loom knit and I have a shawl for myself in the making. I look forward to getting this completed for this coming fall.

That is about all the new news on us. If you can't find me around here, you can look on Farm Town over at facebook. LOL Cesprue Farms is my name. I have just been hooked on that as it takes little thinking on reality to play.
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