tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-36047206036338489922024-02-06T21:51:49.061-06:00Set FreeThen you will know the truth and the truth will set you free. John 8:32Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.comBlogger195125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-72393185800891603012012-06-22T12:27:00.001-05:002012-06-22T12:28:09.158-05:00This Blog Has Moved!<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">You will now be redirected to www.nojunqueliving.blogspot.com.</span></div>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-80453743402872210072012-06-11T18:28:00.002-05:002012-06-11T18:28:27.165-05:00Red Wine Cake<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I have been trying to turn "normal" recipes into Paleo and/or GAPS friendly recipes. Red Wine cake is a typical German cake that my mom used to make all the time and I did as well when I was still eating grains. Here is my Paleo/GAPSish version </span></div>
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<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">what you need:</span></div>
<ul style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;">6 eggs</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/2 cup unsalted butter or coconut oil, melted</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/4 cup honey</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/2 cup red wine</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">3/4 cups coconut flour</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/4cup ground hazelnuts</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1.5 tablespoons cocoa powder</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/4 teaspoon baking powder or baking soda</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/2 teaspoon cinnamon</span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">what you do:</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Mix all ingredients in an Omniblend or other high powered blender or with an electric mixer. Grease a loaf pan, pour batter in, and bake in 350 degree pre-heated oven for 30 to 40 minutes. </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Guten Appetit!</span></span><br />
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<ul></ul>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-85637811317000205452012-06-11T13:13:00.002-05:002012-06-11T14:48:04.395-05:00Mojo Update 06.11.2012<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">As I mentioned in my last <a href="http://curedofcandida.blogspot.com/2012/05/in-remission.html" target="_blank">update about Mojo</a>, we were hoping that he was back in remission. Unfortunately we noticed two small lumps in his throat about 10 days ago. At that point they were roughly the size of an almond and we also noticed a slightly bigger lump in his right, rear leg. I took him back to see <a href="http://tennessee.bluepearlvet.com/kim-johnson/" target="_blank">Dr. Johnson at bluepearl</a> last week Monday and he got a round of L-spar and one round of Vincristine. Dr. Johnson said to keep checking him and after two days let her know whether the swelling had gone down. She also said that she would like to try oral meds next depending on his response to the chemo. It would be the same tablets he got every so often during the 6-month chemo treatment (</span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cyclophosphamide I think)</span></span><span style="font-size: small;">, but they would calculate his dose based on weight, divide that by 30, and we would give him that dose every day for 30 days.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">By Wednesday there was no change in the swelling which I let Dr. J know. She said since she couldn't do another round of chemo anyhow we could wait until today since we already had an appointment set up. The only reason to bring him in earlier would be if he started having trouble breathing.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Yesterday morning when I checked his neck I noticed that the lumps had gotten bigger. At that point they were roughly walnut sized, versus almond sized, and I felt four or five of them versus just two. Before going to bed last night I noticed that one of the "toes" on his left rear leg was swollen. This morning when I got up it was about the same and by the time I got to bluepearl it looked like this.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It's "just" edema and doesn't seem to cause him any pain or discomfort, but it hurts me to just look at it.</span></span><br />
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<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Dr. Johnson did an exam during the appointment and agreed that the lumps were getting bigger and that there are now more than before. We discussed treatment options going forward and she decided to give him a round of Doxorubicin today. While he was getting his chemo I ran over to Costco and found this.</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLDnBwe1vKGOG6gMtOx8rPsMuS-DSegBEdatB20hKxI1Kd_O7Nulggy9EQi4tOlBJsm1RIoufhlZv3m6pXXM0C65R9FaQQ-xHh6Uy9jYiZQ2VPe0XKWikSCTOeMepPM4wUw7pgYsrtJ-c/s1600/2012-06-11_10-14-41_383.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgLDnBwe1vKGOG6gMtOx8rPsMuS-DSegBEdatB20hKxI1Kd_O7Nulggy9EQi4tOlBJsm1RIoufhlZv3m6pXXM0C65R9FaQQ-xHh6Uy9jYiZQ2VPe0XKWikSCTOeMepPM4wUw7pgYsrtJ-c/s320/2012-06-11_10-14-41_383.jpg" width="180" /></a></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">How cool is that? Costco has grain free dog treats! Of course I had to buy them and took one in with me when I went back to get him. He liked them - no surprise there.</span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Dr. Johnson also gave him an injection of Prednisone and said to bring him back next week for a CBC. That is also when we will start the </span></span><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cyclophosphamid. She already called it in, the pharmacy called me, got mine and Mojo's info, and will send it out today.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yesterday I had a good cry about all of this and I looked rough this morning. I think Dr. J must have noticed because she said to Mojo that his "mom looks worried", which I think was a nice way of saying that I look like crap. LOL </span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">Anyway, I told her to tell me what she is thinking because I am going back and forth between being too negative and being too hopeful. She said that she will always be honest with me and at this point she is still hopeful. She said she is "pissed and discouraged" but has hope. According to her, if there are 100 chemo drugs, 98 of them will work so we still have options. Although they don't normally do maintenance chemo, she said Mojo may just need a little something ongoing to keep him in remission. In addition, she said as long as he looks as good as he does and is eating and "happy Mojo", which he still is, she is not worried, even with the swollen lymph nodes. It's when the swelling causes pain or discomfort that she starts to be concerned. This is one reason she wants to get she edema in his leg down because it means his lymph system is compromised and that WILL cause discomfort eventually.</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 11pt;"><span style="font-size: small;">Sooooooo...more prayer, more waiting, more hoping. I am actually thinking about starting another fast tomorrow, maybe 7 days this time, for my own health reasons, but would also want to use that time to really pray for him. If there is any truth to <a href="http://www.cbn.com/spirituallife/prayerandcounseling/intercession/Hickey_PrayerFasting06a.aspx" target="_blank">the power of prayer and fasting</a>, then I want to give it a shot. I can't bear the thought of losing this little boy or seeing him suffer. He is so precious and sweet and special. This is him last night hoping I will drop some food while cooking. What a cute face! :)</span></span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9RRAQjqp7hLg0CMV2EmjQg10XbX-RhSVuG8s8J1r3FbXWIe5hwX7w5yykydLHKNh7UY1HdMdPamquJQi_oloxQHyYaORrz8gqAh-PpLuLHmtu2CZJ3lopCFXoNEFBImCKNq1Sx32Jjj0/s1600/2012-06-08_08-49-08_709_1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9RRAQjqp7hLg0CMV2EmjQg10XbX-RhSVuG8s8J1r3FbXWIe5hwX7w5yykydLHKNh7UY1HdMdPamquJQi_oloxQHyYaORrz8gqAh-PpLuLHmtu2CZJ3lopCFXoNEFBImCKNq1Sx32Jjj0/s400/2012-06-08_08-49-08_709_1.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br /></span></span>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-52638019046698799992012-06-11T12:29:00.001-05:002012-06-11T18:22:36.109-05:00Fermented Sweet Vidalia Onion Dressing<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">what you need:</span></div>
<ul style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 medium vidalia onion (mine weighed 9.25 ounces peeled)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">3/8 cup extra virgin olive oil</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/4 cup kombucha</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 teaspoon mustard powder</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 teaspoon sea salt</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">20 grinds black peppercorns</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">2 gloves garlic</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 tablespoon gelatin (I used <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?tag=sefr07-20&link_code=wsw&_encoding=UTF-8&search-alias=aps&field-keywords=great+lakes+gelatin&Submit.x=0&Submit.y=0" target="_blank">Great Lakes</a>) </span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">what you do:</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Place all ingredients in blender. I have an Omniblend but any blender will do. Blend until all ingredients are liquified and well blended. Let sit at room temperature for 5 to 6 hours then place in refrigerator. Sweet goodness without using honey or any kind of sweetener. You could use apple cider vinegar in place of Kombucha but you would need to move it to the fridge right away and it would not be fermented.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Use on salads or as a dip.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Guten Appetit!</span></span>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-70164374938239056732012-06-11T06:40:00.000-05:002012-06-11T06:43:32.045-05:00Pork Cilantro Sliders<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
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<span style="font-size: small;">what you need:</span></div>
<ul style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;">20 oz ground pork (or any ground meat/poultry)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">2 to 3 small scallions </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/2 to 1 bunch cilantro, stems removed</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/2 - 3/4 teaspoon Celtic sea salt (I love salt so you may want to start with 1/2 teaspoon)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/4 teaspoon black pepper</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">3/4 teaspoon Ancho chili powder</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/4 teaspoon cumin powder</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 jalapeno pepper (optional)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">2 egg yolks or 1 whole egg </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 tablespoon coconut flour (optional) </span></li>
</ul>
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">what you do:</span></div>
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Chop scallions, cilantro leaves, and jalapeno, if used, in a mini chopper to desired size.</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgstHXVXT8MKZcLBGNJJd3Qb5XXebqHKKonXg-rinBJQWtO6qndYre31BfTUIajp9STqd8c7UZX6gzrMKnCdfkq3u-K_sApYhn0np7rlkHgvqAzvh20kuvnjFJY2yQikjx8z5G8TySUAvU/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgstHXVXT8MKZcLBGNJJd3Qb5XXebqHKKonXg-rinBJQWtO6qndYre31BfTUIajp9STqd8c7UZX6gzrMKnCdfkq3u-K_sApYhn0np7rlkHgvqAzvh20kuvnjFJY2yQikjx8z5G8TySUAvU/s400/2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Mix all ingredients really well. Form sliders (small burgers - roughly 2 oz each), fry in cast iron skillet or whatever you prefer, until cooked all the way through. That's it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">I ate them with some left over cabbage I had sauteed in tallow and homemade sauerkraut. However, I bet they would go great with with <a href="http://paleomg.com/crockpot-ropa-vieja-cuban-style-rice/" target="_blank">Cuban Style "Rice"</a> or on <a href="http://www.againstallgrain.com/2012/05/25/grain-free-hamburger-buns/" target="_blank">Grain-Free Hamburger Buns</a>. You could also make them smaller, stick a toothpick in them, and serve as an appetizer with some kind of sauce.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Guten Appetit!</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This post is shared on <a href="http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/monday-mania-6112012/#more-10020" target="_blank">Monday Mania</a>. </span></span></span>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-29015024700782514212012-06-08T08:22:00.000-05:002012-06-08T08:22:43.811-05:00Follow-Up Appointment with Dr. D June 2012<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Several things have been going on since I last talked to Dr. D in May. I finished Albenza, the 4th anti-parasitic medication on my <a href="http://curedofcandida.blogspot.com/p/treatment.html" target="_blank">treatment plan</a>, and started Alinia on 5/23. I was a bit worried about starting it since she said it could cause vomiting, diarrhea, heart racing and more. I did not have any of those symptoms and actually felt quite good the day I started it. The next day however, I felt like crap. I felt wiped out, tired, and out of it mentally. This went on for a few days as well as night sweats, going back to waking up at night, feeling utterly frustrated, angry, and irritable, and just feeling lousy overall.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I also had blood drawn on 5/23 to check my thyroid levels. My FT3 was actually higher than last time I had blood drawn in March, although I was on less Cytomel. Since muscle testing in April had revealed that I am somewhat blocking on the Cytomel but testing really good on Naturethroid, I decided to take the plunge, go up from 1 grain NT to 2 grains, and reduce Cytomel from 68.75 mcg to 12.5 mcg. It scares me a little since I don't want my RT3 issues to come back, which basically means going hypoT, but I can't deal with all the heart racing from T3 either. It also would be nice to stop taking the beta blocker. In addition, Dr. D said that a lot of her patients are able to reduce thyroid meds as the bacterial and parasite load goes down. Once they heal completely many of them are able to go off thyroid meds completely, even if they have been on them most of their lives, or they take a much smaller dose. That's awesome!</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">When I told Dr. D about all the new or returning symptoms she said she believes it's all from Alinia. Not side effects, but die off. Apparently all of her patients who take Alinia have a hard time during the first round. If they have to take it again it's not near as bad. I had seen some improvements in mood and energy before starting Alinia and she believes I will feel even better than when I am done with it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">We also discussed my elevated blood sugar. It was 89 in March and 101 in May. I have been checking it here at home since the May blood test and my fasting is running between 100 to 105. Not good! She said it could be an indication of an active infection, most likely bacterial. I hadn't gotten the <a href="http://www.pureformulas.com/diabenil-180-vegetarian-capsules-by-thorne-research.html" target="_blank">Diabenil </a>yet which she mentioned during our last phone consult so she said to go ahead and get it and start taking it as suggested on the bottle. I got it in the mail yesterday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">I mentioned the white spots on my lower legs which I started getting in 2007. I told her they look like <a href="http://medicalpicturesinfo.com/idiopathic-guttate-hypomelanosis/" target="_blank">idiopathic guttate hypomellanosis</a> to me and asked if this is typical in chronically ill people. She said not all of her patients have them but many do. She said it's common with parasite/fungal infections, can also be related to blood sugar dysregulation, and that it does improve as the patient heals. That's promising.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">The cardiologist I went to see for the stress EKG finally sent the results to her and it said the following:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">"A fixed defect was noted in the anterior wall and apical segment which is most likely secondary to soft tissue attenuation, although cannot rule out prior myocardial infarction."</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">She said the cardiologist recommended a cardiac CT but since the chest pain is gone now she would like to hold off since CTs have such high radiation. Right before the chest pain started I woke up one night with horrible stabbing pains around my heart. It was awful and very painful, but then it just stopped and I went back to sleep. As it was happening I was scared and wondered if I was having a heart attack. However, because it stopped so quickly and I went right back to sleep, I figured it couldn't have been. Now I am wondering if it was.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Last but not least I have been dealing with quite a bit of nausea. I have considered many different causes but still haven't completely figured it out. I think 5-HTP may have something to do with it but I am not sure yet. Of course it would be hard for her to know what is is from, especially since the nausea started before I started taking Alinia. She recommended a homeopathic from Nestmann called Frangula. So far I have not been able to find it online.</span></span>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-7329007504072361692012-06-02T06:30:00.001-05:002012-06-06T09:15:55.977-05:00Thyme/Rosemary Stuffed Chicken with Herb Butter<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">Chicken</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">what you need:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 chicken (ideally pasture raised aka the real cage free)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">2 - 3 sprigs thyme</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">2 - 3 sprigs rosemary</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 medium onion</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">salt, pepper, paprika to taste</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">tallow or other fat of choice</span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-size: small;">what you do:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">If you are using a pasture raised chicken let it sit in a salt brine for 5 to 6 hours before baking. Here's a guide to <a href="http://whatscookingamerica.net/Poultry/BriningPoultry.htm" target="_blank">"brining" poultry</a> (just don't use regular table salt - I used Celtic sea salt). The chicken will be more tender that way. Preheat oven to 250 degrees Fahrenheit. Melt some tallow in a cast iron skillet or other skillet/dish large enough to hold the entire chicken. Wash and rinse the chicken, dry, and place in the skillet. Brush chicken with melted tallow or whatever fat you used.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Season with spices then stuff vegetables and herbs inside chicken cavity. I also like to throw some onion and herbs in the skillet next to the chicken. It makes for some tasty grease when the chicken is done. Place chicken in skillet breast down (makes the juices "flow" down to the breast making it more tender).</span></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUlQrAMiiI1Yj1bqbIwMoTZekEmfduit9uwBzYhwi4CNHK5lcIkdBU5yWT8pt00fkLaRu3AmF2q5zmYE0Lon-LNEld-h1QPxTp7JgjYL8fccFMdigso8jSDObsajt4oM2w37pT_AxxTMw/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUlQrAMiiI1Yj1bqbIwMoTZekEmfduit9uwBzYhwi4CNHK5lcIkdBU5yWT8pt00fkLaRu3AmF2q5zmYE0Lon-LNEld-h1QPxTp7JgjYL8fccFMdigso8jSDObsajt4oM2w37pT_AxxTMw/s640/3.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chicken Bootie</td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Cover chicken and bake at 250 degrees for 2 to 3 hours. Increase oven temp to 400 degrees and bake another 30 minutes uncovered or until temperature of thighs is 170 degrees and breast 160 degrees. You will end up with a flavorful, juicy, tender chicken with crispy skin.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Herb Butter</span> </div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">what you need:</span></div>
<ul style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 stick (1/4 lb) butter (I used Kerrygold salted)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/2 teaspoon garlic powder</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/2 teaspoon dried garlic</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 small shallot </span></li>
</ul>
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<span style="font-size: small;">what you do:</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Let butter sit at room temperature until soft or heat on low heat just until it softens. You don't want the butter to be liquid because the herbs and spices will just sink to the bottom rather than mix with the butter.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Cut shallot into small pieces and press through a garlic press. Mix all ingredients and place in refrigerator until it reaches desired consistency. I like my butter room temperature. </span></div>
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I served the chicken with pureed zucchini.</div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Guten Appetit! </span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This post is shared on <a href="http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/monday-mania-642012/" target="_blank">Monday Mania</a>, <a href="http://realfoodforager.com/fat-tuesday-june-5-2012/" target="_blank">Fat Tuesday</a>, and <a href="http://willingcook.com/allergy-free-wednesdays-june-6-2012/" target="_blank">Allergy Free Wednesday</a>. </span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"></span></span>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-69044441582338513152012-05-29T10:57:00.004-05:002012-06-01T07:06:29.421-05:00Chronic Lyme and Weight Gain<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi53vk1ucJHhOnyTUPUjhyphenhyphensokHsngDpBJsVx5CiUGl_1_vguVcOFqMbEDwKCp03pelBb8AQHkM4vBlIBXc7falI4Tdpdk3TYeu0SwUs_8JvZ9LqQfTmbHB8_BUq_xTUGXmdtgkIARWwgpU/s1600/State_Obesity_Risk_Lose_Weight-764025.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi53vk1ucJHhOnyTUPUjhyphenhyphensokHsngDpBJsVx5CiUGl_1_vguVcOFqMbEDwKCp03pelBb8AQHkM4vBlIBXc7falI4Tdpdk3TYeu0SwUs_8JvZ9LqQfTmbHB8_BUq_xTUGXmdtgkIARWwgpU/s320/State_Obesity_Risk_Lose_Weight-764025.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;">First I want to point out that there is a difference between early stage Lyme and late stage Lyme, also referred to as chronic Lyme. Every so often when people find out I have chronic Lyme they say, "I had Lyme....got bitten by a tick, took a 10-day course of antibiotics and I am fine." Believe me, if a 10-day course of antibiotics could cure me I would have taken them already!</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">Also, if I had taken antibiotics right away I may be fine, too, but I didn't. I don't know exactly how long I have had Lyme disease, but easily 10 years or longer. That's a big difference to just being bitten the first time and then taking antibiotics immediately.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">In addition, I would question their definition of "fine". Usually the same people also quite often complain of headaches, fatigue, muscle aches, feeling more tired than usual, not being as limber, and other ailments, and they are usually overweight. I don't consider any of those ailments or being overweight as fine. In addition, I don't want to feel "fine" I want to feel GREAT. I want to wake up in the morning ready to start the day, feeling joyful, with energy to exercise, go to work, hang out with friends, and enjoy life. The way I used to.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">OK, I will get off my soap box now and instead talk about what I had intended to talk about. Many people with chronic Lyme disease lose weight involuntarily and can even get dangerously thin. However, from what I have read, and from what my doctor has told me, the majority of people actually gain weight. Below are some possible reasons explaining why:</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u>Adrenal Insufficiency </u></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Stress of any kind, whether emotional or physical, taxes the adrenals. Stressed adrenals produce too much cortisol and eventually won't be able to produce enough cortisol. This leads to thyroid as well as other issues that can cause weight gain. This is obviously a very short explanation but there are many articles on the interwebs about adrenal insufficiency so it makes no sense for me to go into more detail here. The key is that a prolonged infection, such as chronic Lyme, is major stress on the body and will tax your adrenals.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u>Hypothyroidism</u></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u> </u>This means that your body is not making enough thyroid hormone OR you do have enough thyroid hormone but it is not getting to where it needs to go. The former, as mentioned above, can be caused by adrenal insufficiency. The latter is called a functional deficiency because your blood tests will look normal but it just shows the level of hormones floating around in your blood. All bacteria (not just Borrelia burgdorferi - the Lyme bacteria), parasites, fungi, and viruses release toxins. These toxins can occupy thyroid receptors blocking the actual thyroid hormone from getting to them and the cells, where they need to be. Hypothyroidism leads to weight gain among many other horrible symptoms.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u> </u></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u>Reverse T3 Syndrome</u></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u> </u>Your body makes a thyroid hormone called T4, among others, which it then converts to the active thyroid hormone T3. This is the hormone that actually controls your metabolism. There is also a hormone called reverse T3 (RT3). During prolonged infection, such as chronic Lyme, the body may convert too much T4 to RT3 instead of T3. If the ratio between RT3 and T3 is too low you will gain weight as this is pretty much the same as hypothyroidism. There are other causes for RT3 issues, but chronic infection is one of them.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u> </u></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u>Parasites</u></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Many people with chronic Lyme, or other chronic illnesses for that matter, have parasitic overgrowth. When they eat a meal the parasites get all the good nutrition from their food and the body is left with crap. Although you may be getting an adequate amount of calories, your body thinks it is starving because it is not getting any of the nutrients. We all know what happens when we go on a restricted calorie diet, or at least we all should know by now. Your body goes into starvation mode and down regulates its metabolism. Now, with a lowered metabolism, your body is not burning as many calories as before but you are still eating the same amount of calories as before which leads to weight gain. In addition, this also causes increased hunger and in some cases people over eat further compounding the problem of the lowered metabolism.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u>Insulin Resistance</u></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Chronic infection causes insulin resistance. What this means is that the insulin your body is producing is not capable of getting glucose to the cells. More and more insulin is secreted and stored in your fat cells - sort of. This is the extremely abbreviated version. You can read more about insulin resistance <a href="http://www.marksdailyapple.com/diabetes/#axzz1wH5fR0Xm" target="_blank">here</a> or do a Google search. Just don't believe the lies that you need more grains and/or fiber to fight insulin resistance. That's bologna!</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><u>Biotoxins</u></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I don't know that much about biotoxins yet, but have been reading more and came across an interesting article by Dr. James Shaller. In it he says the following:</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">"Lyme biotoxins disrupt the fat cell system and if not removed cause a type of obesity highly resistant to diet and exercise. The critical Leptin hormone increases and creates a type of bloating, puffiness or abdominal distention that is demoralizing to those trying to have a healthy weight"</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I don't think I can add anything to this. To read the entire article click <a href="http://www.personalconsult.com/articles/aggressivelymetxfailure.html" target="_blank">here</a>.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This post was shared on <a href="http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/monday-mania-5282012/" target="_blank">Monday Mania</a> and <a href="http://www.realfoodfreaks.com/2012/05/31/freaky-friday-612012/" target="_blank">Freaky Friday</a>. </span></span></div>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-53649333383471230262012-05-25T15:55:00.005-05:002012-06-01T17:45:20.754-05:00Coconutty Baconnaise (or Dip)<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I love mayonnaise, I love coconut oil, and I love bacon/bacon grease. So why not combine them??</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">what you need:</span></div><ul style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">2 egg yolks</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">2 tablespoons lemon juice or vinegar</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 tablespoon homemade Kombucha (optional) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/2 cup coconut oil, melted but not too hot</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/2 cup bacon grease, melted but not too hot</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/4 cup olive oil </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">3/4 teaspoon Celtic sea salt</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/4 teaspoon mustard powder</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/4 teaspoon paprika</span></li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">what you do:</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Melt coconut oil and bacon grease in a small pot and set aside. Let the oil/grease cool off as much as possible without going solid.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Place egg yolks in a mason jar or whatever you prefer. Add spices, Kombucha, and lemon juice then gently pour coconut oil, bacon grease, and olive oil into jar.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Wait a few seconds to let the egg yolks settle at the bottom of the jar. Use an immersion blender gently pulsing on and off at first. </span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Once the ingredients start emulsifying you can run the immersion blender continuously until all the ingredients are well blended. For more detailed instructions on using an immersion blender to make mayo click <a href="http://www.5min.com/Video/How-to-Make-Home-Made-Mayonnaise-215137794" target="_blank">here</a>.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">If you used Kombucha (or any other fermented liquid), let the mayo sit at room temperature for 3 to 4 hours to let it ferment slightly, then move to the refrigerator. Otherwise move to the refrigerator immediately. This mayo will have a consistency somewhere between regular mayo and salad dressing when it is at room temperature, and a more solid consistency in the fridge since both coconut oil and bacon grease are solid below room temp.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRJ46Aes1jZp-BZU-GPX5JynLD4dZ4LSm3Xeap7Iv4Dz6UlZQMIrM1mQVw93P9YlCDl7h9NxVrTpQ6k5rwxmRpmEmTT_670WL1oC8Aci182d6lfKK7mHStsGez86qK56SJP_sGvC2e-GU/s1600/IMG_20110624_065946.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRJ46Aes1jZp-BZU-GPX5JynLD4dZ4LSm3Xeap7Iv4Dz6UlZQMIrM1mQVw93P9YlCDl7h9NxVrTpQ6k5rwxmRpmEmTT_670WL1oC8Aci182d6lfKK7mHStsGez86qK56SJP_sGvC2e-GU/s320/IMG_20110624_065946.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Guten Appetit!</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This post is shared on <a href="http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/monday-mania-5282012/" target="_blank">Monday Mania</a>, <a href="http://realfoodforager.com/fat-tuesday-may-29-2012/" target="_blank">Fat Tuesday</a>, <a href="http://willingcook.com/allergy-free-wednesday-may-30-2012/" target="_blank">Allergy Free Wednesday</a>, and <a href="http://www.realfoodfreaks.com/2012/05/31/freaky-friday-612012/" target="_blank">Freaky Friday</a>. </span></span></div>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-42524186264811941172012-05-22T12:24:00.005-05:002012-06-01T06:08:12.859-05:00Tomatillo-Parsley Salad<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwcce2E1IxvFnXeBZJ5nUHyt-o43RETYw8Lu89un9VWGrOu-1EfCz7Zu2SAtxDZjIVV0ko1DADVHw52PdDGW063DD-AC_YohDnjDJmo4TQxvDXGnkLdYhkbEm_RZoir7ZfjaXi3bG0xTE/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwcce2E1IxvFnXeBZJ5nUHyt-o43RETYw8Lu89un9VWGrOu-1EfCz7Zu2SAtxDZjIVV0ko1DADVHw52PdDGW063DD-AC_YohDnjDJmo4TQxvDXGnkLdYhkbEm_RZoir7ZfjaXi3bG0xTE/s640/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwcce2E1IxvFnXeBZJ5nUHyt-o43RETYw8Lu89un9VWGrOu-1EfCz7Zu2SAtxDZjIVV0ko1DADVHw52PdDGW063DD-AC_YohDnjDJmo4TQxvDXGnkLdYhkbEm_RZoir7ZfjaXi3bG0xTE/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I tried tomatillos for the first time a few months ago - I know, shocking - and fell in love them. I bought a few too many the other day and decided to make a salad.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">what you need:</span></div><ul style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">4 to 5 tomatillos (about 14 ounces by weight)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">3 sprigs of parsley </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 green onion, top included</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/2 small to medium onion</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 1/2 tablespoons <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?tag=sefr07-20&link_code=wsw&_encoding=UTF-8&search-alias=aps&field-keywords=organic+olive+oil&Submit.x=0&Submit.y=0" target="_blank">organic extra virgin olive oil</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 tablespoon homemade Kombucha (or vinegar works, too)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">10 to 15 grinds black peppercorns</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">3/4 teaspoon Celtic sea salt</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/4 teaspoon <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Coconut-Secret-Organic-Vegan-Aminos/dp/B003XB5LMU/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1337706663&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Coconut Aminos</a></span></li>
</ul><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">what you do:</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Cut tomatillos into bite sized chunks and place in a bowl. </span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilVLW6s0lqtDkSp52uH-n4YguRqhmS0I4jSwMQw0GZ4OGaQexGsezRoqWnTlTvE929IiRynmg3wUl7Vabwgu6E-JHZ4iIwzabwkX2yFd0wKlHCnM48aVOZABa-Rzt1cIbe7hLrSibwICg/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilVLW6s0lqtDkSp52uH-n4YguRqhmS0I4jSwMQw0GZ4OGaQexGsezRoqWnTlTvE929IiRynmg3wUl7Vabwgu6E-JHZ4iIwzabwkX2yFd0wKlHCnM48aVOZABa-Rzt1cIbe7hLrSibwICg/s640/2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Chop parsley, onion, and green onion in a mini-chopper.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOW4W_6zE0pnFMSsYTca1QtUkV-afDa2i0qQrXWn65GjiiAs32Q0yZ09QqgSOn3WpXyZIVr0IN9ls-d4a4m-jb-2srWKBf_TAPzHtAROtZLzk94OFz7A627h7yZ4aQHhotvh7sPsoOZgk/s1600/3.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiOW4W_6zE0pnFMSsYTca1QtUkV-afDa2i0qQrXWn65GjiiAs32Q0yZ09QqgSOn3WpXyZIVr0IN9ls-d4a4m-jb-2srWKBf_TAPzHtAROtZLzk94OFz7A627h7yZ4aQHhotvh7sPsoOZgk/s640/3.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Add all remaining ingredients to tomatillos.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgud00vqpEuIDl6lZCmTCBa4a5tDWmWNf1O-6m0pvfAXw_IqZ4hh0U0s5jPeHm9eRk2VyQpFdVRtrL6cq-sXBZUVBK082u_Fmg5OQKTuYXqVYyhelyissgcf5lkwY82ggQxBycjsUBm-iI/s1600/4.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgud00vqpEuIDl6lZCmTCBa4a5tDWmWNf1O-6m0pvfAXw_IqZ4hh0U0s5jPeHm9eRk2VyQpFdVRtrL6cq-sXBZUVBK082u_Fmg5OQKTuYXqVYyhelyissgcf5lkwY82ggQxBycjsUBm-iI/s640/4.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mix everything really well and serve immediately. If you used Kombucha instead of vinegar you can let it sit at room temp for a few hours to get a little healthy fermentation going.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh75PLtuYCa-r_-8fqfuymq3KTMGBpFQX2vowZMlugm1hUFLX2FulXlinDpCRTVNtuJG13K7Xra1SZa6bl7r82ErcmuiDQtseY4VEf0EKxLm3qxEhFGlaGezi0yYXeQNuV2WjeNsouqU0A/s1600/5.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh75PLtuYCa-r_-8fqfuymq3KTMGBpFQX2vowZMlugm1hUFLX2FulXlinDpCRTVNtuJG13K7Xra1SZa6bl7r82ErcmuiDQtseY4VEf0EKxLm3qxEhFGlaGezi0yYXeQNuV2WjeNsouqU0A/s640/5.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I ate this salad with left over <a href="http://curedofcandida.blogspot.com/2012/04/slow-cooker-chicken-gizzards.html" target="_blank">Slow Cooker Chicken Gizzard</a> and thought it was a good combination.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Guten Appetit!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: x-small;">This post is shared at <a href="http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/monday-mania-5282012/" target="_blank">Monday Mania</a>, <a href="http://realfoodforager.com/fat-tuesday-may-29-2012/" target="_blank">Fat Tuesday</a>, <a href="http://willingcook.com/allergy-free-wednesday-may-30-2012/" target="_blank">Allergy Free Wednesday</a>, and <a href="http://www.realfoodfreaks.com/2012/05/31/freaky-friday-612012/" target="_blank">Freaky Friday</a>. </span></div>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-64771467139762169102012-05-20T19:01:00.008-05:002012-05-27T17:00:45.116-05:00Garam-Masala Chicken Thighs<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">what you need:</span></div><ul style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">4 chicken thighs, skin on, from pastured hens is best</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 can coconut milk (I like <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?tag=sefr07-20&link_code=wsw&_encoding=UTF-8&search-alias=aps&field-keywords=aroy-d+coconut+milk&Submit.x=11&Submit.y=9" target="_blank">Aroy-D</a>)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/4 cup organic <a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?tag=sefr07-20&link_code=wsw&_encoding=UTF-8&search-alias=aps&field-keywords=spectrum+organic+sesame+oil&Submit.x=0&Submit.y=0" target="_blank">sesame oil</a> (I used regular but toasted would be good, too)<a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?tag=sefr07-20&link_code=wsw&_encoding=UTF-8&search-alias=aps&field-keywords=spectrum+organic+sesame+oil&Submit.x=0&Submit.y=0" target="_blank"><br />
</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">2 tablespoons garam masala</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/2 teaspoon Celtic sea salt </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">2 cloves garlic, chopped</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">2 green onions (tops included), chopped</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/2 medium onion, chopped </span></li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">what you do:</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Chop green onions, garlic, and regular onion in a small chopper (or by hand if you enjoy punishment).</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiPRBah9dTsKJUUdfDBfLc2gLJhM6m9WHxc8wws-Nqx3tUGRFeeXsqYxcP5fmvPravMOXEV94D5_EkBDEJ5SG8lw-1e9-P2L1Farpne_4uRYG8Jr-EMg6A7dMLSZDwxbHZ2fqOckqVtlE/s1600/2012-05-20_12-58-32_625.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhiPRBah9dTsKJUUdfDBfLc2gLJhM6m9WHxc8wws-Nqx3tUGRFeeXsqYxcP5fmvPravMOXEV94D5_EkBDEJ5SG8lw-1e9-P2L1Farpne_4uRYG8Jr-EMg6A7dMLSZDwxbHZ2fqOckqVtlE/s640/2012-05-20_12-58-32_625.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Transfer chopped vegetables to a glass dish or other container deep enough so chicken thighs will be covered. Add remaining ingredients except thighs and mix well.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidrRQ4bucx79HJp8P_D4cIxAGwCEPl_7jSjOXLXvqwvAv3hJcNWoJdeLR-zoJZjTyLy13-r-VCjM4YJQ5nvqs0ynGy22NsMWCHgWN_a9CMUUS5p-ilhLVAwfkY8QxGnwS57pOIAXHuEw8/s1600/2012-05-20_13-01-59_766.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidrRQ4bucx79HJp8P_D4cIxAGwCEPl_7jSjOXLXvqwvAv3hJcNWoJdeLR-zoJZjTyLy13-r-VCjM4YJQ5nvqs0ynGy22NsMWCHgWN_a9CMUUS5p-ilhLVAwfkY8QxGnwS57pOIAXHuEw8/s640/2012-05-20_13-01-59_766.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Add chicken thighs coating them well, cover dish, and marinade in refrigerator for 6 to 8 hours (or overnight). When thighs are done marinating, preheat your oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Cover a cookie sheet with aluminum foil and grease a wire rack with fat of choice. Place the wire rack onto the cookie sheet and place thighs on the wire rack.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkY7j1qHs7WrT-XuVBfM3yD9qkMOIr-_QTznr5lKHBesGj5guzLk3f8C0MqkHVWiT4N02XJTfP9143fsN_kxkwsGjpsRzfFidT1t-3xegsAHcZkyB4NPjp0duXb70UXtSM2lB3wFft1fQ/s1600/2012-05-20_17-08-14_309.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgkY7j1qHs7WrT-XuVBfM3yD9qkMOIr-_QTznr5lKHBesGj5guzLk3f8C0MqkHVWiT4N02XJTfP9143fsN_kxkwsGjpsRzfFidT1t-3xegsAHcZkyB4NPjp0duXb70UXtSM2lB3wFft1fQ/s640/2012-05-20_17-08-14_309.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Bake in preheated oven for 35 to 45 minutes or until internal temperature of thighs is 165 degrees Fahrenheit. Serve with cauliflower rice and roasted broccoli.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh09JHWhx5lnzRyt6m2qKf1tUux9wBwdQM4WjeeC5POUE07jHaGSheec8gF0dsi3iNHAISPCx1R1dZf2hVM1IrdfKeKzLAEBFAITLlb6gUYeQvOC2bQILvKklrFUF8oMkI_goKAInZ3kv8/s1600/1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh09JHWhx5lnzRyt6m2qKf1tUux9wBwdQM4WjeeC5POUE07jHaGSheec8gF0dsi3iNHAISPCx1R1dZf2hVM1IrdfKeKzLAEBFAITLlb6gUYeQvOC2bQILvKklrFUF8oMkI_goKAInZ3kv8/s640/1.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIlca-f_XIFvQVZFlH1bQROfhUdsmQD2e58WZCVKzBEQkSL-IoMjCALlYxDWQJXA7gb4AROa7sWBzefDP0sFWitGtMl6vghfSm8j_C7imY4_hKw1Ot3CD8PjK1n5sJPwmwkxzkVFJrly4/s1600/2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIlca-f_XIFvQVZFlH1bQROfhUdsmQD2e58WZCVKzBEQkSL-IoMjCALlYxDWQJXA7gb4AROa7sWBzefDP0sFWitGtMl6vghfSm8j_C7imY4_hKw1Ot3CD8PjK1n5sJPwmwkxzkVFJrly4/s640/2.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I did not try them myself since I can't tolerate coconut milk yet, but DH said they were really good.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This post was shared on <a href="http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/monday-mania-5212012/" target="_blank">Monday Mania</a>, <a href="http://realfoodforager.com/fat-tuesday-may-22-2012/" target="_blank">Fat Tuesday</a>, <a href="http://laurasglutenfreepantry.com/2012/05/allergy-free-wednesdays-blog-hop-week-18-luscious-lemon-bars-grain-free-fruit-squares-thai-iced-tea-more.html" target="_blank">Allergy-Free Wednesday</a>, <a href="http://www.realfoodfreaks.com/2012/05/24/freaky-friday-5252012/" target="_blank">Freaky Friday</a>, and <a href="http://butterbeliever.com/2012/05/26/sunday-school-blog-carnival-26/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+ButterBeliever+%28Butter+Believer%29" target="_blank">Sunday School Blog Carnival</a>.</span></span></div><ul></ul>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-62059005608273299032012-05-18T12:45:00.002-05:002012-05-18T12:45:54.840-05:00Follow-Up Appointment with Dr. D May 2012<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I just had my one month phone follow-up with Dr. Dahlgren. It was pretty short this time and there are no big changes. I told her some of the good stuff going on like the fact that I have days where I feel joy and happiness without trying so hard, sleeping through the night some nights, and even being able to exercise some days.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Next I mentioned the not so good stuff like the horribly swollen eye lids I had during the cruise and how red and burning my eyes were. I thought it may have been the climate change, but she thinks it's because I had mold in my room. I can totally see how that's possible in a cabin on a big ship with different people in it every week and horrible humidity. </span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I mentioned that I get a burning sensation like the start of a bladder infection if I don't drink copious amounts of water. She said it's either because I have a low grade infection in the lining of the uterine wall or that it's metals being released. Since it goes away when I increase my water intake there is nothing she wants to do about at the moment.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Last I pointed out that my blood sugar goes up really fast but takes a long time to come down. Last Saturday, on my birthday, I had a little bit of a vegan cheesecake made with honey, cashews, and zucchini. I wish I had taken my blood sugar that night but didn't. Sunday I was back to eating VLC but ate quite a few calories. Monday morning my blood sugar was 119 which is way too high. She confirmed that this is insulin resistance and is usually due to viruses affecting the pancreas. She said this is something that will clear up as we continue to work on healing the body overall. I asked if there is a supplement I can take in the meantime that would help and she said she really likes <a data-mce-href="http://www.pureformulas.com/diabenil-90-vegetarian-capsules-by-thorne-research.html" href="http://www.pureformulas.com/diabenil-90-vegetarian-capsules-by-thorne-research.html" target="_blank" title="Diabenel by Thorne">Diabenil by Thorne</a>. I am not sure yet whether I am going to get it or not. Chances are I will buy it and next time I go see her and she muscle tests me it will test as blocking. I will go ahead and go back to monitoring my blood sugar for a few days again and if it's not too bad with eating VLC I won't get it. In addition, she had put me on Valtrex back in January due to a high viral load of EBV and some other viruses but then said to go ahead and stop it during a phone consult because I felt that I was depressed on it. I asked her if Valtrex could help and she feels that it could and to go ahead and start back up with 500 mg at night.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">While I was there in April, which you can read about <a data-mce-href="http://curedofcandida.blogspot.com/2012/04/follow-up-appointment-one-with-dr-d-in.html" href="http://curedofcandida.blogspot.com/2012/04/follow-up-appointment-one-with-dr-d-in.html" target="_blank">here</a>, <a data-mce-href="http://curedofcandida.blogspot.com/2012/04/follow-up-appointment-two-with-dr-d-in.htmlhttp://" href="http://curedofcandida.blogspot.com/2012/04/follow-up-appointment-two-with-dr-d-in.htmlhttp://" target="_blank">here</a>, and <a data-mce-href="http://curedofcandida.blogspot.com/2012/04/follow-up-appointment-three-with-dr-d.html" href="http://curedofcandida.blogspot.com/2012/04/follow-up-appointment-three-with-dr-d.html" target="_blank">here</a>, she said I can go ahead and make an appointment with Dr. Klinghardt for July. She feels if I can tolerate Alinia, the next anti-parasitic which I am supposed to start next week, that I will be ready to see Dr. Klinghardt next. When I called the other day to make the appointments Ron told me that he has either one appointment for September or two appointments in one week for December. I asked Dr. D which she prefers and she said to go ahead and come in September and I am really excited and glad she feels one appointment is enough. Dr. K charges quite a bit for an hour appointment and the appointments in December were at noon on Monday and Friday. Due to the time difference between WA and TN and available flights, I would have had to fly in on Sunday and stay until Saturday. Plus I am eager to go see him and see what he has to say about my health issues.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">She would like me to get my thyroid checked because she recommended some changes in my thyroid medication. I do have a lab slip but have not made those changes yet. The plan was to reduce Cytomel a bit and increase Naturethroid from 1 grain to 2 grain, but I did not want to make this change before going on vacation. I really don't want to make this change now either because I don't want RT3 issues to return, but it would certainly help with the heart racing.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Last but not least I mentioned that I finally have the stress EKG scheduled for next week but that I was concerned about starting Alinia and doing a stress EKG. Since I also have not had chest pain in 4 to 5 weeks I asked if it's still necessary. Unfortunately she feels it is. I was hoping she would say I can skip it since this will also go against my deductible. As for Alinia she said to just start it after the stress EKG. Bummer! I was hoping I could get out of it for financial reasons AND because I have no desire to sit around a doctor's office for 3 to 4 hours first thing in the morning, walk on a treadmill, and be injected with some crap all WITHOUT CAFFEINE!!</span></span>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-61149468553260760602012-05-15T12:34:00.002-05:002012-05-15T12:34:57.645-05:00In Remission?<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Mojo seems to be feeling ok, is eating good, is playing with Pepper, and is having normal bowel movements. I think! Saturday he was still posturing but Sunday, for the first time in almost 3 weeks, he was not posturing at all. He went out, had a bowel movement, and came back in. We were thrilled but didn't want to get too excited.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Yesterday I took him back to Blue Pearl Vet for our appointment with Dr. Johnson. I gave her an update and since he stopped posturing she said she wanted to hold off on the round of Doxorubicin she had originally planned on giving him. She feels that Mojo not posturing anymore is a sign that the lymph nodes on his lumbar spine are shrinking. I asked her about doing an ultrasound to confirm but she didn't think it was necessary. Instead, she said to just keep an eye on him and to take things 24 hours at a time. If anything at all changes, not just Mojo going back to posturing, she wants me to let her know and bring him in immediately.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So now we are still hoping and praying that he is back in remission and more so, will STAY in remission. I am watching him like a hawk and am way too worried about him. Basically, I keep wondering whether anything he is doing or not doing is normal. I wonder if he's too quiet, too excited, eating too much, eating too little, sleeping too much, panting for no reason, pooping too much or too little...you get the picture. It's pretty stressful to say the least.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Here's a picture of my boy earlier today with Pepper curled up between his legs.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZHgPwCDGBIyiwgx3LCrGV50l-CnKet1iRiZkHXedQMMgN1DboIFzthsc58A9-CHTd0dam50NrQaKWMID62tY73njipdbxxfxY9MIYlnZK7z2nFQWviP66YfHyqvbO6aPcnRX7PE4w3nI/s1600/Mojo&PepperCurledUp.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjZHgPwCDGBIyiwgx3LCrGV50l-CnKet1iRiZkHXedQMMgN1DboIFzthsc58A9-CHTd0dam50NrQaKWMID62tY73njipdbxxfxY9MIYlnZK7z2nFQWviP66YfHyqvbO6aPcnRX7PE4w3nI/s640/Mojo&PepperCurledUp.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-47604034318201089882012-05-10T20:20:00.005-05:002012-05-11T06:22:00.319-05:00Mojo Update<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We got back from our trip Sunday afternoon and it was strange being home with just Pepper and not Mojo. Unfortunately our vet is not open on Sundays - they just come in to check on the boarded dogs so I couldn't pick Mojo up until Monday morning. It was SO good to see him and more so, to see him happy, excited, and "smiling".</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I had set up an appointment with Dr. Johnson that morning at 9:30 and stopped at home briefly before heading over there. Bob and I let Mojo out in the backyard and he was posturing again after having a bowel movement. This went on for a few minutes and he walked all the way from the back of the yard back to the house while posturing.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">We drove to Blue Pearl to meet with Dr. Johnson who was pleased with how good Mojo looked. She was thinking about just seeing how things go until I told her that Mojo is still posturing without producing a bowel movement. So they did another ultra sound and there were still swollen lymph nodes on his lumbar spine. Because these lymph nodes had not responded to the chemo, they kept him for a round of vincristine while I went to Costco to get a few things and Bob went to work. Half an hour later I picked him up and took him home. We had another appointment set up for the following Monday but Dr. Johnson said to keep an eye on him and if anything seems off, to let her know immediately. She said normally when dogs go out of remission they present the same way they presented when they were first diagnosed. For Mojo that was "just" swollen lymph nodes but obviously this time he presented differently since it all started with constipation.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Since then he sometimes goes out an has a bowel movement without a problem and other times he is still posturing and nothing happens. He also hasn't been that interested in his food which is unusual. However, he seems happy and is playful and energetic. I sent an email to Dr. Johnson with an update and she said she would like to see him today since she is going out of town for the weekend. So I went back to Blue Pearl this morning and Dr. Johnson and I took Mojo to a fenced area in the back. Luckily he did what I have been describing and she said that's definitely not normal. Dr. Holste, the vet who did the ultrasound and chemo two weeks ago, happened to come out and Dr. J asked her to take a look as well. Dr. H is an internist and she did feel that the posturing could be caused by the lymph nodes.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">So we took Mojo back in for another ultrasound and Dr. J asked if I want to come in with them. I was really glad she offered because Mojo is really clingy right now after being left at the vet for 10 days and I hate leaving him. Dr. H did the ultrasound while Dr. J and I were making sure Mojo wasn't jumping off the table. He's such a good boy...didn't really try to turn or jump and just let Dr. H do her thing.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Unfortunately there are still swollen lymph nodes on his lumbar spine and some of them are bigger than before. That was very disappointing and obviously not what I wanted to hear. After the ultrasound Dr. J explained that the lymph nodes are not obstructing his rectum, but to Mojo it feels like something is "back there". That explains why he does have normal bowel movements every day, but then also is still posturing other times without a bowel movement. Poor baby.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Since he just had a round of chemo on Monday Dr. J said she couldn't give him another one. She said she would like to start him back on Prednisone, just like last year when we first started the chemo, and he also got a dose of steroids via IV today. Dr. J said to bring him back next week and since we already had an appointment set up for Monday she said that was perfect. She said sometimes it just takes a few extra rounds of chemo for a dog to go into remission and stay in remission. So now all we can do is hope, pray, and wait.</span></div>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-81842177074201597492012-05-08T16:24:00.001-05:002012-05-08T16:27:59.134-05:00Western Caribbean Cruise April/May 2012<div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">I would have loved to have blogged and posted on a daily basis on the ship, but WIFI is expensive (65 cents/minute) and really, really slow. So I journaled in a Word doc instead...shown below.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">04.28.2012 – Saturday - Cocoa Beach, FL</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">I was surprised how “good” I felt when I got up earlier today. My right eye lid was slightly swollen but nothing too bad and it went away quickly. Heart rate was around 130 but came down with hydrocortisone and a beta blocker. I had great energy and was in a good mood most of the day.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">04.29.20120 – Sunday - Cocoa Beach, FL/Freedom of the Seas</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Unlike yesterday I woke up this morning with my right eye lid horribly swollen, both eyes were red and burning, and I felt much worse than the day before. Things improved a little bit by the time we left for the pier but overall I was definitely feeling worse again.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">We got to the pier around 10:30 AM and there were people in line already. Since we are now Emerald status with Royal Caribbean we are able to go to the priority check-in which didn’t take long at all. Right at 11 AM they let us on the ship and as usual we were among the first people to get on. It’s awesome being on the ship when there’s hardly anybody there yet</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">This is the biggest ship we have been on yet so we went to look at the promenade first. </span><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9D4WQdMyPG9oYScxonE9QNgtXypEu0b8Mh_IaI5gZ2Vauwc8Qx_Yc2URQwP0IP4RtgLKcG6jN6NMd9X2mAyhGL59ByWSVFKuirGqmfJJWFQY9H6XQto0N9qoxj3QOt2WPyHegZZYwqaY/s1600/2012-04-29_11-07-10_356.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj9D4WQdMyPG9oYScxonE9QNgtXypEu0b8Mh_IaI5gZ2Vauwc8Qx_Yc2URQwP0IP4RtgLKcG6jN6NMd9X2mAyhGL59ByWSVFKuirGqmfJJWFQY9H6XQto0N9qoxj3QOt2WPyHegZZYwqaY/s400/2012-04-29_11-07-10_356.jpg" width="225" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Many of the shops and cafés are the same, but this one has more than for example the Mariner of the Seas (our favorite up until now) or the Voyager of the Seas. Around 11:30 AM we went up to lunch at the Windjammer Café (buffet) then we walked around and explored the ship some more.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">At 1 PM we were able to get into our cabin and the balcony is AMAZING. We have never had a cabin at the end of the ship before and this is definitely the way to go. Not only is the balcony much, much bigger, but you can see out to the side and the back. The standard balconies on the side fit 2 chairs and a very small coffee table and beyond that there is not much room. This balcony had 2 regular chairs, a small coffee table, and 2 lounge chairs and there was still plenty of empty space. I put the small coffee table between the two lounge chairs and took the slightly bigger coffee table from the room, which always seems to be in the way, and put it in front of the two sitting chairs.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHIPi0KXfU6cRSkUVr2lMeA8o_UsNsNpeawY96Np0NJ3VKrqh8JgYHtnuBTpWapX2-id63W_JM8_sMVjveh9NLT-0qKjabwjjT8VHfGfC352ObmoPxAdRhnCOu0rlfWIURm-NOLOkCppQ/s1600/2012-04-29_13-08-16_502.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiHIPi0KXfU6cRSkUVr2lMeA8o_UsNsNpeawY96Np0NJ3VKrqh8JgYHtnuBTpWapX2-id63W_JM8_sMVjveh9NLT-0qKjabwjjT8VHfGfC352ObmoPxAdRhnCOu0rlfWIURm-NOLOkCppQ/s640/2012-04-29_13-08-16_502.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4IHYNeTC8-nCSx515RwvCqzrw5vKn8f8-7xGk-JPZBtWjlk73l4vEOG-MzG9WptkPIoE1fgCu2RRuxSJ9kQtTnyLwzTbejnntLdwqDjS3_g25k4MD6XPhgOW1kQBGWsw66BR6Q7rCj-s/s1600/2012-04-29_13-08-36_10.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg4IHYNeTC8-nCSx515RwvCqzrw5vKn8f8-7xGk-JPZBtWjlk73l4vEOG-MzG9WptkPIoE1fgCu2RRuxSJ9kQtTnyLwzTbejnntLdwqDjS3_g25k4MD6XPhgOW1kQBGWsw66BR6Q7rCj-s/s640/2012-04-29_13-08-36_10.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqYJ_O4ekgxuveI6T4A84bcAT3k0ejMYEZtJQu4xIwG9H10hvDoQ0EAUOFWI57Ui65eiMUlx9sChN8OuSuQ4D0JvL7cz45yY_lhFvDYAOkXTUHFGG3DkDMICzeHy8UBzUlbctJ8gkjOgA/s1600/2012-04-29_13-27-31_492.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqYJ_O4ekgxuveI6T4A84bcAT3k0ejMYEZtJQu4xIwG9H10hvDoQ0EAUOFWI57Ui65eiMUlx9sChN8OuSuQ4D0JvL7cz45yY_lhFvDYAOkXTUHFGG3DkDMICzeHy8UBzUlbctJ8gkjOgA/s640/2012-04-29_13-27-31_492.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBzcwYfRbo2zULdDesLlUKjx8OT_1eyLuVKnHv4ckpJHbnfHmk3jY1kZSvVdWvtgePr3QoclPcgeCbWos1lFObrYB1E8knGaYRDYVLgL94GlgKbdm-DatNREn6MZDaSzcowGkl7y1YLYY/s1600/2012-04-29_13-32-57_208.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBzcwYfRbo2zULdDesLlUKjx8OT_1eyLuVKnHv4ckpJHbnfHmk3jY1kZSvVdWvtgePr3QoclPcgeCbWos1lFObrYB1E8knGaYRDYVLgL94GlgKbdm-DatNREn6MZDaSzcowGkl7y1YLYY/s640/2012-04-29_13-32-57_208.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI Symbol","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; line-height: 115%;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">We had barely gotten to our room when they brought our suitcases. So by 4 PM, when they did muster, we were completely unpacked and ready to have fun. After muster we went to the sail-away activities on deck 11, then dinner, then to the Welcome Aboard show in the theater. The sunset was amazing.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbq08G-bv2n47eOHgl2sn_ymJDJgQmT3ohIj0Kug2ftvHXd1VKg5U6gaO70lWbaG7uTsdttWDHvf5mKlWUznrFWNA6II8CG1Vkw872CBpMwS56-LmsFDNnebyTP_mvm_zs1AzY_K3whn0/s1600/2012-04-29_20-17-27_22.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgbq08G-bv2n47eOHgl2sn_ymJDJgQmT3ohIj0Kug2ftvHXd1VKg5U6gaO70lWbaG7uTsdttWDHvf5mKlWUznrFWNA6II8CG1Vkw872CBpMwS56-LmsFDNnebyTP_mvm_zs1AzY_K3whn0/s640/2012-04-29_20-17-27_22.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">04.30.2012 – Monday - Freedom of the Seas – Sea Day</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Although I slept fairly good and almost 8 hours, I woke up with horribly swollen eye lids again and also red and burning eyes. I am not sure what this is about but it’s so annoying. I also don’t have the energy I had just a few days ago and my mood is not as good as before. I had so hoped that I would feel better on this cruise but so far that’s not happening. I decided to cut out the Lyme cocktail today and cut way back on some of the other anti-bacterials thinking that might help. We’ll see how I feel tomorrow. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Waking up to this, however, was pretty awesome.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxkzNS3UL5b4TTyw-sDaXONQ6BPtUm3VSSP3vzc6DQx8sApLhkoDkHlc6p3lw8m0oZNCQAMM1eGXKILD1YCLvDFbduOlBDnzY3yEO26AssKlM3yfm9a2teEZyeOvLdxFrcyuiWT_LXeT8/s1600/2012-04-30_06-35-26_506.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhxkzNS3UL5b4TTyw-sDaXONQ6BPtUm3VSSP3vzc6DQx8sApLhkoDkHlc6p3lw8m0oZNCQAMM1eGXKILD1YCLvDFbduOlBDnzY3yEO26AssKlM3yfm9a2teEZyeOvLdxFrcyuiWT_LXeT8/s640/2012-04-30_06-35-26_506.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">We spent the day relaxing, watching movies (on this ship they show movies in the theater that normally has the Broadway shows), and just taking it easy. It was a nice relaxing day. It was cloudy and rainy all day long which made it even more fun to hang out inside and just chill.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">05.01.2012 – Tuesday - Freedom of the Seas – Labadee, Haiti</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Cutting back on anti-bacterials did not help….I felt just as miserable this morning as the last two mornings. I have no idea what is going on but it’s pretty frustrating. I am also struggling with all the other crap I have going on, most notably the abdominal distention, fat gain, and muscle loss. Yeah, I’m thin but I hate this distended gut and the layer of fat my body as accumulated. It’s even harder being in Labadee, where women are walking around in bathing suits, sun tanning, and swimming….all things I used to do and enjoy when I felt comfortable about my body. That is one reason I don’t like going out because it just makes it so much more obvious how much crap I am dealing with.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Anyway – on to Labadee. Royal Caribbean has “fenced off” part of Haiti and has made it their “private island”. They have water sports, other activities, a zip line, a small roller coaster, bars, a spa, and more. It’s been a while since we have been here and they have added a lot of new stuff, including some hiking trails. So we hiked around the entire “island” throughout the morning then found a spot in the shade to chill. I went and braved the market – people there hassle you like CRAZY – and found a really cool, and big lizard. I have a wall in my bathroom with just lizards from the different places we have gone to. The one I found was really big and the guy wanted $45 for it. I offered $20, which was probably still too much, and of course he tried to get more. I stuck to my price and when I started walking away he agreed to take $20 for it. I named him Jerome. The lizard not the sales guy.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmfv7-WPHM5e9EqFYiRqbCl2FVYJNr5rp5_epxRnKsXZXvaLp6o2qldnTkl8b2pQlXl1t44QZV0-C-gfLibMuy5G_e7cMlB8fttck0kaLY7eh4Rp-eLycB97KYZ9aBlN5V20ek-QHEOoU/s1600/2012-05-01_10-20-37_262.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmfv7-WPHM5e9EqFYiRqbCl2FVYJNr5rp5_epxRnKsXZXvaLp6o2qldnTkl8b2pQlXl1t44QZV0-C-gfLibMuy5G_e7cMlB8fttck0kaLY7eh4Rp-eLycB97KYZ9aBlN5V20ek-QHEOoU/s640/2012-05-01_10-20-37_262.jpg" width="640" /></a></span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5oQmQKd_WfeLLVsJcrOzc0ndf5b1z_4jpnr-ThM9rrPg0ExhrTGKd32djLB1-Dxy_ALaf8JPe0Sy04RkftSkFdhPKIzEz9PEuVDEWXakQYt31HjOwAjk7M-UgGT7i513o66m2H107piA/s1600/2012-05-01_10-21-17_849.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh5oQmQKd_WfeLLVsJcrOzc0ndf5b1z_4jpnr-ThM9rrPg0ExhrTGKd32djLB1-Dxy_ALaf8JPe0Sy04RkftSkFdhPKIzEz9PEuVDEWXakQYt31HjOwAjk7M-UgGT7i513o66m2H107piA/s400/2012-05-01_10-21-17_849.jpg" width="225" /></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">After an ok lunch of chicken, pork chops, various salads, and more, we went back to the ship and spent the afternoon relaxing again. It was pretty hot and humid in Labadee so it was nice to get back to a cool room.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">In the evening, before dinner, they had a “Welcome Back” party for Crown and Anchor members. The latter is Royal Caribbean’s loyalty program and since we have cruised with them quite a bit we are now Emerald members. So we get pretty cool coupons, a welcome back gift in our cabin, parties like this with free drinks, and more. </span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">On all of these cruises they always have hamburgers at lunch and dinner. I have made the mistake of eating them since they have wheat and soy. They taste really good IMO, but they also cause cravings and with a gluten intolerance I need to avoid wheat. So tonight at dinner I saw two of the “chef” looking guys standing in the Windjammer (buffet restaurant) and decided to ask them what it would take to find out the ingredients in the hamburgers. One of the guys (Vinroy) said that he would have to walk all the way downstairs, look on the box, write them down and bring them back to me. He was actually being cute/funny about it and I told him it didn’t have to be today. He then asked if I have food allergies and when I told him that I do and wheat is one of them, he said that the hamburgers have wheat. I figured they did but one could hope.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">I was visibly disappointed so the other guy (Eric) said that they can make me hamburgers from just fresh ground beef when I come in for lunch and dinner. He said to just find them and let them know. YES! It probably seems odd to be excited about getting a chunk of fried ground beef, but I love hamburgers and I can only eat a fraction of what they serve on this ship, so to be able to get hamburgers is pretty exciting to me. In the more formal dining room it is not unusual to get special food prepared since I have allergies, but in the buffet restaurant this is pretty uncommon. Normally they tell me I need to go to the dining room if I have allergies.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">We also got an email from Dr. Johnson – Mojo’s oncologist. She actually drove out to our regular vet’s office earlier today to evaluate Mojo herself. She said that his leg is back to normal size and he seems happy and well. In addition, she said that he is back in remission which was a HUGE relief.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">05.02.2012 – Wednesday – Falmouth, Jamaica</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">I think I may have felt even worse today as far as the swollen eye lids, my energy, and my mood are concerned. Actually, my whole body felt “swollen” this morning, I had an almond size “lump” under my left eye, and I was in that horrible numb/angry state. The good thing about the whole body fluid retention is that it lowers my heart rate so that I don’t need a beta blocker. Although, as much as I hate taking this beta blocker, or any medication for that matter, it almost seems better than dealing with all the symptoms I have today. So I decided to cut out just about everything – all the Homeo-Ks, Cordy Chi, Lyme Cocktail, Rizol Gamma, probes, and more – and I also cut back on salt. Maybe this will help. Below is a picture of what my eyes looked like before going to bed last night and what they looked like this morning. They were actually a tiny but puffy that night, but notice the swelling in my right eye lid the next morning and also how red the whites of my eyes are.</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2kHehM4xc1aO7X1F3uySZKlaPR46WQDy6x4N4BZOdZr3vcWbAotWc-BwtJqFd5LSLaF-5QC0dBrBkch9mLXlWg_GsSPZX5CKSrBeyKmUtaNnok2BU4KOVq7iQH0SUqbUtZVCu9iGHAOo/s1600/2012-05-01_22-42-53_706.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimVkn1gnrl3NE4ihZY4Znk3gFmDJQKYQSXE-mpluSd681YIBfxsyEo8cypbIOac7YzmoJV8-eDNWqpb4kXqxHSUCbqzBKNjQWFjSJANy0KzkLwRBNol55c5XaorcInTcyinOB6okSOEbU/s1600/EyesNight.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEimVkn1gnrl3NE4ihZY4Znk3gFmDJQKYQSXE-mpluSd681YIBfxsyEo8cypbIOac7YzmoJV8-eDNWqpb4kXqxHSUCbqzBKNjQWFjSJANy0KzkLwRBNol55c5XaorcInTcyinOB6okSOEbU/s640/EyesNight.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYZGyks7d8LeXTQ21cBeW5XZnmWd5hrOsHdwwvvE6b9xanxfC5yZXDiht7R4VgMfgLDv_3t151FTJcoTwHdf_M2DRxApkWetx2_8D5ApDy7jGOcwvi2KNdrnu9Nl6fzOVtlXsVrA8TzfE/s1600/EyesMorning.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="230" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYZGyks7d8LeXTQ21cBeW5XZnmWd5hrOsHdwwvvE6b9xanxfC5yZXDiht7R4VgMfgLDv_3t151FTJcoTwHdf_M2DRxApkWetx2_8D5ApDy7jGOcwvi2KNdrnu9Nl6fzOVtlXsVrA8TzfE/s640/EyesMorning.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgWhFWxBYkDVIckiUJWEHV5AA4BLWZn4GYvus85iYtiz-YyayBFAyzlPhiEPfea0QZ8Vkucay424hOAkPiTkoskE7I7OhkOTBN96tdTeHtoLsKMcjsZ5ig7FNgLf_KFCKdLom2CH_LURBM/s1600/2012-05-02_06-28-50_7.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">We took a cruise last year in November with these same ports, minus Labadee. In Falmouth, they have a fairly new gated pier with a bunch of shops. Some of them are owned by Royal Caribbean, others are owned by locals, and all of them are fairly expensive. Last year we got off the ship, walked around, then decided to go into town and buy souvenirs from locals rather than give our money to the cruise line. In addition, we were hoping to find an internet café so we could check emails. Well, that was not enjoyable. Jamaica is by far the worst for hassling people to buy stuff. They literally start following you down the street trying to get you to come look at their store, so we had decided not to get off the ship in Jamaica this time. Plus it was really hot and humid so overall it was not an enjoyable experience. However, this year it was pretty cloudy and didn’t feel too hot, plus they had added more stores at the new pier so we decided to get off.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">We walked around for a bit and found some souvenirs and some candy to bring back for various people. I also found another really cool lizard which I was excited about since I don’t have one from Jamaica yet. After we had what we wanted we went back to the ship and had some lunch. In the afternoon we spent some time in the sun, and then as usual, went to dinner and a show. As promised I got hamburgers both for lunch and dinner. Eric had called a guy named Hopeton to make them for me. They were incredible.</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Here are a few pics of the sunrise, pier, the nice, blue water, and the sunset in Falmouth.</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;"></span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihTNZ4yy75GzwdI1RyIhgjIrhmmkGpW36g1g7wZVNA8nLoOJGSSjLxz0oJLSlBc78vJK-SrRXnrv_8h8VZB8gLeK7ApdhTW-pKCJPkEjy11AVCCQGD82JZo6mMh41WBUgSUKQ0AwsDHWg/s1600/2012-05-02_07-17-02_565.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihTNZ4yy75GzwdI1RyIhgjIrhmmkGpW36g1g7wZVNA8nLoOJGSSjLxz0oJLSlBc78vJK-SrRXnrv_8h8VZB8gLeK7ApdhTW-pKCJPkEjy11AVCCQGD82JZo6mMh41WBUgSUKQ0AwsDHWg/s640/2012-05-02_07-17-02_565.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYN03cGHNN1AuW7jqYWZ4lc28F68PUr_j9ZJ3Ys9m_CT12mBzF_jEZf503jivYk3LjhKNRlj9YO4Awl4NfW3TLnivKYcSTel187xBCalaPEAkuyGncz5lHWJBr-6cul2kafK6_G6T_3hs/s1600/2012-05-02_09-23-05_150.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiYN03cGHNN1AuW7jqYWZ4lc28F68PUr_j9ZJ3Ys9m_CT12mBzF_jEZf503jivYk3LjhKNRlj9YO4Awl4NfW3TLnivKYcSTel187xBCalaPEAkuyGncz5lHWJBr-6cul2kafK6_G6T_3hs/s640/2012-05-02_09-23-05_150.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio4xyirQyS1azKRP_TtzzVdByhz70x2D-M7Ew_AEh4aAaMdV3lrC_t3Fd8l0OmQgLbkGUnOhyphenhyphenWRSGj8sKLdAyALWn8kxWBBoXQwoVcvoUWqBFU71qfXex8J9AjqcTiACbZ02Ky8fnKMbs/s1600/2012-05-02_09-23-52_837.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEio4xyirQyS1azKRP_TtzzVdByhz70x2D-M7Ew_AEh4aAaMdV3lrC_t3Fd8l0OmQgLbkGUnOhyphenhyphenWRSGj8sKLdAyALWn8kxWBBoXQwoVcvoUWqBFU71qfXex8J9AjqcTiACbZ02Ky8fnKMbs/s640/2012-05-02_09-23-52_837.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIPrxN6ndADyhfmN29gOS772V8UvfWjxDe9qRYgHVxeGx-w_HEVCH66YdClnLfCWXe-x7wYm6EsG3cO-mgJQD_TiRZlnbYKyQm2vOHtBMX1rH4OXBVBAywbjI9OFEVKtC_fkZxwuv1cqc/s1600/2012-05-02_09-22-43_450.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiIPrxN6ndADyhfmN29gOS772V8UvfWjxDe9qRYgHVxeGx-w_HEVCH66YdClnLfCWXe-x7wYm6EsG3cO-mgJQD_TiRZlnbYKyQm2vOHtBMX1rH4OXBVBAywbjI9OFEVKtC_fkZxwuv1cqc/s640/2012-05-02_09-22-43_450.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO88OV81R7G1I_6lGQmbiE3Hcl4xdvxDjKgC1Yk1j0zY2nWxsS3DrgvMI71fISOrFUQG8-5XCORsPgpoyyE1qhqT54CfJCEexDTdzfvB7MUPR1zkPJeedcsN4-x6TmpvelfTOi2h1x7bk/s1600/2012-05-02_09-28-40_48.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiO88OV81R7G1I_6lGQmbiE3Hcl4xdvxDjKgC1Yk1j0zY2nWxsS3DrgvMI71fISOrFUQG8-5XCORsPgpoyyE1qhqT54CfJCEexDTdzfvB7MUPR1zkPJeedcsN4-x6TmpvelfTOi2h1x7bk/s640/2012-05-02_09-28-40_48.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlFk3WB4xMWDVECRFAWCwCageJAqrOE7eUZ1Ivf78ApVeIO05rBXmY2-FzXhuG27Q5KVVLmUTLxf1aLdIJFfaBzRFebw-vv42tjZ0m-U46tWkSZi4XhVFZFhHsUTx9JeZz0wMQDxFl6CM/s1600/2012-05-02_09-28-52_611.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRDRO9nC49I4JkAGFy2y7yFUsbvAudeGaSM1XRp3LRDbL7tLJDp5CVfohDVqwMOOMEHuTHh2t2-Gn_40I2nx1VHZhiG8JPnJQYW5NxbQHHo9MDzaoG8vh3v9o_3lm0UkRxzqeW675zwHQ/s1600/2012-05-02_17-44-03_275.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRDRO9nC49I4JkAGFy2y7yFUsbvAudeGaSM1XRp3LRDbL7tLJDp5CVfohDVqwMOOMEHuTHh2t2-Gn_40I2nx1VHZhiG8JPnJQYW5NxbQHHo9MDzaoG8vh3v9o_3lm0UkRxzqeW675zwHQ/s640/2012-05-02_17-44-03_275.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj3AxktUGpb2ctZ394Bxdu9DeMbdfmNSLLXEwFp88rSKfcTbNgeKtCYFeDSZ-ix8VxJhyLc19k4FnCFGRPnaOaB2QUdGsONSAHfvgISeOa0IsYDit8A57y43JkIP-kYzjYpEdF8QjSDnYY/s1600/2012-05-02_17-44-10_382.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">05.03.2012 – Thursday – Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Finally a day of feeling slightly better – my left eye lid isn’t near as swollen as usual, I don’t feel like I am retaining fluid, my face isn’t puffy, I felt more cognitive getting up (before taking hydrocortisone), my eyes are barely red and burning, and that numb/angry feeling was gone. The downside is that my heart rate went up all the way to around 160 when I first got up. Oh well….at least I woke up to this today.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjixm6O_kVEy3K-8S4YUss8DcoLnKUGM6kvCnE8QaWvm0Q9RFIgCOrd06oHVlbQmPFFAk_W-fw37pFrBx8GHfP0OwAgcblI-Iva9z-FW5tElXJKJJnqU9W-V6UiFYbprl82oWiNxNiLMjg/s1600/2012-05-03_07-02-04_428.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjixm6O_kVEy3K-8S4YUss8DcoLnKUGM6kvCnE8QaWvm0Q9RFIgCOrd06oHVlbQmPFFAk_W-fw37pFrBx8GHfP0OwAgcblI-Iva9z-FW5tElXJKJJnqU9W-V6UiFYbprl82oWiNxNiLMjg/s640/2012-05-03_07-02-04_428.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhfdrYOrXiL460d7YeGq9eYZjysItnEi9MYnJANoN8mFnDmT2XQCNTMSKzdHtq-QRS6hMdf75eDRigGgnCOSRPtpyMytAWMYZmTTg94LTm-V_uR1tN79TIwiLYRzXuwJe1FwV5w_pnoYmo/s1600/2012-05-03_07-11-59_851.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><br />
</a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">We got to Grand Cayman around 8 AM I believe but we took our time getting off the ship. In Grand Cayman there is no pier to dock at for a ship this size so they use tenders to take people to shore. Since we didn’t have any short excursions schedule and didn’t plan on staying a long time, we waited for the first rush of people to get off the ship then worked our way down to deck 1. The water looked amazing and so inviting.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Once we were off the ship we found an internet café, had some coffee/water, and stayed for a while to get caught up on emails. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ZsKD0td3LjpypZkwldSvhTq-hll1mcNpwRtTN21UWr2ZnVLdKBIOxndBOgLS4dKuOp4luKYEsz9MxLrHqqaBQO7XOOAtw7-UdET5Pf5NW-0hWuKD4Z4jBthLomjlUWs1_x573hPrt6Q/s1600/2012-05-03_11-29-17_324.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_ZsKD0td3LjpypZkwldSvhTq-hll1mcNpwRtTN21UWr2ZnVLdKBIOxndBOgLS4dKuOp4luKYEsz9MxLrHqqaBQO7XOOAtw7-UdET5Pf5NW-0hWuKD4Z4jBthLomjlUWs1_x573hPrt6Q/s640/2012-05-03_11-29-17_324.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Then we walked around for a bit, took some pictures, and found some of our favorite shops. Around lunch time we returned to the ship and ate lunch at the Windjammer. I got my two hamburgers again which I ate with tons of butter. So good!</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">After lunch we went out to the pool, sat in the sun, sat at the “bar” in the pool, and just took it easy again. This has definitely been a relaxing cruise for us which I think we both needed. Nothing new/different in the evening – just dinner and a show as usual.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
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<span style="font-size: small;">Some more pics from Grand Cayman.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSLSx7jwzg3GU7FPAhZr5ELRmechK1D2a0W9uPJFDXUPK0vrybZm94cXFn1Vd5gi5okiZ4X26szGSng9nFBW7w0dJAbdbxLhCcK2zHNFIdHCjVTnUyJZJn6DdyFOycm3itg6Vq1c_Wxfk/s1600/2012-05-03_09-54-33_251.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjSLSx7jwzg3GU7FPAhZr5ELRmechK1D2a0W9uPJFDXUPK0vrybZm94cXFn1Vd5gi5okiZ4X26szGSng9nFBW7w0dJAbdbxLhCcK2zHNFIdHCjVTnUyJZJn6DdyFOycm3itg6Vq1c_Wxfk/s640/2012-05-03_09-54-33_251.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>Grand Cayman does not have a pier big enough for these large ships so we had to take a tender.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0LrNPUw_hdAniIDbtfB-ny6YUZBccMDc6lE1xBMrZ5OWpql20aRVyAr33AOHV7AlIJ4HIkPSnEuxm-gm7dsv_u-c4tiUM81P6WFZrsz4n3BvDzi8g0bOMZroFIdqIgJd0HoYNeycLuE0/s1600/2012-05-03_09-55-02_160.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0LrNPUw_hdAniIDbtfB-ny6YUZBccMDc6lE1xBMrZ5OWpql20aRVyAr33AOHV7AlIJ4HIkPSnEuxm-gm7dsv_u-c4tiUM81P6WFZrsz4n3BvDzi8g0bOMZroFIdqIgJd0HoYNeycLuE0/s640/2012-05-03_09-55-02_160.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUDH7wxgiwmjgZ6qBhI4WdBx6E56TX2c4gyhEqFf0cDLgW_3o9sC-_wVEzZOdk7E1cl9bldr_RtInDlSFPmhi4P5LAgHqq5y5Xkb4YaVUY3l3RNMqB1zPJUJwlwv3YjrgFGqrFFED_2Sk/s1600/2012-05-03_10-02-13_462.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUDH7wxgiwmjgZ6qBhI4WdBx6E56TX2c4gyhEqFf0cDLgW_3o9sC-_wVEzZOdk7E1cl9bldr_RtInDlSFPmhi4P5LAgHqq5y5Xkb4YaVUY3l3RNMqB1zPJUJwlwv3YjrgFGqrFFED_2Sk/s640/2012-05-03_10-02-13_462.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> Doesn't the water look awesome and inviting.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-gcWr4Rr_G36WFnWQ7YI0Cy9Ot-A_EvSNnzvvs7jQ81yoomMjOi2S4pRoZ2r4HULvaMDndE54-KmTcaz9YZtctLy-80uZiFuDwnfIq3bLVyPxiLBwSKs_T33NBr7n0tYdw37xhsnhFdo/s1600/2012-05-03_11-27-45_216.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi-gcWr4Rr_G36WFnWQ7YI0Cy9Ot-A_EvSNnzvvs7jQ81yoomMjOi2S4pRoZ2r4HULvaMDndE54-KmTcaz9YZtctLy-80uZiFuDwnfIq3bLVyPxiLBwSKs_T33NBr7n0tYdw37xhsnhFdo/s640/2012-05-03_11-27-45_216.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;">Love the shape of this tree. So cool.</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Jel5NrLMuSH63VLGMl8OI2Yosi_9PcdCIUn8KqcELTevFtbVFHKfxHI7fcSbKBC8mHylkw9b9SiSGb_U9A8ZwX6ohtSXM10hbxT6clKWZLfweKtr6blVRUDku4-QKZaoK5eOX4sUXMI/s1600/2012-05-03_15-56-06_274.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-Jel5NrLMuSH63VLGMl8OI2Yosi_9PcdCIUn8KqcELTevFtbVFHKfxHI7fcSbKBC8mHylkw9b9SiSGb_U9A8ZwX6ohtSXM10hbxT6clKWZLfweKtr6blVRUDku4-QKZaoK5eOX4sUXMI/s640/2012-05-03_15-56-06_274.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><span style="font-size: small;">Thought this "string" of clouds looked neat.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">05.04.2012 – Friday – Cozumel, Mexico</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Back to more swollen eye lids and more fluid retention than yesterday, increased redness/burning in my eyes, and less cognitive this morning, but not as bad as the other days.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">This is our favorite port and we have a little routine here. We normally get off the ship, walk the roughly 3 miles to the down town shopping area, sit at “Coffee Bean” for a bit to check emails, have lunch at our favorite restaurant La Mission which we have been going to since 2003, then walk down to Jeanie’s to sit and chill until it’s time to head back to the ship. A few years back when we went to Jeanie’s there were 3 or 4 boys jumping off the little “pier” into the ocean. I thought it looked like a lot of fun and couldn’t help but jump off that pier myself. Since then, this is one of my favorite things to do at Jeanie’s, besides looking at the ocean while relaxing with a cold “agua mineral”.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">I also somehow became friends online with the owner of La Mission and Bob and I have stayed in touch with him. His family owns 2 other restaurants, Parilla Mission and Casa Mission, which we had never tried before. Parilla Mission is more of a taqueria versus a restaurant, and Casa Mission was never open for lunch before. However, now they are so we decided to give it a try. The menu is actually exactly the same as at La Mission, but it has a totally different ambiance. While La Mission has become quite touristy, is in the middle of the down town hussle, and is rather loud, Casa Mission is further away from downtown in a quiet area, is not very busy at all, and has a nice relaxed, and quiet atmosphere. Damian, the owner of these restaurants, met us there to hang out with us and eat with us. He said that his parents still live right there so we asked if that is where he had grown up. He said it is. Turns out that the area that now is the restaurant (see below) used to be their patio when he was a kid. When he and his sister when to college his parents experienced the empty nest syndrome and got lonely. So they decided to open a restaurant and bring people to them. Of course – what else would you do when your kids leave home and you miss them!?</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">Anyway, the house is beautiful and so are the grounds surrounding the house. I can imagine that it must have been awesome growing up there except for the heat that is. It was SO friggin’ hot I could barely stand it. When we walked off the ship we knew there was no way that we were going to walk to downtown this time so we took a cab instead. Here are a few pics from Casa Mission...</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0TisGRWINNJ4EK2aO4m7k5z-EGK5F7zbW-kvB_HGufa2tjGXna6T7tG1wjNXSSCpwZI8osdDku7_cXskghyIQwYg1eKeE_4n9HKcZ5Lla11kw549GZvFZ4SzAnqV-YWJvTAa5EiN2yxU/s1600/2012-05-04_13-58-48_719.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0TisGRWINNJ4EK2aO4m7k5z-EGK5F7zbW-kvB_HGufa2tjGXna6T7tG1wjNXSSCpwZI8osdDku7_cXskghyIQwYg1eKeE_4n9HKcZ5Lla11kw549GZvFZ4SzAnqV-YWJvTAa5EiN2yxU/s640/2012-05-04_13-58-48_719.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9SRg72MuOaP1pNSv1IJ6exQ32XtUpaE5U-NGrWmYPYzd4rc0idEPdRDqlo27aniA4PCIla2gqly6q6rs-cHTH_T77S8X3OlJwVaq_N-_Nw_tSmhqkGXpQFdAWzb65vqmhk5SbFGi2Z9A/s1600/2012-05-04_14-35-24_535.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9SRg72MuOaP1pNSv1IJ6exQ32XtUpaE5U-NGrWmYPYzd4rc0idEPdRDqlo27aniA4PCIla2gqly6q6rs-cHTH_T77S8X3OlJwVaq_N-_Nw_tSmhqkGXpQFdAWzb65vqmhk5SbFGi2Z9A/s640/2012-05-04_14-35-24_535.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4c_dJXsZC2RhNinSyCY_K2jgRJkeBiy5CR2NKpodEWedxhsHS4TUNn2F6vgpb5QiElTXS9cH6l5rOOilxNAOh6Scw1FRpnrENRGdy1v0G0AIKafEr2AtpY2XviJMyg_MC0UVGzRAVIW8/s1600/2012-05-04_14-37-22_251.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4c_dJXsZC2RhNinSyCY_K2jgRJkeBiy5CR2NKpodEWedxhsHS4TUNn2F6vgpb5QiElTXS9cH6l5rOOilxNAOh6Scw1FRpnrENRGdy1v0G0AIKafEr2AtpY2XviJMyg_MC0UVGzRAVIW8/s640/2012-05-04_14-37-22_251.jpg" width="640" /></a></div> ...and Jeanie's.<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyCm6snVfSFzRq3YF_FNGv0DYSAxBwv7TddEIz37isW84yOqxQ4lujkzWmhR08Q0shmmg9BaD8ZnpzDHbdtkta7UXxFDIU1MbYbUcJh-ZOG25O0RhS3b8wH59BLCrvZGM1JkbXdcxHuP0/s1600/2012-05-04_16-07-17_859.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgyCm6snVfSFzRq3YF_FNGv0DYSAxBwv7TddEIz37isW84yOqxQ4lujkzWmhR08Q0shmmg9BaD8ZnpzDHbdtkta7UXxFDIU1MbYbUcJh-ZOG25O0RhS3b8wH59BLCrvZGM1JkbXdcxHuP0/s640/2012-05-04_16-07-17_859.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCnrKf2YHehV3Ii4BzohMXTPvyXbjQHjh8L_K-zW7hby1t8MlHO2_d9kxJyPEN5aToAVjOvVXaW9aaZ-nP51o56u8xA-ib7I2aMQQYXl90eo5GwH6twviC4T26L0VYh8K8G9l8ZXA04gM/s1600/2012-05-04_16-07-12_235.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCnrKf2YHehV3Ii4BzohMXTPvyXbjQHjh8L_K-zW7hby1t8MlHO2_d9kxJyPEN5aToAVjOvVXaW9aaZ-nP51o56u8xA-ib7I2aMQQYXl90eo5GwH6twviC4T26L0VYh8K8G9l8ZXA04gM/s640/2012-05-04_16-07-12_235.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU4dTzA_peezRRdXMAWg7idkCm6BVc9pbC1JNbCHTJTUJdVx605e9uW-ocEtJJgmXTjupvvpjjKWatt6cJ_XaNZvNTkzCl-lBkBEUME_ZzFf3LI-DurZ4TCQmN7zI8VpUOe7K1-Jbd4xE/s1600/2012-05-04_16-07-23_491.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjU4dTzA_peezRRdXMAWg7idkCm6BVc9pbC1JNbCHTJTUJdVx605e9uW-ocEtJJgmXTjupvvpjjKWatt6cJ_XaNZvNTkzCl-lBkBEUME_ZzFf3LI-DurZ4TCQmN7zI8VpUOe7K1-Jbd4xE/s640/2012-05-04_16-07-23_491.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">After eating lunch with Damian we took a cab to the Mega Mart (sort of like a Walmart) which is right across the street from Jeanie’s and bought some Mexican candies and cookies to bring home to people. Then we sat at Jeanie’s and like I stated above, I jumped off the pier into the ocean a few times. That water felt so good after walking around in the heat and sitting in hot taxis – all of them have an AC but none of the cab drivers for whatever odd reason use them. (The picture below is actually from 2007 when we were in Cozumel as well.)</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrKmJ_Ve5WHSBx1H5PrfUq-I4Bfw3X_UTi6TgEk4jb4ZerWIrdduEyIGbaz8gmmczqgoN0YdR9Em9muHoEL1r5HwrSZKcGG_uiUuwlzJ6A3i3pXQRNVrKMHRzAx450HmvX3E8Tjft5aBc/s1600/CozyJeanniesContrast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrKmJ_Ve5WHSBx1H5PrfUq-I4Bfw3X_UTi6TgEk4jb4ZerWIrdduEyIGbaz8gmmczqgoN0YdR9Em9muHoEL1r5HwrSZKcGG_uiUuwlzJ6A3i3pXQRNVrKMHRzAx450HmvX3E8Tjft5aBc/s640/CozyJeanniesContrast.jpg" width="640" /></a></div></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">We got back to the ship around 4:30 AM although we weren’t scheduled to leave until 7 PM that night. As usual, we took a shower, went to dinner, then a show, then we watched the movie “Joyful Noise” on the big screen outside. One of the things I absolutely loved on the Princess cruise we took in 2004 is that they had a huge screen outside on the pool deck and they were showing movies at night (Movies Under the Stars). So I was thrilled when I found out that this ship has a big screen on the pool deck doing the same thing. The movie was pretty bad but it was still fun to sit outside in the fresh air at night.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">I am not sure if I ate something I reacted to (like dairy for example), if it’s hormones, or if it’s die off, but for some reason I started having that insane, bottomless pit type hunger sometime in the afternoon. I was also craving sweets in addition to the insane hunger which could definitely be a dairy reaction or hormones. I ate ceviche, guacamole, steamed veggies, and a fried pork chop at Casa Mission, so I am not sure where/how I would have gotten dairy. Of course it doesn’t take much and it could have been cross contamination from the kitchen. I also had much worse fluid retention in my body which is another dairy reaction for me. It took all the restraint I had not to raid the dessert table after dinner, but I knew I would totally regret it if I did.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">05.05.2012 – Saturday – Sea Day</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">More fluid retention, feeling worse, basically more of the same. As for the cruise, it was a lazy, relaxing day at sea. Not much to report.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span style="line-height: 115%;">05.06.2012 – Sunday – Back in FL</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">I woke up around 6 AM and we were at the pier in Pt. Canaveral already. Sat on the balcony one more time drinking my coconut oil blended iced coffee, checking emails, and enjoying the beautiful full moon. </span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW3vmOeYCfyz-DYilClK8HXaXgaIMmrTCAQRWrRrSvu0UH6VMaqaZWM6R0gwwx4aSUEW7ZvcC7EVweivmpfCb4P0qNNvAvx5Fa9SzvEnmzEwTqyJkYC43Ak29yltOpK98H9bSnBaVsAEI/s1600/moon.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="362" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW3vmOeYCfyz-DYilClK8HXaXgaIMmrTCAQRWrRrSvu0UH6VMaqaZWM6R0gwwx4aSUEW7ZvcC7EVweivmpfCb4P0qNNvAvx5Fa9SzvEnmzEwTqyJkYC43Ak29yltOpK98H9bSnBaVsAEI/s640/moon.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-size: small; line-height: 115%;">The trip back was uneventful and I was glad to be home by around 4 PM. It was strange being home with just Pepper and I so wished I could have picked up Mojo right then, but I had to wait until Monday morning.</span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</div>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-89873340627206808142012-04-28T17:46:00.001-05:002012-04-29T07:36:19.996-05:00Cocoa Beach, FL and a Mojo Update<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">By the time I got to Orlando last night I was exhausted. We took a shuttle down to Cocoa Beach, checked into the hotel and walked across the street to the <a href="http://cocoabeachpier.com/cbp/" target="_blank">Cocoa Beach Pier</a> to grab some dinner. After a small glass of white wine (happy hour special was half off all alcoholic beverages and the wine glass was about half the size of a regular one!) I finally relaxed a bit. Dinner wasn't anything amazing - all the restaurants at this pier are owned by the same owner and they have one central kitchen. We split naked chicken wings, Bob had a steak, and I had a burger without the bun.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Walking back to the hotel the sunset was beautiful and Bob wanted a picture of me on the surfboard with the fake wave.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK4b2ykYitxPvWoJaOUpfSXbNnPDdD5vGr554QHt52YgdwCyHJqV4jJbt9pQ7X6gqCkWZhZFeDi5g9i99HelRUplbzOrCcoXN62_gIXXofXiZ542dEoEoQOER3aymbH7OhyPrxb68D3oQ/s1600/2012-04-27_19-43-01_698.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgK4b2ykYitxPvWoJaOUpfSXbNnPDdD5vGr554QHt52YgdwCyHJqV4jJbt9pQ7X6gqCkWZhZFeDi5g9i99HelRUplbzOrCcoXN62_gIXXofXiZ542dEoEoQOER3aymbH7OhyPrxb68D3oQ/s640/2012-04-27_19-43-01_698.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghysv0tBlgBlOJdM8Gb30uO2NwvX14IgKGXw9Pp8-Ts70VzOnONTiweZXt1bN7LmaxA368KPquU_4Id3zJUnJxh8Z8nL2PZaxkhGbyKRfS6KvJhEHnaqLKcQWpWplu6O-GUqp1h1CmmZo/s1600/2012-04-27_19-44-02_999.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEghysv0tBlgBlOJdM8Gb30uO2NwvX14IgKGXw9Pp8-Ts70VzOnONTiweZXt1bN7LmaxA368KPquU_4Id3zJUnJxh8Z8nL2PZaxkhGbyKRfS6KvJhEHnaqLKcQWpWplu6O-GUqp1h1CmmZo/s640/2012-04-27_19-44-02_999.jpg" width="360" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">We spent the morning at the Ron Jon Resort listening to a sales pitch. In return the shuttle to and from Cocoa Beach was free, plus we got $75 cash. I thought that was a good deal.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">As soon as McCormick Animal clinic opened I called to check on Mojo. Daniel, the guy taking care of the animals, was on the phone. The first thing he said is that Mojo is such a "happy dog" and when he let him out this morning he apparently walked up to everybody to greet them with "kisses" and by trying to climb on them. That's my boy! When Daniel told me this I was so relieved because it tells me that he is feeling better. Daniel also said the swelling is down a bit and Mojo seems to be feeling ok. So that was a huge relief plus we decided to go ahead and go on the cruise.</span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6rnsnnaNuMJHW9GzN-a6dfFYG3nzSBsCS4rmc1MXypgNI3Nlz9-PuHtSywxQHed2dzT5YNDyRUQBfHAQcj5VsjRz3LhGq2liD73Y0OU2BvlM04vGW4qiZcPn8983qu_HeV1xKaA0qSzs/s1600/2012-04-28_14-28-23_349.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6rnsnnaNuMJHW9GzN-a6dfFYG3nzSBsCS4rmc1MXypgNI3Nlz9-PuHtSywxQHed2dzT5YNDyRUQBfHAQcj5VsjRz3LhGq2liD73Y0OU2BvlM04vGW4qiZcPn8983qu_HeV1xKaA0qSzs/s400/2012-04-28_14-28-23_349.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">We spent the rest of the day relaxing, going for walks, shopping, and just taking it easy. Now we're going to do some laundry and spend the rest of the night in. Looking forward to getting away for a week and doing nothing but fun stuff. Our pet sitter will check on Mojo daily and will send us an email with an update. If I have to fly back I will but I am praying that Mojo will be feeling better every day now.</span></div>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-62579306633208226992012-04-27T10:42:00.001-05:002012-04-27T10:42:45.655-05:00Update on My "Little" Boy<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDLAoRHa4yLNt15ykKLW3xY9N-H3dpYGfYWPFrVsIA1h9bLh2a2r8NHuazdroec6qKdW6_4vuVK8X9OaQC5B5q4rRedhx2oOvFyKFsgGVdGiIBmGook8wGL-A1XkS5FxMQsJK9kuxLtkU/s1600/MeandMyBoy2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"></a></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQT0HXm6Ntogdhyphenhyphen6tNutz8UPkCHzD6wBDKtoRLvNZJHhVJHH_JIZNyR_865zX88Ugckqfc40g_XvvDxIVaiYgrH7KSoBpWgUKWYXk_tePGdLvaA6mbdb_xjS3OMr7zY4JtVoHgiVOpZ9k/s1600/2011-12-17_21-31-40_985.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjQT0HXm6Ntogdhyphenhyphen6tNutz8UPkCHzD6wBDKtoRLvNZJHhVJHH_JIZNyR_865zX88Ugckqfc40g_XvvDxIVaiYgrH7KSoBpWgUKWYXk_tePGdLvaA6mbdb_xjS3OMr7zY4JtVoHgiVOpZ9k/s400/2011-12-17_21-31-40_985.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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This is Mojo, my 10 year old Great Dane/American Bull mix who stole my heart the minute I saw him when he was about 5 months old. He is a sweet, sweet boy who has been through a lot in the last year to 15 months.</div>
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<a href="http://curedofcandida.blogspot.com/2012/04/april-2012-update.html" target="_blank">Yesterday </a>I wrote about the trouble he has been having this week with a swollen anal gland.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7EV2Fl8CuQ5IaVhUVMIAfCyy6Vc9r61whi_kKofRiJxOXGlHbNRETCOLIE8kxCK16_m155dq1NDNeahLMmfKCfgS7Q7Z7l3ZuTv3SjKKeNLKrJu6PMxQUDG3cLzmKAHe-H29B-MrMBT4/s1600/whaaaaaaaaaaaatcropped.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7EV2Fl8CuQ5IaVhUVMIAfCyy6Vc9r61whi_kKofRiJxOXGlHbNRETCOLIE8kxCK16_m155dq1NDNeahLMmfKCfgS7Q7Z7l3ZuTv3SjKKeNLKrJu6PMxQUDG3cLzmKAHe-H29B-MrMBT4/s400/whaaaaaaaaaaaatcropped.jpg" width="302" /></a></div>
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Despite being on antibiotics and doing warm compresses he just wasn't getting better. While doing a warm compress yesterday morning I noticed that his left hind leg was swollen quite a bit. Within an hour it had gotten much worse. I called the vet and they told me not to do anything until I come in later to see Dr. McCormick.</div>
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Two o'clock didn't get there fast enough. His leg got even worse by the time I got to the vet. Dr. M did another rectal exam and said there's a lumbar sub-lymph node that is swollen and obstructing his rectum keeping him from moving his bowels. He said the leg swelling is edema and he felt that all of it, even the initial swollen anal gland, was due to Mojo's compromised lymph system (from lymphoma) and his immune system being run down from all the chemo. He called <a href="http://bluepearlvet.com/" target="_blank">Blue Pearl </a>to talk to Dr. Johnson, Mojo's oncologist, but she is out of town this week. The vet on staff that day, Dr. Holste, was in surgery so Dr. M sent me home and said he would call me when he hears back from them.</div>
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I had justgotten home when he called and said Dr. Holste would like to see Mojo and do an ultrasound. So I drove out to Blue Pearl and met with Dr. Holste. I explained what had been happening, she did a quick exam, then took him to run some tests. She said it could take two hours and she would call me when she is done. I drove to Target and wandered around but was too worried about Mojo and drove back to the clinic to wait there. She had actually just gotten done with some tests and called me in. I was not expecting to hear what she said. Mojo is out of remission, the cancer is back, and his lymph nodes from the belly down are all swollen. This is what was causing the swelling and she said eventually the other leg would swell as well. Here's a picture of what it looked like yesterday.</div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCBLj2QIFRF_TxEzP2Qov5M1mZFh3K9Mje20EeYLFWVGHR0wDoKdZjVCeMLPFuwNJ0l9fAZSxxvpi1j27vzvjiyPm9KF_KcsE0ssKxkD525bksQwROfDdMIYwVyvaSQc1srJ7Ie9jaUWU/s1600/2012-04-26_08-55-38_933.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhCBLj2QIFRF_TxEzP2Qov5M1mZFh3K9Mje20EeYLFWVGHR0wDoKdZjVCeMLPFuwNJ0l9fAZSxxvpi1j27vzvjiyPm9KF_KcsE0ssKxkD525bksQwROfDdMIYwVyvaSQc1srJ7Ie9jaUWU/s400/2012-04-26_08-55-38_933.jpg" width="225" /></a></div>
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She said that she would like to administer L-Spar (sp?) which is the same chemo drug he got last year when we first started chemo. It made his lymph nodes go down within 12 to 24 hours. I said that was fine and went home to take care of Pepper while Mojo was at Blue Pearl. Dr. Holste had said she wanted to monitor Mojo for about 2 hours after chemo to make sure there is no anaphylactic shock from the chemo and to come back around 7:30 PM to pick him up.</div>
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I called Bob on the way home to fill him in and pretty much cried the entire time. When all this started end of last week I was not thinking cancer at all. It didn't even occur to me that what seemed like some constipation could be from him being out of remission.</div>
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The weather was getting worse and worse and as I was on my way to pick him up a tornado touched down about 5 miles south of the clinic. It was a totally crazy and horrible day all the way around.</div>
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This morning Mojo's leg was less swollen and his groin, which had gotten huge by last night, was reduced as well. He was also a bit happier but still unable to move his bowels. I took him back to see Dr. McCormick to get checked out and to discuss whether we should even go on vacation. Dr. McCormick<span style="font-size: 10pt;"> <span style="font-size: small;">said his leg is definitely less swollen and once the swelling goes down
everywhere (including in his rectum) he should be able to have a bowel movement
as well. He said he sees no reason for us to cancel the vacation. I asked what
the odds are of Mojo not responding to the chemo this time and if that happens,
how fast things would progress. Like Dr. Johnson he feels that he will respond
well since he responded well the first time. He said if not, that he highly
doubts that Mojo will go downhill so fast that they would have to put him to
sleep before we get back. Of course there are no guarantees!</span></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Bob
and I decided that I would go ahead and fly out today and we’ll call the vet
later today and tomorrow.
If he is worse we will fly home. If he seems to be improving then we will go on
the cruise. Our pet sitter will call the vet daily and send me an email with an update.
Dr. McCormick also gave me his email address and said to email him directly.
After he speaks with Dr. Johnson on Monday he will let me know if she suggests
more treatment while we are gone and will get an ok from me via email.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: "Segoe UI Symbol","sans-serif";"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I am not sure how I feel about our decision. It didn't seem necessary to cancel the vacation, but leaving Mojo there, looking at his sweet, confused face when I walked away without him, broke my heart. I cried the whole way home and between all the crying last night and this morning, and only sleeping about 4 crappy hours, I look and feel miserable. My head feels like it is going to explode, my eyes are red and burning, the heart racing has gotten much worse again, and I am emotionally and physically worn out. This is definitely not how I wanted to start a vacation and I definitely did not expect the cancer to return this fast.</span></span></span></div>
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<br /></div>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-81002238374776506072012-04-26T05:59:00.001-05:002012-04-26T06:09:27.087-05:00April 2012 Update<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">It's been almost two weeks since I got back from Seattle and I have seen some good changes. Dr. D added <a href="http://www.customprobiotics.com/custom-probiotics-11-strain.htm" target="_blank">Custom Probiotics 11-Strain Formula</a> to my treatment plan since I still had some and she says they are good probiotics. For a long time I could not tolerate any CP at all but now I am up to 1/4 of the adult dose a day, in addition to various ferments including Kombucha, plus <a href="http://www.pureformulas.com/pro-calm-restoration-formula-60-vegetarian-capsules-by-sedona-labs-pro.html" target="_blank">Pro Calm</a>, Acidophilus, and <a href="http://store.thegreenpharmacy.com/supernatant-synbiotic-formula-500-mg-60-caps-p5382.aspx" target="_blank">Supernatant</a>. Just a few months ago I could barely tolerate a drop of Sauerkraut brine so that's a definite improvement.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Last week I had several days where I felt joy. There was no dark, gloomy feeling and I was able to just enjoy the day, be happy, and have fun, despite all the other nasty symptoms, including the daily, and very uncomfortable abdominal distention. For the longest time I felt that the negativity was out of my control and having those days where I didn't have to try or work very hard to think positive was proof that I am right.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">On the days I felt more joy I also had more energy. I even did a mini-workout on a few days in addition to cleaning the house. That is a HUGE improvement for me and I am so looking forward to when I can work out on a regular basis again. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">A few days before I went to Seattle I had started taking Ivermectin and Pyrentel Pamaote. On those two anti-parasitics I felt that I was even hungrier than before and I was craving sweets again. Luckily I am done with those and have been taking Albenza for three days now. The second day on Albenza I started getting a headache, yesterday it was worse than the day before and I also started feeling like I was getting a sore throat and an earache. This morning the headache is improved, but the throat pain and earache, mostly on the left side, are still there. I also have a runny nose and my teeth are sensitive to hot and cold only on the left side.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Shortly before ending my <a href="http://curedofcandida.blogspot.com/2012/04/i-broke-my-fast.html" target="_blank">fast </a>I started getting chest pain on the left side and my arms hurt sort of like they did after the blood donation last year. The pain wasn't bad but I was a bit concerned thinking it might be an issue with my heart. I had called CMC and since Dr. D was out I ended up talking to Dr. Z. She ordered a CMP and CBC and also asked me to get a stress EKG. I got the blood tests the next day and my electrolytes were fine. I still haven't gotten the stress EKG, but once I started eating, the chest pain improved and some days it even went away.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Monday and Tuesday this week I didn't get to eat all day and by mid-day the chest pain was back and worse than before. When I finally got to eat something in the evening the pain would go away after one or two hours. Dr. D thinks it's Babesia and not my heart itself (but she still wants me to get the stress EKG just to make sure) and said that it's very common with people who have Babs. The fact that it improved when I broke the fast and ate something those two nights also makes me think it's Babs/die off but like Dr. D I want to make sure that my heart is ok. I went to see a cardiologist on Monday and they had initially told me that they could probably do the stress EKG the next day, but they had to do a pre-cert with my insurance company first. So they had scheduled me for today but I never did hear back regarding my insurance coverage so I re-scheduled the stress EKG for 05.09.2012 since I am heading to Orlando tomorrow.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">DH is at a conference in Orlando (since last Sunday) and we are meeting at the airport tomorrow. We are taking a shuttle down to Cocoa Beach and Sunday we are getting on a <a href="http://www.royalcaribbean.com/findacruise/cruiseDetails/itinerary.do?hasSenior=&hasMilitary=&hasFireandPolice=&cruiseType=CO&state=&packageCode=FR07W070&date=201203" target="_blank">7-Night Western Caribbean Cruise</a> to celebrate our 10th anniversary. I am looking forward to it but I am also hoping the die off from Albenza and all the other stuff I am taking will subside a bit before I leave tomorrow or at least before we leave Sunday.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Our friend L is staying with the dogs while we are gone which I much prefer over them going to a kennel. Unfortunately Mojo is not doing so well this week. What seemed like just constipation turned out to be an infected and swollen anal gland. I took him to the vet Monday and Dr. McCormick drained it and put him on antibiotics. It was awful....poor baby was in so much pain and it broke my heart to see him hurting so much. Dr. McCormick said infected anal glands respond really well to abx treatment and that he should be back to normal by the time I go on vacation. Well, he's not back to normal. Right after the vet appointment he was finally able to move his bowels several times, and since then he has been back to having a hard time. I have been giving him the antibiotics, I increased his <a href="http://www.nuvet.com/products.html?sectionid=54" target="_blank">NuVet Pet</a> tablets to strengthen his immune system, and yesterday I did several warm compresses, but just like before he tries very hard to have a bowel movement but nothing happens. I called the vet yesterday and they suggested that I bring him back in today. I was really hoping he didn't have to go back to the vet again and I am praying that he doesn't have to go through the same thing as he did last Monday. I am also worried about going on vacation tomorrow with him not feeling well. Praying that today will be a pain-free vet visit for Mojo and that he will be feeling great by the time I leave tomorrow.</span></div>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-2508623569054613032012-04-21T12:04:00.002-05:002012-04-21T12:04:05.493-05:00Coffee "Mousse"<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">
<span style="font-size: small;">I am still pretty limited with food at this point but every once in a while I want something dessert like. Nuts, honey, seeds, coconut flour, etc. are still out for me which presents a challenge. I can do butter but not too much and I am supposed to avoid egg whites but I can eat yolks. So I decided to adapt <a href="http://www.healingnaturallybybee.com/recipes/recipe169.php" target="_blank">Bee's Fake Cream</a> recipe and make a dessert out of it.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">what you need:</span></div>
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<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/2 cup very hot brewed coffee (I used organic dark roast and brewed it relatively strong)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 rounded tablespoon unflavored Gelatin (I use <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Great-Lakes-Unflavored-Gelatin-16-Ounce/dp/B001ELLBJS/ref=sr_1_4?ie=UTF8&qid=1335027619&sr=8-4" target="_blank">Great Lakes</a>) </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/4 cup coconut oil (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/s/?tag=sefr07-20&link_code=wsw&_encoding=UTF-8&search-alias=aps&field-keywords=nutiva+coconut+oil&Submit.x=0&Submit.y=0" target="_blank">Nutiva</a>)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">3 egg yolks</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">liquid stevia to taste</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">2 cups ice cubes</span></li>
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<span style="font-size: small;">what you do:</span></div>
<span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Pour hot coffee into blender. Add gelatin and blend at low speed. Add coconut oil, egg yolks, and stevia until well blended. Add ice cubes until mixture gels. With 2 cups of ice cubes it should be pretty "thick".</span></span>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-91206474280836567862012-04-16T06:30:00.004-05:002012-04-19T19:14:25.231-05:00Slow Cooker Chicken Gizzards<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I just got my new <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hamilton-Beach-33967-6-Quart-Programmable/dp/B001AO2PXK/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1333138627&sr=8-1" target="_blank">Hamilton Beach Slow Cooker</a> in the mail last week so I wanted to try it out. Our old crock was smaller and had lead in it. This one supposedly doesn't. Let's hope that's true. </span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I still had a bag of chicken gizzards from <a href="http://www.goodearthfarms.com/" target="_blank">Good Earth Farms </a>and figured I use those for my first recipe in the slow cooker. I buy the gizzards mostly because I love the <a href="http://curedofcandida.blogspot.com/2011/06/rendering-chicken-fat-from-gizzards.html" target="_blank">rendered chicken fat</a>, but I love the gizzards themselves as well.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">what you need:</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"></span></div><ul style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">5 lb bag of <a href="http://www.goodearthfarms.com/Order%20Form.htm" target="_blank">chicken gizzards</a></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 quart filtered water</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">2-3 large tomatoes, cut into large chunks</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">2 large onions, cut into large chunks</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">3 green onions, green tops included, chopped </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/2 bunch of cilantro </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">5 cloves of garlic, peeled and cut in half or quartered</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 1/2 tablespoons cumin</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 1/2 tablespoons paprika</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 tablespoon chili powder </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">2 tablespoons Celtic sea salt </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1 teaspoon black pepper</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/2 - 1 tablespoon curry (depends on how curry-ish you like food)</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/8 - 1/4 teaspoon ground cloves </span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/2 tablespoon rosemary powder</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">1/4 teaspoon thyme</span></li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">what you do:</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Place all ingredients in slow cooker. Turn on high until it starts bubbling, set to low and let it cook 6 to 8 hours or until chicken gizzards are tender. If you don't like mushy vegetables, add them about 20 to 30 minutes before cooking time is done. That's it. Enjoy...</span><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrF_-P8oPLYvpoiT7mrLZWXHg0_toJ0AFgOc_gvzxdZ8CZwjUtD4Z1dX-g-DTMbsHp4cb7fcTOy-eoZ_L-V_lSJHhjQZy3x8cJ-7GbZQSa_Mgo30qNmOgM4AoVOmjEmaRTbTPf1ignCkE/s1600/IMG_20110623_075425.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrF_-P8oPLYvpoiT7mrLZWXHg0_toJ0AFgOc_gvzxdZ8CZwjUtD4Z1dX-g-DTMbsHp4cb7fcTOy-eoZ_L-V_lSJHhjQZy3x8cJ-7GbZQSa_Mgo30qNmOgM4AoVOmjEmaRTbTPf1ignCkE/s640/IMG_20110623_075425.jpg" width="478" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILoBsNwamAcsyC9WAy4fb0iMVIZBL1tBV3e3_FeI8K4REMlQIG_L0Qu_SRVe6LSgTYKAoHXhKW4fniKK6SNPuYp1qHiANG5MXa9qbKxHHducXLwjOdfeouWOm-blctUUKcMdeRsWvrBg/s1600/IMG_20110623_074017.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="478" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjILoBsNwamAcsyC9WAy4fb0iMVIZBL1tBV3e3_FeI8K4REMlQIG_L0Qu_SRVe6LSgTYKAoHXhKW4fniKK6SNPuYp1qHiANG5MXa9qbKxHHducXLwjOdfeouWOm-blctUUKcMdeRsWvrBg/s640/IMG_20110623_074017.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCrGpOZSVcCNYksQXQMFt163G-7Z2EkPZEDW_gDZzqQuu_tXQUvOOVUBb7KDMrN-ach9BN1MiV7Tv3l7g7V7yOiN230nz99qtybOVx1BUKskJkySWLNANuChXGO7JQaQAZd_n5QLMVhxY/s1600/2012-04-08_07-44-29_289.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgCrGpOZSVcCNYksQXQMFt163G-7Z2EkPZEDW_gDZzqQuu_tXQUvOOVUBb7KDMrN-ach9BN1MiV7Tv3l7g7V7yOiN230nz99qtybOVx1BUKskJkySWLNANuChXGO7JQaQAZd_n5QLMVhxY/s640/2012-04-08_07-44-29_289.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsTZj84k0BK4zYIvCEQH6zN2Pg9HP0HE6Z8AdOzXwzZeuHqz66FqxH9Pwta8f8UisFxaWw_cIa_ozYaINWNYLRLC3wCITqR6tOm_NjmQlLq9IsilKSoY8_e8XOiQi_nyev-ttbdsqdxJE/s1600/2012-04-08_07-57-58_804.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjsTZj84k0BK4zYIvCEQH6zN2Pg9HP0HE6Z8AdOzXwzZeuHqz66FqxH9Pwta8f8UisFxaWw_cIa_ozYaINWNYLRLC3wCITqR6tOm_NjmQlLq9IsilKSoY8_e8XOiQi_nyev-ttbdsqdxJE/s640/2012-04-08_07-57-58_804.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtfJiYwP65AQgbepz2T-XlIiqOlBBT4bw1YXGZQvi3lJKts-TRUJu_NGl1ooC95wIdmzCI8yHSf7AQmK7rG3z8l1W1uabQpQ56U9oaRIeIkUZAw0H5cgAPXj9Z0jkx3ExTbVnq8hmdbVI/s1600/Food+Porn.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgtfJiYwP65AQgbepz2T-XlIiqOlBBT4bw1YXGZQvi3lJKts-TRUJu_NGl1ooC95wIdmzCI8yHSf7AQmK7rG3z8l1W1uabQpQ56U9oaRIeIkUZAw0H5cgAPXj9Z0jkx3ExTbVnq8hmdbVI/s640/Food+Porn.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbSjyZfS5iwD7EWvfpbCYc24n2zhjAYmeMlpx2ibXoH5GlbynvLggjcEEx8lZjfV4p0vigKmbDgVrWy9NuJnj1C9W8fQDWtmIpB3L0BUBH2TgQ80UALDDvUoGFmtrYUHpHOboW__1lxYg/s1600/2012-04-16_06-17-36_68.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhbSjyZfS5iwD7EWvfpbCYc24n2zhjAYmeMlpx2ibXoH5GlbynvLggjcEEx8lZjfV4p0vigKmbDgVrWy9NuJnj1C9W8fQDWtmIpB3L0BUBH2TgQ80UALDDvUoGFmtrYUHpHOboW__1lxYg/s640/2012-04-16_06-17-36_68.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">ways to serve this dish:</span></div><ul><li style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">as is by itself</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">with homemade sauerkraut (put the sauerkraut in the bowl with this "stew" - yum)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">over <a href="http://gapsdietjourney.com/2010/04/recipe-cauliflower-fried-rice/" target="_blank">cauliflower rice</a></span></li>
<li style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">over <a href="http://gapsdietjourney.com/2010/01/faux-tatoes-my-new-favorite-comfort-food/" target="_blank">mashed fauxtatoes</a> (regular or <a href="http://curedofcandida.blogspot.com/2012/02/smokey-mashed-fauxtatoes.html" target="_blank">smoked</a>)</span></li>
<li style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">with a salad</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">over steamed or baked sweet potatoes</span></span></li>
</ul><span style="font-size: small;"><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">This post was shared on <a href="http://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/monday-mania-4162012/" target="_blank">Monday Mania</a>, <a href="http://realfoodforager.com/fat-tuesday-april-172012/" target="_blank">Fat Tuesday,</a> <a href="http://www.beyondthepeel.net/2012/04/whole-food-wednesdays-and-gratitude.html" target="_blank">Whole Food Wednesday</a>, and <a href="http://www.realfoodfreaks.com/2012/04/19/freaky-friday-4202012/" target="_blank">Freaky Friday</a>. </span></span></span>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-32311596631738873672012-04-14T12:19:00.000-05:002012-04-14T12:19:10.001-05:00Chuck, Ribs, Stew Meat, and T-Bone<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I am finally back to normal amounts of food since breaking my fast last week Thursday and had the most amazing lunch today. Well, at least I thought it was amazing.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I had a slow roasted chuck roast in the freezer that I had prepared just like my <a href="http://curedofcandida.blogspot.com/2012/01/slow-roasted-beef-ribs.html" target="_blank">slow roasted beef ribs</a> which I took out and defrosted at 350 degrees in our toaster oven. I can't remember what I had spiced it with but it was good as is.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I also had some beef stew meat and rib meat frozen that was leftover from the last batch of beef bone broth I made. I threw it in a skillet with coconut oil and chopped onions and spiced all of it with salt, pepper, rosemary, oregano, chipotle chili pepper, chili pepper mix, and paprika.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwjFUo01y0sBVMyL_YAN_7lYnP3zhF9ywpKTs4UrDug9GFK9tOYUr0G2e47UDh69Ohb6q5Tkao6iyrZnhCOg6mjoqrN6piQAwcTQ8lAcjn61Fk6GRac-o7kdElv6p5pbJY3bK5ANljlls/s1600/StewRibsnOnions.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiwjFUo01y0sBVMyL_YAN_7lYnP3zhF9ywpKTs4UrDug9GFK9tOYUr0G2e47UDh69Ohb6q5Tkao6iyrZnhCOg6mjoqrN6piQAwcTQ8lAcjn61Fk6GRac-o7kdElv6p5pbJY3bK5ANljlls/s640/StewRibsnOnions.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I mixed a tiny bit of tomato paste into the beef/onion mixture above, added it to a bowl with some chuck roast and topped all of it with two fried egg yolks, and some Kerrygold butter. Yum!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Tk2oB9UOogDRD4xKb1sUcr632wju22y3d3LtyYDetaZX1YbMKNYV-YrlXvYpXeAoAPVCksHIBC9ZRRZipze7AGkoIIC_TxOehuHPajxpEv5U-uD8p-8_Jc7_rNwxypw2qj23_yMZVuA/s1600/ChucknEggs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6Tk2oB9UOogDRD4xKb1sUcr632wju22y3d3LtyYDetaZX1YbMKNYV-YrlXvYpXeAoAPVCksHIBC9ZRRZipze7AGkoIIC_TxOehuHPajxpEv5U-uD8p-8_Jc7_rNwxypw2qj23_yMZVuA/s640/ChucknEggs.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I remembered to take a picture after I had eaten more than half of it.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">DH ate some chuck roast as well and put the beef/onion mixture in some low carb tortillas with taco sauce and fried egg whites (I prefer yolks - he prefers whites).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYRxb9l2MB6lc9o3vNPWRw1AJunwMu61jesHFdeiojDwZkzkSRE8dh1LkzhrwYkQoBE3UpnB86Wwvws5VztzRfdt_UXzUzZlAAZLY9l_6Y5j5WE7k_NvdHihDS7PvNZLS_tI58NHLG81Q/s1600/StewRibsnOnionWrap.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="484" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhYRxb9l2MB6lc9o3vNPWRw1AJunwMu61jesHFdeiojDwZkzkSRE8dh1LkzhrwYkQoBE3UpnB86Wwvws5VztzRfdt_UXzUzZlAAZLY9l_6Y5j5WE7k_NvdHihDS7PvNZLS_tI58NHLG81Q/s640/StewRibsnOnionWrap.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Tonight we are grilling T-Bones marinated in olive oil, salt, and pepper. The T-Bones, roast, stew meat, and ribs were all from </span><a href="http://www.motherearthmeats.com/" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;" target="_blank">Mother Earth Meats</a><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">. Love their meat/poultry.</span>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-62177788939774251342012-04-14T07:48:00.005-05:002012-04-17T09:45:58.569-05:00Follow-Up Appointment Three with Dr. D in Kirkland<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">My last appointment with Dr. D yesterday went really well. I asked her how parasites cause someone's metabolism to slow down and she said (according to Dr. K), the parasites get all the good stuff from your food, while you are left with all the crap. She said the majority of people with parasites are actually overweight, not underweight, like most people think. I guess the way that makes sense to me is similar to when you starve yourself, constantly cutting calories, eventually the body will down regulate. Dunno if that's what she meant but I suppose that could be it.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">A few weeks back I has asked her in an email if there is something I can do or take to bring my iron levels down since blood donation is out due to <a href="http://www.dinet.org/" target="_blank">POTS</a>. She replied that I could take <a href="http://bpretail.corecommerce.com/Artemisinin-Powder-12-grams.html" target="_blank">Artemisinin </a>so I asked her if she could muscle test me for it.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Next I got on the table and she muscle tested all of the supplements I was on from our previous visit as well as some foods. I had brought the following with me:</span></div><ul style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><li><span style="font-size: small;">Kerrygold Butter</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Ghee</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Kefired Cream</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Mayorga Organic Coffee</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Avocado</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Egg White</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Egg Yolk</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: small;">Fermented Cod Liver Oil </span></li>
</ul><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">I tested good for all the foods except the egg white which was neutral. Incidentally I am not crazy about egg whites and they are also in the "neutral" section of the <a href="https://docs.google.com/open?id=0BzCWF8K_8l3OYWJHbWI5cWRNdUU" target="_blank">Lyme/KPU/Low Ox</a> list she sent me.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">When she told me that coffee tests good I mentioned that I will most likely switch to decaf since I am on very little caffeine now anyhow and she said to stick with regular coffee. According to Dr. D caffeine does have some benefits and decaf can have toxins, even if it's Swiss water process decaf. She said caffeine from coffee can benefit the liver and may even help to absorb my supplements better. Again, I love her!</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;">For the past two weeks or so I had been considering increasing Naturethroid from one grain to two grains and reducing Cytomel from 75 mcg to 50 or 62.5 mcg. My body still seems to have a hard time with Cytomel and the result is more heart racing. My last FT3/RT3 ratio was 67.9 and it needs to be above 20 so I have a little bit of room for RT3 to go up. I did not mention this to Dr. D but when she muscle tested me for Naturethroid it tested really well and as possibly needing more yet when she muscle tested me for Cytomel and Cynomel it came up as sort of blocking and possibly needing less. I am afraid to make that change since I don't want to have RT3 issues again, but maybe it's the best thing to do. It sure would be nice to be off the beta blocker completely. </span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dr. Alina was in with us again for the muscle testing and once we were done they wrote everything up for me. Unfortunately I left my treatment plan at the clinic so can't really post it yet but will do so as soon as I get it. However, she did say that she wants me to start drinking Dr. K's Lyme cocktail daily which consists of water, grapefruit juice (the "recipe" called for 1/4 cup but she said I can reduce it to 1 tablespoon), <a href="http://bpretail.corecommerce.com/Quintessence-Tincture-4-fluid-oz.html" target="_blank">Quintessence</a>, <a href="http://bpretail.corecommerce.com/Mimosa-Pudica-112-gm-Powder.html" target="_blank">Mimosa Pudica</a>, <a href="http://bpretail.corecommerce.com/Artemisinin-Powder-12-grams.html" target="_blank">Artemisinin</a> powder, and <a href="http://bpretail.corecommerce.com/Powder-Lipo-Health-Phospholipid-197-gm.html" target="_blank">Lipo- Health</a>. She wants me to run this cocktail in an ultrasonic cleaner eventually and since I wanted to run my liposomal C through one anyhow I went ahead and just ordered <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000SOQ6KQ/ref=oh_o00_s00_i00_details" target="_blank">this one</a>. Dr. D said to start out with the cocktail just fixed in the blender and once I tolerate the full dose to run it through the ultrasonic cleaner because it can cause too much die off running it through the cleaner immediately. This cocktail is in addition to the other new items she prescribed the first two days and in addition to most of the supplements I am already on. There were a few that were blocking which I will also post when I get my treatment plan.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Dr. D said that the anti-parasitics are really good for me right now and that Alinia, the last one I am supposed to take, is going to be great IF I can tolerate it. She said the Babesia will not like Alinia at all and some patients get chest pain or tightness, nausea, vomiting and other serious symptoms. In case I have a pretty severe reaction, she gave me her email address and cell phone number and said to let her know immediately if I get any of those symptoms so we can decide together whether I should continue or not.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Going forward she wants to talk on the phone once a month and if I can, she wants me to come back in person in July. She said at that point I could see Dr. K along with her and it was up to me. I told her that I would leave it up to her and we could decide later. Her concern was that he would be booked already so she said to go ahead and make an appointment with him for July and if necessary we could cancel it. Her concern is that I wouldn't be ready for Dr. K yet. She said I have made great progress but if I am not far enough along then his treatment will be too advanced and it would just be a waste of time and money. But she feels that I will be ready to see him if I can make it through the Alinia treatment. Right now I am still on Ivermectin and Pyrantel Pamoate, on 4/22 I start on Albenza, and on 5/20 I start on Alinia, 500 mg, three times a day, for 20 days. I hope it goes well.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span>Treatment Plan</span></b></span></div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span> </div><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><b><span>Anti-Microbials</span></b><span></span></span></div><ol start="1" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Lyme nosode – follow package instructions.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Lyme Cocktail – Mix the following ingredients in a blender. Drink half in the morning and half in the evening. After initial die off is over run 15 minutes in ultrasonic cleaner after mixing in blender.</span></span></li>
<ol start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Quintessence - 6 dropperfuls</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Grapefruit Juice - 1 tablespoon</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Water - 1/4 cup</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Artemisinin - start with 200 mg, work up to 600 mg per day as tolerated.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Lipo-Health - 1 teaspoo</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Mimosa Pudica - 1/2 teaspoon per day, start with 2 days perr week, work up to 5 days per week as tolerated.</span></span></li>
</ol><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Garlic and TriQuench – add the following to a little water in nebulizer and inhale once daily</span></span></li>
<ol start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>TriQuench – two drops</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Allimax – five to ten drops</span></span></li>
</ol><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span> Anti-Parasitic Treamtent – take in order listed</span></span></li>
<ol start="1" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Biltricide – two tablets three times per day for two days. Pause two weeks and repeat once. Ideally start with full moon (started this on 4/6/2012)</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>12 mg Ivermecting four times a day and 1,000 mg Pyrantel Pamoate at bedtime 14 days</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>400 mg Albenza twice a day for 28 days</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>500 mg Alinia three times a day for 20 days</span></span></li>
</ol><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Valtrex – 1000 mg once per day at bedtime for at least three months (may continue this longer due to high viral load).</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Cordy Chi - 2 capsules twice per day before meals.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Rizol Gamma - 10 drops twice per day in a little water, gargle then swallow twice per day.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Homeo-K BAB - 5 drops twice per day with other Homeo-K remedies</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Rectal implant – combine 1 scoop of BioPure arteminisin with one capsule of organic, freeze-dried garlic in a ¼ cup of warm water. Insert rectally at bedtime two nights per week, not on consecutive nights.</span></span></li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><b>Endocrine and Organ/Glandular Support</b></span></span></div><ol start="1" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Diutrex – one tablet two to three times daily before or between meals.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Drenatrophin PMG – two tablets three times per day before meals. Hold on tongue 5 to 10 seconds before swallowing.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Cardiotrophin PMG – one tablet three times per day before meals with the Drenatrophin.</span></span></li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><b>Detox Support</b></span></span></div><ol start="1" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>PC Ecklonia Cava – six tablets per day at bedtime.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>CGF (liquid chlorella) – ½ teaspoon three times per day at least 15 minutes before meals.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Hyaluronic Acid - 2 dropperfuls twice per day under tongue 15 minutes away from food.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Galactose - 1/2 teaspoon twice per day in water.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>MSM - 1 heaping teaspoon in water with breakfast and lunch. </span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Detoxamin suppositories – insert on rectally at bedtime once a week.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Pascalite bentonite clay – one teaspoon twice per day mixed into juice or water, follow with 8 ounces water. Do this twice per day at least 15 minutes before meals.</span></span></li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><b>Nutrient Support</b></span></span></div><ol start="1" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>CORE – six tablets daily after a large meal.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Vitamin D – 6,000 IU daily.</span></span></li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><b>GI/Digestive Support</b></span></span></div><ol start="1" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>ProCalm – four capsules per day at bedtime.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Supernatant – two capsules twice per day after meals.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Betaine HCl with Pepsin (Thorne) – two to three capsules at the beginning of each meal.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Custom Probiotics 11-Strain Formula – work up to two adult scoops per day</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Zypan – two to three before a meal</span></span></li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><b>Circulation Support</b></span></span></div><ol start="1" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Venex (bee venom ointment) - apply topically to skin over nech (thyroid) and back </span></span></li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><b>Methylation Support</b></span></span></div><ol start="1" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Methyl B12 shots – inject 0.5 ml methylcobalamin (10mg/ml) just under the skin of the abdomen, thighs, or buttocks twice per week.</span></span></li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><b>Adrenal Support</b></span></span></div><ol start="1" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Ribes Nigrum – 20 drops twice per day in a little water – hold in mouth for 10 seconds before swallowing. Take first in the morning and again early afternoon.</span></span></li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><b>Sanum Remedies (I had these from Germany)</b></span></span></div><ol start="1" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Sanum remedies Mucokehl, Notakehl, and Fortakehl – 10 drops twice per day at least 20 minutes away from food.</span></span></li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><b>Homeopathic Remedies (online from </b></span><span><a href="http://www.biopure.eu/USA"><b><span style="color: blue;">www.biopure.eu/USA</span></b></a><b> or directly from Germany)</b></span></span></div><ol start="1" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>K-OXY – five drops twice per day on tongue.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>K-METHYL – five drops twice per day on tongue.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>K-MAF – five drops twice per day on tongue.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>K-ADH – five drops twice per day on tongue.</span></span></li>
<li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0in;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>K-Energy – five drops twice per day on tongue.</span></span></li>
</ol><div class="MsoNormal" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span><b>Other</b></span></span></div><ol start="1" style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;" type="1"><li class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;"><span style="font-size: small;"><span>Two colonics back to back once a week OR 3 coffee enemas a week plus 2 colonics back to back once a month</span></span></li>
</ol><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-21715161458316683462012-04-12T17:59:00.002-05:002012-04-15T07:32:26.430-05:00Follow-Up Appointment Two with Dr. D in Kirkland<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">It was beautiful this morning unlike yesterday when it was cloudy and raining pretty much all day long. It's actually sunny today and I couldn't resist taking a short walk this morning in the neighborhood behind the hotel. After my appointment with Dr. D it was only 10:30 AM and I decided to take another walk. Below are some pictures from the park I went to which is less than a block from the doctor's office.</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrrkBhEn_HzxH_5VkxMU_byq7QeFSjNLjzH-0I-yEkaHssuI_pe1DLiw1cr3qmewJlIssZZ5shAFOMMhg17maLkMTe5lHyc8CQamJR7WYNpoXqfebdB6XPPDYawq1sn6W66s3nosrEaAo/s1600/2012-04-12_10-29-30_960.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjrrkBhEn_HzxH_5VkxMU_byq7QeFSjNLjzH-0I-yEkaHssuI_pe1DLiw1cr3qmewJlIssZZ5shAFOMMhg17maLkMTe5lHyc8CQamJR7WYNpoXqfebdB6XPPDYawq1sn6W66s3nosrEaAo/s640/2012-04-12_10-29-30_960.jpg" width="360" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7iDBS8AEjHPa8koVRrB2PGd32OYwGXxdN3vIPn6c4eUdLx94thloBK_JoXaLSdIm6FC_dwoggsLH5y_BOfMkddb8uT5Usc_qqk5CMpnGj__8oH6JhGBJuAMfpZpq-eomrpiDaxQsoa90/s1600/2012-04-12_10-30-52_333.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi7iDBS8AEjHPa8koVRrB2PGd32OYwGXxdN3vIPn6c4eUdLx94thloBK_JoXaLSdIm6FC_dwoggsLH5y_BOfMkddb8uT5Usc_qqk5CMpnGj__8oH6JhGBJuAMfpZpq-eomrpiDaxQsoa90/s640/2012-04-12_10-30-52_333.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0h9Xy2WYB3Z_Nxm7K0XJNjOpgWB8H-BfDzRxIXOSaVxM4ikl_n7NCCsPJUFZSDh_7saoOk50F0ebeKdpQWw5yKRWGeFiEuzUs7FskFRko4XwpIT58-xlUEoWLTEV_2e1d_0vbc6-_OhU/s1600/2012-04-12_10-31-47_416.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg0h9Xy2WYB3Z_Nxm7K0XJNjOpgWB8H-BfDzRxIXOSaVxM4ikl_n7NCCsPJUFZSDh_7saoOk50F0ebeKdpQWw5yKRWGeFiEuzUs7FskFRko4XwpIT58-xlUEoWLTEV_2e1d_0vbc6-_OhU/s640/2012-04-12_10-31-47_416.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcQ88yPi-Qj445skEboROu8JQ6aQHKUAHB2jBO5KchON37uap1lf4fLB3wQqUecrZXdhGcvVhmjtGjaKKDpPHKRmOaz99rgW626k7uy3MRoXvNsy26tivT1drpbmFba_LCP7kfsGA6seM/s1600/2012-04-12_10-32-29_417.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcQ88yPi-Qj445skEboROu8JQ6aQHKUAHB2jBO5KchON37uap1lf4fLB3wQqUecrZXdhGcvVhmjtGjaKKDpPHKRmOaz99rgW626k7uy3MRoXvNsy26tivT1drpbmFba_LCP7kfsGA6seM/s640/2012-04-12_10-32-29_417.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6wqQFMMIokkus492bNvc1p1X6GyQJuKDflbXm_oeSsxzPaAzlPNwpHgIcjue7Bwy1XPEO5P4kcaR1N-gwCyXN5DKYNOpXMeYhJiVLq27KXIK3twZ1fPj7KrGc_BhRJoDz3fkYDn4SRZY/s1600/2012-04-12_10-39-20_602.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi6wqQFMMIokkus492bNvc1p1X6GyQJuKDflbXm_oeSsxzPaAzlPNwpHgIcjue7Bwy1XPEO5P4kcaR1N-gwCyXN5DKYNOpXMeYhJiVLq27KXIK3twZ1fPj7KrGc_BhRJoDz3fkYDn4SRZY/s640/2012-04-12_10-39-20_602.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUWUnjr6SA2-Amw2xqq_HcP4-AxDqQajQoXctDpP9hBAwZXvj-BLJ7jMZpCRGusvJWr3cof5cVUZHYyMYzzM8zWBSxvDvd_3Vo0Mx_G8KZ-LlbPS78jgu2Gi0ZC3DgdRs05uipDVY8oWE/s1600/2012-04-12_10-42-27_35.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjUWUnjr6SA2-Amw2xqq_HcP4-AxDqQajQoXctDpP9hBAwZXvj-BLJ7jMZpCRGusvJWr3cof5cVUZHYyMYzzM8zWBSxvDvd_3Vo0Mx_G8KZ-LlbPS78jgu2Gi0ZC3DgdRs05uipDVY8oWE/s640/2012-04-12_10-42-27_35.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><br />
<span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Must be nice to have a house backing to a quiet, beautiful park.</span><br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Now to my appointment with Dr. D. I mentioned that I have been urinating more again the last 4 or 5 days. When I first went back on Desmopressin about 2 weeks ago I actually managed to sleep through the night a few times without getting up to urinate. Last night, in comparison, I got up at 1 AM, 3:20 AM, and 5:30 AM and had to urinate each time. Not fun. At the same time, with increased salt intake I feel like I am retaining more fluid again which is evident in my swollen eye lids when I first wake up.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Dr. D said unfortunately when a person is chronically ill fluid and electrolyte balance sort of gets put on the back burner for a while because it's not vitally important. As patients heal, all that starts working on its own again. She did say to eat as much salt as I want to and I can use black tea bags on my eye lids to help remove toxins and get the swelling down.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I asked her about some of the foods listed as ok to eat on the Lyme/KPU/Low Oxalate food list that are listed as high oxalates on other lists. She said it has to do with the fact that this list is also specifically for people who have Lyme and KPU and also because they found that people were just severely limited when they were 100% strict on their list. So they found that the list of foods she provided was the best option they could come up with.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Since we were talking about the food list I told her that I finally quit drinking coffee when I saw that it is on the "foods to avoid list". I told her that I brought some coffee anyhow for muscle testing and asked if it's ok to drink it if I test ok for it even though it's on the list of foods to avoid. She said absolutely. I then started to explain that green tea makes me feel nauseated and she said she doesn't like tea anyhow because of the fluoride in it and one cup of coffee a day won't hurt me. I love my doctor!</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I asked how many colonics I should be doing during parasite treatment. As I had already read from Dr. Klinghardt, she said 2 colonics a week back to back would be ideal. However, she said if I can do 3 coffee enemas a week on my own then I can get by with 2 colonics a month back to back. Much better.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Next I got on the table for some muscle testing. I had asked her to see if she could check me for excess histamine and mast cell issues. She did and said what I have is a condition that often occurs in patients with KPU which is actually low histamine. She explained that if my baseline is 1 for example and I get histamine at a level of 1, then my histamine level is now doubled and my body, which is already highly sensitive, just can't handle it and has a reaction. But if my baseline level were 100 for example then an additional histamine level of 1 is not going to impact me all that much. So she prescribed a homeopathic that will gradually increase my histamine levels. Also MaxiFlav which is quercetin and MSM. I believe she said MSM would help to detox my connective tissue. Below is the new, updated treatment plan. New items are bolded.</span><br />
<br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Histamine Regulation:</b></div><ol style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><li><b>Histamine Low Potency Homeopathic - 10 drops twice a day on tongue 15 minutes prior to food. Ideal to do this first thing AM and last at night.</b></li>
<li><b>MaxiFlav - 2 capsules first in the morning and last at night.</b></li>
</ol><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Digestive Support</span></b><br />
<ol style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><li>Custom Probiotics 11-Strain Formula - 2 scoops a day in addition to existing probiotics.</li>
</ol><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Detox Support</b></div><ol style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><li>Hyaluronic Acid - 2 dropperfuls twice per day under tongue 15 minutes away from food.</li>
<li>Galactose - 1/2 teaspoon twice per day in water.</li>
<li><b>MSM - 1 heaping teaspoon in water with breakfast and lunch. </b></li>
</ol><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Anti-Microbials</b></div><ol style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><li>Cordy Chi - 2 capsules twice per day before meals.</li>
<li>Rizol Gamma - 10 drops twice per day in a little water, gargle then swallow twice per day.</li>
<li>Homeo-K BAB - 5 drops twice per day with other Homeo-K remedies.</li>
</ol><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b> Other</b></div><ol><li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Homeo-K Energy - 5 drops twice per day with other Homeo-K remedies.</span></li>
</ol><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">After my walk this morning after the doc appointment I came back to the hotel and grabbed some lunch. At 12:30 I was back at the clinic for my steam sauna followed by a colonic. As usual the colonic was tough - lots of cramping and some mild nausea - but chatting with Desiree, who stayed with me for both of them, was great just like last time. We seem to have a lot in common and I could talk to her for hours. She said she was really glad to see that I was on her schedule because I have a special place in her heart. That made me feel good.</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;"><br />
</span></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: small;">Now I am back at the hotel just hanging out. By the time I left the clinic it was cloudy and dark again and the temperature had dropped quiet a bit. So I am staying in just chilling. I am kind of worn out from the sauna and colonic anyhow.</span></div><br />
<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I got back to the hotel again around 2:30 PM. It was still really nice outside but after the sauna and colonic I was pretty drained. Since I didn't take a shower before the two treatments I got cleaned up, got dressed and went to Metropolitan Market to pick up some food for dinner and also for the trip home tomorrow.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">On a different note, I am even hungrier than usual and my sweet/carb cravings are off the charts since starting Ivermectin and Pyrantel Pamoate. I hope this won't continue the entire time I am taking anti-parasitics. </div>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-24586742527236838332012-04-11T20:10:00.002-05:002012-04-15T07:33:29.628-05:00Follow-Up Appointment One with Dr. D in Kirkland<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I got to Seattle yesterday around 7 PM, picked up my rental car and drove up to Kirkland, WA. I am staying at the Baymont Inn just like last time. Nothing fancy but it's cheap, relatively clean, and about 5 minutes from the doctor's office.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Before I start writing about the appointment earlier today I should mention that I started having chest pain on the left Friday a week ago. A few days later I started having pain in my left lower arm and in my left hand. This pain was very much like the pain I experienced after the blood donation last spring any time I took potassium. So I tried reducing my intake of potassium chloride but it didn't help. Next I tried stopping Vasopressin, since it can affect electrolyte balance but that did not help either. Finally I decided to call Dr. D but she was out and I ended up talking to Dr. A. She ordered some lab work (CMP, CBC, and thyroid) which I got first thing last Thursday and a stress EKG which I have not gotten yet. Sodium and potassium looked great, but some other things were off. WBC was low, EOS was elevated, ALT PHOS was low, and more.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">So the first thing Dr. D and I discussed today was the pain in my chest and in my arms. The latter went away about two days after I broke my fast so maybe some of it was due to die off. Hard to say. I also started my anti-parasitics last Friday - I took Biltricide for two days and since Sunday I am on Ivermectin and Pyrantel Pamoate. I have to take both of those for 14 days then I start Albenza.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Dr. D then asked if I had any questions which I did. I had read that some organisms/biofilm like fat and was wondering if eating a high fat diet would make things worse. She said that is true and Dr. Steven Fry sometimes puts people on a low fat diet, but she said there are too many other health issues associated with eating a low fat diet that she is not in favor of a low fat diet, especially since I am on quite a few anti-microbials. She said she would prefer that I eat as much fat as I can tolerate as long as I stick to healthy fats like animal fats from pastured animals, coconut oil, butter, palm oil, etc.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I asked her if DPP IV really does help with gluten digestion, not because I want to start eating gluten, but as a preventetive measure if we go out to eat or on our upcoming cruise for example. She said that it definitely can be helpful and that is exactly when she would use it, but not for eating gluten on a regular basis.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I had also read that some organisms love hormones and having low hormone results could be an indication of the body down regulating hormones so bugs aren't being fed. My concern was with the fact that I use both progesterone cream and testosterone cream. She said that this is also true, but when a person is on anti-microbials it's good to replace the missing hormones to build them up a bit.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
Next I mentioned that I still get a lot of itching from the detox deodorant. When I brought it up over the phone a few weeks ago she thought it might be due to metals being drawn to the skin and fungi going crazy eating the metals. She suggested putting coconut oil on my skin but it did not help. Actually, the itching got so bad, I sometimes wake up in the middle of the night, walk into the bathroom, and "scratch" myself with my dry skin brush. I also started getting small bumps on my skin. Dr. D said unfortunately that means I am most likely allergic to one of the herbs in the deodorant and to stop using it.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I mentioned that the abdominal distention seems worse than ever as does my never ending hunger, and that I am now also craving sweets since starting the anti-parasitics. She feels confident that the abdominal distention and hunger are from parasites, and the increased hunger and sweet cravings are most likely die off from the anti-parasitics (which is a good sign).</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Dr. A had come in to join us and next they asked me to get on the table to see what's going on with my body using ART (Autonomic Response Testing). Dr. D said that I seem to be dealing with Babesia issues right now and it appears that the Babesia is causing the chest pain. Apparently this is very common for Babesia and often an EKG will look perfectly normal but she still wants me to go ahead and get it.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Parasites are also big for me right now and I tested good for all the anti-parasitic medication. She said I should have a little splurge on occasion and about 15 minutes later take my anti-microbials. Eating sweets draws bugs into the gut where the medications are active, so eating something sweet then taking meds will kill some bugs apparently. I also tested for needing more probiotics than I currently take.<br />
<br />
Also, my liver is really struggling right now as are my kidneys. Below is my treatment plan for now. She said not to refill any of my existing supplements until we have tested them on Friday.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Treatment While in Kirkland</b></div><ol style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><li>IV Hepa Merz (for liver support - got this earlier today)</li>
<li>O-Zone Steam Sauna followed by Colonic (scheduled for tomorrow)</li>
<li>Cranial sacral with Dr. Beck (she is out so I am not getting this one)</li>
</ol><b><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Digestive Support</span></b><br />
<ol style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><li>Custom Probiotics 11-Strain Formula - 2 scopps a day in addition to existing probiotics</li>
</ol><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Detox Support</div><ol style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><li>Hyaluronic Acid - 2 dropperfuls twice per day under tongue 15 minutes away from food</li>
<li>Galactose - 1/2 teaspoon twice per day in water</li>
</ol><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b>Anti-Microbials</b></div><ol style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><li>Cordy Chi - 2 capsules twice per day before meals</li>
<li>Rizol Gamma - 10 drops twice per day in a little water, gargle then swallow twice per day</li>
<li>Homeo-K BAB - 5 drops twice per day with other Homeo-K remedies</li>
</ol><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><b> Other</b></div><ol><li><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Homeo-K Energy - 5 drops twice per day with other Homeo-K remedies</span></li>
</ol><span style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: small;">Next appointment is tomorrow at 9:45 AM.</span>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3604720603633848992.post-14949728268445911212012-04-07T07:53:00.001-05:002012-04-08T06:11:22.842-05:00I Broke My Fast<div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I made it 17 days and broke my fast on Thursday. The first few days of the fast were incredibly hard, then it got much easier, and then it was a struggle again. I think it got harder when I started drinking Kombucha because my first batch was finally done and I LOVE it. Although I know it is quite strong I couldn't resist drinking quite a bit of it. So last Monday I was feeling rather miserable and was tempted to break the fast, but that afternoon I got a colonic and felt much better afterward. So I decided to continue and it was much easier again.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I also finally stopped drinking coffee - again. Right now I am drinking oolong tea but I can't say I really like it. I tried blending coconut oil into it but that's not doing it for me.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Thursday for lunch I had beef bone broth, a soft boiled egg yolk, 2 oz Wild Planet Skipjack Light Tuna, and some mashed avocado. For dinner I had the same but instead of just mashed avocado I had <a href="http://curedofcandida.blogspot.com/2012/04/avocado-coconut-creme.html" target="_blank">Coconut-Lime Avocado Creme</a>. It is such a simple and easy recipe yet I love the flavor combo.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">Yesterday's lunch was more bone broth, an egg yolk, and Wild Planet Skipjack Light Tuna mashed with avocado and homemade Sauerkraut (sorry - the picture is kind of blurry).</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; font-family: Verdana,sans-serif; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvjFBeQz3mbKWITX4t-kSZs-daHgN5xnQHkLBMWbXXDq7QhlRetJz9VABzUNwa6mt4UWUAVhco-m6mq15Op_DeW8LEyzJtq2yXBEZSjvl2yzRBLn0zCrrwY3-eYVmlaQs_Yard1Wo0rBg/s1600/2012-04-06_12-10-18_201.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjvjFBeQz3mbKWITX4t-kSZs-daHgN5xnQHkLBMWbXXDq7QhlRetJz9VABzUNwa6mt4UWUAVhco-m6mq15Op_DeW8LEyzJtq2yXBEZSjvl2yzRBLn0zCrrwY3-eYVmlaQs_Yard1Wo0rBg/s640/2012-04-06_12-10-18_201.jpg" width="640" /></a></div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">This morning I wasn't going to eat breakfast. In fact, I was going to go back to intermittent fasting eating lunch and dinner only versus doing the leptin reset. However, I felt rather poorly either from too much Kombucha yesterday, too much Sauerkraut, and/or Biltricide so I had two chicken sausages that I had planned on eating for lunch. So today I will have just bone broth and an egg yolk for lunch. Dinner will be wild Alaskan salmon filet sauteed in tallow and <a href="http://curedofcandida.blogspot.com/2012/02/smoked-mushrooms.html" target="_blank">Smoked Mushrooms</a>.</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;"><br />
</div><div style="font-family: Verdana,sans-serif;">I think I am over the initial caffeine withdrawal since I was down to half a cup of coffee in the AM anyhow, but I still miss the taste of coffee. Especially since I started blending it with CO.</div>Kristinahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12973172682739888068noreply@blogger.com0