SNAFU

Yet another SNAFU on my way to surgery: first my endoscopy was rescheduled without my being adequately notified and Tuesday I discovered that my pre-surgery class has been cancelled as well!  I certainly hope my surgeon is more competent than her staff!!  These are the same people who can’t remember to bill my insurance company for office visits.  I suppose the hospital will be better about that, though.  I’ll bet I get billed for the physician’s portion and have to call them, again, and have them bill my insurance for it. 

 

As for adequate notification of a changed medical procedure, leaving a message on someone’s answering machine is not good enough!

 

Years ago, I was the person in charge of empanelling citizens to read grant proposals and give away Arts money.  If I had to reschedule a panel, my job was to TALK to everyone affected by the change.  Not leave messages on machines!!  I couldn’t consider my job done until I had spoken to everyone.  Spoken to them, personally. 

 

In essence medicine is a service industry.  It is extremely poor customer service to leave a patent standing in a medical facility being told their procedure has been canceled without notifying them, personally of the change.  I understand that things happen.   In this case, my surgeon lost her grandmother, for which she has my sympathies.  Her staff not taking the notification of her patients of the cancellations seriously enough to keep trying until they reached every person is inexcusable.  I received 1 phone call, which went to my machine.  My time is just as valuable to me is anybody else’s is!!  Respect for the people you service is the basis of good work in any profession.  It is doubly important in medicine!  Poor customer service could result in serious consequences.  It is life and death. 

 

I realize that I should have checked my machine.  Believe me, I have been ever since this happened but 1 phone call is not adequate notification.  Had she tried even one more time, I would have been home and gotten the news of the cancellation.  "I left a message" is a cop out. 

Diets and Insanity

I’ve been on my pre-op diet for a week now.  I’m not good at diets (no kidding! I got 100 pounds over weight by being such a good dieter!) so I’ve not been perfect but I think I’m doing OK.  At least, I hope so!  Protein shakes get kinda old very quick!

I had my endoscopy on Thursday.  My surgeon likes to take a look at things before she cut them up.  Seems like a good idea to me!  They found a small esophageal erosion but that won’t cause any problems with my surgery.  Lots of Prilosec in my future, I guess.  My biopsies taken during the procedure just to be extra sure all came back clean so more good news!

Actually, I am a pretty good dieter.  I’ve lost over 50 pounds 6 times that I remember.  The problem with dieting and losing large amounts of weight is that it always comes back and brings a few ‘friends’ with it.  The end result over time of dieting is that you get fatter and fatter until you’re hopelessly obese.  Look at the research.  It happens to everyone who tries to lose the weight this way.  It has nothing to do with will power!!!  We are not bad people because we can’t keep the weight off. 

Neither is WLS ‘cheating’!!  Is chemotherapy ‘cheating’ against cancer?  What a ridiculous question and, yet, losing weight and beating obesity with the help of bariatric surgery is called cheating.  “You should have enough strength of will and character to lose the weight with diet and exercise alone!”  This is usually said by people who have never had a serious weight problem in their lives.  They think their experience losing 10 or 20 pounds qualifies them to opine on the severe problems faced by the morbidly obese. 

We fat people need to stop listening to these ridiculous people!  Do what you need to do for yourself!  The definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  Sure, I could go on another diet.  I did, as a matter of fact.  After I found out I was diabetic in 2009, I lost 40 pounds.  Then, since the first of this year, I’ve lost another 18 pounds.  Without my WLS, I can expect to regain all this weight plus an additional 10 to 20 pounds within the next 2 to 3 years.  I don’t want to weigh over 300 pounds!!!!  

So, I’m not going to be insane about my weight anymore.  I’m making a drastic change to my behavior and am expecting different results. 

One More Week

One more week until my surgery.  One more week of my old life and until my new one starts.  I’m excited.

I keep getting that old ‘Christmas is next week’ feeling that you get right before something good you’re waiting for is about to happen.  I’m really looking forward to losing the weight and losing my co-morbidities, too.  And, maybe, my knees and feet stop hurting me all the time.  I have bins and bins of clothes in the basement that I’m looking forward to going through and wearing some of my favorite too-small clothes once again. 

Women have three wardrobes:  the clothes we can currently wear, the clothes we out-grew but will get back into ‘some day’, and our fat clothes that we un-grew on our latest diet but don’t dare throw away because we know we will need them again. 

My ‘some day’ is going to happen in the next couple of months and I’m giving away my fat clothes and what I’m wearing now as it will all be way too big.  I’m in a size 20/22 now.  My fat clothes are all size 24. My hoped-for new size is a size 10.  The bins contain mostly size 18 and 14 so there will be some shopping in my future!

According to my daughter, a 1970s size 10 (what I hope to get back to) is a size 8 now due to size inflation.  I may still have a couple of size 10 things from back then so we’ll see how it works out. 

I have an entire 1980s size 14 and size 18 wardrobe down in the bins.  What, no size 16?  Nope.  I wore my 14s until they were vastly too tight and then replaced them with 18s.  At least, I don’t think I have any size 16s.  Guess I’ll find out!!

Thrifty Chicken

Well, waddya know?  A food post!!  :-)

Every so often, my local grocery store offers whole roasting chickens Buy One, Get One Free.  I usually take advantage of these sales.  It makes a nice, plump whole chicken cost less than $1.00 a pound.  I cook one fresh and freeze the second one for future dinners.

For Easter this year, I roasted the frozen one.  It was delicious!  We had mashed potatoes, green peas and homemade yeast rolls with it.

The left over half chicken I put in Ziploc bags and refrigerated. 

The second half of the chicken became Chicken Enchiladas. 

 

1 or 2 recipes of Enchilada sauce (below)

1 – 2 cooked chicken breasts

8 corn tortillas

8 ozs. Queso Fresco

Shredded cheddar

Make enchilada sauce.  Allow to cool slightly.

Shred chicken.  Add 1 – 2 ladles sauce to chicken and stir.

Heat tortillas in a damp paper towel in microwave for 30 seconds. 

Using smaller rectangular Pyrex pan, spray liberally with Pam.  Spread bottom of pan with 2 ladles of sauce. 

Per tortilla:  chicken and a strip of cheese.  Roll and place pan.  Make up all 8 tortillas.  Fold a strip of aluminum foil to serve as a separator between the servings, if desired. 

Cover pan with foil and cook at 375 degrees for 20 minutes.  Uncover and cover with sliced queso fresco and shredded cheddar.  Return to oven and bake until cheese is melty and slightly browned. 

Enchilada Sauce

2 T vegetable oil

2 T AP flour

2 T chili powder

½ tsp ground cumin

1 (8-ounce) can tomato sauce

2 C water

1 tsp salt

¼ tsp garlic powder

Heat oil in large 2-quart saucepan; stir in flour and chili powder; cook for 1 minute.

Add remaining ingredients and bring to a boil.  Simmer for about 10 minutes. 

 

The remaining meat and bones go into the soup pot. 

            Chicken and Noodles

            Bones, skin and remaining meat from 1 roasted chicken

            1 large onion, cut into pieces

            3 – 4 cloves garlic, crushed

            6 cups water

 

Simmer chicken bones in water with onions and garlic until it falls apart.  Allow to cool.

            Strain out solids, reserving broth. 

Carefully pick through bones and skin for meat and edible goodies.  Throw away skin, bones and gookie parts.  Maybe give some chicken skin, chopped, to the cat?

Cook 6 to 8 ounces of egg noodles in the reserved broth.  Add 1 T sherry, 1 T soy sauce, 1 tsp savory, 1 tsp oregano and 1/8 tsp ground ginger to broth.  Don’t forget the salt and pepper. 

If you made gravy for the roast chicken, reheat it in the microwave for about 1 minute to soften.  When noodles are done, add meat and gravy to pan.  Cook until everything is hot.

Serve with leftover rolls and butter.  A salad would go nice as well.

 

I don’t have pictures of any of this as it didn’t occur to me to blog about this until it was all eaten! 

Utilizing a chicken this way appeals to the frugal housewife in me.  I’ve spent so much of my life never knowing if or when I would have money for food again that I cannot bring myself to waste perfectly good food.  This way, I get three yummy dinners out of 1 chicken! 

You could use baked chicken in either of the above recipes, too.  Or buy a rotisserie chicken from the grocery store.  They’re still only $5.00.  Not too bad a cost for 3 meals for 2 to 3 people!! 

 

 

Hospitals

I found out this week that I’m going to be in the hospital longer than I thought.  I thought my “two days in the hospital” included the day of my surgery.  No.  It means 2 days after surgery.  So, I have my surgery on Tuesday and I go home on Thursday. 

Oh, well.  It’s not like I’m going to have to worry about the food!!  J 

I am concerned about the comfort of the bed, however.  I’m going to take my special pillow so my neck doesn’t hurt me but a bad bed could give me lots of back pain.  Somehow, I don’t think I’m going to need any more pain! 

I’ve also figured out that I’ve been pursuing Weight Loss Surgery (WLS) for over 19 months.  19 months.

I first heard that the only cure for Type 2 Diabetes is WLS in September of 2011.   That’s been my goal all along.  Getting skinny is a special bonus. 

I first tried the Bariatric Unit at St. Vincent Charity Hospital.  They advertise heavily in this market and have free seminars several times a year looking for clients.  What they don’t tell you is that they are the most conservative Unit in the area.  There’s a Unit at the Clinic, at University Hospital and one down in Summit County serving the Akron area.  I'm going to be at UH so, if any friends are reading this, come visit me on Wednesday!

After taking my money for their nutritionist and wasting lots and lots of my time, SVC turned me down due to my heart condition.  I KNOW I’m a high risk patient.  I’ve lived with this risk since 1994.  EVERYTHING is a risk for me: going to the dentist, getting my hernia repaired and dealing with the infection the Clinic gave me, getting my pacemaker implanted, everything!!  Like everyone else, I have to weigh the benefits against the risks.  I believe this is worth the risk.  I (and my cardiologist) am of the opinion that it can only help my heart for there to be 100 pounds less of me.  And getting rid of the sugar problem, which can further damage my heart, is a good thing as well.

And I could die.  It could happen.  I’m going to re-do my will, just in case.  It needs doing anyway and this is the perfect excuse to stop procrastinating about it. 

A New Beginning

This is supposed to be a food blog but it’s my blog and I can do anything I want with it.  :-)

Blogging about significant life change is an internet tradition, if something only a few years old can have traditions, so here’s mine!!  And this is sort of food related…

I am having Bariatric Surgery on May 7^th.   I’ve chosen to have a Gastric Sleeve procedure otherwise known as a Sleeve Gastrectomy.  Basically, they’re going to remove most of my stomach leaving my intestines alone.  The benefits of this over the RNY are that I’ll have no mal-absorption issues and won’t have to worry about dumping syndrome, which sounds nasty.  And I’ll finally lose the 100 pounds I need to lose and be able to keep it off.

I’ve lost over 50 pounds at least 5 times that I can remember.  And on January 1, 2009, I weighed 280 pounds.  That’s very hard to admit to the world but it’s the truth.  All the effort I’ve put into losing weight over the past 30 years and I’m still almost 300 pounds.  <sigh>  And I’m also a diabetic.  So.  I went looking for a permanent solution.  I don’t want to lose my eyesight, kidneys or feet to diabetes.  I also have dilated cardiomyopathy.  Look that up on the ‘net for a scare!  It’s been trying to kill me since 1995.  I guess I’m just too stubborn to die. 

Since 2009, I’ve lost 55 pounds.  I know that if I don’t do something different, it will all come back and bring a few friends with it.  Insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.  I know what will happen.  It will all come back.  So it is now time to do thing differently.

Surgery is a drastic step.  Having most of my stomach removed is very drastic.  I’m at the point in my life where it’s time for drastic action.  Dieting hasn’t helped.  Exercise hasn’t helped, although it did help some, but I can’t ride that damned exercise bike for the rest of my life.  My knees are already protesting.  My heart condition and the diabetes are killing me.  Drastic action is called for!

I’ve been doing extensive reading online on this subject trying to figure out what my life will be after 5/7/13.  I’ve got 3 different makes of protein shakes in assorted flavors; I found sugar free pudding and gelatin that don’t contain NutraSweet.  That was difficult to find.  All the Jell-o products have NutraSweet and that stuff gives me migraines.  Not a good scenario.  I’ve found several websites of post-op people who put their recipes online for the rest of us to benefit from.  My go-to place these days is theworldaccordingtoeggface.blogspot.com.  if you’re considering any bariatric surgery, check out her site.  It’s a great source of information. 

I’m still in the ‘last binge before surgery’ phase.  I can’t really go too far off the reservation as I still have to worry about my blood sugar but I think that last 18 pounds I lost has greatly improved my insulin resistance.  I’ve been eating all sorts of things not on my approved diabetic diet and my sugar hasn’t tested over 156.  Or I’m just damned lucky.  Which ever works for me!! 

 I start my pre-op diet on the 23rd so I have to get all this out of my system before then.  Cookies, pie, ice cream, candy, pop, pizza, eating out, all that sort of thing...

After surgery, I’m going to have to make sure I drink all the water I’m supposed to.  I always do better when I have a system so I came up with one.  The goal is 64 ounces a day.  I took 4 Propel water bottles, 16.9 oz. each, drank the contents, removed the labels, numbered them 1 through 4 and fill them every morning and put them in the fridge.  I have to empty all of them by the end of the day.  I’ve always been a water drinker so this is really working well.  Since I started this last week, I’ve not finished all my water only one night.  I think I’ll do OK when it really counts:  post-op.

Of course, I’m anxious about having surgery.  I’m not a good patient.  I don’t stay where I’m put.  I require meds to have injections.  I need nurses who can take a joke without becoming cruel.  (Maybe I’ll tell that story sometime.)  And I have anxiety attacks if left alone too long without medication.  (Yet another story!) 

I don’t expect to sleep the night before my procedure.  I don’t sleep the night before dental visits and I have sedation dentistry and don’t remember what is done to me.  But, I’m a worrier.  Always have been.  I have just too good an imagination.  J

I can’t talk about all this stuff with the Hubby.  He’s barely going along with this as it is.  If I talk about my fears to him, his support will cease altogether!  So, World, I guess I’ll talk to you!  ;-)

Before Pix:

 

Smoked Chicken

I watch the cooking shows on PBS on the weekends and I saw something this past weekend that I wanted to try.

America’sTest Kitchen was demonstrating their instructions for smoked chicken.  I love smoked chicken barbeque but it’s almost impossible to find it on Cleveland’s west side.  None of the barbeque restaurants serve smoked pulled chicken.  It’s all grilled.  Yuk!  Not the same at all!!  So, I’ve been wanting to try it myself but had no idea where to start.  I was going to invest in a smoker until I saw the show where ATK turned a grill into a smoker.  They used charcoal and I have natural gas but I figured I could adapt their directions. 

I went to their website and, lo and behold, they had directions for gas, too!!  I’ve never brined poultry before but this worked so well, I may do it more often.  Put cup of salt and cup of sugar in a galleon of water.  I had to use the top of my cake keeper as I don’t have a bowl that big.  I added ice as I can’t fit something that big into my fridge for the hour it needed to soak.

 They called for 3 cups of wood chips, not any particular variety, so I went to the scrap wood pile between the houses and pulled out some oak sticks that were nice and dry and clean.  I broke them up and soaked half of them.  Then I wrapped the two sets of twigs in double layers of foil and poked a few holes in for the smoke to escape.

Once everything was brined and soaked, I drained the chicken, patted it dry and brushed it with a little veg oil and ground on some pepper.  Out to the grill!

I pulled the grates from the right side of the grill and laid on the two foil packets.  I put a small aluminum pan on the other side under the grates.  I turned on the fire on full and let everything heat up.  After about 10 minutes, I had lots of smoke.  I cleaned and oiled the left side grates, where there was no fire and put on the chicken, breasts furthest from the fire, legs next and then thighs.  I turned the heat down to medium high, set my timer for 1 hour and 15 minutes and went back inside to see about sides.

When the timer went off, I took out my instant-read thermometer and everything was the correct temp; 175 degrees for thighs and 160 degrees for breasts. 

They came out beautifully and were wonderfully moist, too!   The smoke flavor was just enough.  It smells divine! Oak seemed to work fine.  I have access to holly wood and apple wood and may try some of those to see if there is a taste difference.   I made enough for 2 meals and I’m going to put barbeque sauce on the rest later in the week.  Yummy!!