Purple Toes

My most recent attempt at blogging began last week as a medical update saying how great I'd been feeling the last couple weeks, but was delayed due to illness. So, after a week of migraines and pre-9pm bedtimes, the dizziness returned to join in the fun. Thanks to some new magical red pills my doctor called in a few days ago my migraines seem to be gone and I even got to go in for another visit to Dr. S. That made two visits in two weeks! And, to note I am doing pretty well today.

So, since I haven't really given much of a straight-forward medical update in a while here it is. I have POTS, Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome, which is most likely [for me] a chronic heart condition that can be treated but not cured through medicine and exercise. The exercise part is still slow going, but I'm not on the couch all the time anymore so that leads in to the great improvements made in my medicine regime. I take a fair amount and it is clearly helping me to be able to be more functional, less dizzy, and do more. The drugs won't "fix me" but as an example this week I got dizzy Tuesday with a migraine and felt as though someone had kicked my head, sent it spinning off then reattached it improperly so it was a bit rickety and then stomped on it for good measure. Wednesday, was better, I took my special liquid medicine, of which my doctor is having me learn how to titrate my own dosage during bad spells, and I also got a magic red pill that put me to sleep and took away my migraines. By Thursday no one was drop-kicking my head, it wasn't spinning, I could walk into the kitchen and make a sandwich [albeit with a strong desire to be sitting]. And now on Friday, my head is alright and after upping my liquid meds [still within doctor limits] I was able to take Digory dog for a brief half-block walk today by myself. oh, and did I mention I'm blogging? Tuesday reminded me of last year before I was dizzy for a 2-3 month spell, but praise God I'm doing much much better, much quicker.

Back to the specific medical update.. that really is the gist of it. I have this POTS thing and now I have some working medications and a great doctor. Now Drew and I just have to get used to having medications that help some and try to understand how much I can do and be prepared to rest [me, unfortunately not him] when things 'flare-up' again like they have this week. Oh, and on a lighter note I have noticed lately that when I stand up for a while my feet turn purple. They don't hurt and I asked my doctor and he says it's normal.. for me.. so please don't worry, you can think it's cool like I do. I get excited and make Drew come and see. He isn't as impressed as I am, but really, think about it God made me able to stand [at least for a while] with a ton of blood in my legs when it should really be in my brain and I'm not passing out... just able to admire His handiwork. I think it's cool, but then again I'm weird.

K

Casserole

So back the week before thanksgiving I decided to try my hand at making Chicken Pot Pie from scratch. Aside from some confusion with the crust that arose (or lack thereof) from my inexperience it was a hit. I made it again the next week and got the crust right and decided its time for my pepper/chili kick to be over and start a new one.

Casserole.

My first was a turkey tettrazini with leftover thanksgiving bird. Instant hit. But tonight was even better.
Back story.

Katie wanted some chicken for lunch but was unwilling to wait wile it baked so she 'suggested' I cook it in a pan. We longs don't have muck experience frying things. We can grill a shoe and make it taste good but frying just ain't us. But I gave it a try anyway. Three chicken breasts, some olive oil, salt and pepper, lots of splatter, 15 minutes later there was some decent fried chicken. There was also a pan with a wee bit of oil and lots of tasty brown bits. Hummmm. I couldn't waste such a pan full of flavor. I added some butter and more oil and simmered five cloves of minced garlic (I love some garlic). Then I added about a quarter cup of whole wheat flour and stirred it up to get an ugly thick paste. Last went in some milk and chicken broth from Trader Joe's. Then I stirred and simmered till creamy. Now at this point I didn't exactly know what I was going to do with this cream sauce I had just created, so into the fridge it went with the two uneaten pieces of chicken
Tonight all I did to make the final casserole was to chop up the remaining chicken, cook some spaghetti, stir fry a diced green pepper, open some peas, grate some Parmesan cheese, mix it all together, bake it for half an hour, and eat. Next time I'll cover it so the top doesn't get so crunchy.

D

Cookies

Drew has been cooking up a storm lately. I went to Montreat this past weekend with women from my church and while I was away he made his special "Long-cakes," which are very delicious pancakes. He also made himself a small vat of chili this weekend, two pumpkin pies a couple weeks ago, and my favorite was the incredibly delicious chicken pot pie he made from scratch to serve me for dinner when I returned from my mountain retreat.

Tuesday night he decided he needed to make cookies. I'm sure I don't understand what a blessing I have, but I have been having to tell him not to bake more than one item a week.. and he has been begging to make these particular cookies for a while. Maybe it is the holiday season that brings out his desire to bake or he just inherited his mother's exceptional culinary abilities and needs to use them when he has free time. Whatever the reason, the result this week was Lentil Cookies. Yes...there were lentils in the cookies. I honestly enjoy them. We have shared them with others [including children] who all enjoy them. They just have a terrible name for a cookie. He coated them with sugar and some with cinnamon this time so they are sweeter than you might think and even packed with protein, but really.. lentil cookies? I tried to sell that to a 3 year old yesterday. No dice. Want a cookie with sugar on it? Yeah, that worked a few seconds later. If you have any ideas for a better cookie name or for what Drew should make next, feel free to let us know.

K

Good Service and Good Pasta

We finally tried the fresh pasta store. Oh my. I have attempted to go back every day since, but have only gotten away with it once. We got some chicken ravioli and a nice marinara sauce as well as some pumpkin ravioli. Yes that's right Pumpkin. I'm not usually swayed by decor but the place has the feel of an old world market. (no I haven't been to the old world, but I'm sure the markets are like this) The best part was the two employees we were helped by. I haven't been to a store where the people were so genuinely helpful in a very long time. I'm talking way beyond Trader Joe's kind of helpful. I didn't know there were people this passionate about pasta.
Anyway the stuff we got was nothing short of amazing and now I'm hooked for good. If you want good Italian food in Charlotte skip the restaurant (and I do Love Frankie's) and head to Pasta and Provisions on Providence Rd. You'll be glad you did.

D

One more video

Thanks to a rather humorous email from our church featuring one of our pastors and two guys promoting man's night with fake mustaches and fake beer guts I found myself once again on YouTube. I did a quick search for any new relevant videos that might be helpful to explain why I don't do much any more and I found one that is pretty good. Again not perfect.. a little dry, but the story is somewhat similar to mine. Hope it proves to be informative. Click here to watch video.
My favorite videos are still these by Chronically Kyli, Part 1 and Part 2.

K

Digory's haircut

Unfortunately my dizziness [& headaches] returned Sunday afternoon and I'm back on the couch for a while, sleeping a lot and Drew is real busy working and taking care of me and the house. So, since we aren't all that interesting at the moment I will share something that is always a source of humor in our home... Digory dog. Here are the photos I've promised of the little guy's first haircut since he's been in our family. Clearly it was about time. .. he was starting to run into things.
I wasn't sure I was getting the right dog at the groomer, but he seemed to like me and they told me he was mine. So I took him home and he pouted a great deal that day as you can see in the photo, but he is now quite content to be short haired. It seems to give him an extra excuse to snuggle up on cold.. or not so cold days.

Digory has also decided that he likes my spot on the couch now that he has a fancy new haircut. Maybe my seat is warm. Every single time I get up, he takes my spot. Here is looking especially adorable as a seat-thief.

Drew and I like our slightly hairless dog, but we must admit we are looking forward to the day when he is our scruffy, scraggly, little Diggy again.

K

Updates on our life

To catch you up on our lives here I will say that things are going rather well. Drew is adjusted to his job and can finally access his schedule on his computer at work and will now know ahead of time [couple weeks or so] when he has days off. He also used for the first time that illusive thing called 'vacation' days which was exciting... for our bank account. He was able to use a week of paid comp-time and a couple vacation days to work a week for his last company on a show in Ohio and be paid twice. He was missed by me and Digory. On one of his recent trips he even got to hear Teller from 'Penn & Teller' speak. I didn't realize this was cool until he told me that Teller is the one that never ever ever says a word. Pretty nifty. Maybe Drew will elaborate when he has more time for blogging.
As for me, I have been somewhat officially diagnosed with a chronic illness, but my doctor [who really is great] isn't 100% sure it is chronic, but pretty sure. Good news, my current treatment is working well and for the first time in forever I left the doctors office today with no new prescriptions! So, we will stay with life as is for a couple months and then reevaluate. I have also been getting out of the house more this past month [thanks to the new treatment] and have made a couple of friends in my neighborhood and even started attending a second bible study with some women from our church. I've even driven on a few occasions when I didn't need to get out of the car much.
So there is our update. We are in a busy season. Drew is working hard, but will finally get a weekend Sunday and Monday and I have been doing a lot of reading (scriptures and medical research) when I can and walking Digory.

K

We are nerds

The real title of this post should be I'm a nerd because officially Drew doesn't like this chair. He thinks it is impractical. I suppose part of me agrees that I would be scared I might spill a drink on my books or that I would lean back and hit my head or the fact that this is incredibly heavy & a bit on the expensive side. Beyond that... doesn't it just make the bookworm inside of you drool with desire of how close you could snuggle up to your books? Aaah. The thought just makes me feel like a warm fire and a cozy sweatshirt-blanket have just been put before me. Ooh, some hot chocolate would go well with this fantasy.

K

The Office weigh-in

Did anyone catch the season premiere of the Office? It was pure comic genious. If you missed it, please do yourself a favor and watch it online on NBC.com. I won't spoil it for you if you haven't seen it [or finished all but the last 15 minutes.. Drew, you are really putting a strain on communication in our marriage. please, finish it.] The episode was all about weight loss as an office and essentially that meant adopting a healthy lifestyle, but really the focus was on the pounds. Each person had some 'great' strategies for trying to shed the pounds.
As one of about five women in the US who wants to gain weight I am trying to brainstorm the opposite problem... how to put the pounds on. It's harder than it seems, well at least to do it in a way that is healthy, i.e. not just eating junk food. If anyone has any tips on how to gain weight feel free to pass them along. Otherwise, just don't hate me for asking and watch the Office for a good laugh to forget I even mentioned it.

K

Our Neighbor Skip

Digory and I made a new friend.. well, technically we made two. Skip and his dog Blue. Skip lives down the street and rules the neighborhood from his red truck or preferably from his riding lawn mower, which he frequently rides up and down our busy street. In either vehicle he prefers to be sans shirt and is accompanied by his shepherd mix dog with one blue eye. Blue walks leashed beside the mower proudly and Skip waves at everyone he sees. I wave too if I'm outside. It's a one-man, one-dog parade. He's probably in his sixties, retired and is extremely hospitable, honest, and kind. I have yet to meet his wife, but from the praises he speaks of her I am looking forward to it.

Blue and Digory are officially best friends. Really, while I've tried to get Digs to befriend my friends' dogs he just hasn't quite bonded as quickly to them as he has to Blue. He and Blue are both boys and about the same age and they run and chase each other and just have a grand 'ol time. Some days I walk by Skip's house and he is sitting out front with Blue and Digory drags me across to play. Skip pulls up a chair and we talk about dogs, birds, churches, and of course the neighborhood. Skip really does rule the neighborhood in my opinion because he seems to know everyone and everyone knows him. He's a great resource. I now know the ethnicity of most of my neighbors. I also know that one of my neighbors has a temper and I should be careful of upsetting him. I learned not to pet a certain neighborhood dog because it bit Skip on the hand and there used to be chickens and roosters living across from Skip, but someone complained [not Skip] and they're gone now. Oh, and I also learned that souring milk isn't bad for dogs to drink... Skip had some out for Blue and Digory decided it was his. That was fine except Digory is very furry and food tends to stick around his face. You probably see where I'm going with this...

So, after a lovely visit with Skip yesterday I saw a hummingbird, some swallows, learned a lot, and I left with a tired dog, four very muddy paws, and a very sour smelling dog in desperate need of a bath.

K

Movies!

My latest hobby has been making myself dizzy while doing internet research on POTS. It is loads of fun as long as I don't have to get up afterwards. I may have even found a specialist in North Carolina today, but I have some phone calls to make to see if it is accepting of our insurance. So yippy skippy.

If you feel inclined to watch, this two-part video gives a pretty good description of my current life. If you want to understand me better, this is a short [approx. 10 minute] way to understand more about what I have so much trouble explaining. I didn't make them, but I'm glad "chronicallyKyli" did.

Part 1
Part 2

K

Mystery solved??

Maybe this will be the last 'medical' post for a while and we can get back to posting about more interesting things, like Drew's new job or our cute little dog. But, for now, since I don't want to explain what my doctor said several times over the phone because I am still napping a lot.. here goes. I have POTS. No, they, aren't just on the cool pot rack Drew built me for Christmas last year..

Postural Orthostatic Tachycardia Syndrome plus vestibular migraines. So, I was already being treated for the migraines, which can cause dizziness, but the POTS explains my low blood pressure, fatigue, inability to walk straight, and it also explains the randomness of the episodes. Well, that's the hope at least. I was told I had this a couple years ago, but then told maybe I don't, and once the migraines were treated it seemed a little clearer that I do have it. So I guess that makes me a winner. My prize? A new prescription AND just because I was so patient (pun intented), I also got a prescription for thigh high medical support hose. It is supposed to keep blood from pooling in my legs and help it flow to important places like my brain so I don't pass out. Fun. Feel free to google it yourself or check here for more info on POTS http://www.potsplace.com

I am really thankful that we are starting to get some answers and hopeful that this new treatment for POTS will work better than the last one I tried a couple years ago. My current doctor seems much more educated on POTS and willing to try the latest treatments for it. So, we will just continue to pray that I will be back to normal soon. Then I can stop posting about napping and start writing about looking for a job.

K

Naps

I don't like naps, but I took a two hour one today... a two and a half hour-er yesterday, a three hour-er on Saturday and on Sunday, the one day I think naps are pleasant, I had three. I don't know the duration of each, but I do know that I still am not sure if the US men won that water polo gold medal.
I'm not lazy... I'm just on drugs... prescription drugs to treat migraines. (If you really think I'm lazy & just want to fight or are curious, feel free to read a longer version of the story earlier in this blog labeled 'remembering normal'.) The naps happen to be a bit of an annoying side effect from the medicine I take which seems to help, but overall I've been feeling pretty crummy lately. Hopefully my naps will help me feel better, even if I don't like 'em.

K

We have a cute dog

Ever since I brought him home from the rescue place Digory has been especially attached to me. He likes Katie but he really likes me. If we both call him he comes to me. If she goes outside he wants to stay with me. When I leave he pouts. Now he has made lots of progress since she spends more time with him. He doesn't follow my every foot step around the house any more, not even to the kitchen. But he does follow me to the bathroom. There he sits on the mat by the tub and watches me pee. I still haven't decided how I feel about it. I'm just glad he's not tall enough to drink from the toilet.

D

Growing Veggies

The thing about growing your own veggies is scale. You need to grow enough so they actually make it inside to cook with. I tend to eat them pretty soon after picking (like before I get to the top of the steps). I bet my tomatoes would be great on a sandwich, but I guess I'll never know.

D

What not to Lick

I learned something very important today.

I made some salsa from a recipe off Good Eats (great show by the way). As I was chopping the chillies I wondered what kind of chillies they were since they were only labeled Chillies at the farmers market. How hot was this little green chili? Only one way to find out.

Yes I did lick the inside of what I now know is a Jalapeno.

Good thing Alton Brown informed me milk was the best thing to combat the fire that has no flame. I should have also followed his recommendation to use gloves. Even after washing your hands several times, and waiting several hours, the hot stuff can still burn when you pick your nose.

D

We don't want to grow up

It has occurred to us in the past couple of days that being grown up is highly overrated. We are currently renting our home and we enjoy it. It is a cute 1930's bungalow with a white picket fence, two bedrooms, a decent-sized kitchen, laundry room, two fireplaces, a big yard, and a front porch with a swing. Who cares that there is a bus depot that is just down the street... it is summer after all. And that loud rumbling noise? Yeah, we're used to the train tracks... we're a whole three blocks away.. almost. Really, it is a great house, in a good part of town, and the price is right. Our year lease will be officially up on this great house on Friday and we need to have a conversation with our landlord about what we are doing. But, please, don't label us as total slackers.. we had initial conversations...

Landlord: "We really like you two. Are you planning on staying?"
Drew&Katie: "We like it here too."

Then we had a tree fall on our house during a lightning storm which caused some damage to the porch and well.. we are getting a new roof tomorrow.. so needless to say this rental property is getting more and more expensive for our landlords.

So now the conversation in the past few days as interpreted by Drew...
Landlord: "Would you be interested in buying the house?"
Drew&Katie: "Uh... um... let me get back to you."

Drew [to katie] "are we interested in buying this house?"
Katie [to drew] "yeah, but we are probably more interested in continuing to eat on a daily basis."

Actually, the conversation between Drew and I was more serious than that, but it did lead to a similar conclusion. We even checked our credit scores tonight so we can have some facts to back us up when we turn down the offer to buy our cute little bungalow. In his conversation with our landlady, Drew mentioned that they might be trying to sell our home to buy another house on the market. While this is still not confirmed, it sounded like they were wanting to move quickly so I am preparing us for a quick move just in case we are forced out sooner than we expected. I have begun once more the dreaded search for the perfect home. Cheap rent, well-maintained, quiet neighbors, spacious, clean, and now dog-friendly. Did I mention that we don't really want to grow up?

K

Remembering Normal

Last week was fun. Drew and I were blessed with the opportunity to spend a week and a half in beautiful northern Virginia with my brother and his wife. We went so Drew could work, which he did, and I played. I am stopping the sentence there for emphasis... I got to play!
For those of you stumbling upon our humble blog you may not understand that this is really an impressive feat for me. For five years now I have been seeking healing & answers for unexplained bouts of dizziness & migraines that have progressively gotten more frequent. This past year I have had to pass on work opportunities because my health has been so unpredictable and debilitating. There have been other weeks when I have felt good and actually some in which I've felt better, but how kind of God to give me a week of good health while visiting my family!
Overall, I think I might be getting better... my doctor seems to have found a migraine medication that is helping, despite some annoying side effects. I am going to an acupuncture/massage therapist every few weeks. And, for good measure, while I have been too tired to cook [meaning about 300 of the last 365 days], 'Chef' Drew has prescribed a nearly organic diet [migraine diet]. (Have I mentioned how great my husband is? He is truly amazing!)
Oh, so, what did I play? Well, I played Wii, mostly Wii Fit, but also Mario Kart, although too much did make me a bit dizzy. While Drew wasn't working we both played tourist. We went to Mount Vernon and a Smithsonian exhibition on Jim Henson & the Muppets. We went to the Library of Congress and ate lunch on the roof of my brother's office which overlooks the White House. [the snipers weren't on the roof so we assumed Bush wasn't home] I also played softball! I didn't do anything that will get me a MLB contract, but I still ran and stood up for two hours! I even went to a jazz concert for a picnic dinner with my brother/sister-in-law and another lovely couple in the sculpture garden. What a great week to remind me that I may have sat on my sofa for most of the past year, but I still have the ability to carry on a conversation, play, and recognize God's kindness in my life.

K

We are bloggers!

After about a year of periodic discussion and occasional spurts of creativity Drew & I have jumped into the blogosphere. Previously, our creative discussion was almost entirely focused on what we should call our blog. Our titular discussion was sparked by a comment from our friend Blake who told us that we were "two goofy peas in a pod." We liked this summation of ourselves so much that we hoped to create a blog around it... but well I guess you can see we opted for a less 'showy' name. We also tried playing with some name options centered around our surname, but opted for some anonyminity in this big place we call the world-wide web. So here we are... "Drew & Katie." If you're reading this you likely know us, so hi, but if not we will introduce ourselves more as time passes so feel free to keep visiting.

K