Hog Heaven

We've just returned from a trip to western North Carolina, with a college visit in Virginia along the way. When I researched our trip, I didn't get too many good "hits" for celiac-friendly places in the general vicinity, so we packed up the car with GF pasta, flour, bread, pizza dough, cookies -- enough to last a hungry teenager for a week. Right before we left I found the Glutino brand oreo type cookies which, according to Daniel, are pretty good for a GF cookie. Still, I knew there would be a number of times that we would have to eat in restaurants, so I was concerned.

We stayed overnight near Blacksburg, VA so that we could do a tour of Virginia Tech. I asked the hotel clerk for food recommendations, and she reeled off a list of fast food names that were not good for gluten-free eating. Then she said, "Oh, and there's a barbecue place a couple of miles down the road. You can't miss the sign with the big pink pig." We decided to check out the menu. It was either that, or a baked potato at Wendy's, which would have been okay, but not great.

I went into the restaurant first to ask about gluten free choices. I don't know -- I may have been the first person ever to ask, because I had to explain gluten. However -- the people at Due South BBQ were wonderful. They went over all their ingredients, and we determined that it would be okay for Daniel to eat there. It turned out to be okay for all of us. The meat was falling-off-the-bone delicious, there were numerous sauces to choose from, and we even were lucky enough to visit on a night with live music.

Our tour guide at Virginia Tech had a soy allergy, so she was a good person to ask about dining with special needs. She pointed out a dining hall where we could eat lunch. It was okay. Based on what I saw, I'm not sure it's that easy to stay on a GF diet there. But wow, what a lovely school.

As we headed south, barbecue became our go-to choice for safe celiac eating. Granted, we had to ask that no hush puppies or fries or rolls touch the plate, and Daniel couldn't satisfy his sweet tooth afterward (unless they had vanilla ice cream). But he could eat his fill of barbecue (ribs, pulled pork, chicken), beans, and cole slaw with no problem. By the end of the week we had all had enough of barbecue. Even my husband. I've never seen that happen before!

I did find a listing for a totally gluten-free restaurant in Asheville, But there was major construction on that particular road, and we just couldn't find it. We ended up eating at Moe 's Southwest Grill (a fast food chain) for lunch that day, and the lady behind the counter there went out of her way to make sure Daniel's nachos were gluten free. The cheesy sauce that is poured on top of nachos is often NOT gluten free, but she sprinkled regular shredded cheese on his nachos and heated them up in the clamshell cooker. It took an extra 5 minutes, but we appreciated the attention to detail.

On one of our trips, we ended up in the small town of Brevard, NC. We found a lovely place there: Rocky's Soda Shop, which is set up like an old fashioned soda shop restaurant with a lovely lunch counter, great milkshakes, and fun, touristy stuff for sale. (I bought a Transylvania County t-shirt that has the saying "Transylvania County / Just Bite Me"). We were hoping to get a bunless burger there, but they only sold hot dogs. Hot dogs often have gluten, so that was a no-no. But they also made chili, and the cook told us what was in it. He even made it into a chili/salad combo so that Daniel could have a side dish. They were great. The milkshakes were made with Edy's ice cream, which we know is okay.

So the celiac thing went okay. But with all that fat, the blood sugar numbers were running high! We had a little scare when Daniel changed his site one day, and when he was trying to prime his pump, it gave the message "no delivery." He tried and retried a few times, and finally it worked. We didn't know what happened, but were happy that the pump was pumping, When we got home, this happened again, so we called minimed's technical assistance number. Daniel kept trying to get it to work while he was waiting on hold, and after about 10 minutes, it started to work again. When the technician came on the phone, she told us that it probably was not the pump (whew!). It is usually the case that there is a problem with the set, something that happens at the factory. Perhaps the lubricant didn't get all the way into the set, or the needle is bent. They have a set of steps to go through to find out exactly what the problem is. But they were nice, they sent us a couple of replacement sets, and if the problem happens again Daniel will go through the steps with the technician to find out what is wrong. I'm just glad it's not the pump!

Western North Carolina is beautiful. We visited plenty of waterfalls, saw wild elk, wild turkeys, hundreds of butterflies, and we hiked a lot of trails. And climbed a few. Nothing like a steep incline to get those leg muscles working! The scenery on the Blue Ridge parkway is gorgeous! My daughter and I had lots of fun checking out the arts & crafts as well! My friend Jeanne taught us a great family game (pegs and jokers), which was our fun activity every evening.

We even got to feed some burros, which lived near our cabin. They like carrots! All in all, it was a great trip.

Range of Motion

It feels so good to have my cast off. And while I remain stiff and sore, and I don't have my complete range of motion back yet, typing is certainly much easier now than it has been for the past 6 weeks. type type type type ahhhhhhh.

A little more than 6 weeks ago I was doing some lovely yoga stretches on the kitchen floor, right before bedtime. I stood up, and then I guess I tripped over my own feet... I don't know exactly what I did. I only know that I was falling forward, off balance, and couldn't get my feet under me to stand up. The kitchen counter was zooming quickly toward my face, so I put my hand out... and ouch. I happened to be right next to the refrigerator when this happened, so I grabbed the ice wrap out of the freezer and ran down the stairs to where Matt was typing away at the computer. I couldn't get the ice pack in it's little comfort sleeve, so between curses I asked for his help and then paced the basement in a rather manic way. I felt that if I stopped moving (or cursing), my arm would hurt more. I think Matt thought I had suddenly lost my mind.

It was late, and since I could wiggle my fingers and there was no swelling (thank you ice) I did not believe that I had broken anything. I didn't want to wake up the kids to tell them that we were going to the hospital, either. So I told Matt that if it was still bad in the morning, he could take me in for an x-ray then.

After a night of no sleep, I thought it would be a pretty good idea to get an x-ray. We are about halfway between two hospitals, and we went to Montgomery General because it was opposite rush hour traffic. Matt dropped me off at the emergency room entrance and went to park the car. The nurse at the desk asked what was wrong, and I told her that I had hurt my wrist & needed an x-ray.

There was another nurse standing at the desk, just shooting the breeze with the admitting nurse. She pipes up, "OH, my daughter fell and broke her wrist, and it was just AWFUL! She had to have SURGERY, and SCREWS put in, and it took her MONTHS to get better!" I thought, "gee, what a nice welcome committee," and said out loud, "I don't think it's broken... I'm just playing it safe." And thanks for scaring the crap out of me.

The emergency room doctor was great. She told me, after pressing here and there, that she thought I broke my radius and my schaphoid (thumb) bone. The schaphoid break is difficult to see on x-rays, so she planned on having the radiologist take a good close up. When the x-rays finally came back, she showed them to me on the computer. "Look," she said. "In these 3 x-rays, you can't see the break. But in THIS one..." and there were the break lines. Not all the way through, thank goodness, but fractures.

The nurse handed me some pills to take (I had to ask what they were -- advil) and told me that if I went to Potomac Valley orthopedists, then I wouldn't need to pick up my x-rays from radiology because the Potomac people could just get them on their computers. So Matt took me home. CVS said my prescription would take 2 hours (UGH!). I called Potomac Valley to make the appointment for the next day. "Do you have your x-rays?" they asked. I explained what the nurse said. "We can't get the x-rays over the computer," was the response.

So back I went to the hospital. Did I mention that they are doing construction there? No parking anywhere. I drove around and around the parking lot for 15 minutes before I finally found a spot. Went to radiology, gave my name, signed for the x-rays, and left. CVS finally had my prescription (pain meds) but I couldn't take them because I still had to go out to pick up Dominic from after care at his school.

When it was time to get him, I thought I'd better put that x-ray in my purse so I wouldn't forget it in the morning. I look closely at the CD -- and the name on it was not mine. *sigh* They gave me the wrong x-ray. Some lady's lungs. I called Montgomery General, and they apologized. They told me my x-rays would be waiting at the front desk.

So back I go to to the hospital for the 3rd time that day, kids in tow. I pull into the driveway (wasn't about to drive around looking for parking) and hop out, because my x-rays are supposed to be sitting there for me at the front desk. No... they are not. They send me back to radiology again.

At radiology, I hand over the wrong x-rays and ask for mine. The lady behind the counter starts yelling at me. "Who gave you these x-rays? I was looking for these, I had to make a new set! Did YOU sign for these?" On and on. LADY. I have not slept all night and I have a broken wrist. GIVE ME MY X-RAY.

I finally sign for the correct x-ray and go home. Take my meds and go to bed. The next day I go to Potomac Valley to see the orthopedist. They pop the x-ray CD into the machine and... there is only 1 x-ray on it. Not the one where you can see the breaks. I explained what the ER doctor told me, so they took some more x-rays. They did not do a close up, and they didn't get the angle right... so they did not see the breaks! Oh, and did I mention -- my wrist is not swollen AT ALL. The orthopedist is looking at me like I'm crazy. I told him I had the report from the hospital, but he says, "Oh no, I'LL call over there myself."

After a while he returns and says that based on the hospital's report, AND my pain, they are going to cast me. See you in 6 weeks. Gee, thanks.

On Thursday, after they took off the cast, this same doctor breezed into the office, checked my x-ray, pressed quickly on my wrist, and declared everything to be just great. He said I could go back to full activity. I told him that I do yoga, and that I put full weight on my hands for full arm balance. "No problem," he said. Just stretch it back and forth." He waggled his hand a bit. "It will feel funny at first." He spent about 2 minutes total in the room with me and then was on his way. They gave me a splint to wear, but I had to ask them how long I would be wearing it, if I had to wear it at night, etc.

Luckily, my friend Marci's husband is a hand therapist, and he heard the story and made time to see me on Friday. He gave me exercises to do to get my range of motion back. He recommended that I don't put full weight on my hand until 10 weeks after the injury, and recommended therapy to help with the stiffness and pain.

All I can say is, WTF, Potomac Valley? Also, if I ever slip and fall on the ice in front of Montgomery General hospital, and find that I need an x-ray, I'm going to get in a cab and have them drive me over to Holy Cross. I think that will be much safer.

Cabin Fever

I don't know how people who live in cold climates get along. One week of this snowdiculousness and I'm ready to climb the walls! It doesn't help that I still have a cast on my arm that needs to stay dry, and doesn't make shoveling easy.

Of course, people who live in cold climates have the resources available to deal with this much snow, and most likely would have had their road plowed by now. Or they would have just gotten into their 4 wheel drive vehicle and gone out. Not the case in Maryland.

So we've played Scrabble and Bananagrams and video games. We've emailed and facebooked and tweeted, taken pictures, payed bills, cooked cooked cooked, and laundry laundry laundry. The house is vacuumed and dusted (to an extent), but somehow, the kids' rooms remain a mess. Daniel had a cold and high blood sugar readings, but that subsided after a few days. Nora and Dominic take turns either playing nicely or screaming at each other loud enough to be heard by their cousin in California. We're all antsy.

I do have something to show for a house-bound week -- a couple of excellent gluten free recipes. Roll-out cookies and brownies. They are seriously the best gluten free brownies ever. They are so good, I think I might have to market them. And as fearful as I am of taking great leaps, that's saying something. I have no idea how to follow that path, but am encouraged to take the first steps.

After my road is plowed, that is. Until then, we will eat all the brownies ourselves.

Snowmageddon

The storm has been dubbed Snowmageddon, for threatening multiple feet and its windy, blizzardy nature. But no worries. Snowmageddon all you want! There's chicken stew already made, sitting in the fridge. The diabetes supplies are all stocked up, and I even fought my way through the grocery store yesterday for some and delicious Florida strawberries (but actually to pick up some washing machine soap). Matt's home, too -- yay!! He picked up some red wine just before the heavy snow started falling. The neighbors are already checking in for play dates & get togethers. Life is good.

The powers that be let us off at noon today, but there were so few kids in the class that it was an easy day. Maybe we'll even be off on Monday, my busy day, for a complete bonus.

In Maryland we don't get the February break that school systems in New England get, and it always seems like a looooooong stretch from winter break to spring. Hard to stay focused, short days making for short tempers, and it feels like the school year has gone on for 10 months already. As my friend Leah says, every February she says she's quitting. (I'm sure the students have the same sentiment!)

But this year mother nature has given us a reprieve. Break out the board games and pour the cocoa (or the wine). Thank you, snow. I really needed you.

A few lines from Billy Collins' "Shoveling Snow with Buddha"

But here we are, working our way down the driveway,
one shovelful at a time.
We toss the light powder into the clear air.
We feel the cold mist on our faces.
And with every heave we disappear
and become lost to each other
in these sudden clouds of our own making,
these fountain-bursts of snow.

This is so much better than a sermon in church,
I say out loud, but Buddha keeps on shoveling.
This is the true religion, the religion of snow,
and sunlight and winter geese barking in the sky,
I say, but he is too busy to hear me.

He has thrown himself into shoveling snow
as if it were the purpose of existence,
as if the sign of a perfect life were a clear driveway
you could back the car down easily
and drive off into the vanities of the world
with a broken heater fan and a song on the radio.

Endo craziness

What do you do when you just can't get in to see the endocrinologist? Daniel is supposed to have an appointment every three months to check his A1c, go over his blood sugar history, and have a quick check up. I usually make the appointment three months in advance -- at the end of whatever appointment we're at. But we had a major FAIL this time. My husband took Daniel to his appointment in November. I didn't tell him to make a new appointment before he left. So here it is, 2 months later, and I started thinking hmmm. When is Daniel seeing the endo next? Yikes!

The next available opening is in May. MAY! I took it, of course.

Since Daniel was diagnosed, we've only had experience with the endocrinology department at Children's Hospital. I love the staff, the nurses, and especially Daniel's endocronologist. But it is so hard to get an appointment there! It seems like you have to have an emergency to be seen sometimes! At some point in the not to distant future, Daniel will grow out of the Children's system. I don't know at what age they no longer consider him to be a "child." I wonder where we'll go, and whether we'll have to wait 3 - 5 months to get an appointment.

GF Goodness in Stamford, CT

A couple of weeks ago when we took a drive up to visit my in laws in Connecticut, we stopped in Stamford to take my husband's aunt out for lunch. I Googled around looking for a place with a gluten free menu, and found a place listed right in Stamford where we were stopping. It is called Frascati's, and it is at 581 Newfield Avenue.

Frascati's is a small, Italian restaurant with a great GF menu. Daniel ordered a pizza (they use the Still Riding pizza crust, which we also can get here at restaurants in MD). But they had more than just pizza. They had a full GF menu with GF pastas, appetizers, and a warm delicious GF brownie for dessert. Daniel split a calamari in tomato sauce appetizer with my husband. We found out later that, even though it is not on the menu, we could have requested gluten free fried calamari, and the chef would have prepared it. Daniel hasn't had that since being diagnosed, and I think we might make the trek up to Stamford again just for that!

It is just so nice to go to a restaurant where we don't have to worry, and where everyone in the family can find something they can eat. Thanks, Frascati's, for making it easy and delicious.

At last!!!

Daniel got his braces off today. Phew! Poor kid has had an appliance of one sort or another in his mouth for the past nine years -- longer than he's been alive! Of course, he still has to wear retainers, but still -- what a relief. At least those can come off!

I told Daniel my retainer story. I had mine in junior high. I took it out to eat, and put it on a napkin on my tray. When lunch was over, I forgot about the retainer, and dumped it into the trash everything else. A class period or so later, I got that "UH OH" feeling... and not too long after that I was digging through enormous trash cans looking for my retainer. I found it. I boiled it...

Today when I was at work, I saw another teacher walking in front of me. She had pump tubing coiling out of her back pocket and then going under her clothes. The coils were sticking out quite a bit, so I tapped her on the arm as I was walking by and said, "hey, your tubing is sticking out." She said thanks, and tucked it in. I walked back to my classroom, sat down, and thought, wait... maybe that wasn't the right thing to do! It's something I do automatically when I see Daniel's spilling out of his clothes, because he tends to catch it on door knobs or drawer handles. He's ripped a couple of sites out that way, ouch! Anyway, I'm his mom! But until the moment this afternoon when I saw the other teacher's tubing, I didn't even know she was diabetic. Should I have said anything?

Speaking of pumping, Daniel has really taken over his diabetes management over this past 6 months or so. I used to tell him when it was a site change day. Now he tells me. He mostly does that himself as well, unless he's inserting into a place that's difficult for him to reach. I wonder how diabetics who live on their own reach the back of their arms, or other difficult spots, for that matter. I'm sure some have partners, roommates, moms, or other friends who help them out with the "ka-chunker" (as we call it) to insert the infusion set. But what if you live on your own? Daniel can twist around and get his hips pretty well, although he has to look in a mirror. The arms are practically impossible for him.

In any case, it's been wonderful for Daniel to take charge of his care. It makes me feel better about the looming college separation. Now if he would only take on gluten free cooking...

I guess I'll search youtube for how to self administer infusion sets in difficult places -- you can find almost anything on that site.

Keep smiling!!