JELLO CRISIS.........

this is my life, post ulcer diagnosis.....LOL!

JELLO......

I have tried the pineapple, sparkling grape, cherry, strawberry...and what I realize is jello is like eating air.......flavorful.....but, empty calories...something to stick in your mouth, when you wish you could be eating eggs and bacon......or roast beef.....a wendy's baconator........UGGGGGGGGH!

and I realized my jello is mushy...not firm, when ex-hubby brought me jello snack packs the other day....that JELLO has substance....mine is not FIRM. JELLO CRISIS!!!

What am I doing wrong?????

How am I going to survive this bland diet? Almost every food I love, is not on it. No tomatoes, no grapefruits, no bacon, no salt......NO SALT and pepper!!! No alcohol...no french fries....no seafood......NO BERRIES......JUST JELLO.....

Of course, I could be having peanut butter....but, there is unfortunately a salmonella issue at the moment!!!! and I am all out of peanut butter in my pantry.... This could not have come at a worst moment in time.

At least peanut butter and jelly would have gotten me through. How could every jar of peanut butter be contaminated? This seems proposterous to me!

OKAY...... I just took a look see......and found the advice I was given by several well meaning friends and family was not entirely based in fact....THERE IS HOPE!!!

Here is what I found out, dated January 23rd, 2009:

1. The FDA has confirmed that the sources of the outbreak of illnesses caused by Salmonella Typhimurium are peanut butter and peanut paste produced by the Peanut Corporation of America (PCA) at its Blakely, Georgia processing plant.

2. None of PCA's products are directly sold to consumers.

3. While investigating,the FDA determined that PCA's peanut products were distributed to more than 70 consignee firms, for use as an ingredient in hundreds of different products, such as cookies, crackers, cereal, candy and ice cream.

4. FDA has created a searchable database for these consignee products, which can be found HERE.

5. The identification of products subject to recall is continuing and this list is updated frequently.

6.Major national brands of jarred peanut butter found in grocery stores are not affected by the PCA recall.

7. King Nut peanut butter is also contaminated.

8. The latest info on the outbreak can be found HERE.

YIPPEEEEEEEEE!!! I am betting on Crazy Richard's Natural Peanut Butter....I bet it is okay...so there is HOPE for me getting through this ulcer diet. I LOVE PEANUT BUTTER AND JELLY.

It pays to do research....I really thought it odd every peanut butter was suddenly contaminated.....it seemed totally ridiculous to me...and it was.

Wishing you a great Sunday......

SMiles to you,
DC

STOMACH ULCERS.........et al.........

Well, I have been predicting its arrival for this past year.......and IT SHOWED UP!

I knew it that morning (1/20), when I was walking around Michael's looking for supplies...it sort of felt like that movie ALIENS....something blew out the front and the back. I came home, threw up a few times.....but, still packed up my ebay sales, went to the post office......waited in a long line...

Almost threw up all over my favorite post office worker....not sure how I drove home, but made it....just in time for another session of you know what....
and all night long........every hour on the hour...I could not even keep water down!

Did I go to the hospital, then? NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!! I felt I was too sick to go to the hospital......LOL!!!

After tossing my cookies, so to speak for a day and a half relentlessly....I finally let myself be persuaded to go to the emergency ward (1/21)....what can I say, I WAS WEAK AND DELIRIOUS!!! I hate doctors, I hate hospitals even more.

I went and just in the nick of time! My potassium had reached dangerously low levels, to the point I was admitted for possible cardiac arrest. I agreed to stay till 7am the following morning, only because MY EX HUSBAND,refused to drive me home. Yes, he actually took me to the hospital.......can you believe it?

They ultrasounded me, EKGeed me, CatScanned me...and decided I also had an enlarged pancreas....wishful thinking. I kept telling them I THOUGHT I HAD AN ULCER...but, they were not listening.

Your pancreas does get enlarged after that much vomiting......I mean it is pretty tough on the digestive system......

Later that morning the gastroenterologist, persuaded me to do an endoscopy....I agreed since, he felt I had a possible ulcer per his review and basically bagged the pancreatis diagnosis of the rest of the medical dweebs.

It seems I have a stomach ulcer the size of a silver dollar, which is larger than average. Is that a surprise considering what my life has been for the past 7 years divorcing the ex.......trying to get the house under control, find a full time JOB, be fully self supporting, and deal with dating in the milenium........HELLO....

I am not surprised. UFO boyfriend, said it is my lifestyle....yes, he still is trying to get back in my good graces....but, just between you all and I...he is part and parcel of a big chunk of the acid that tore into my gut and I told him so! Along with the EX.......who has never been so nice to me, even when we were honeymooning!!! LOL! So what does this all say, MEAN?

1. Ex's can redeem themselves......perhaps???? Honestly, the jury is still out on this one....

2. UFO boyfriends...will always be that...UFO's.

3. The lifestyle changes that need to be made in my life, are knowing when to hold em and when to fold em and walk away, from difficult and disruptive people, influences, projects....because, they can KILL you.

4. I feel a new affinity towards JELLO.

5. I have no idea how I am going to be able to stay on a bland diet....NO SPICES...I am the CHILI POWDER QUEEN!

6. NO ALCOHOL til the ulcer heals....none, no wine, no beer, no martinis...

7. I need to learn to take on less stress from my environment.....

8. I think morning and evening meditation is in order........

9. I am sick of chicken consomme.

10. I think when I stopped knitting, the stomach acid took over....I need to knit more to keep my sanity and the stomach acid at bay!!!!!

Oh and the really biggie, not listed above, is I NEED TO REALLY QUIT SMOKING....not cut down.......so it is the PATCH for me, FEBRUARY 1st. NO EXCUSES.....smoking contributes to ulcers.

I need to go back to bed and rest. I am sore from this bout with death and that endoscopy destroyed my throat, my mouth....and bruised my face...not sure why that happened.

Wishing you a great evening.......

Smiles to you,
DC

It's January 2009........

and I am having a hard time remembering to write 2009.....already have a mental block on this year.......why?

Only a knitting disaster to report........the perennial UFO cables and lace cardigan from 2004 that was so close to completion.............finished the sleeves, found a problem with the back, ripped out to armholes............while ripping out, found more errors all the way down near the bottom so had to rip out the entire back........

and then just after I finished that, found out Beluga, the fruitcake puppy.......decided in the interim to chew on the pinned sleeves stitch holder.......it is pretty mangled......so one sleeve now, also has to be fixed.

Here she is posing with part of the sweater...for a ravelry shot.

NOOOOOOO.....I did not kill her, but I will admit I considered it for at least a full second. Needless to say, she spent the rest of the evening in puppy jail.......for her own safety!!!

This sweater is ILL-FATED....no matter how you look at it....still not done after 5 years...

Should there be a time limit, when a UFO..........should be frogged?

Look how she mangled that metal stitch holder....which, made me wonder where was I when she was working on that.

And just the day before, she ended up in puppy jail.......for having part of a bamboo needle in her mouth...........it took a few days, but I found the other parts.........and it was the clapotis scarf that she attacked......so that warranted another day in puppy jail, for her.

My concern is this puppy does not seem to respect my fiber projects and in particular my fiber tools!!!

.......or is it she just knows which, projects are permanent UFO's........and is helping me out?

I was not happy with the yarn used in my Clapotis Scarf.....it was verging on becoming a UFO......but, how did she know? and was that an excuse to destroy a perfectly good set of needles? LOL!!!

So this is how my year began..........

Wishing you a wonderful year.......

SMILES To you,

DC