Kefir- Diagnosis Update

Kefir, photo credit

After three weeks of treatment for my ulcerative proctitis, I have made only 

marginal improvements but the symptoms persist.  I have to begin a maintenance 

program with the medication now plus have another appointment in late July.

In the meantime I was communicating to my doctor through the healthcare

portal and explained how my symptoms had stopped at one time, until my family 

doctor prescribed a Zpack antibiotic when I came down with a sinus infection.

As soon as I took the first two pills it flared up again.  Since it was antibiotics

that caused the flare up I thought perhaps it killed off all that good bacteria

in my gut.  He agreed, it wouldn't hurt to try.

The easiest thing was to pick some up at the store to see which type I 

liked the best.  In my smaller store there was only cherry and plain, other stores 

will carry multiple flavors and formats.  There is regular kefir, organic, frozen, Greek style, vegie, kefir cheese and flavors within these categories.  Mine is Cherry.- 

you can link to its info here.  There are also recipes at this site that include dips and

marinades, breads and salads plus lots more.

I can tell you that it tastes like drinking a thick yogurt (but has twice the live and active cultures).   I prefer the light yogurt and dislike the new Greek style.  It's just a texture thing. I like thin milkshakes and ice cream as well.  Most people would like this a lot. It is tart, very cherry tasting, just like my thin cherry yogurt but thick.

You drink a cup a day or you can drizzle it over granola, cereals, make smoothies

or anything else you'd like make out of it.  For me, I just drink it.

Yesterday was my first day and I'm just finishing up another cup today.

In a few days I'll see how I'm doing.  I'll try some different flavors too, 

I think I'd like the blueberry.

I think I'd like it layered in yummy granola, maybe with whipped cream on

the top- but don't think I'll be adding those calories to my diet!  LOL

Potato Tower

The potato tower has been in place for a couple of years

but only a few layers deep.  We never dissembled it to

get the potatoes but rather just dug down and harvested as needed

leaving the smaller ones as seed potatoes for the next season.

This year we added more compost as the vines grew with a couple extra board

layers.  As the vines emerge you just keep covering them almost to the top

with more dirt/straw/compost or a combination.  Our neighbors used

all straw while ours was dirt and then only compost from that point.  Ours

look better but we may have different varieties; however, I think our 

compost makes the difference.  As you cover the vines new potatoes

begin to grow so you end up with layers and layers of potatoes.

Once they flower and the vines die, you

begin taking off the boards to harvest.  There is no

digging in the ground and we don't do any weeding.

We'll see how they produced in this very wet Spring and beginnings of Summer.

We've covered the top to keep raccoon from digging, they must like

potatoes too or just the bugs that burrow into the compost.

Next to the potatoes we have a small side garden where we typically grow

the early radish and salad greens and then move on to some cherry tomatoes

and beans and regular greens.  This year has not been the best but we do have 

a few tomato plants and one green pepper. I hope they start producing more

once we see the sun again.  There is horseradish in another raised bed and it

 seems to be taking off well.

We don't even have the big garden started due to

the very soggy conditions.  There are a couple of blackberry plants and one

elderberry growing but nothing else besides weeds.

Maybe we can get a fall crop in soon.

Berries

We don't have many vegetable crops in due to soggy conditions but anything producing fruit or berries is truly enjoying the season.

The blackberries are doing very well with the unusual amount of rain we have been having.  I planted a couple varieties last year which seem to be taking off.  This one has larger berries but fewer of them.  There are no thorns on this variety so I'm hoping to get berries before anything else does.  I really can't eat the seeds so my end result will be jelly or sorbet.  There is evidence of bugs but I don't see extensive damage on them.

The other variety is a more compact berry and it has spread outside of it's raised box.  My husband put cattle panels to tie up the arching branches but we may need another row to support the plants that grew from rooted vines that sprawled away from the fence.

Our lone elderberry (Bob Gordon) is blooming.  There is a field of them

about a mile or two up the road, planted by a new elderberry farmer

who has planted several varieties.  I'm hoping to see the pollination benefits from his rows.  The blooms smell magnificent.

The mimosa is as large as its ever been and stating to bloom with the most sweet smelling flowers.  My neighbor has a very large pair at the top of our drive and you can smell it as you come close.  After the storm several of the flowers were thrown onto the road, still sweet smelling so I picked up a few so Taylor could have a nice whiff.

And finally, a volunteer mulberry where I can let it grow without

running into our coop or rooting under our front porch deck.  Hopefully this one will give us mulberies in years to come.  I am hoping to get a paw paw but I don't think I can provide the amount of water they need in addition to the lighting conditions.

They like to be in the shade for a couple of years and then full sun plus get plenty of water.  It's a tree I've wanted since I was a kid.  In fact, I want an entire patch of them.  They grow here but mostly by the creek beds and I've only seen one fruit but it was not on my property so I didn't get to taste it.

Today, between rain shows, we have to put another row of boards on our

potato tower.  They are growing faster than we can bury the new stems. With luck we'll have plenty of potatoes for the season!

A Soggy Birthday

(click to enlarge)

A Soggy Birthday

On the day I turned 56 the skies poured down relentlessly, submerging our county road and creating great roaring rivers out of hillside culverts. Gravel drives stretched across pavement where temporary waterfalls spilled over the outer edge.  With one bridge already washed away from last month's storms, the detour for those on the other side is no longer accessible other than via boat.  A long journey now longer, if at all.  Surely we will hear of emergency water rescues when someone decides the water is not too deep if they simply drive faster.   

Fortunately for me, our alternate exit was comparatively dry or as dry as one would expect while in the remnants of a hurricane or tropical depression as it is now referred to.  I drove slowly while the wipers swished oceans of rain across the windshield and cautiously studied how deep the culverts were getting or would be within the next hour or so.  I was meeting my husband at Denny's for my traditional birthday breakfast, the famous Grand Slam, with over hard eggs, hash browns, crispy bacon and pancakes that I failed to finish.  

We met for a late breakfast, more brunch, during what I thought was a momentary break in the weather, until I pulled out of the garage -which must have been the signal to release even more buckets of rain.  The garage cat eyed the downpour before hiding beneath the work bench, preferring to curl up in relative dryness, away from wiggling worms evacuating their homes in the grey mud bubbling up from our limestone gravel.  They stretch out in font of the garage door, crawling in and eventually drying up in crispy, thin curls which I will eventually sweep back into the gravel drive along with the carcasses of small, black ants that march in a solitary line to the cat dish.  Regardless of what the song says, they don't seem to march down, into the ground, to get out of the rain, boom, boom, boom, boom.  Rather, they somehow climb through the back door and onto my tile, two stories up and eat my grout leaving bits of sand at the back door and a trench where the grout once rested. 

The ants must die.

My daughter and granddaughter called, wanting to know if we would meet for dinner out.  No, not tonight. I am already soggy from the rain, full from Denny's and the water is still rising.  Maybe another time.  Tonight I think I'll live it up by sitting in my recliner in my comfy V neck T-shirt (pink) and black soft pants.  I'll get a light throw, something to drink and maybe a birthday treat.  We'll watch some tv and go to bed early because when you're young you want to party all night but now a days, sleeps sure sounds good!  

I hope you enjoy the photo. I walked up to get the mail and found these two bugs in my solitary day lily. I don't know if they are friends or will battle over ownership but they never seemed to notice me.  

My Diagnosis

It's almost my birthday and it sure is hard to get old!

I was just diagnosed with ulcerative proctitis, a chronic autoimmune disorder 

that causes inflammation in the lower six inches or the colon, 

leading all sorts of uncomfortable conditions such as bloating,bleeding and 

a lot of ugly stuff.  It is one of the Inflammatory Bowel Disorders in the same

 family but not as severe as ulcerative colitis.  

(This is not IBS, irritable bowel syndrome).

The body tries to heal itself by creating inflammation but goes overboard

which results in all the symptoms.  For me it's more very uncomfortable rather

than horribly painful, no sharp pain at all but a pain the the patootie nevertheless.

There is no known cause, other than it is typically hereditary and if not

the same disorder, something else autoimmune.  Also, while stress does not cause

it, stress contributes to the severity of the symptoms.  So, even if there

was no stress before, now the stress is wondering if it will ever clear up

and I can go back to normal, or as normal as I ever was!

My gastroenterologist sat with me for an hour during a follow up visit

after I had my a colonoscopy.  He explained everything, drew pictures,

went over my actual photos taken during the colonoscopy and calculated

my typical fiber intake by reviewing the last couple days of meals.

(I was thinking of adding my colonoscopy photo to Facebook, 

Can you imagine reading:  "Kathy changed her profile picture" Ewwwww!)

Now I have known I have diverticulosis for a few years. He tells me everyone

will eventually have it but it just depends on how old you are when it becomes 

a problem. It's where little pockets form in your colon and can capture bits of

hard material such as seeds or nuts, leading to infection and inflammation.

Their newest theory is to not worry about what you eat but I know I can never

eat popcorn again and most nuts.  I've been in terrible pain in the past and would 

prefer to avoid it in the future. This led me to shy away from a lot of whole

grains and fibrous foods.  That; however, does not work well with 

my IBD problem.  So we changed my diet.

I have to eat between 12-15 grams of dietary fiber daily, either

from supplements such as Citrucel or from counting the grams

in certain foods.  He provided me with a list of many foods that 

have a good fiber content so I have been tracking it daily using

13.5 as an average intake.  To the side I have added a column to say

how I am feeling, hoping to pick up a pattern.   You can see I 

am ahead of goal so have some wiggle room if I want to vary

from the items I have chosen.  Animal products- meat or dairy- has no

dietary fiber but I can eat an egg in the morning but may pair it

with a one small oatmeal packet or later in the morning, a 

Fiber One oatmeal cookie which is loaded with fiber and delicious. 

I have found that this diet makes me full.  I don't snack a lot

other than the fiber cookie or bar that I schedule in the day.

Some that suffer from colitis are put on oral medications but they can't treat

mine that way so for three weeks (!!!!) I have to use a medicated enema which

is done at night where afterward you have to lie down for hours 

so bedtime is the best time.

Yes, I have to do this myself and it is not easy!

Thankfully, I have insurance because the medication retail value

is $450 for 3 weeks, and you might need a second set of treatments.

I can't imagine.

I keep telling myself that it could be MUCH worse.

This could require other solutions but rarely ever turns into cancer.

I have also found several other people who have similar problems,

some are my co-workers and I had no idea. Not that I want

them to feel bad but it's nice to be able to discuss it and what

works well for others.  I tend to tell my boss and co-workers

everything so in case something happens, someone at work will

know what is going on with me.  

To complicate matters, after my leg problem where I pulled

ligaments, now the opposite foot is killing me, having a large

lump in the middle of the top of my foot.  It is either arthritis 

from all this darned rain (it will never quit, will it?) or I have

stressed the good leg too much when it was compensating for the bad.

I believe I need to travel to England and go to one of those

rehabilitation centers you see in vintage movies where they are

wrapped in warm blankets, stretched out on chaises lined across porches 

that overlook the sea.  They would bring me tea

and some of those nice cucumber sandwiches on rye

that have capers and thinly sliced onions topped with a dressing.

Yes, that is exactly what I need but with my luck, it would turn

into an Agatha Christie novel and I would discover the body in my

closet!  Sigh.

Next steps-

I will be going to Denny's on my birthday for that Grand Slam breakfast,

even if I have to use my husband's boat to get there through the 

heavy rains that are expected during the next couple of days.

You see, the free breakfast, which has become my birthday

tradition, is only good ON your birthday.  Not the day before or after.

So, breakfast and coffee it is.  I'll not make my fiber goal on Friday!

After that, I'll worry about healing.

I need a break

or a frozen mango margarita*!

(*only from On The Border restaurant which they do not have here)

Orange You Glad It's Spring?

I think there's a pattern here!

Orange blossoms are popping up all over.

It's sort of like the time we decided to paint the kitchen

at the old house.  After I took down all the nicknacks, I discovered

that I collected chickens!  I had no idea.

This is in the days before coops and tractors.

It must have been a sign.

Like all this orange.

The pretty milkweed is blooming among bee balm and the other natives.

We get pretty red and black bugs that congregate on them plus 

butterflies that are the exact color of the blooms, not monarchs,

but orange and brownish ones that flutter in groups and

hardly mind if you try to let one land on your finger.

Many of you have seen the Red Hot Poker plants

in our garden wall. They are spreading and showing up

in several areas now.  They will soon start losing their blooms

but while they are here we get to enjoy how unusual they are.

I have always loved the marigolds: big ones,

small ones, yellow, red and multi colored ones.

Some people can't stand them but I try to plant them 

in with the vegetables to keep pests away.  It's been 

pretty wet here so not many veges in the ground yet 

other than tomatoes and peppers plus our potato tower

and a new bed of horseradish.

Wild daisies appeared in front of the frog pond and 

spilling over the garden wall.  There are large patches

at the edge of the woods along with bushes with great

white blooms.  It's been a long, long spring, perfect

for the flowers.

I saw this pretty butterfly early in the morning.

I watched as it fluttered from bloom to bloom.

It was soon joined by a bumble, just to the lower right of it's wings.

They bumped into each other from time to time.

We have a big weekend in store for us.

I am going to introduce Taylor to the sewing machine,

we have more mulch to add to the potato tower,

we might fly Taylor's drone and my husband

has some serious antenna work to do for his ham club.

Have a great weekend!