Anyway, facing the prospect of 90 minutes sitting in the rain, watching Seth's soccer practice, and also facing big bags of farmshare, I decided to make soup to fortify us all. It turned out yum, so here I share the recipe:
FARMSHARE SOUP
Made from all things farmshare, except the carrot, chicken broth, butter, and water
Sautee in butter:
-- smallish onion, finely chopped
-- garlic, likewise
-- salad beets (the white kind), very thinly sliced
-- one carrot, likewise
Dice and cook to bright green/wilt:
-- strange chinese-cabbagey veg that starts with a "T" and is 6 letters long
Pour in:
-- one can chicken broth
-- one can water, plus a little more
Bring to boil, salt to taste
Beat 6 eggs, drizzle into simmering soup
( proof )
The ER today was particularly busy, so even though I got there at about 1:30, I didn't get a room until 5pm. Treatment was slow too, so I only just got home at 8-something. Long day.
A new ER doc equals ... a new idea about what my Mystery Infection might be! He was thinking scabies (yuck, but treatable). Dr. First (who has been seeing me each day in the ER) was skeptical, so they brought in Dr. Third Opinion, who thinks not. They give each other looks and leave the room to argue with each other. Dr. Scabies comes back in and says even though they don't think he's right, the treatment is easy and non-harmful so he thinks I should do it "just in case." He also wants me to get a tetanus shot. He disagreed with steroid treatment, but -- too late now, because once begun the taper must be continued.
I'm not keen on scattershot treatment like this... but the shot sounds like a good plan, esp. since I can't remember the last time I had one. Scabies treatment involves a lot of laundry and slathering the whole family in lotion and sleeping overnight covered in lotion, so I think I will postpone that until I see a dermatologist (which is my next destination on the Gross Knee Train).
Summary:
+ significant improvement in looks and feeling of knee and assorted satellite sores
+ no more ER visits scheduled
- need to get dermatologist and appt with said
- still not diganosed with anything specific
- still taking massive amounts of pills
Julian was in tiny tigers, which means that a leader does the moves with the kid, and the "sparring" isn't really. There was one kid younger/smaller than Julian -- a little boy who will be 3 in Nov. His whole family was competing (mom, dad, big sis) -- very cute little guy.
( Julian at ATA tourny )
Eli has two missing front teeth, and is very proud of the gap. He elected not to compete today, partly because he just doesn't want to, and partly because his arm still hurts. (He fell of monkey bars and a friend's house, got tangled in a swing, and got a spiral rope burn around his upper arm from his armpit to inner elbow.)
( Eli's missing teeth )
Seth was excited to compete. (I didn't get to watch, because I had to go into the ER for scary knee treatments.) He is pretty good at the current form (inwa 2), so I wasn't too surprised that he placed first in his group -- what WAS super cool is that his whole group was his belt color or higher (blue, brown, red, and black-belt recommended). He had a goal of making it past at least one round of sparring (something he's never done before). He made it! He won the first round 5-0, and placed 3rd overall.
( Seth and trophies )
Last, here is my dog, sleeping like a wackadoodle:
( Gromit the Silly )
OTC: benedryl, Tylenol, Ibuprofen
Prescription: switched from Keflex to Bactrim, added vicodin
IV: Vanco and predisone
I had to make a chart.
What disgusting infection update would be complete without pictures? This isn't as good as Stinkymeat or Stinyfeet, but it's something.
I have to go back in tomorrow and Sunday for more IV antibiotics, and then we’ll re-evaluate. Dr. actually said to have the ER call him down tomorrow because he wishes to monitor me personally. Greeeeaaaat.
( Photos... )
(And yes, I did have some, and it was good!)
![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small}
candle_light for picking up our share this week. Here's what was in the share:* loose leaf lettuce (curly) (1 bunch)
* romaine lettuce (1 head)
* spring greens (look like dandelions, spikey etc.) (1 bunch)
* snap peas (half a pound?)
* green garlic (3 bulbs)
* scapes (maybe 6?)
I'm loving my scape pesto, so I'm glad to see more of that. Can't go wrong with salad and snap peas!
I read a recipe online, but was too lazy to kick Seth off the PC (he was playing Age of Empires II, a very important thing). So, I guessed:
-- all my scapes
-- "enough" olive oil (I had to add more along the way)
-- a bunch of walnuts
-- salt to taste
Food process until looking good.
Yum on pasta!
(ETA: Joke's on me! Turns out I forgot to add Parmesan cheese. Oops!)
(more about scapes))
chenoameg and the boys, lovely even with the slight bike-T snafu at the end, after a lovely dinner with friends from out of town, I checked my vmail and got one of the messages from Dave that essentially meant, "Something Very Bad has happened, something so bad you should call me right back. Something so bad I cannot leave the badness in vmail."
My Grandma Mary died earlier today. It's hard for me to find short-hand words to express all she meant to me and the relationship we had. Let me say for now that a lot of what I am, I owe to her. Cannon Falls was very much a second home for me, and was always a place of happiness and security.
I am profoundly grateful that she had a swift and easy death, at home. She had a friend over earlier, and one of her sons was visiting. She went to the living room to read, and my grandpa and uncle were watching TV in the den. My uncle went to say goodnight, and found she had died.
Given that we all must die, this is the kind of death I wish for. Quick, peaceful, at home. No prolonged hospitalized agony. She never had to be a widow. She had children and grandchildren, and even a few great-grandchildren. She had her animals up until the end -- animals were always a big part of her life, so this is important. She mentioned several times recently that she knew her current dog would be her last, and I'm glad she didn't have to face a dog-less house. Giving up the horses was hard enough, a few years back.
Of course I'm sad to lose her, but we talked regularly on the phone. I'm glad I got the most recent set of photos out to her first (out of the 5 grandparent photo albums I make pages for). I'm very glad I made it out to MN last summer, so she could meet Julian and we could be together. I feel like I've been there for her, as much as possible. No guilt or unresolved nonsense.
It's weird to have such a lovely day end on such a sad note, but life is like that sometimes.
Today, after I was done, I stood up and took a step towards the door. I swear to you, Gromit had a look on his face like, "Oh, I get it." He turned, lifted his leg, and peed on the toilet. (Predictable response from me -- rest assured he won't be trying THAT again anytime soon.)
I am sure it made sense to him!
In other news, more early farmshare:
I'm a little ... worried? ... because it isn't much, especially compared to people who write about the (overly) abundant veg they are enjoying. Technically, the share isn't supposed to start for real until next week. I'm hoping today's small quantities are not predictive of future weeks.
( pix behind cut )
