Cheating my way through dinner

April 18, 2012

I had a fantastic plan for last night’s dinner.  It was delicious and healthy and used up all of the starting-to-get-old veggies in the fridge.  But I was exhausted last night, so I made an omelet instead.  I hate omelets.

My top priority, in meals and most other things, is my health.  I’m also concerned about money, especially these days, since I don’t know when I’ll be able to go back to work, and there’s still no word on whether or not my long term disability claim will be approved by the insurance company.  Put those together, and it means I’m not eating out.  I live near a lot of restaurants, but take-out is a big no-no for both my health and my wallet.  So instead, I cook.

Cooking sounds like a great idea, right?  It’s healthy and cheap (or can be, depending on how you shop.)  The problem is, it takes energy, and since I live alone, I have to do all the cooking.  That’s why last night’s dinner ended up being an omelet.  That’s why I planned the healthy dinner again for tonight, but again it didn’t happen.

Those veggies in the fridge need to be eaten, but cutting them up just wasn’t going to happen today.  I still made the rice, but I skipped the fresh veggies and instead nuked some frozen ones.  Forget garlic and onion; that’s too much chopping and garlic powder works just fine.  Ok, it’s not as good, but it works!  I use dry beans now instead of canned (to avoid BPA and whatnot) and I cook them in large amounts and freeze them in individually portioned bags.  This works great, but when I thawed them, they didn’t have a ton of great flavor.  Enter garlic powder.  And throw them in a pan for a minute with some olive oil.  Add the veggies.  Splash in the gluten-free soy sauce.  And some rice.  Now let’s see: starch, protein, lots of veggies.  Good enough for me!

Luckily my standards aren’t too high.  I don’t need a 5 course meal.  I don’t need anything fancy.  I don’t even need anything that tastes amazing, just something that doesn’t taste bad.  And with minimal effort and very little energy expenditure, I made dinner!

Those veggies will just have to wait until tomorrow.  Tonight, I feasted on the easy version.  A toast to all of the dinner cheats out there!

If you have a great “easy” version of a meal that you want to share, please add it in the comments!  We can all help each other out with new ideas.

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Leave a Comment » | Educating, Expectations, Frustration, Isolation, Limitations, Rants, Symptoms, Unpredictable | Permalink
Posted by chronicrants

Breaking routines and pushing boundries

April 16, 2012

After many months at home, I finally got out of town this weekend.  Aside from being too short (as always) the trip couldn’t have been better.  The weather was fantastic, better than anything I’ve seen this time of year.  I had good company and a great atmosphere.  We ate healthy food and took many walks.  That last part was the most amazing part.

For many months I’ve been fighting fatigue.  I’d love to say that the fresh ocean air was enough to fix everything, but of course it wasn’t.  Still, it helped a lot.  Getting away helped.  Getting out of the city helped.  Being pushed to do more by someone else helped.  And somehow, yesterday, I actually walked 3 miles!  Now, I won’t pretend that I could do that every day.  And afterwards I was so exhausted that I took a nap (with the dog, who was even more worn out), something I haven’t been doing as much anymore.  Still, I walked 3 miles!

We stopped to rest a lot, and we didn’t walk very fast, but we made it.  One great part was the exercise.  Another great part was the fresh air and beautiful views.  But there was something even better: knowing that I was able to accomplish this.  The last 6 months have been so demoralizing that this long walk, even if it was just a one-time thing, was a reminder that in some way, at some time, I am still capable of it.

I don’t know when or if I’ll be able to do that again, but for now I know that this weekend, I was able to walk 3 miles.  This weekend I felt good.  No, it wasn’t perfect.  I had nausea and back pain and whatnot, but I walked 3 miles.  Whatever happens next won’t change that.

Leave a Comment » | Expectations, Limitations, Milestones, Raves, Symptoms, Unpredictable | Permalink
Posted by chronicrants

Thankful for a better day

April 9, 2012

My definitions of a “good day” and a “bad day” have changed a lot over the years, and even over the last few months.  What I used to think was horrible I now consider to be pretty good.  But what hasn’t changed is how it feels to have a “good day.”

Today was a good day.  I didn’t do much by some standards, but I did a lot by mine.  I did laundry.  I paid bills.  I took a walk.  And I felt ok.  For me, this was good.  Not only was this a good day, but it wasn’t a bad day!  I’ve had a lot of pain and nausea over the past week.  Oh, and then there’s the fatigue, too.  Actually, I’ve had a lot more nausea than usual over the past several weeks and it was really getting to me.  But today I didn’t have any and it just felt so good!

I think it’s important to always appreciate what we have, but I know that can be hard.  It’s so much easier when there’s a stark contrast.  When one day sucks and the next isn’t horrible, it becomes clear how important the little health victory moments really are.

I don’t know what tomorrow will be, or next week, or next month.  I’m just glad today doesn’t suck.

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If you can relate to this, please pass it along and share the camaraderie!  Thanks!

Leave a Comment » | Expectations, Limitations, Pain, Raves, Symptoms, Unpredictable | Permalink
Posted by chronicrants

How many ways can you define nausea?

April 5, 2012

I’m guessing it’s like morning sickness, but without the fetus.

I’m at that age, in my thirties, where many of my friends have been having children lately.  I’m close with many of them, which means I hear a lot about pregnancy symptoms and, later, child-rearing experiences.  A couple of them were telling me during their pregnancies about the morning sickness they were dealing with, which can last all day.  It sounded an awful lot like the nausea I get, but of course, for me there’s no pregnancy.  Which means it’s not going to end any time soon.

We all know how hard it can be to describe pain.  It’s hard to describe nausea, too.  The morning sickness comparison is probably accurate, but since I’ve never been pregnant, I just don’t know.  I need some other way to define it.  I was trying to explain to my doctor today how there’s the low-grade nausea I feel just about every single day.  Then there’s the worse nausea that makes me feel completely miserable.  And then there’s the level where I start thinking about dying.  Luckily that level never lasts for more than a few hours, but it’s pretty bad.  But how do I explain the actual feeling?

There’s no good answer right now.  There’s also no treatment that we’ve found.  But I’m working with a nutritionist and I’m hoping that, in time, we can lessen the nausea.  If we can’t do that, then I’d love to at least lessen some of my other GI symptoms so that I might be able to take some of the anti-nausea drugs.  Ah, that would be heavenly.  Oh wait, how should I define “heavenly”?

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If you can relate to this, please pass it along and share the camaraderie!  Thanks!

2 Comments | Educating, Frustration, Limitations, Pain, Rants, Symptoms | Permalink
Posted by chronicrants

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