Welcome To The Jungle

When I saw this.....

I knew that spring was really going to here one of these days... Chee Hoo!!

Irv planted some green peppers, tomatoes and geraniums. They are growing in our basement under their artificial sunshine. There are even lights underneath them that keep them warm. It's all so darn awesome to me. I love it! See the little guys growing in there? Irv does the most amazing job with them!

Last year he planted a ton of vegetable and flower seeds. In his excitement for spring to get here, he planted a lot of them way too early. The result was a jungle in our basement as we waited for the weather to warm up so we could get them outside. Click here to see last year's post about our jungle!

This year he is planting less and being really careful when he starts them....but I can already taste the delicious organic veggies!!

A Million Thanks

I want to thank each and every one of you for all of the kind words and the encouragement this past week. I feel so lucky to have all of you as my friends. You are the best.

This was a huge week for me. With the Osteoporosis diagnosis, finding out it's Osteopenia, thinking I was going to have to take drugs I didn't want to take, having a wonderful book recommended to me by a super blog friend, learning about my disease, learning about treatment options, having a mini meltdown and getting started on some major lifestyle changes...it was one heck of a week! Whew!

Today I filled my fridge with all kinds of good things to eat. I went to the store with a list and knew what I was going to buy.

I will be making things like vegetable soup, fruit smoothies, ratatouille, roasted vegetables with tofu and salads.

I will be walking on my brand new treadmill too! Michael came over to help Irv get the treadmill downstairs. Those things are HUGE and there was no room for it upstairs in my tiny house. Maggie helped them as much as she could and before you know it....it was all together! Thanks Irv and Michael!

We don't have an awesome finished basement, so Irv said he is going to go downstairs tomorrow and fix up a nice spot for me to do my "walking". How sweet is that? He's already looking in the catalogs for seeds to see what other kinds of great veggies he can grow for me this summer!

The more I think about this whole week...the more I realize how very lucky I am to have found out about my bone loss now when I can still possibly make the changes I need to in order to live a long healthy life....with nice strong bones.

Thanks again everyone. You truly are amazing!

Building Bone 101

I promised you some information from the book I'm reading so I will start today. I definitely can't fit it all in one post, but this will be a start.

The book I'm reading, Building Bone Vitality, states that, "Bone contains three calcium compounds: calcium carbonate, phosphate, and hydroxide. When the blood's pH falls below normal, the body must restore it as quickly as possible. It does this by pulling calcium compounds into the blood to neutralize excess acids. The body obtains these acid-neutralizing calcium compounds from the reservoir that contains 99 percent of the body's calcium store....bone."

That paragraph is basically what the entire book is about. It tells you ways to keep that "robbing of the bone" from happening. pH stands for "potential of hydrogen". Basically it means how acid or alkaline the blood is. Our bodies are pretty picky and when something isn't quite right, our bodies will try to find a way to repair it....at all cost.

We all know that fruits and vegetables should comprise a large part of our daily diet, but do they? I don't know about your house, but they don't in my house. I was also under the assumption that protein is the key to good health. Most people get their protein from meat. I happen to be a vegetarian so I turned to dairy. I thought I was doing great things for my bones. I wasn't.

I am not a very science minded person, but I do understand this. Most foods contain protein and protein introduces amino acids into the bloodstream, which in turn increases it's acidity and in turn the acidity of urine. My body will do what it needs to do to balance my blood...and in order to do that, it will pull calcium out of my bone.

Thinking I was helping my bones, I kept upping the amount of calcium I was consuming by way of food and supplements. I was consuming as much dairy as I could because I thought I needed that protein. For the past seven years I have eaten 10 hard boiled egg whites per week, about 2-3 egg yolks plus whole eggs on Friday and more if we made them for breakfast on the weekends. What I wasn't doing was upping my consumption of fruits and vegetables to provide the alkaline to keep things in balance.

The book suggests lots of fruits and vegetables, some nuts and legumes, modest amounts of bread, pasta and cereal and not much if any meat, poultry, fish, dairy and eggs. I can do that....I might not love it....but I can do it.

I already figured out that a Starbucks Chai with soy milk would be okay and that instead of an egg and cheese croissant, I can get the egg and cheese on a wheat bagel and have it with some fruit!

Did you know that Vitamin D increases the body's ability to absorb calcium. I didn't. Guess who was Vitamin D deficient? Yep. Me. I had Melanoma in 1998 and for many years didn't allow the sun to come anywhere near me. We need sun. We need 15-20 minutes on our upper bodies each and every day! I got none for years. I started on Vitamin D supplements and it is finally back to normal.

What about exercise? Well, everything I have looked at says 30-60 minutes of walking per day....every day. That is crucial. I will be getting a treadmill today.

The book did say that the Osteoporosis drugs do work reasonably well, but they are not a cure. The drug companies always exaggerate the effectiveness of their products and the advertising makes them all seem so wonderful. I'm just not ready to go that route yet. I may have to some day....but not today.

I will continue to read and learn about my disease and treatment options. I will share anything I find that sounds worthwhile.

I am headed to the grocery store right now. You will find me in the produce aisle! Make it an awesome day today and hey....do something nice for yourself today. I plan to!

The Meltdown

I had a mini meltdown Wednesday evening. Yep, I did. I admit it. Irv asked me if I was doing okay with all of this Osteoporosis stuff and that was all it took. The tears had been lying in wait for a while, and just the attempt to say, "Yep, I'm good," turned on the faucet. It actually felt good. I had to quickly turn the faucet off because Tresa called, and by the time I was done talking to her..."it" had passed.

(Photo by Miriam Pike)

I don't need sympathy....it isn't necessary, but I am always open to information or suggestions of any kind. The meltdown was two days ago and I am long past it. In fact, I feel really good. I know that I can do this my way and if for some reason my way doesn't work....there is always the alternative....medication. Not my first choice, but it's there if I choose to take it.

I remember when I was diagnosed with Melanoma in 1998. I was terrified. I didn't even want to do my homework on the subject because I didn't want to know. What I did know was that my days of enjoying the sun were gone and that I would live forever with this uneasy feeling. I was wrong. It did take years until I was comfortable stepping out of the house and allowing the sun to shine on my skin, but I have learned to live with it and it no longer affects me or my life negatively. I use my sunscreen and cover up if I'm going to be out for a long time. I love the feel of the sun on my skin and I see my dermatologist regularly. Yes, my life changed drastically that day, but I now look at that day as my life saver. It was my little warning sign to pay attention to what I was doing.

When I was told I had osteoporosis/osteopenia last Saturday, I already knew what it was but I didn't know a lot about it. I started reading and reading and reading. I talked to people about it. I asked about the meds and diet and exercise and everything else I needed to know. I crammed so much into my head in a few short days that I thought it would explode! I wasn't working on anything for my etsy shop, FourDogDay. I wasn't working on anything for the upcoming show. I wasn't keeping up with all of my favorite blogs. I just didn't feel like "me". I think Wednesday night I just became overwhelmed with all of the data and all of the change in my normal routine. I wasn't exactly sure how to sort it all out, get back on track and turn it all into my new way of life.

I laid in bed that night and made two columns on a sheet of paper....one said GOOD and one said BAD. I started writing down every food I read about. When I was done, I looked at the columns and realized I COULD do this. It wasn't that I could no longer have an egg, but I had to eat it with fruit or a vegetable. I could have cottage cheese...as long as I had some fruit with it. It's all a matter of balancing the acidic with the alkaline and I can do that. I'm not quite ready to explain the whole thing to you yet, but I promise I will as soon as I know I am giving you the right information and I'm not quite there yet.

I know how very, very, very lucky I am. There are so many worse things, but in all honesty....I'm lazy when it comes to my diet and exercise....and this is all about diet and exercise! I am a vegetarian that doesn't eat enough vegetables and almost no fruit. I live on rice and beans and pasta and cheese and eggs....at least I did. I start eating healthy and then I stop. I exercise and then I don't feel like doing it any more. I'm just not good with this stuff and now I feel backed into a corner because now I don't have a choice. I take that back....we always have a choice, but if I don't want my bones to crumble down the road....I only have one choice.

It's another warning. That's how I am looking at this. I have been given a chance to do it right...and I will. It just takes me a little bit to gather my thoughts and figure things out and then I'm ready to go. Irv e-mailed me at work the day after the mini meltdown to see if I was okay. I told him that I had my little boo hoo and I was raring to get going.

How are you when you are confronted with a total lifestyle change....when it's no longer if you want to do it, but it's that you have to. Does it take you a while to digest it all or are you able to dig right in?

Plants and Pillows...Pillows and Plants

I got the yellow pillow listed last night. Here it is. I am so in love with this pillow that I want to keep it, but that is my #1 no-no! No keeping. I am headed to the fabric store tomorrow because the new pillow ideas are filling my head and I must get them out! The only way to do that is to make the things! If you click on the picture you can see other views from my etsy shop.

Anyway, I promised a story about Irv's basement garden. To make a long story short...last year Irv started some seeds in the house. They did "okay". Nothing spectacular, but we were able to plant a lot of the things and he had a great time with it. This year he decided to step it up a notch. He bought LOTS of seeds...flower and vegetable....and he built a little "greenhouse" in the basement using plastic and all kinds of lights and little heat lamps.

When the first little sprouts popped up earlier than they were suppose to...he was so proud. He thought he must be doing something right. Then everything started popping....early. Then they got bigger. Then the excitement caused a kind of planting frenzy and he bought more seeds and more little pots and more special soil. He added more tables and more lights and more heat....are you getting the picture here?Things continued to sprout and grow. Then one day he came upstairs and said, "I think I f----d up." I thought maybe something bad happened. "I think I planted everything way too early. You should see how BIG it's all getting. I'm going to have to transplant things."

That lead to more pots, more soil and more work this past weekend. We have flats of flowers on March 31 that are the bigger than what we usually buy at the garden center in mid-May to plant!!! Yikes!

Despite not having a clue how he is going to nurture these little babies until they can be planted outside in May......this little cutie brought a smile to our faces today!

So, Irv is making a mental note of when he should probably start planting his seeds next year, so we don't end up with a flower and vegetable jungle in the basement again!

Oh The Weather Outside Is Frightful....

but that could mean a day off of work! I really don't think it is going to be that bad, but I am keeping my fingers crossed. I could really use an extra day off right now! They are predicting rain...which it is doing right now, then temps dropping to the 20s and then ice and a few inches of snow tomorrow. I just hope we don't all get to work and then get stuck there!

I had such a great day today. We went and did our grocery shopping first thing this morning. I spent some time last night working on my shopping list, leaving off things from my "avoid" list and adding things that I can eat. Even though I am not making the big switch until after Christmas, I've decided to start eliminating things from my diet that are easy to eliminate. I can give up the potato chips, and potatoes, some of the vegetables and things like that.

For example, my son was here for dinner tonight and normally I would have loved the baked potato with asparagus, carrots and onion baked on top of it......but instead, I had a salad with romaine, red, green and orange peppers, kidney beans, egg, ground flax, chopped pecans, sunflower seeds and carrots with a little fat free Italian dressing. Potato and asparagus are on the "avoid" list....along with a million other things.

I made sure I bought a lot of different vegetables and fruits today since those will be the largest part of my diet. I intend to finish up things I still have some of like my oat cereal and my loaf of bread, but then I will be done with those for a while. I'm not as freaked out as I was the other day....just a little sad to say good bye to some of my good friends...like sugar and croissants, but I can do this!

After the store we headed out to a different mall since we bombed yesterday and only ended up with two gifts. Within 20 minutes of walking in the first store I had gifts for my son and soon to be son-in-law and my daughter. It was great! Everything was on sale, plus I had an all-day 20% off coupon that was good on many of the things. I can't tell you the great stuff I got because my family tends to read my blog fairly regularly and I don't want to spoil the surprise. After that mall, I had to go back to a different mall where I had bought something yesterday that I wasn't thrilled with, but bought out of desperation. Then I found something else for my soon to be son-in-law and headed home. It was a very good shopping day for sure.

I came home and made 3 new funky plates for my etsy shop, but I can't show those to you either, because the glue is still drying. They are so cute, I can't wait to get them listed this week. One is full size and 2 are soap dish size that I made with the little dishes from the resale shop yesterday.

I think I will pack up my lunch tonight since I will have to leave really early for work tomorrow if we do get the ice and snow they are predicting. So, we will keep this short and sweet today. Off to make my lunch!