‘kay here’s the deal.  I’ve been whining and complaining for over 6 months about how bad I feel and how sick I am although no one can figure out what’s wrong with me.  The Dr. doesn’t know, I don’t know, the people I stop on the street corner and ask for advice … they don’t know either.  So I decided at the first of the year that I would see a Naturopath to see if she could figure out what was wrong with me.

I figured based on conversations with the co-worker who recommended this appointment that she would want to do a nutrition evaluation.  The best thing then would be for me to have a log of what I’ve been eating to show her.  Some of you may remember that I used to regularly use (and have recommended) a website called Sparkpeople  (www.sparkpeople.com) where they have the tools available to log your food, fitness, that goal to refrain from spitting when you see that neighbor who walks her dog over to your yard for its daily business … whatever you need to do to have a better life, you can track it at Sparkpeople.

When I went back to Sparkpeople to start my log, I wondered if in the data base of hundreds of articles they had anything on “edema” that might point me in a direction we haven’t explored previously.  There at the bottom of the page, in the final paragraph I found this “Low protein levels in the blood caused by malnutrition, kidney and liver disease can cause edema. The proteins help to hold salt and water inside the blood vessels so fluid does not leak out into the tissues. If a blood protein called albumin gets too low, fluid is retained and edema occurs, especially in the feet, ankles and lower legs.”

Hmmmmmm

Well, we’ve already checked for everything else, what if I have a malnutrition issue? 

So last Friday, I started adding lean protein to my diet in large amounts.  I’m not eating a lot of extra meat, I’m adding a lo carb protein drink to each meal.  I get 15-18 grams of protein in each one.  Oh, and I’m drinking more water because I know from past experience that higher protein in my diet means I need more water and we’ll just leave it at that. 

So, between Friday and Monday I had such a serious reduction in swelling that on Monday I didn’t even wear the support socks.  Last night when I came home from work and took off my shoes, my feet weren’t swollen at all.  AT ALL.  These feet have been swollen beyond recognition for SIX MONTHS.  They aren’t swollen tonight at all.  To put that into context, my feet went from a size 8.5 to a 6.5 in seven days time.  My loafers that I’ve been wearing to work sound like flip flops when I walk they are so much too big now.  One week of added protein made that much difference.

I’m still going to see the Naturopath on Tuesday.  But we won’t be having the conversation I thought we’d be having when I made the appointment.  It’s hard to believe that my problem was malnutrition.  You’d think that would be the last place to look!   It’s not like I don’t eat. 

Wild huh.      

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Sparkpeople is completely free.  The data base of articles is found under the “Your Health” section, A-Z.  Medical content is reviewed by the staff of the Harvard Medical School.

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My little SIMS family has six kids now.  The oldest three just left for college and Dad is sad.  He just bought this big house for them all and now it’s too empty.  Mom is kind of okay with taking a break, but Dad has this way of looking at her that suggests that there will probably be more babies coming …

We headed out of here early to go to church in the mountains and visit Miss Eva.  But there was snow on the highway, so I turned back.  It’s not bad now, but it’s just starting and I had no confidence that it would be safe to travel home later. 

I didn’t feel so well last night.  Headache that reduced me to tears.  Major pity-party.  I hate hate hate not feeling well.  The past six months of not feeling well, having symptoms that no one knows how to cure, has worn me out.  I’m just tired.  I don’t think the headache has anything to do with my other issues, I think it was just a regular old run-of-the-mill migraine which I only very rarely experience.  (Poor Tucker carries that burden in this family.)

So now here I am.  At home, with no previously made plan for what I’ll do. 

I think I’ll run a Life Simulation. 

My favorite PC game for years has been the SIMS.  I can’t remember who first introduced me to it, but I’ve been hooked.  I go through periods where I don’t play as often, but then something will happen and I’ll start up again.  This time I’m not sure what got me started but I know what’s kept me going.  My boys told their dad they wanted to give me SIMS expansion packs for Christmas.  SO he picked up two new packs for me.  

Oh MY.  Then I bought two more for myself.  Now my SIMS have Freetime, can own their own Businesses, can go to College, and experience changing Seasons. 

I have several little families going now.  Tell me how weird this is?  I have a family that is approximately the same as my family of origin.  I created a Dad who looks like a photo of my dad from when he was young (except I didn’t realize until I saw him in profile that his nose is too big.)  I created a Mom who looks like my Mom.  And then I set them to work having babies.  The oldest is me, but from there things have gone awry.  There should have been two more girls  then a boy, but the next two to be born were both boys.  So we’re still in the game trying to get to my sisters. 

There’s another family with a mom who has my middle name and looks like me if I were thin.  (Hey, it’s my game).  She’s married to a man who adores her and they have five kids so far but her lifetime goal is to have 10 and he’s happy with that because he not only enjoys the making of kids process, he likes kids.  (So that’s different from my real experience but it’s what I would have had if I could have had everything I wanted.)  The husband in that little household wants to be a Mad Scientist.  He’s always doing experiments. 

I have a single Mom, Maggie, who started the game with two teens.  Her son, Liam, was a little troubled at first but has just been accepted to college with scholarships and is doing well.  Her daughter, Julie, the straight A student surprised everyone by going to the police academy instead of the university and is happy as a law-enforcement officer.  She just got engaged to the first boy she ever kissed.  Jeb from next door. 

Jeb is a good kid.  He’s going to be a doctor.  His only weakness so far seems to be Julie.  He can’t keep himself from the temptation of fooling around with her in the hot tub.  He has a good heart though, and he daydreams a lot about having a family with his Love. 

There are other characters and other houses but those are the main four that I play with.  This is the first time I’ve started out with my parents as characters and that’s been really wild.   It’s nice to be able to simulate a “do-over” and have the parents in the game be more like the parents I wish mine had been.

In a way this whole gaming thing is about parenting for me.  It’s a way to parent a lot of little people (even though they aren’t real).  It’s also about parenting myself.  Giving me a little space to dream and affirming to me that it’s okay to want to be nurtured.  I’m not very good at accepting nurture.  But I do need it. 

I had a conversation with Bff the other day that somehow wound up here.  Bff doesn’t need parenting the way I do.  When I fuss around my fussing is accepted because that’s part of who I am and my BFF accepts me.  But in reverse, BFF does a lot of little nurturing things for me that sometimes just break my heart because they are so unexpected.  Not unexpected because they are out of character for my friend to do but because it’s so out of my realm of experience to have someone do them for me. 

I’m a difficult friend.  I love my friends.  I try to be there for them.  And yet I have a tendency to get so caught up in my own issues that I’m always realizing about five minutes too late that they just said something really significant that deserved a compassionate response. 

Cool Mary has been in Indiana for the wedding of her youngest.  Wow.  I can’t wait for her to get back home so we can talk about what that was like. 

But for today, I’ll be taking it easy.  Getting the kids ready to go back to school tomorrow.  I have some work I’d like to finish up on a poetry project.  And in the background of all that I’ll be running my SIMS game. 

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I just made this up!  On Friday I had lunch with a co-worker at Jersey Jacks which is a soup and sandwich shop close to the office.  There I was introduced to Creamy Chicken and Green Chile soup and it was amazing.  So I couldn’t resist attempting my own version.  I’m determined that 2009 will be the year of eating healthier foods (which for me means higher protein, lower fats and carbs so maybe my hair will start growing back).  My version is way lower in fat than JJ’s version and it’s still kicking good!

Terri’s Creamy Chicken and Green Chile Soup

1 med onion diced small
1 16 frozen container green chile (hot) – thawed
2 cups diced cooked chicken
1 can reduced fat cr of chicken soup
8 oz fat free cream cheese
4 oz fat free cheddar cheese
2 c fat free half and half
1 T oregano
1 t paprika
1 t black pepper

Spray the bottom of a large saucepan with non-stick spray.  Saute onion for about three minutes on med-hi until they are transparent and sweet smelling.  Add  green chile and chicken.  When heated through reduce heat to med-lo.  Add cheeses and half and half stirring periodically until melted and slightly bubbly.  Add herbs and spices.  (adjust to taste)  Don’t let the soup boil or get too hot or the cheese will scorch. 

Serve immediately.  You can eat it with crackers if you like, or tortilla chips.  I just had it straight. 

Just noticed that as it cools it thickens up.  This would be a great filling for chicken enchiladas.