update on max

Max seems to be doing well.  He's not in the litter box every 10 minutes anymore and seems to be himself.  I'm not thrilled with the fact that he's still not peeing very much, but he might just be drinking less water than usual, or he's doing it when we're not around to check.  I kept him quarantined in our bedroom most of the weekend until it seemed he wasn't in the litter box as much.  He definitely wasn't thrilled with that.  At all. There was lots of meowing and playing with the door handle.

 

Feeding him the prescription cat food separate from the other cats was difficult, so we're giving it to all of them.  They don't have known urinary problems, but because almost all of them are male, senior cats, I figure this might help prevent any problems down the road, or help to alleviate any problems that might be brewing right now. Max decided very early on that he doesn't like the pate style of this food (loved it the first time...then wouldn't go near it), so I had to go back to the vet and get the morsels with gravy, which comes in the little 3 ounce cans.  $33.00 for a case of 24.  Since I have 10 cats, there's no way that case will last me three weeks. Bob is picking up more tonight, since Leo is going back for a checkup on his teeth and gums.

 

Max will be going back to the vet in a few weeks, so hopefully he says that Max can go on another urinary diet that's less expensive. And I'm hoping the urinalysis comes back showing that the crystals have decreased or gone away completely.  I'll post an update then.

 

 

 

max is under the weather

Max just got diagnosed with urine crystals.

He started acting weird in the litter box Wednesday night. I noticed that he was in there for quite awhile, and when he finally came out, he would continue squatting in front of the litter box.  There were a few drops on the floor after he walked away.  Thursday he seemed OK, but Friday morning he visited three litter boxes in a row and didn't urinate at all. That's when I knew he likely had a urinary tract infection or a blockage due to crystals. I'm very lucky to have caught him in the act, so to speak, because it can be difficult to spot such things when you have multiple cats.

Off we went to see Dr. Rob.  Max howled all the way there.  I actually had a headache when we arrived. The front desk person told me she could hear me coming up the walkway, he was so loud! (Max is a bit of a baby.) Luckily, they allow drop-offs, so that's what I did; I had to get back to work. I picked him up later in the day.  Very convenient!

Dr. Rob was able to get a urine sample before I left, which is a good thing.  It means that Max wasn't suffering from a blockage, which is very uncomfortable. Can you imagine having to pee and you can't because your urethra is basically blocked shut?  Painful, to say the least!

Dr. Rob talked to me later in the day and told me that Max may have a UTI, but he's unsure because of the testing they do for the crystals; it can sometimes obscure the results for bacteria.  He found white blood cells, which usually indicates infection, so he thinks Max does have a UTI.  Max got an antibiotic injection, which should take care of it.  The doctor also found calcium oxalate crystals, which can eventually cause stones or a blockage if left untreated.  (Here's a little information about it: Calcium Oxalate Crystals)

Unfortunately, this diagnosis means he has to be on special food for the rest of his life in order to prevent the development of crystals in the urine, which could lead to blockages.  Dr. Rob prescribed Royal Canin SO for the next three weeks ($38.00 for a 7.7 lb bag of dry and $11.00 for five cats on wet food).  It's supposed to dissolve the crystals, dilute the urine, and lower the urine's PH in order to prevent crystals from forming in the future.  Dr. Rob mentioned that I should stop buying seafood flavored cat food, as it has a much higher potential of causing the formation of struvite crystals in the urine. He said not to feed seafood flavors to any of my cats. I told him I had been buying it lately, because the store I usually buy from didn't have the poultry flavors in stock as they usually do.  He said that could be part of Max's problem.

So, once we're done with three weeks of Royal Canin SO, Max will have another urinalysis to determine if the crystals dissolved.  If so, then he can be moved to a urinary health maintenance food.  I will need to find an affordable one, though. The reason I say "affordable" is because I have nine other cats and it's impossible to feed one cat separately; I'll need to feed it to them all.  Well, wet food isn't difficult, but dry food is, since I have two cats that eat dry food only.  They don't eat at the same time the others eat their breakfast and dinner, so I leave the dry food out all the time so they can graze.

I may try the separate feeding, though, so if anyone has any suggestions for doing this when there are multiple cats in the house, I'd love to hear them.  Please!

my two-year follow-up appointment

Yesterday was my two-year follow-up with the bariatric surgeon.  I was dreading going, because I've gained back a few pounds and didn't want to face him.  All the old feelings came back:  dread, shame, guilt.  Before I went I spent a lot of time trying to figure out what sorts of excuses I could make about why I'd gained some weight:  I fell into the "snack trap". I took the wrong job in 2014 and spent all year snacking for distraction.  I feel I look better with a few extra pounds (that's actually true; I don't feel as though I have that "gastric bypass look" about me in the face anymore). I've been worrying about it for weeks.  But did that spur me into action to stop snacking and get on track?  Nope.

It's funny the kinds of things overweight people do to shave off any extra weight before a weigh-in. I drank tons of water yesterday and the day before.  I was hoping for a bowel movement (yes, TMI, but that's reality).  I ate very light yesterday.  And I wore to work what I felt were my lightest clothes.  Not in terms of color, but actual weight.  I was going to dinner with a friend afterwards, so I also had to decide if I wanted to change into my jeans and sweater before the appointment; I was told last time that they may take an "after" picture of me (they didn't).  I ended up bringing my casual clothes to my appointment and then changing the bathroom afterwards.

So, I got weighed in by the nurse and I was 223.  I was about 203 at the last appointment six months ago, so that's a 20 pound gain. I was embarrassed, but she just brushed it off, saying that we just had the holidays and don't worry about it, it happens.  That made me less nervous and more relaxed.  I thought, "That wasn't so bad.  The doctor won't be upset."  What a setup!

My doctor came in and asked me some questions:  how was I doing, any issues, etc.  He mentioned the weight gain and I told him I feel I look healthier (it's not a lie), just like I'd rehearsed.  And....basically he called B.S. on me.  Although, he didn't use "B.S." He said "bullshit."  He then proceeded to tell me, in these exact words, "Stop fucking up!"  He talked about studies of WLS patients and his own experiences over the past 15 years with patients.  He doesn't want me to be one of the patients that totally goes off the rails and squanders the tool I've paid good money for and went through a lot of hard work for.  So, the message he repeated the whole time he was with me is, in these words,  "Don't fuck up!"  He's a no-nonsense guy and that's what I love about him.  He's not mean or condescending about it.  He's also very caring and he listens.  He recommended strongly that I either see the dietitian, or the psychologist.  I opted for the dietitian, since I feel like I've gotten away from the basics. (And, to be perfectly honest, I didn't get much nutritional counseling.  The dietitian that was there before my surgery wasn't very informative at all.  Most of what I know I learned by Googling.)  I don't feel I need the psychologist...yet.  I know now what makes me eat:  boredom and procrastination.

Even though I got a smack-down, I felt good when I left.  (But I'll admit my eyes were welling up when I was sitting in his office.) It was exactly what I needed to hear from him, exactly when I needed to hear it.  He actually struck a bit of fear in me, to be honest.

My appointment with the dietitian is on February 23, so I'll be sure to report on it.

homemade onion dip: round 2

For my family Christmas dinner I was looking to make something different.  We always have the old stand-bys, like mashed potatoes and corn. There's nothing wrong with that. In fact, I usually look forward to those things. But since dinner was at my house, I took the opportunity to try some new recipes.  It's my house, my rules.  And it's my prerogative to ditch the mashed potatoes if I want to.  ;) I made Ree Drummond's au gratin potatoes, glazed carrots, and had my brother and sister-in-law bring sweet potato and apple casserole (it tastes like apple pie and it's delicious!).

Since I was making some new recipes, I figured why not make onion dip from scratch?  Last February I made homemade onion dip for the first time. It was good, but it didn't taste anything like what we buy in the store.  Sure, the store stuff is salty, but I like it and so do most other people I know. I went in search of a better recipe and found one on Alton Brown's website.  (I LOVE Alton Brown, so I'm willing to try just about anything he makes.)  This recipe uses mayo and sour cream, rather than Greek yogurt.  That right there told me this dip would taste more like the dip I grew up with.

The recipe calls for a pound of diced onions.  Anytime I use a recipe that wants diced onions or minced garlic, I pull out the food processor or my mini chopper.  Even though I know how to dice and mince those items, they're just messy and stinky to deal with, especially the onions. I didn't want to deal with sticky fingers and runny eyes.  So, I tossed the peeled and trimmed onions in the food processor and in about 10 seconds I had diced onions.  The longest part of the process was frying the onions, which took about 20 minutes--I was frying a double batch, so it took longer for the onions to cook through.  While the onions cooled I mixed together all the other ingredients.  I let the onions cook for a total of about 30 minutes, then mixed it all together.  I then let the dip sit for two days in the fridge.

The results were delicious! Very close to the store-bought onion dip.  Not the crappy stuff that doesn't need refrigeration (scary!), but the stuff in the dairy isle, like Helluva Good.  I liked it much better than the recipe I tried last year and would definitely make it again.  It wasn't difficult or time-consuming to make.  Everyone who tried it loved it. Except my husband.  He didn't seem all that thrilled with it, but that's OK.

Here's the recipe link if you want to try it yourself:  Alton Brown's Onion Dip from Scratch  The key to making this simple is to chop the onions in a food processor.  Otherwise, you're not likely to want to make this.  You'll be crying a river by the time you chop a pound of onions and will want to race for a box of tissues.

(Yes, I had some chips and dip.  Just in case anyone is wondering.  No, I didn't go overboard.)

the holidays are finally over

Tree in the living room.

It's January 10 and it's finally time to take down all the Christmas decorations. Normally I would do this the weekend after New Year's, but I had the family down for our Christmas dinner this weekend. I cooked for a total of 17 people, eight of which stayed with me for the weekend.  Some drove down from New Hampshire and some up from New York. We had a grab bag gift game, which is always fun.  I ended up getting ear buds, plastic storage containers for food, a plush throw blanket, a tea light holder, and some candles. All useful stuff. Dinner was ham, au gratin potatoes (I used The Pioneer Woman's recipe and they were delicious!), sweet potato and apple casserole, glazed carrots, stuffed mushrooms, stuffed shells, corn, and bourbon meatballs.  Dessert was tiramisu cake, apple knobby cake (my sister made them with my apples), brownies and cookies. Oh, and vanilla ice cream.  Yes, we were stuffed!  This morning for breakfast I made a french toast casserole and my sausage and hash brown casserole--I didn't want to make 10 different breakfasts.

My niece and I took a trip to Best Buy this morning in the pouring rain.  She's gets an awesome employee discount and I needed a few items. I got a power bank so I don't have to worry about finding a place to plug in a phone or tablet charger.  Bob got a bluetooth keyboard case for his little Microsoft tablet.  I got one for the iPad.  And I got a 10-foot USB charger.  I would have bought two, but another niece has one that she doesn't want.  I just tried out the iPad case with the keyboard a few minutes ago.  I like it, but it's going to take some getting used to.  It was a little awkward, but that might be because I was trying to use it like a laptop.  In other words, I had it on my lap. (I LOVE that laptops and tablets fit FLAT on my lap now!!  My stomach isn't in the way anymore.)

Everyone left by 12:30 pm today.  Once everyone left we did some quick cleanup and then went out for a bit. We really just wanted to get out of the house for a bit.  I captured the kitties taking some well-needed Zzzzzs; the kids kept them busy.

Bailey, Louise, and Oscar.

Leia. She's next to the wood stove.  I think she's hoping for another fire.  

It's way too warm today, though.

Now that everyone is gone, it's time to take down all the decorations. Finally! I left everything up so it would still feel like Christmas, but I'm pretty tired of looking at it now. And the Christmas tree is just about petrified.  It seems like so much work goes into the holidays, and then they're over in the blink of an eye.  It's the one holiday that we put a ton of money and effort into.  At least we get to enjoy the festivities for a month or so before we have to un-decorate (is that even a word??). I'm always a little sad when Christmas is over, but there does come a point when I can't stand looking at the tree anymore.

Tree in the family room. This thing is DRY!

And this just about sums up how I feel now that all the hoopla is over with and the house is once again very quiet.  Laundry and dishes are done, and the house is cleaned up.

Thelma, sleeping like a champ. Go, Thelma! Go!

glazed carrots

I was looking for a side dish to bring to my sister's house for Christmas, and had a ton of carrots in my fridge, so I decided to make this recipe.  I also wanted something a little different; I get tired of the same old holiday food.  (My family isn't overly adventurous in the food arena, so we don't typically deviate much from the standard holiday foods. I remember one year I made homemade cranberry sauce--we are strictly a canned, jellied cranberry sauce family-- and no one touched it, except my mother.  I'm not sure if she was just being supportive or if she really liked it, but I'm happy someone tried it. )

I Googled "glazed carrots" and I got many, many hits.  I found one that calls for whiskey, some with honey, some with orange juice or maple syrup, some with brown sugar only or white sugar only or some combination thereof, etc.  The Internet is great, but it can often be overwhelming to have so many choices and different variations of the same dish. I settled on this recipe from BakeSpace, which is pretty simple and doesn't call for any special ingredients other than fresh lemon juice.  (To me, a "special ingredient" is one I wouldn't typically have on hand, like lemons.  Other people might keep lemons on hand, but I don't.)

I found this recipe to be easy, but it was a little tricky to judge when the liquid was reduced enough before adding the lemon juice.  It wasn't difficult by any means.  I just wasn't sure what the right consistency should be.  But that will come with practice.  And, really, there's no way to ruin this dish unless you burn the sauce or way overcook the carrots.

I really enjoyed the end product.  The carrots were tender and sweet, but not overly so, and I could taste a small hint of the lemon juice. 

I made this for my in-laws last weekend, and the cause came out even better.  I plan to make this again next weekend.

The only change I made to the recipe was that I used pre-cut baby carrots.  I already had them on hand. Recipe below.

Perfect Glazed Carrots 

(Recipe found here:  Perfect Glazed Carrots, which is originally from Cooks Illustrated magazine)

Ingredients

1 lb carrots (about 6 medium), peeled and sliced 1/4 inch thick on the diagonal (I used pre-cut baby carrots)

1/2 tsp salt

3 TB sugar

1/2 cup chicken broth 

1 TB unsalted butter cut into 4 pieces (I think salted would be fine)

2 tsp lemon juice (I used fresh)

Ground black pepper to taste

Directions

1. Bring carrots, salt, 1 tablespoon sugar, and chicken broth to boil, covered in 12-inch non-stick skillet over medium-high heat. Reduce heat to medium and simmer, stirring occasionally, until carrots are almost tender when poked with tip of paring knife, about 5 minutes.
2. Uncover, increase heat to high, and simmer rapidly, stirring occasionally, until liquid is reduced to about 2 tablespoons, 1 to 2 minutes.
3. Add butter and remaining 2 tablespoons sugar to skillet, toss carrots to coat and cook, stirring frequently, until carrots are completely tender and glaze is light gold, about 3 minutes.
4. Take the pan off the heat and add the lemon juice. Toss to coat. Transfer carrots to serving dish, scraping glaze from pan. Season to taste with pepper and serve immediately.

last night's dinner: baked chicken breasts with stuffing

OK, it's not exactly last night's dinner, but I did make it for dinner last week.  I'm just late in getting to this post.

I made something I haven't made in a long time:  chicken breasts baked with stuffing and corn.  I wanted something easy:  you just bake the raw breasts in a casserole pan, which is covered for most of the cooking time, along with 5-minute stove top stuffing mix and some corn.  (It's also good way to use up the leftover corn and stuffing from Thanksgiving, which makes it even easier; you don't have to prepare a box of stuffing mix.) It's also an old standby I use when I don't know what else to make and nothing calls to me.

I've been on a boneless chicken breast buying kick lately; there have been some sales and one place, Price Rite, sells it really cheap most of the time.  Like $1.69-a-pound cheap!  And beef has been so expensive this past year, so I buy what's cheaper nowadays.  (Although, I've discovered that I can get it for half price, or less, by going early on a Saturday or Sunday morning and buying the meat that's dated to sell by the following day or the day after.  I got ribeye steaks for 60% off last week!) Plus, you can do so many things with chicken.

Anyway, I decided to crack open a pack of boneless chicken breasts.  The breasts were huge so I trimmed them of fat and then cut them into smaller pieces.  I then sprinkled them with salt and pepper, and partially sauteed them in a pan sprayed with cooking spray, so as to reduce the cooking time further (you can just use raw breasts if you don't want to do this extra step); I had just got home from work and I knew it would take at least an hour from start to finish to make this dish.  While the breasts were frying, I prepared the stuffing.  I sprayed the casserole pan with non-stick cooking spray.  Then I mixed the corn in with the finished stuffing and then put it all in the pan.  I then put the breasts on top, covered it, and baked it at 350 for about 40 minutes, until the breasts were cooked through.  It all depends on how thick the breasts are as to how long it takes to cook.

Here's the finished product.

And here's my portion.  I couldn't finish it, so Bob got the last bite.

eggs benedict with pesto

Last month I went to Whole Foods in the morning.  They had their hot food bar filled with breakfast food, which I love because this particular location usually has a couple of selections that are different.  One week they had a breakfast pizza, which was a crispy flatbread topped with scrambled eggs, bacon, and cheese, with a touch of olive oil.  Another week they had their take on eggs benedict:  sunny side-up fried egg on top of an English muffin with Canadian bacon and cheese, and then topped with a little pesto.  This is what I've been wanting to try at home, and I finally had the opportunity.

Last week I attempted to make an appetizer for the Christmas potluck at work, but I ended up leaving it at home.  I made antipasto skewers, which consisted of grape tomatoes, fresh mozzarella, pepperoni, and marinated mushrooms.  Each skewer was then brushed with some jarred pesto sauce.  However, the skewers kept splintering and I didn't feel good about bringing them to work; I didn't want to chance someone getting a splinter in their mouth.  I ended up eating them at home throughout the week.  I then wondered what to do with the half-used jar of pesto sauce.  Then it came to me:  I'll replicate Whole Foods' eggs benedict!

What prompted me to decide to make it was that I fried bacon Monday morning. So, why not make my own version inspired by Whole Foods' version?  I, of course, didn't have any English muffins.  I improvised and used half a hamburger bun.  Not the same, but perfectly workable.   I toasted it and then spread some goat cheese on it.  (I didn't want to use plain old American cheese; it just tastes so...generic...these days.) I put the bacon on top.  Then I fried the egg sunny side up and put it on top.  I wanted to make the yolk somewhat congealed and not quite as runny, so I wrongly thought that broiling the sandwich would make that happen.  Wrong!  It just cooked the egg white on top. When I took it out the yolk was too runny, so I put it back in the frying pan to cook a little more.  But, of course, the yolk broke.  I put it back on the sandwich, and topped it with fresh ground pepper and some pesto.

It didn't look at pretty as I had hoped, but it tasted good! Unfortunately my Photoshop software is acting up, so I couldn't adjust the brightness or anything.

As you can see, my yolk broke and the pesto started weeping olive oil.

This kind of looks like a snail under a blanket.

 

how am i doing?

So, how am I doing two years later?  I'm doing pretty good.

I'm still a size 14/16.  I wish it was lower, but I've maintained that for a year and I can't complain about that.  I've never maintained my size for that long. Or a weight loss, for that matter.  I love being able to find clothing that fits and I don't need to search high and low, or just settle for whatever is on the rack.  However, it's still sometimes hard because many times I can't find a 14/16; it must be a popular size.  And buying pants is tough, because I have a lot of loose skin around the abdomen.  I eventually want to have it removed, since no amount of exercise will ever get rid of it, but it's quite expensive and it's just not in the budget in the foreseeable future.

I'm up about 10 pounds and that fluctuates up or down 5 pounds.  I'm NOT happy about that, but I'm working on it.  I'm still fighting the snack demons, which I suspect will stay with me until I can get it out of my head that just because I'm bored, it doesn't mean I need to eat.  I will say that even though I'm under 220, at the moment I feel like I'm 343 and feel like I look like I'm 343.  I know that's not logical and it's not true, but there it is. I now understand why thin people complain about how terrible they feel when they gain 5 pounds--it's totally true!

I don't really struggle with any food issues.  Nothing makes me sick.  There's really nothing I can't eat, although I do stay away from pasta.  That's just my choice, really, as I was never much of a pasta eater and it just doesn't do it for me.  I do eat bread once in while, but it's usually toast or a crusty bread.  I do need to limit sugar to about 15 grams at a time. Otherwise I feel sick.

Overall, I'm doing well.  I just need to get back to the basics and get myself back on track.  It was easy to feel like once I lost 130+ pounds and many dress sizes that the work was "done."  And that's where I fell down this year.  I'm slowly realizing that I will never be "done."  I will always have to work at it.  And I will. (And it's not as if I didn't know that ahead of time; I did.  But I guess I just didn't think too much about that at the time.)

merry christmas!

Hope everyone has a nice Christmas!

Here's a gift from me to you:  Max and Bailey under the Christmas tree. ;)