To the Pain

There is a scene in the Princess Bride where Wesley threatens to fight the Prince "to the pain." The aches and pains did come from the booster shot. Started in my arms, moved to my knees, and then my pelvis and base of my spine. It's more of a big bone body discomfort. It's not really pain but it was a catchy title for this post.

Last time I had chemo Adriamycin was part of the treatment. It's not good for your heart and I had some problems a few years ago. They put me on Coreg which is a beta-blocker. My heart functioning returned to near normal but I still take the Coreg. Beta-blockers block that rush of adrenalin you get when the person sitting next to you in the car screams, "red light!" That doesn't really bother me anymore. For a diabetic the downside is that beta-blockers mask the synmptoms of having low blood sugar. Growing up I could always feel my insulin reactions and was pretty well in tune with how my body felt. I could almost predict my blood sugars based on the taste in my mouth and other things. Coreg took that away about 4 years ago. The Neulasta and its discomfort have brought some of that back for me in the sense of feeling something about how my body is working. Kind of like an old friend. To the pain!

Eat Good Food, Be Kind, Tell the Truth

Click below for the collection of recipes or for an easy to print copy of a single recipe.

Collection of Recipes

Spaghetti Sauce: We had spaghetti for dinner last night. Eunice makes a great sauce that we've used since before we were married.

Reflections and Recipes

I feel like I've completed my first cycle although there are still a couple of weeks until I start the second one. I had a little soreness in my left shoulder and arm from the Neulasta (white blood cell booster shot) but nothing dramatic. Knees are a little sore (weak?) too. I finished my ten days of prednisone and procarbazine last night and am looking forward to seeing how that effects me the next two weeks. Feeling a little tired, I took a nap yesterday afternoon. I realized I was a little low on sugar and that may have contributed to my fatigue. I'm doing well and will start my second cycle on Monday, May 17. The key thing there is Monday. Being able to move the start of the cycle from Wednesday to Monday is important to me so that I can travel more easily for work. Only the first week of the cycle requires me to be home. Mondays give me more flexibility.

Yesterday we planted two trees. Our community has a program where you can purchase trees relatively inexpensively for planting in your yard. We planted a flowering crab and white oak. We also did a little cleanup around the yard and in the shed and started planning some enhancements to our gardens. We want to incorporate more species native to Minnesota in one area in particular.

We also prepared some great meals. We had ribs, cole slaw, and Bush's Vegetarian Baked Beans (yes, out of a can but the ingredients were OK) on Friday. Saturday we made Bison Burgers with home fries.

Eat Good Food, Be Kind, Tell the Truth

Click below for the collection of recipes or for an easy to print copy of a single recipe.

Collection of Recipes

Baby Back Ribs A friend of ours makes great ribs and we have used it for years. It's not so much a recipe as a prepartation guide. The real recipe is the sauce which I tried to model after Gates BBQ in Kansas City.

BBQ Sauce Sauce ingredients can be a problem for me so I've started to make more of them and other condiments. This sauce is very good and easy to make.

Cole Slaw What are ribs without cole slaw? I didn't want to buy it without knowing the ingredients. This is a great recipe for cole slaw. The spices really make it. The major ingredient is mayonaise so I made my own.

Mayonnaise A little fussy but it wasn't that hard to make. It turned out thin which was fine for the cole slaw. I have since found that I can get mayo with approved ingredients at Whole Foods and will do that in the future. But since I made the mayo - thought I'd include the recipe too.

Bison Burgers Simple and delicious. I really haven't prepared bison often but decided to try it. It's better than beef for burgers - tender, juicy, and so simple to make.

Home Fries Years ago I found hints to this recipe in a mystery I was reading. They are very good and our kids have loved them for years. And yeah, they're great with ribs and burgers.