Tag Archives: Momlife

Real

Hi, Family and Friends. It’s been since December 5th that I’ve been able to update, and after a rigorous few days up here at Mary Free Bed in Grand Rapids, I thought I’d give a quick update.

I had a piece of my skull bone behind my ear removed during surgery, and I still have quite . a bit of brain and scalp swelling from that. I still have facial droop. Speech is good, though, and so is swallowing.

I am still really unable to handle visitors, and that is mostly because of the vestibular hearing loss and brain processing. I can’t handle more than a few minutes of talking at a time without severe exhaustion, and I can’t have competing noises. I can’t handle the television or music either.

At my initial arrival to Mary Free Bed, I was still a fall risk. I basically have done nothing independent of a nurse or patient tech until today since prior to surgery. I’ve been working with PT, OT, and ST all week and weekend since my arrival. There were many impairments pre-surgery, actually, that we were not aware were impairments until I started therapy here. What I’ve learned is that for every day one takes of rest prior to surgery, four days of therapy are added to the post surgery regimen!

I worked really hard at PT through the weekend, actually, and today for the first time am able to self ambulate around my room and to do self care. Until Peter is cleared for my safety, which he needs to be up here for, I am not able to walk halls. This would benefit me greatly and benefit my ability to go home, but I also need him to see what I’ve been doing for therapy so we don’t have competing agendas. I will be going home with some assistive devices, but mostly for when I’m running errands or doing PT. I will be doing therapy three times/week once home, and in an outpatient situation. I will be in therapy for at least a year. The surgical recovery is only what is up to 3 months, but brain recovery is going to take much, much longer.

The long and short is this: I’ve worked really hard these last few days, and as a result of that hard work, will get sutures removed on Thursday and will likely be discharged to home on Friday. I still need to keep a low profile for quite a while longer.

We still don’t have a radiation verdict.

The girls were up here last night to visit for the first time since prior to surgery. It was a hard visit. There are lots of “scary” feelings, and concerns. When they left, I was super homesick, though.

I miss my family.

God is good, and I am grateful for everything.

I am grateful to be here.

I’m grateful for healing, even if it is going to take a long time.

In the meantime, we’ve had a new well dug. Hopefully that will be fixed by the time I’m home. I’m uncertain of the communication behind this process. Peter is trying to finish semesters, the kids are doing school. We’re trying to keep a sense of normalcy when nothing is normal. And there are already a ton of appointments to be sorted through all the way through February.

My parents are leaving this weekend.

So that is my “real.”

That is our “real.”

Blessings,

Deb

Egg Casserole: Duck Eggs and Riced Cauliflower

There are a lot of opinions about how to have a healthy hair and scalp. Not all of the advice given is based on science or research. Testing for cosmetics and hair products is done by manufacturers selling the product. The FDA gets involved only when there is a problem with a product.

This blog and post contain affiliate links. An affiliate link means that, at no extra cost to you, when you click through a link and make a purchase, I may receive a small commission which allows this blog to remain active and for LoveLeavingLegacy to give back. 

In my newly published, free downloadable e-book, I list Twenty-Three Tips For seeking a Healthier Scalp and Hair. The tips involve use of hair tools, how to keep the tools, towels, and pillowcases clean, best hair care practices, hair hygiene, and best health care practices in diet.

You can access the free ebook here. It subscribes you to my LoveLeavingLegacy with Lilla Rose newsletter also.

A while back, I posted my recipe for Duck Egg Casserole, which we love and make often. The casserole is super filling, and we love it for dinner. Our duck does lays about one egg/day, so we have this casserole every 12-18 eggs. *chuckle* At least that way, we don’t eat it too often. It’s definitely a high protein meal! It is yummy with a side of fruit salad and homemade bread.

It’s also really forgiving. When we made this the other night, we used 18 eggs instead. Note how they are slightly larger than a chicken egg. And this makes a 15×11 pan of casserole!

This variation substitutes 20 oz of riced cauliflower, chopped onion and minced garlic, sautéd in butter or oil instead of using hashbrowns.

Here is the original recipe with the substitution made:

Ingredients: 

12 Duck Eggs, whisked
24 oz small curd cottage cheese
20 oz riced cauliflower, sautéd with garlic and onion
1 lb turkey bacon crumbled/cooked with one diced onion
16 oz frozen broccoli
3-4 c shredded cheddar cheese
2+ tsp garlic powder (to taste, really. We use a lot more than 2 tsp)
Black pepper to taste
Enough liquid/milk to combine all ingredients together, approx 1-2 cups

Directions:

Stir all ingredients together, adding milk if needed. Pour into 15×11 greased Pyrex casserole dish. Bake at 350 degrees until golden brown around edges and throughout the top, about an hour. Serve with whole wheat bread or rolls.

Serves 8-10.

You might have heard the buzz over in the Lilla Rose Stylists Facebook group. Ok. Probably not unless you are in the group, and I’d for you to be! Enrollment information is here!

But, in all seriousness, Lilla Rose just rolled out a new selling style feature for Stylists called Social Street Fairs. I’m not able to sell outside of Michigan or to sell only to sales tax free states for the time being, but if you join my customer group, you will see what items I have available that you will not find on my website! It is exciting!

 

Here is a preview of what could be there! No guarantees anything is available, and these are only available to my group, but come on over and see anyway! 

Blessings,

Deb

Strength In Weakness

“The only person I’m trying to be better than is the person I was yesterday.”

 

Yesterday I stopped at Biggby for a coffee treat after my husband’s follow up doctor’s appointment.
This was my cup cozy message.

My husband had a serious car accident on Tuesday, requiring an ambulance ride to the hospital in a neck brace.

Praise God he is ok with no internal injuries, no broken bones, no head injury. He does have back and neck pain from whiplash. And, he has some muscle pain in his braking pedal leg.

I’m well aware and don’t need to be reminded of how thankful I need to be that this wasn’t worse.

I cleaned out our oh so likely totaled van Tuesday afternoon.

Our van debris picked up off the street by….someone. I found this when I went to gather our personal belongs and our new mailbox post out of the van later Tuesday.

Believe me.

I need no reminders.

This is the least alarming post accident photo. It says enough.

I don’t know how they got my husband safely out of the van. The driver’s side door barely opens. The windshield is bowed and is not actually in the window frame. The van body shape is no longer a rectangle shape, more like a parallelogram,trapezoid or rhombus. Not that I got the tape measure out and analyzed angles or anything. I mean, it’s not like I use geometry in my every day life, right? <insert sarcastic but healing humor here>

For the 48+ hours after the accident we’ve been in a literal brain fog, for two different reasons. His fog because of the literal accident, mine because of his accident and the realization of what worse could have looked like.

It was enough that I got called to the scene of the accident and where the fog began to crowd my peripheral vision. It’s where I began to pretend I was strong. A fireman asked me if I was ok when I climbed out of the ambulance where hubby was waiting for me with the police and EMT’s. I said “I will be. I have to be. Yes. I’m ok.” and tried to convince myself that I’d be strong.

In the ER my mother in law was talking about how strong I was, how much peace was in my countenance. Inside I was thinking “What is she talking about? I can barely think.” It was an out of body experience. A tunnel visioned fog with no peripheral vision. I could only tunnel in on one minute at a time.

Inside my head and hurting heart was turmoil, not peace.

On Tuesday we took “things” minute by minute as we ticked through the day…neck brace, ambulance ride, traffic citation, calling family, employment, and our pastor, CT scans and X-rays, and the results of those. Getting pain meds filled, coming home to comfort children, more phone calls to family, follow up doctors’ appointments made, cleaning out the van, and answering messages and offers of help.

Fog.

Tick-tock…minute by minute.

Once home, my focus was only on making sure my husband was ok, and making sure my children were ok.

None of us were ok. Yet we were.

We were home together, we were on the phone with our oldest in the Boston area.

There was some laughter. We did crack jokes.

We were <mostly> ok.

Wednesday we took it hour by hour as emotions began to flood and we left room for processing events and comforting each other, planning, insurance calls, finishing our taxes believe it or not, answering more messages, the list of things to do got long but things were being checked off in spite of the continued, but slowly dissipating fog. Hour by hour…

 

Thursday the day formed into compartmentalized sections. I could think a little more ahead and make plans. I even could begin to think about Friday and Saturday.

“Do I have a show Saturday? I wasn’t sure. I should find out. I should begin to pull stuff together if I do.”

The Thursday morning doctor’s appointment brought some reassuring and good news results! Yay! I brought hubby to work to teach his class (poor guy!), stopped for coffee, did some mental health processing, and finally had a good cry alone in the Biggby parking lot. We had to reschedule pick up of rental car, and I had to be home to clean up our bedroom for a mattress delivery that was actually scheduled two weeks ago! (GOD!), take care of more things, and go to our second follow up appointment. I don’t mess around with getting those health and healing affairs in order, even in fog and fatigue.

I intended to come home, make said new bed and fall into it after that second appointment.

But our chickens had gotten naughty and created a new plan. And that was God too. It was therapy to go enjoy the fresh air and their antics, and I’m thankful for that. I also enjoyed an unplanned visit from a sweet friend who dropped off dinner, which I also didn’t know I really needed (more God!), and I enjoyed a two mile walk listening to peeper frogs and singing birds.

By Thursday night the fog was lifting. I could feel strength returning in the ending day, in spite of fatigue. And I know the fog lifting is from the prayers of others.

Friday morning I awoke on my new mattress, having slept like a rock, and finally not quite so tired. I’d dreamed about chicken antics, some of them featherless and looking rough.

Kind of like how I had been since Tuesday.

After my good cry alone in a Biggby parking lot.

Every day, I’m a bit better person than the day before.

Every day we’re a bit stronger as a family.

Every day, my sweet husband has healed a little more.

We may look rough. We may feel rough. But every day is a bit better than the day before.

And it had only been a little more than 72 hours.

We know.

This could have been so much more.

Praising God for protection, healing, and for where we are.

Praising Him for His strength in each new day.

Praising Him that I only need to be better than I was yesterday.

Blessings,

Deb

2 Corinthians 12:9 But he said to me, “My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.” Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me.