I had an apple at my desk, and I borrowed an instant pack of oatmeal from someone in my office – a quick breakfast and only 4 points!

So Hannah met me at noon, and my bosses Dad got at the office at the same time.  I was wrong, our lunch date is 80 years old, not 82!  He was interesting to talk to and at some points he was talking about his grandchildren, then he’d start talking about trips he took with his wife, and then would go back to 1938 and talk about a golf course his father belonged to.  I guess when you make it to 80 you have so many memories that it would be easy to jump around the decades of your life.

He talked about how his wife had CLL for 15 years, who passed away five years ago, but they still enjoyed trips to Seattle and to Sante Fe where they watched the huge balloon festival.  He described his bout with prostate cancer 15 years earlier and “knock on wood I haven’t been in the hospital since!”

At one point there while we were eating, he just shouted “I love Bubbies pickles!  I haven’t been able to find them anywhere up here though.”

I think he had a nice time – Hannah and I were fresh meat so he could tell any story and we hadn’t heard it yet!  And he paid for lunch against our wishes since we invited him out.   He said “it’s not very often I have lunch with two young ladies.”  He looked at Hannah and said “you are too young for me and your Mom is already taken!”

I ended up getting a spinach goat cheese frittata with hashbrowns on the side.  The frittata was huge – I only ate half of the eggs and half of the potatoes – my guess is that lunch comes in around 12 points.

I really had no idea what I was going to make for dinner.  I looked on last weeks menu and saw that I never made Danica’s lasagna cups.  But then I realized I didn’t want to make a whole batch (hers made 12) and I wanted to use some ground beef in mine.  So here’s a version of hers, scaled down for 1 serving at 11 WW points.

Lasagna Cups, makes 6 at 11 WW points

• 6 wonton wrappers
• 3 ounces 90% lean beef
• 1 garlic clove
•  1 small zucchini, chopped
• 2 tablespoons chopped red pepper
• 1/8 cup ricotta cheese
• 1/2 cup tomato sauce
• 1/2 teaspoon Italian seasoning
• 1/4 teaspoon crushed red pepper
• salt and pepper
• 1 slice provolone cheese (cut into 6 squares)

Heat oven to 375.  Put wonton cups in a regular size muffin tin, making sure the bottom of the wonton is pressed down – I sprayed mine with Pam first just in case they stuck.

In a skillet saute the beef, zucchini and garlic, until the meat is cooked through.  Add remaining ingredients except provolone, and cook for a couple minutes and the ricotta is melted through.

Divide mixture between the wonton cups, putting a slice of provolone on top, then bake for 18-20 minutes.  Mine took 20 minutes.  Let cool about 3-5 minutes.

These were delicious!  I was worried that the bottom of the wonton wouldn’t be crispy, but they were.  And if I had stuff to make a salad, 3 of these would have been plenty with a side salad.  Thanks for the idea Danica!

Hooray for Friday!  Got any fun plans this weekend?  Make it a great day!

I contemplated jumping in and getting Bizzy in my Kitchen (I have a ricotta cheese lemon pancake recipe with blueberry sauce coming soon!) I realized it’s Wednesday.  And I haven’t had bagel Wednesday forever!  This giant jalapeno cheddar with egg whites in the middle comes in at a delicious 11 points.

I was so stuffed from the bagel that I didn’t have anything before picking up Tony for his doctor appointment.  It dawned on me as we were driving there that because this doctor first saw Tony in the hospital, we would have to fill out new patient forms, do the family history stuff, etc.

We really like this doctor, he’s the kidney doctor.  While Tony will probably always have mild kidney disease, hopefully things will never get worse than that.  He goes back in a few weeks to have blood work done to see where his numbers are at, then back again in April.

While we were in with the doctor the car dealership called.  I called them back.  The truck was ready, “but you have a few more issues going on with the truck.”  My first thought was “fuck.”  You know, because it rhymes with truck.

He started talking about shackles and my first thought is “where the hell do shackles fit on a truck?”

I told him basically to stop talking, that I had my husband with me and he could explain it to him.  I just don’t do car parts.  It’s never a good sign when your truck is still on the lift so they can “show you everything that is wrong” with the car.

Long story short, the alternator and new battery were installed, but there were a few things that need to be done “in the near future” but aren’t things that have to be done to it now.  Whew.

So by the time that was all done and I got back to work, I had taken a 3 hour lunch.  Just so you know the afternoon goes by really fast when you take a 3 hour lunch!

I was still full from the bagel so I had an apple and a cafe mocha – 2 points!   My afternoon cafe mochas are so good – I’ve got my boss hooked on them.  It’s a 25 calorie pack of diet swiss miss cocoa, half hot water, half coffee and then whip cream on top.  It’s like 50 calories, but I count it as 2 points.  I stole this picture.  I figured after taking a 3 hour lunch I should do some work!

I had defrosted some chicken wings, not really knowing what I was going to do with them.  When I came in the house to get Tony I saw that he marinated my wings – in spicy hot shit.  Tony is a fly by the seat of his pants kinda cook, tossing things in willy nilly.  Me?  I would have written it down as I went along, so that if it turned out good I could make it again.

I baked my wings at 400 degrees for 35 minutes, then finished them off under the broiler for a couple minutes.  I like my wings well done.   On the side I made a broccoli/cole slaw stir fry.  Now I might get some slack here, but after I took the chicken out of the marinade, I cooked it down for 30 minutes.

I know some people will think “you had raw chicken in that marinade!”  But I made sure I boiled it above 160 degrees, so it’s all good.  In fact it reduced down to an amazing sauce.  I told Tony “I am not joking, these are the best wings I’ve ever had.”

So I said “what did you put in the sauce??!!”  He said he knew he had to start out with vinegar, so he added apple cider vinegar, then Frank’s sweet and sour sauce, soy sauce, garlic, olive oil and crushed red peppers.  They marinated for about six hours.  After I reduced the sauce, I stirfried broccoli slaw and broccoli in about a tablespoon of the sauce.

Oh my oh my.  These wings were spicy and delicious!  It had the perfect balance of sweet, sour and heat.  Thanks Tony!  And thanks for your help with the truck – I have no idea how I would have handled it happened last week when you were in the hospital.

Hannah and I have a special lunch planned today.  My bosses father has been spending the winter with them.  He’s 82 years old and originally from New York, but retired to Georgia.  He helps out at the food pantry Monday through Wednesday, but Thursday and Friday’s he doesn’t have a whole lot going on.

So Hannah and I decided to take him out to lunch today – I love hearing people’s stories!

I knew there was a Jiffy Lube about a mile away and I prayed that I could just get it there.  I made it!  I explain what’s happened and three guys look at it and they say “we don’t do batteries, so you’ll have to take it somewhere else.”  They advised that the car would still run just as long as I didn’t turn it off.

So every time I am at a stop light and it’s time for me to go, it took a couple minutes for me to get going, and then I would either only be able to go ten miles an hour, or it would speed up for no reason.  I was terrified!  I called Tony and I was about a mile from our car dealership that has a service center.  He said he would meet me there.

Just then there is a cop car with a siren on behind me!  I pull into a side street.  I open my car door a bit because I have can’t use the power windows.  I wasn’t even able to put my hazards on.

So as the cop comes to my door I open it up to get out and she shouts “Get back in the car ma’am!”  I shut the door, then she comes to my window and says “roll down your window.”  I told her I had no power, so she let me open the door.  The next sentence is classic.  “Ma’am, did you know you were only driving ten miles an hour with no lights on?”

Why yes I did!  She ran my license and then escorted me the last mile to the car dealership.  Whew!  While we would have rather taken the car to our mechanic, our mechanic, while super reasonable, sometimes takes days to make the repair, which would have meant renting a car, etc.

This dealership is fancy too – in the waiting room they have six apple computers for customers to use while waiting for their cars!

Turns out it was an alternator.  But our battery was nearly dead too, but we knew we could get a cheaper one at Sam’s.  So after leaving the dealership, Tony and I went to Sam’s Club, picked up a new battery and I will drop it off this morning on my way to work.

Tony has a doctor appointment this afternoon, so I will take a later lunch, pick him up, go to the doctor and then drop him off at the dealership and he’ll wait for it to be finshed.  Oh, and then we’ll have about $562 dollars less than we had yesterday.

Yep, still haven’t gone grocery shopping and I seriously think that I can make it till the weekend with what we have on hand.  I still have to see what I threw in the freezer from last week, but I was going through the fridge with Hannah (like a good momma I made her my ham mac and cheese using shells – she feels that “shaped” pasta has more flavor than elbow macaroni!).

I showed her that there was still some pizza dough in the fridge, and she said “want breakfast pizza tomorrow?”  Um, when have I ever been known to turn down pizza?  I tried to eyeball how she was making it so I could estimate the points.  I didn’t want to get in her business by pulling out the food scale – it looked like about 4 ounces of dough, sauce on my side, olive oil (and onions!) on her side, about 2 ounces of reduced fat Jimmy Dean sausage, baby spinach, colby cheese and 1 egg mixed with 1/4 cup egg white on top.

I am estimating the whole pizza to be 24 points, so half is 12.  Super filling and delicious – too bad Hannah had to scoot to school and we weren’t able to eat it together – thanks Hanners!

The sun was shining, and I was determined to get out and run/walk yesterday.  It said the temperature was 31, but felt like 21.  I was prepared.  The last time I was at Goodwill I bought a pair of under armour leggings.  They are super thin, and are tapered at the ankle, there was absolutely no wind getting to my legs.   These were a score for me – I paid $5.00 for them, and they retail for $69!

The only part about running/walking in January is the ice – I almost took a face plant when I ran over what looked like just water – turns out it was a thin sheet of ice for about 5 feet!

I also had to use the median because both the sidewalks on either side had too much snow or ice.  The ground was super hard an unstable, but I think it made for a tougher workout!

And about 10 minutes in I had to use my scarf to cover my ears.  Hey, I never said I was fashionable.

It felt wonderful to get moving.  I hadn’t worked out in almost a week, so it was a bit slow going, but it was awesome.  Since Hannah was Bizzy in My Kitchen this morning, I didn’t have time to put anything together for lunch, but I realized I had $$ left on a Subway gift card.

I ended up getting the turkey and ham on the oat grain bread – sammie was 7 points with the light Lay’s chips – lunch came in at 9 points.

Have you ever made ham salad?  Before Tony got sick I had cooked a 7 pound ham just to have on hand.  I added some to Hannah’s mac n cheese, and when I mentioned to Tony that there was still a lot left he said “mmmmm…..ham salad.”  I’ve never made ham salad, but it couldn’t have been easier!

In the food processor:

• 2 cups cooked ham
• 1/4 cup mayo
• 2 tablespoons mustard
• 3 stalks of celery
• 8 baby gerkin pickles (or I guess you could throw in a couple tablespoons of sweet relish)
• good pinch of salt
• good turn of some fresh cracked pepper

Just pulse until you don’t have huge chunks of anything.  Since I made it at night, and my lighting sucks ass, I think google images for this picture:

I left some assorted crackers on the counter for when Tony wanted to have some ham salad and crackers for lunch.  Another favorite of Tony’s?  Egg salad!

So by the time we got home from Sam’s Club, it was nearly 7:00.  I had defrosted a bottom round steak but wasn’t really sure what to do with it, until I saw I had this:

I sliced up the round steak really thin and while I had egg noodles cooking and the gravy cooking, cooked it up for just a couple minutes.  Most people think you have to cook this cut low and slow, but it was super tender.  And doesn’t gravy make everything better?

As a side note, I am going to be participating in Lori’s Healthy Heart Weekend.  Just click on the previous link to get the info.  I think my goal will be to run/walk 5 miles in 55 minutes or less.

Are you going to play?  Make it a great day!

Last time I was at the grocery store I found these buffalo chicken sausages on the sale rack – not sure what they normally sell for, but my package was only $1.99.

Hello spicy!  And the stats?  3 WW points each!

Lunch was leftover beef and bean salsa soup that I had frozen – 8 WW points.

So since I didn’t work out I made doctor appointments – three of Tony’s doctors wanted to follow up with him within a week of getting out of the hospital.  Two of them only have office hours near our house one day a week, so I did those first.  One nurse said “the earliest I can get you in is January 31st.”  I said “wow, you don’t have anything open before then?”

I looked at my calendar and realized January 31st is a week from today!  I can’t believe how fast this month has gone by already!

Tony picked up all his prescriptions yesterday, he’ll be taking two oral antibiotics the next week.  He’s still super tired, and he was a bit sore from walking after being sedentary for a week.  He’s catching up on sleep too!

I still haven’t gone to the grocery store, so I told Tony “I have stuff to make burgers, pasta, chicken. . .”  He stopped me at burgers, but then I had no hamburger buns, only bread, so he had a patty melt.

I decided to have an Italian burger over zucchini.  I sauteed some zucchini in 1 tsp. olive oil (1), then cooked a 4 ounce 93% lean burger (4), topped it with 3/4 ounce slice of provolone cheese (2) and put some of my pasta sauce overtop (2) – a delicious 9 WW point dinner.

When I was downloading my pictures I realized something.  The chili I had eaten about 5 times at the hospital?  It was 9 points a serving based on their nutrition label.  What I didn’t realize was that the serving size was 8 ounces.

Um, guess what the soup cups were next to the soups and chili?

16 ounces!!  So what I thought was an 11 points cup of chili with the cheese and sour cream was more likely 20 points.  Isn’t that crazy?!  When I entered “16 ounces chili with beans” into WW eTools, I got a range between 14 points and 29 points, so I think 20 points seems right in the middle.

I am off to do my morning abs on Exercise TV, while Hannah is making us breakfast pizza.  Make it a great day!

Before I left for the hospital I made a quick oatmeal with sauteed apples and a few toasted pecans – so delicious and this bowl is 7 points.

As I was walking into the hospital, I looked up and saw a helicopter and thought to myself ”my gosh that’s flying really low!”

Um, I am a dork.  Because I realized the entrance I was going in was right next to the helicopter pad where critical patients are brought in.  Duh!

I got to the hospital around 9:30, and around 10:30 there were rumblings that he might get discharged.  We sluffed it off and said “if it’s today, great.  If it’s tomorrow?  That’s okay too.”  If either one of us had called or talked to anyone saying “he’s coming home!” it most definitely wouldn’t have happened.

When Tony got his sandwich for lunch, I went down and got probably my fourth or fifth bowl of chili for the week.  With a bit of cheese and a dollup of sour cream and 4 saltines, lunch comes in at 11 points.

And around two I had some kiwi and pears that I brought from home.

We passed the time by laying together in his hospital bed watching t.v., and he’d fall asleep every so often.  It was super warm in his room, so my cheeks were really rosy, so I made this pic in black and white.

I have to say though that the snotty nurse from the day before yesterday turned out to be fabulous – we just both got off on the wrong foot and she ended up taking excellent care of Tony.  In fact, when she came in to bring us his discharge papers she said “I am not even going to put a gown on - how about that?!”

When so many doctors are stirring the pot, it took until 4:45 in the afternoon before we were able to come home.  Our dog who has spent the last five days hidden in our bedroom closet, or laying on our bedroom floor, only to come out to go to the bathroom?  As soon as Tony walked in, he saw him, then went to get his toy and was back to his old self.

I obviously haven’t grocery shopped, and I really can’t remember what I had on tap for last week that night reappear this week.  Tony asked from some plain pasta with a bit of butter and Parmesan cheese, so I just made a quick red sauce with canned plum tomatoes, garlic, oregano, crushed red pepper, salt and pepper.  I tossed in some fresh chopped spinach at the end for some color.

Tony is still so tired.  I am hoping now that he’s home and not in pain he will be able to catch up this week.  So glad he’s home!

I am looking forward to getting to the gym this week, as well as getting on a more normal eating schedule.  Tony has follow up appointments with three of his doctors in the next week or so.   I want to thank you again for all the virtual hugs – it made this week a lot better for me!

Our weather is so crazy – I was woken up last night to a thunder storm!  Right now its 44 degrees, yet tonight its getting down to 17 with snow flurries.  I really hate January weather in Chicago.

How was your weekend??  Make it a great day!

Yesteray he just swung his legs over the bed, stood up and walked to the bathroom like it was no big deal.  I almost got teary watching him walk like that – its been so long since I’ve seen it.

He’s still sleepy, which is to be expected, because even though things are moving in the right direction, every couple hours he’s bothered by doctor visits, vitals, etc.  I know once he comes home he’ll sleep like a baby!

When I walked in yesterday Tony was on the phone with his parents.  I was taking off my coat when his nurse walked in (one I hadn’t met yet) and before saying anything said “you need to put a gown on.”  I told her I’d been there all week an no one had once asked me to put any protective clothing on.

She then started to tell me (in a snotty way)  that it was hospital regulations, etc., and Tony got off the phone and said “how dare you talk to my wife like that!”  She’s the one person who’s been by my side this whole time and I want you to apologize right now!”

I have to admit, it was kinda nice for Tony to stick up for me like that.  I am the most passive person you will meet so had I been by myself I probably wouldn’t have said a thing!

While I was getting ready and in the shower, Hannah made us breakfast – breakfast tosadas and unpictured sliced pears – it was delicious and only 5 WW points.

I liked that she put fresh cut cucumber over the top – the cucumber was cold but the tostada was hot.

My SIL volunteered at the hospital and got off at 2:00.  After a quick visit with her brother, we went down and ate lunch.  The hot portion of the cafeteria was closed, so I got another chicken finger salad – my guess is the salad is about 10 points because the chicken fingers were five, there were chickpeas, a little bit of cheese, a little bit of bacon, dried cranberries and sunflower seeds – oh, and a hard boiled egg.

I have been the queen of over dressing my salads lately, so I did the fork into dressing method – I may have used a tablespoon of fat free Italian?

It’s really hard for me to sit with Tony in the hospital and do nothing.  I don’t know how he does it.  I ended up coming home and needing to get bizzy in my kitchen.  So now shocker here . . . I made pizza!

I am calling this pizza 15 points.  Pepperoni and spinach, on a crispy thin crust.  Yum!

Hannah and I watched The Time Traveler’s Wife. I thought it was the stupidest movie I’ve ever seen – it was so disjointed.  Hannah?  She was crying like a baby at the end!

Last week I made a brown rice quiche.  I loved the mix of textures on this dish, my boss (the nice one who typically loves everything I bring her) thought it had too much.  I am finally posting the recipe.

Brown Rice Quiche (makes 4 servings = 266 calories, 6.2 fat, 27 carbs, 2.7 fiber and 25 protein, or 7 WW points).

Ingredients:

• 2 cups cooked white rice
• 1 egg
• 1/4 cup cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup egg whites
• 1 teaspoon dry mustard
• 1 teaspoon dried rosemary
• 2 ounces ham
• 1/2 cup skim milk
• 2 cups chopped or shredded zucchini
• salt and pepper

Heat oven to 425.  Mix the brown rice, egg and cheese and put it on the bottom of your fish.  I happened to use an 8×8 pan, but you can use a pie pan.  Bake for 10 minutes.

Lower heat to 375.  Mix remaining ingredients together, pour onto rice crust, and bake 30-35 minutes until eggs are set.  Let cool ten minutes before slicing.

Alright, I have to get in the shower and get to my Tony.  Enjoy your Sunday!

Well apparently they didn’t want him starving to death – they sent him 8 pieces of toast!!  This picture was taken after Tony and I each took a slice!

After I left Tony to go to work yesterday morning, I stopped at the Subway they have in the lobby of the hospital that just opened up at the beginning of the year.  I am loving the egg white/pepper jack cheese flatbread – its a super filling breakfast sandwich and comes in at 9 points.  And an excuse to have hot peppers for breakfast.

Tony was able to eat 1/2 a ham sandwich at lunch yesterday and 3/4 of a burger and some mashed potatoes for dinner last night.  This morning?  He had pancakes!

They have been giving him iron shots (which he said look like bb pellets!), a vitiman D shot (his vitamin D was super low) and his kidney doctor is like a mad scientist trying to get his electrolyte levels stable.

I have to say (hoping not to jinx myself) that he looks good.  The prednisone (sp?) they have him for his gout has helped tremendously, he has color back in his face, and I think the fact that he’s hungry and eating is all great steps in the right direction.

We wanted to walk around the hospital floor but Tony is in isolation because of the c-diff and he can’t leave his room.  He told the nurse “it’s like I am a beautiful prince in a gilded castle where they won’t let me leave.” 

I have a few chores to do around the house, wash our bed sheets, plow the driveway with the snow blower.  The plow goes through our street at about 40 miles an hour and now I have a nice 1.5 foot high pile of snow at the end of our drive.

We ended up getting probably 6-7 inches of snow?  I got out of work around 3:00 yesterday and here’s how much snow was on my car – it didn’t start snowing until 10:00 a.m.

Um, can you tell I need new wiper blades?  Tony actually has them in the car, I just don’t know how to do it.

I normally make it to the hospital in about 20 minutes from my office.  Yesterday the traffic was so slow it took me an hour and 10 minutes.  It was big fluffy snow, not the heavy stuff.

I had a giant salad from the cafeteria – the WW menu item was called “Southwestern Smothered Chicken and Rice.”  It kinda looked like vomit peppered with black beans.  I did chop up two breaded chicken fingers to put on my salad.  You know, for extra protein.

And as luck would have it, I got this book:

The local library has a cart of books in the lobby of the hospital for sale.  Each book has a “suggested” donation price, and this one was marked for $1.  They have a locked box that you put your donation in – score!

So I didn’t want to go to WW this morning.  My schedule has been so off, I only worked out twice, my water intake isn’t up to par, etc.  But I felt I needed to step on the scale this morning so that if for no other reason, it would force me to make better choices and plan better.

So I was shocked as shit when it showed I was down a pound!

I’ll take it!

I ended up freezing a lot of stuff this week since I didn’t make what I had on my menu with Tony being in the hospital.  I’ve been trying to keep up with my blog reading while Tony sleeps, I mainly just can read the posts because its hard to comment on my blackberry.  That being said there are a few things I’ve seen this week that will be on my “soon to make list” once Tony comes home.

Teresa made Thai Coconut Shrimp that looked delicious.  I may made extra sauce and have it over sauteed veggies instead of rice – I just love anything with coconut and I may add a splash of sriracha to kick it up a notch.

Renee made a simple fresh blueberry sauce.  My store last week had blueberries on sale for .99 a pint so I will definitely make this.  And 1/4 cup serving is only 1 WW point!  The only thing I think I’ll add is a tablespoon of lemon zest.  I love the blueberry/lemon zest combo.

Tami of Nutmeg Notebook (sorry Tami – I realized I never had you on my blog roll – but I fixed that!) made a creamy oatmeal brulee that looks so good.  And makes me want to get a kitchen torch.   I am not sure Tony could tolerate another kitchen gadget though.  Although my birthday is coming up in March!

Alright I am off to do my chores then get to the hospital.  My SIL volunteers there so I’ll probably have lunch with her when she gets off her shift.  Thank you again for your continued support, prayers, texts and emails – it means more to me than you’ll ever know.  Hugs!

So the best way Tony knows how to keep people straight so I know what he’s talking about is giving people nicknames.  Let’s take our day nurse Amy from yesterday for example – Amy and I started talking about food (I know – shocking!) and we got on the subject of salsa.  I told her that I would bring in some of my baja salsa (she was awesome by the way – totally got our sense of humor) as a thank you.  So now Amy is known as Salsa Lover.

Another nurse came in last night to take over for Amy.  A small Asian woman, and when she walked in she was asking Amy what the goal was for him, and Tony said “I’d just like to dance again, maybe we can dance tonight?”  So that nurses name is now Tiny Dancer.

I don’t even want to tell you how he kept Hannah’s softball team girls straight when we coached their team (to #1 by the way!) back in the 7th grade.  There was “divorced kid” (whose parents were divorced and would sit on opposite sides of the field) “top heavy girl” (um, you can imagine why), “split lip” (because on the first day of practice, Tony hit a ball and it hit this girl in the lip and it split open), “speedy gonzales” (because she almost always rounded first base and ran to second without any guidance from the first base coach).

It would be hysterical for anyone listening to us figure out who was going to be in the field.

Biz:  “So who do you think should play where?”

Tony: “Alright, why don’t we put split lip at second, speedy gonzales in left field because she’s got a great arm to throw to home, divorced kid at pitcher and top heavy at first.”

Well, we have some answers.  Turns out the drain tube got infected and he also has an infection called “C-diff” which he probably got during his surgery stay in December.  The bacteria is still growing so we probably won’t know until tonight or tomorrow what strain it is to figure out the best way to treat it.

Best case scenario?  Antibiotics will just wipe it away, he gets rehydrated, they get his gout under control and he comes home.

Worse case scenario?  Because his hernia was so big and the wound is obviously big, they may have to reopen him up, put something called a wound vac in the wound, and then sew him back up.  Obviously we don’t want him to have more surgery – because he’s on blood thinners they have to ween him off that, so that he doesn’t bleed to much during surgery, but have blood thick enough so he doesn’t get blood clots to his artificial heart valve.

I really think Tony should be an episode of House!

I have been doing okay on the eating front – I haven’t been bringing my camera because I don’t want to leave it in the car at the hospital.  I have to say that while the hot cafeteria food looks like ass most of the time, their soups and chili are delicious.  I’ve had their baja chicken soup twice, and chili twice.

I haven’t worked out all week, which has led to a couple bad choices when I’ve come home from the hospital – I made myself a 6 inch pepperoni pizza one night while I watched “I am preganant and. . . a dwarf.”  Yes, crazy shows like that are my guilty pleasure while Tony is away.

And last night I thought chips and dip were a good idea while watching American Idol.  It’s a lot easier for me to emotionally eat when I haven’t worked out, but I need to realize why I am doing it and snack on fruit!

We are supposed to get 3-7 inches of snow today too.  And man, was it cold!  Here was the temp when I got home from the hopsital last night:

I am off to the hospital before work – again, your continued thoughts, prayers, emails and texts have meant the world to us!  Hugs!

So why the blog post title?  Exactly what it sounds like “hurry up and order a dozen tests, have doctors stream in and out, ask the same questions over and over and then . . . wait.”

I walked in the hospital around 7:30 yesterday morning – bitter cold, but blue skies.

With some many doctors on board, its really difficult to keep everthing on track, but somehow my mind is able to absorb and record all of the information no problem.  Ask me where I put the glass measuring cup or how I lose my keys 10 times in a day, is another story.

A little back story is that Tony has always had problems with staph (sp?) infections.  Started from a motorcycle accident when he was in his 20′s and off and no even up until the year before we met.  Literally in December of 1999 (we met in May of 2000 and married in December of 2000) he had an IV stint out of his shoulder for a month!

We both knew that once Tony and I got married that he needed both of his knees replaced – one from said motorcycle accident and the second probably due to football.  He was scared, not only of infection, but that if he got his knees replaced, that next year they would find “the best ever knee replacements” and it would already be too late.

Thankfully we found a super skilled doctor who told Tony “once I replace the first one, you’ll beg me to fix the next one.”  He wasn’t wrong – he had replacement #1 in March of 2000, and the second one in July 2000.  I always thank the law firm I was working at during that time – both surgeries were 100,000, and we only paid $500 out of pocket.

Tony was healthy for years – able to kick a football with the kids in the yard, walk down stairs, etc.  In spring of 2007 I came home from work and he was having trouble breathing.  He thought it was the flu.  We got him on a Z-pak, nothing helped.  A 16 day hospital stay would reveal that Tony had endocardidis in his aortic valve and it had to be replaced with an artificial one.

The thought was that the infection he got after his motorcycle accident, that laid dormant and returned in December 1999, probably reimerged and attacked his heart valve.  Tony and infections don’t mix too well.

Then in the fall of 2008, Tony went on our front deck to bring on some stuff on our deck table because it had started to rain.  The deck was slippery and he fell.  He said his knee bothered him quite a bit, but thought over time it would just get better.  Until one day we were getting dressed for bed and I happened to look down at his knee and his leg was all black.

We both knew that it was infected.  Tony didn’t want to have to be hospitalized again, but we had no choice.  You can read about because I blogged about it way back in December of 2008!  So fast forward he was couch bound for 3 months, had his second knee replacement and we were good to go.

Until January of last year when we discovered Tony had colon cancer.  Seriously at this point I was like “what more can go wrong with my husband?!”  Thankfully, he only needed surgery and no chemo or radiation.  But it was a long recovery.  I am sure people blog in different ways.  Some throw all their cards on the table, others only show personal stuff some of the times, others just make their blog their “happy place” and you think “wow, that person has the perfect life!”

I don’t care what I write about myself, but when it comes to Tony and family, I sometimes don’t think its fair to them if I blab about their lives – I always ask Tony ahead of time if he minds me writing about so and so – most of the time he says yes, sometimes no.

So here we wait.  Wait for test results, we know there is no sign of cancer so we can take that one off the table.  Thank goodness for that!

Tony always says that I have Munchausen Syndrome, because he hasn’t been as sick since he met and married me.    I like to think that I came into his life when he needed me the most.

And Skippy – be jealous of the guest bed in the totally deluxe hospital room Tony is in – so comfy!

Again, thanks for all your support and I’ll keep you posted.  Hugs!

p.s.  thanks to my SIL who came to meet me for dinner last night – thanks Jody!

I asked him if he wanted me to go with him, and he said “no, you have to work, I can do it.”

So I slept like the dead while he had another rough night.  Of course, I didn’t know this until I got to work and the more I thought about it, the more I realized there was no way Tony would be able to get there on his own.

For the last month he’s had hardly any appetite.  In fact, since the date of his December 12 hernia surgery, he’s lost 31 pounds.  I don’t need to go into any details, but let’s just say he’s made a lot of trips to the bathroom, and sometimes without warning.  And he has zero energy, and can pretty much fall asleep any time during the day, but be up all night with insomnia and bathroom issues.

When we saw his surgeon last week, I went with because I thought his incision site from his surgery seemed infected, and there was an area that was super tender around the incision site that we were concerned about.

The surgeon gave us flying colors – said that it was a big surgery, it would just take time to heal, but if we had any concerns about anything else, we could make an appointment with our GP.

So since Tony hadn’t left our house since our last doctor appointment, has difficulty standing up without being light headed, as I was filing at my desk when a light bulb went off in my head and was like “how the fuck did I think he could get there on his own?!”

So I quickly texted him to tell him I was going to scoop him up on my way home from work.  I had every intention of taking a long lunch and then going back to work.  When I walked in the door, he was in his favorite chair, head down, asleep.  I woke him up, got him in the car, and he fell asleep on the way to the doctors office.

We go in – see the doctor, bring him up to speed on his hernia surgery since its the first time he’s since him since then.  He says “as a precaution, why don’t you come in tomorrow and we’ll do an ultrasound and some blood work to rule some stuff out.”  It wasn’t until the end of the appointment that the nurse came in and said “I forgot to take your temperature!”

So a few seconds later she’s was like “it’s almost 101.  The doctor will probably want to know this.”  And a few minutes later the doctor looked at me and said “Biz, can you take him to the hospital?  They know he’s coming I want him to have the ultrasound and blood work stat.”  Shit.

So being the nice husband he is, told me to stop by the house and fix something to eat before heading for the outpatient pavilion for the tests.  We get him registered, blood work done, then onto the ultrasound.  I am not going to lie that I thought that the ultrasound would show some sort of abscess that may have become infected.

When he came out 20 minutes later he said “they didn’t see a thing – sweet!”  I was told to call our GP around 4:30 to get the results of the blood test.  Unfortunately, our phone rang at 4:00 p.m., it was the doctor who said that the ultrasound was negative for an abscess, unfortunately his blood work was “not optomistic.”

I heard words like “possible gastrointestinal infection, abnormal electrolye level, poor liver function, high bllod sugar, high uric acide and kidney function at 50%.  Well shit, no wonder he hasn’t felt well these last six weeks!  Here we thought it was just the surgery recovery, but there seem to be a lot of underlying factors that are the cause of him not being well.

Our only saving grace?  They gave him the biggest hospital room in the whole place!  He was sleeping in between blood draws.  And this picture was taken from my blackberry in very low light.

 What you don’t see behind me is a personal computer station and a giant bathroom.  At least he won’t have a roommate snoring all night.

So tomorrow?  Guess who’s coming for breakfast:

• infections disease doctor
• kidney specialist
• heart doctor (from his heart valve replacement)
• autoimmune specialist (for his bouts with chronic gout)
• and a hospital specialist – who will liason with our GP

Crazy shit.  And for some reason God didn’t hear my 2012 resolution of no hospital stays in 2012!

So that’s why you’ll have to wait for the recipe for this brown rice crusted zucchini and ham quiche – I thought it was great, my boss said it had too many textures.  I just think it looks pretty.

Your continued well wishes and support are wonderful – keep em coming!  It’s gonna be a long day today.

p.s.  Thanks to Hannah for her excellent cleaning skillz – she deep cleaned my kitchen while I was with Tony – love her!