Okay ladies – I have a tip for you. At some point, you should learn how stuff around your house works, in the event that your handy husband isn’t here to handle them. Lori, I am not talking to you – you are the most handy woman I know!
Case in point. Our house was built in 1922. Our furnace was completely replace over ten years ago – the old furnace was probably at least 40 years old and very non-efficient. We have two small pipes on one side of the house that is the intake? Not sure that the hell it is, but one time our heat didn’t turn on a couple years ago. I get up way earlier than Tony and I remember blogging in the morning and our house temperature was about 50 degrees. I thought for sure the furnace failed somehow. Nope, turns out ice can form on those pipes and it automatically shuts off the furnace until you remove the debris. So a couple mornings ago, I woke up, it was 54 degrees in the house and I get all my winter clothes on, go outside and see two things – one is a circular thing that is covered in ice and snow and then I see the two aforementioned pipes. I take a broom and remove all the snow and ice off the circular thing, then check the pipes, I knock off an icicle and come in the house and the heat turned on in a minute.
When I got to the hospital, I told Tony “just so you know, I removed all the snow and ice from the circular thing, and then took an icicle off the pipe, and the heat came back on in a minute. He started shaking his head. I said “what??!!” Um, turns out that “circular thing” is actually our air conditioning unit, which obviously does not need to have snow and ice removed from it since well, it doesn’t typically run during the winter! And now I know what the circular thing actually is! Thank you google images. We have about 13 inches of snow!
Since I didn’t know what my week was going to be like – I took advantage of being home Saturday night from the hospital, grocery shopped and made my meal plan for the 21 day sugar detox that started today.
I did cheat a bit – there is supposed to be no dairy, but I did add 2 ounces of shredded cheddar cheese to this dish – so basically each serving only has 1/2 an ounce of cheese I figure that wouldn’t kill me. Here is meal #1 that Tony wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole.
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:14]
While this isn’t a great picture – it was delicious – the quiche almost tasted custardy? I paired it with a 3.5 ounce thin pork chop and two pieces of bacon from the cafeteria. I felt bad stealing their plates and silverware, so I felt I had to buy something!
I got to the hospital at 7:30 because the doctors rounds are usually around 8:00 a.m. Turns out we didn’t find out until 10:00 a.m. that his surgery would go forward at 2:00 p.m. I ate this breakfast around 9:00 when I realized that he wasn’t going anywhere fast. Around 11:00 I ate 1/2 a cup of blackberries with a sprinkle of Truvia.
I did end up wearing long johns AND my snow pants to the hospital – I never know how far away I will have to park. Turns out I had a good 200 feet until the front door. When I left the house, this is what my car said:
And I have to tell you – by the time I got to the front door of the hospital, my nostrils were frozen! I can’t remember this kind of cold in a very long time. In fact, I think on WGN they said that in 1985 it was –27 degrees. While I didn’t remember it being that cold, I do remember that I had a date to go ice skating outside back then and was pissed when my Mom told me I couldn’t go because it was too cold. Do you remember that Mom??!!
So Tony was going to be having two procedures – an endoscopy and a colonoscopy. The colonoscopy to remove the polyps, and the endoscopy to look from the throat down. Well, it turns out that a medication that he was taking inflamed his liver which in turn caused verices in his small intestine and esophagus, and THAT what cause the blood loss. The polyps were removed no problem, the bleeding was capped with a pin and hopefully with a switch in medication, that will solve the problem. The waiting game begins again – as soon as his blood levels get back up between 2.5, they can let him come home.
I have to say, I loved the anesthesiologist. He completely got our sense of humor. Tony’s main concern was that he be completely out especially during the endoscopy – and the doctor assured us that he would be completely out. To which Tony said “you can do anything you want to me, just don’t touch my penis.” Ha!
That he was so relaxed before the procedure made me feel so much better about it.
Since I brought my breakfast and planned on having soup for dinner, my plan was to scoot to the cafeteria during his procedure and get a salad. Nope – it was closed after 2. I ended up getting a “salad” at Subway, I use that term loosely because it was lettuce, spinach, banana peppers, cucumbers – mostly green stuff! But with the deli turkey meat, it hit the spot. And to make it 21 day detox worthy, I used olive oil and vinegar as the dressing.
The procedure turned out to take an hour and after 30 minutes in recovery, he was brought back to his room. He was SO tired, SO thirsty and SO hungry. He ordered food from the meal service right away and when it arrived, he told me to go home – the nurses were talking about black ice, cars not starting, etc. and he wanted to make sure I got home safe. Just so you know, by the time I got home at 5:30 p.m., it warmed up to –16!
I decided since I got home earlier than I thought, that I would save my soup for my lunches, and decided to make a spaghetti squash pizza for dinner. I know, sounds weird. In fact when I talked to my Mom before I started making it said when I described the dish to her “sorry Biz, I really want to throw up at the thought of that!”
Blog reader Peggy is the leader of this 21 day challenge – I love her enthusiasm and she sent out an email today with a link to the recipe. The only thing I didn’t have was the fresh basil or eggs – I had egg whites. I also made a smaller portion since it was just me. Meal #2 that Tony wouldn’t touch with a ten foot pole:
[amd-zlrecipe-recipe:15]
After 20 minutes:
The result? I loved this. Since I used egg whites instead of a whole egg – it didn’t get AS crispy, so it’s a knife and fork pizza, but this was delicious. The edges actually had some crunch to them though! And if my stats are right – this whole pizza is 373 calories, 24 fat, 10 carbs, .9 fiber and 28 protein. I ended up only eating half! I am going to heat up the other two slices later in the week and see if it crisps up on reheating.
Our temperatures are still going to be super cold today – schools are still closed so I have to go into work because one of my co-workers has a school aged child and needs to take the day off. I’ll visit Tony before work and head there after work and hope that he comes home on Wednesday!
Again, thanks for your continued support these last few days – we appreciate it so much! Make it a great day!
Glad to hear it went well. I really wanna hug you guys, love hearing about your day to day and feeling like everyone who reads your blog is a family.
Looking forward to trying this pizza, i’ve seen somewhere that somebody used zucchini as the crust instead of the squash.
I thought you were taking a blogging break as your updates didn’t show up in my reader anymore. Then I saw that you referenced your blog post on FB so I came straight over here…
Glad the surgery went well, and I hope that Tony will get to go home real soon!
I love the idea of the spaghetti squash pizza crust!
Glad to hear the surgery was a success!
I heard them talking on the radio about checking the hvac venting pipes to make sure they aren’t clogged and went out to check them, but I wouldn’t know what to check if the problem were actually in the furnace itself!!!
I miss a few days of blog reading and things go crazy in your life, So glad Tony is doing well. I understand how you feel about being home alone. That has been a big adjustment for me since we have become empty nesters, when hubby travels this house is so noisy at night! I don’t sleep well when I am home alone. I will keep you both in my prayers and sending good thought your way!
Biz-So glad surgery and doctors are taking good care of your hubby! You are so strong, always an inspiration whatever you are taking on at the moment, thank you! Prayers for a speedy recuperation for Tony, and some warmer weather! :))
Wow, I think we’re all thankful that Tony is going to be okay. He looks to be in good spirits, so I am happy for you all that everything went well.
Continued BOO’s on the hospital food; those recipes look incredible, though!
Glad the surgery went well!! Holy smokes, it be cold up in your city! today we’re enjoying temps int he 40s – jealous? 😉
Glad to hear the surgery went smoothly! Love that pizza crust…I need to try it! 🙂
I totally get that! When my fiance was in Texas for a week recently, it seemed like everything broke while he was gone (even the oven) and it was so frustrating that I didn’t know what to do!
Glad surgery was ok.
Yay for Tony! I have to say we have the same exact issue with our furnace. It’s a problem with the neighbor. Their driveway is about 2 feet from the side of our house and when they snow blow or plow, they cover up the intake pipe. We have asked them to be careful, but they seem to forget. So, John actually solved that by extending the PVC pipe up 3 feet. If we ever get 4 feet of snow, we will be in trouble, but hopefully that solves the issue 😀
Good on you!! That’s just how you learn home improvement stuff – by doing.
So glad the surgery went well!!! I’m hoping tomorrow is the day you can bring him back HOME! 🙂
Stay warm – it’s just ridiculous outside, hurts to breathe! 🙁
Yay…great news and the surgery was a success!! Tony looks happy and relieved that this ordeal is over and the Dr.s know what the problem is. Darn those medications, they may help but there is always the side effects that can be a problem. Gout is not an easy thing to deal with either. JP has gout also, so I mix cherry juice in his fruits and smoothies.
That spaghetti squash pizza looks really good….a “must try” as I do like spaghetti squash with sauce on it. I am waiting for that sauce with the vegies…really want to try that.
Check your kitchen and bathroom pipes, if they are on an outside wall, open the cabinets and let the heat in as they could freeze up in this cold “insane” weather. JP said. Keep warm Biz.
Glad to hear the great news about Tony and that he is on the mend. Another couple days of this very cold weather. It’s a good thing you know about the pipes for the furnace to run right. Keep the ice off of them. My husband installs and services furnaces and A/C’s so I know a little about them, but I could learn more. Have a great day and hopefully Tony will be home soon!
So glad to hear that they figured it out! Stay warm… From one frozen tundra to another! 😉
Hahaha! I laighed so hard picturing you sweeping off the air conditioner!!
Glad Tony is on the mend.
That pizza looks nomtastic. I think I’ll have to make it for myself one night.