Updates and Rantings

Yesterday Westin celebrated his 13th birthday.  It has been an interesting year for Westin.  As a quick recap, about a year ago he started having stomach pain, like a burning.  We eventually saw a new gastro and he helped us weave our way through testing to determine the cause.  What we ended up finding was that by helping Westin evacuate, with the use of regular Miralax, his burning was much less.  He still has a constant burning feeling, but not too noticeable.  When he goes without eating, longer than usual, he ends up with worse burning, so he tries to remember to eat.  ;)  We had a visit with our gastro this week and we decided that we would just keep on the same path unless we see things get worse.  Since everything in all the testing looked good, there isn't much else we can do at this time.  We "could" try an antidepressant (I wish I could remember the possible diagnosis) that might help, but since it doesn't bother Westin we are going to just stick with what we are doing.  We will repeat his blood work yearly and probably not see the doctor again for a year.  I wish all our specialist were that infrequent!  ;)  The good news:  since the worst part of this stomach journey, Westin has gained all of his weight back plus a good 5-10 pounds.  He is growing like a weed and seems to be thriving.  One road block we did cross once he started feeling better was a lack of appetite.  It seems his anti seizure med (Zonegran) causes anorexia.  With the addition of Periactin his appetite is healthy and we have been able to stay on the Zonegran.  He has been sucessful in being seizure free on the current dose which makes for one less anxiety for his parents.
His diabetes has been fairly painless lately (on his parents) as we have learned to adjust more quickly to changing insulin needs (probably due to all his growth).  Westin seems to live on temp basals as his needs vary often enough that I feel little I don't need to do a permanent basal change at this time.  Although, to make things easier at our endo appointment at the end of the month, I will do a permanent change when the time gets closer.
Now for the rantings!  :D
I have these things that I just have to rant about that Facebook doesn't feel appropriate for.  This morning, one thing is really bothering me.  Choices!  Parents make choices.  Every choice they make affects their family.  Some choices are barely noticed, others have the potential to make major impacts.  13 years ago we made a choice for me to be a stay at home parent.  Our business was such that we could make it on it's income.  When Westin was diagnosed at 2, it was a blessing to be home with him.  When he started school and eventually we ran into problems with administration and his diabetes, it was a blessing to be able to homeschool him.  But let me say, it came with a monetary sacrifice.  There were times when it would have made sense (in a monetary way) for me to go to work.  But it wouldn't have made sense for my family.
Now, I am not saying that it is critical that all families have a stay at home parent, but what I am saying is that all families CAN have a stay at home parent, it is just a choice.  Our family lives a much more modest lifestyle as a result, but it is a choice.  I can't imagine being gone all day and coming home to still fulfill my domestic duties.  I can't imagine having a job that requires travel.  I surely can't imagine being a parent in the military with the fear of deployment or the reality of deployment.  But imagine what all that would be like to my children, especially if it was thrust upon them after years of having me available.  I definitely can't imagine making a choice to work so that I can afford a bigger house, drive a nicer car, take a better vacation!
Rant over!
What I have been doing lately, that I really enjoy, is working on a new blog.  Earth Sheltered is a blog about current earth sheltered home projects across the internet, that I just happen to love watching and getting ideas and learning from.  We have an earth bermed (think walkout basement with a roof) home in our future, in case you wonder what my fascination is.  I was also fortunate to come across an interesting man on the internet that is building a huge earth shelter home north of us and he has really ramped up my energy and interest.  You can learn more by checking out the blog mentioned above.

Sorry for the long absence.  Can't promise when I will be back.  But if I make this my place to rant, it might not be long!  lol

Stomach Burning Update: My son is full of poo

It wasn't until Friday afternoon when I received a call from the gastro office with the x-ray results.  I spoke with someone on Thursday and was informed that the doctor was waiting for the actually CD of the x-ray.  He didn't get the info he needed in the report so he needed to take a closer look at it.  It appears my son is just full of poo!

The doctor had Westin do a "flush" over the weekend which was basically 1 10 ounce bottle of magnesium citrate for 3 days.  Now he is on a maintenance dose of Miralax for the indefinite future.

I guess the thought behind this is that if he is backed up (which the x-rays showed) that the intestines stretch, causing the burning sensation.  So while we thought we had narrowed down certain foods, I think it was more about the time of day.  I think that by dinner time he was just really backed up and that caused the nausea and vomiting.  Since he flushed he has not had any nausea and his burning is better.  I have been told it can take months for his intestines to heal and things to go back to normal.

I want to make one thing clear, my son was having regular bowl movements.  They were usually every other day.  Yet it appears he wasn't evacuating enough poo.  I want to make sure this story in on the internet in case someone else ends up in the same situation.  It seems silly how simple this was.  My son is now making a better effort to eat his vegetables and has actually said, "This salad doesn't taste so bad."  I hope he has learned that he has to take better care of his body and feed it correctly.   Also note that he is on a gluten free diet which makes eating whole grains a bit more difficult compared to the rest of our family who eats homemade whole wheat bread.

Endoscopy Results and what's next?

Biopsy results from the endoscopy came back clear. Actually, the term was, "Unremarkable." I guess this time that just means nothing to remark on. ;) So since that all looked great, we can now say that Westin definitely does not have Eosinophilic Esophagitis! Yeah!  But we still don't know what is causing his stomach burning. 

The gastro sent us home from the hospital with a prescription for Carafate.   Westin is to take it three times a day before meals.  Westin has still had the constant burning but has not had any attacks.  He has been careful about what he eats but each day he is getting a bit more daring.  Although, he did pass on steak last night.  Carafate is used to treat ulcers (it serves as a protective coating to let the ulcer heal) so I don't know how long they will keep him on it. 

While on the phone with the nurse practitioner from the gastro's office, she said that the doctor would like to have an abdominal x-ray taken.  So yesterday afternoon we got that taken care of.  While checking in I noticed the order said, "Check fecal load"...so I don't know if he is thinking there could be a blockage or slow emptying?  I have called but haven't yet heard the results of the x-ray.

Endoscopy OVER!

We are finally home and settled in!  I am beat.  I know we are all gonna sleep well tonight.

We arrived at the hospital about 15 minutes early.  By the time we got there Westin's blood sugar was sitting at about 170.  We struggled all early afternoon to get it up but we made it.  :)  We were shocked when we got to our room to find out that the sedation would take place there, the scope would take place there and the recovery would take place there, all in the same room.  Our last experience was at U of M and it was more of a big room with dividing curtains.  They did everything in a different area and then returned for recovery.  We were not able to be with him until he was well awake.  I thought it was a good experience until this time.  Wow, it was great.  We were in a little waiting room right across the hall.  We were back in the room with him as soon as we were done speaking with the doctor.  We were able to comfort him while he started to wake.  I really couldn't have asked for more other than an answer to his problems.

Everyone was very accommodating with his diabetes.  The nurse shared a cute story with us before we left that I want to share because I think the other diabetes parents will get a kick out of it.  Westin had a continuous glucose monitor on him and the nurse used his meter to check him when they were done with the procedure.  He was 134 and she said she would tell us what his blood sugar was.  Then Dr A (the gastro) spoke up and said, "No, I will tell them."  Then the anesthesiologist jumped in and he wanted to be able to tell us.  She said they were like two school boys fighting over it.  I had to chuckle.  I chuckle now thinking about it.  

Oh, the anesthesiologist won, he got to tell us!  :D

Dr A came in and told us that everything actually looked normal.  He took lots of biopsies so they might tell us something but I am not holding a lot of hope.  The good news is that he doesn't appear to have EE (eosinophilic esophagitis) which was believed to be the cause of his swallowing issues.  Now we believe it might have just been drainage causing the trouble.  :)  Small intestines looked good so celiac seems to be well under control.  :)  Stomach lining looked fine, esophagus looked fine.  So we had a little brainstorming session with him, kind of a pow wow.  Jason went over his symptoms and mentioned a hand full of things I have read about online.  (I read so much that I don't share with Jason that it all starts to run together for me so I am glad he was there)  We talked about what tests to do next.  He is going to try to get the breath tests for fructose and lactose moved up.  He was gonna go back over the upper gi and see if something was missed.  He left us to head back to his office and pour over Westin's history.  Oh, but not before Jason strong armed him into writing a RX for something that might help.  Something that will coat is stomach before he eats.  Maybe it will help, maybe it won't but Jason couldn't stand the idea of not having something to try and to offer Westin.

I would say that we were in recovery for about an hour.  But before we left we swung by a friend's room to visit him before we left.  By the time we filled the RX and picked up some gluten free crackers we got home a little after 8pm...what a long day!  

We are very lucky to have great doctors.  We struggled to find a gastro we really liked and I couldn't be happier with Dr A.  I feel very, very lucky.

Thank you to everyone for sending us their positive energy.  Have I said how lucky I am to have great friends too?  Well, I feel very blessed.  :)

PS...pancreas blood work came back normal.

A mom with a lot of time on her hands and not following the rules

I have already broke this news on facebook but I decided it was worth blogging about.  Maybe it will inspire others to request more from our physicians. 

My son, Westin, has been dealing with chronic (constant) burning in his stomach.  It doesn't go away.  It only gets worse or a little better.  It is never gone or even close to gone.  I can remember something starting back as early as November because I remember mentioning it to his allergist.  But it wasn't until the end of December or so that it started getting to this point of constant pain. 

We have seen numerous Gastro's over the years.  Westin saw his first gastro, oh, maybe 7 years ago or so.  He was then diagnosed with Celiac Disease 5 years ago.  Celiac is treated with diet and we didn't really see a need for the gastro at that time.  But we were encouraged to go once a year for a check up.  So we had our first gastro 7 years ago.  We saw a different one for the Celiac diagnosis, who I didn't care for.  So when we were encouraged to do a annual follow up, I requested yet another gastro.  Then we just kind of left it alone and hadn't been followed since.  Then 2 years ago Westin started having swallowing issues.  Our allergist refered us to a gastro in Grand Rapids (until this point we had stayed with the gastros in Kalamazoo.  We met with this new gastro once.  I didn't care for the drive.  I hated their lab.  And I found that I came accross the answer to his swallowing problems on my own, so they really were of no help. 

So with this new problem I decided it was time to give the new gastro in town a try.  Our endo spoke highly of him so I started the request to transfer records to his office and wait for our initial appointment (this was November).  Initially we didn't get an appointment set until the beginning of March.  When his burning started to really escalate in January, I requested to be added to a cancelation list.  The day we ended up in the ER, they suddenly were able to move his appointment up to Feb 15th. 

We met with the new gastro and I really, really liked him.  He scheduled numerous tests, but unfortunately they were unable to schedule his endoscopy until April 15th, a full 2 months after our appointment.  While I had time to wait, I have become Sherlock Mom.  I can't sit here for 2 months and not be actively trying to heal my son.  So of course I take to the internet with any idea that pops in my head.  I have been trying to eliminate lactose and fructose (which he will be tested for in April also) to see if those are causing problems.  I have started him on digestive enzymes to try to alleviate some burning for him.  I have been investigating possible gall bladder problems.  So far I have not found any magic answer.  Most days we keep the burning as mild as we can.  On occassion we don't.  Saturday was one of those days that the burning got so bad that he was vomitting.  It was a long day as we chased low blood sugars and rising ketones. 

Saturday pushed me to start looking for our gastro's email address.  I wanted direct communication with him without having to wait for an appointment.  I have called the office to let them no of new symptoms and I get the nurse who puts it in the chart and it seems to disappear into a black hole.  So to google I went.  I thought I had found it but after shooting off my email and getting it kicked back I realized that was an old address, from when he was a resident at a local medical center, but not the one that he is at now.  So I did a little thinking, after not finding any other email options, and I came up with a pattern for how our hospital generally creates email addresses...like in this case it is the last name and first letter of first name @ our hospital.com.  So I decided to give it a try.  This was Sunday afternoon.  I waited a while and nothing got kicked back so I was hopeful that I nailed it.

Monday came and I kind of forgot about the email.  But then at about 6pm I got a phone call and who was it on the other end but our gastro!  I was in shock.  It worked!  He spoke with me about my concerns.  He told me to definitely NOT try the hydrocloric acid pills I had bought at the health food store in my desperation to make my son better (that right there is probably what got him to actually call me).  he he  But most importantly, he agreed that we should move the endoscopy up and that his nurse would be calling me to see about getting him scheduled in the OR.  Success!

So while I still haven't heard from the nurse (I was on the phone most of the night with my best friend) I got what I needed.  I need a lot of communication with my doctors.  I have a complicated child.  Now I don't recommend stalking your doctor if it is for something minor.  But in some situations, you need to communicate with each other and I find email to be unintrusive.  I can get my needs/concerns communicated and he/she can answer me when they have a convenient time to do so.  I think everyone wins. 

Why do I let it bother me?

It is early Sunday evening, March 21, 2010.  Healthcare reform is about to be voted in.  I have been popping in at www.huffingtonpost.com every once in a while to see the daily news.  Of course the majority of it is about the healthcare bill.  I will be so happy to see this done and over with.  While I would have prefered a public option or even better, a single payer system, this is better than nothing.  At the very least, my son with a chronic illness will have some options if we are to ever afford health insurance for the family before the subsidies kick in, or he ages out of the system.  That, as a parent of a child already dealing with numerous health issues, is a huge weight off my shoulders.  I worry for my son.  He will already have so much to deal with, I can't imagine having the worries of how he will sustain his own life.

But this goes beyond my son with a chronic illness.  I would like insurance too.  I am in my mid 30s and I feel the pressure to have insurance.  Maybe we would qualify for medicaid based on our current income, I don't know.  But see, just because I am poor, it doesn't mean I go looking for all the assistance I can find.  I look for what I need, what my children need.  Yet I see so many of my friends and family making assumptions about "the poor" in such broud sweeping strokes.  If I speak up I hear the "your the exception to the rule".  But am I?  I think I am just like a lot of struggling families out there.  Because you "know me" then I am the exception?  Are you really that short sighted?  Can you not put yourself in anyone else's shoes and feel their struggle?

I really don't know why this bothers me so deeply.  Yet, I am proud to say that it bothers me.  I have a heart.  I care about others, not just myself.  I have seen bad things happen to good people.  I know that those bad things can happen to me and I know they can happen to you.  Part of me just wants to scream and tell the world of my own personal troubles, to shine the light on the truth and say, "Hey, you are talking about ME!" when you make those statements.

So while I can enjoy friendships with people with different beliefs from my own, I can't tolerate ignorance and self superiority.  I enjoy friendships with people from so many walks of life and representing many races and religions.  I benefit from them and I hope they benefit from me.  But when your words are words of ignorance and hate then I have to question your character.  When character comes into question, for me, it is a deal breaker.  

Swagbucks Tip!!!

I am going to write this post and post it everywhere!  So don't be surprised if you see this on more than one of my blogs...

Do you use Swagbucks?  If you don't, you need to!  First you might be asking yourself, what are Swagbucks?  In short, you can earn swagbucks for searching using their toolbar.  That is the easiest way to earn them.  So everytime I need to search something (which happens many times a day) I use the Swagbucks toolbar and randomly earn bucks.  It is always a pleasant surprise.  :)

So, the reason I started using Swagbucks was to earn FREE Amazon gift cards.  I love shopping on Amazon!  I use it a lot to buy gluten free food, books, household items, etc.  Basically, Amazon carries just about everything.  But Swagbucks can be used for all sorts of things.  I can get tons of different types of giftcards, including itunes, or I can purchase electronics, books, toys, etc.

Here is the great tip I learned today and I want to pass it on to you!  I have been working towards a $25 dollar Amazon gift card.  I need 3150 swagbucks for a $25 gift card. I just found out that I can buy 5 $5 gift cards for 2250 swagbucks...that is a big savings! For 3150 swagbucks I can actually buy 7 $5 gift cards!

If you would like to check out Swagbucks, click here to learn more. 

Homeschooling in Radiology

Yesterday Westin was scheduled for an Upper G.I.  This is a procedure where the patient first drinks a fizzy concoction that puts a lot of air on the stomach.  Then you drink a barium mixture that coats the esophagus and the stomach.  This drink I like to call "the cement mixer" as it is heavy!  I was shocked how heavy the Styrofoam cup was that contained it.  Once you drink that you lay on an x-ray table and roll around to fully coat your stomach.  Then you drink another mixture and as you swallow it an x-ray machine is used to watch it slide down your esophagus and enter your stomach.  Pictures are taken at various points for later viewing.  But the procedure is done by a doctor and it is real time.  I was able to watch my son's procedure and it was quite interesting.  The wanna be medical professional really found it interesting.  My son, on the other hand, thought it was kind of gross.  He was able to watch it too at the point where he was laying on his stomach and the doctor moved the monitor so he could view it too.  I don't think he watched very long.

Westin has been struggling with chronic burning in his stomach for months.  This Upper G.I. was really just a pre-op procedure to ensure that there was no narrowing that could cause problems for the upcoming endoscopy.


While these times can be negative experiences, Westin handles them quite well.  He makes me very proud.  What he doesn't realize is that these are great learning opportunities.  The opportunities to learn from life.  Who can say if this will influence him in the future.  Maybe he will want to go into Radiology, you just never know.  But he has seen how it works and that is half the battle of finding your interest.  If you don't see it, you don't know if you are interested.  I know that I love all these new experiences.  Sure, I wish they weren't needed for my son's sake, but I do enjoy experiencing new things, especially in the medical world.  I really should have gone to medical school!  Too bad it wasn't on my radar when I was younger! 

Restlessness

Today is one of those days where I just feel like closing my eyes and throwing a dart at a map of the US to pick my new city. I am so restless. THIS would be the perfect time to hit the road. I feel like I need an escape.

I don't know if it is just restlessness either. I feel like I don't have a plan and that alone will drive a girl like me nuts.

I need to know what direction I am heading and what my goal is. I have neither.

Lessons from Grandma

I had an amazing grandmother. We lived next door to my grandparents and they were farmers. We were able to spend a lot of time with them growing up. After reading an article about what our grandparents taught us about being "green", I got to thinking about all the "quirks" of my grandma. Things that came to mind:

• She would take small left over pieces of soap and combine them into a new, bigger bar. It looked like vomit...but it was soap.
• When doing laundry, she would empty the wash water into the laundry sink, then use it again on the next load. Really dirty laundry was washed in the old wringer washer. Everything was line dried except in the winter. Then if a small load, she would hang it in the basement.
• Until my grandfather was probably in his 80s, they mainly used wood to heat. He would chop it himself. They had a furnace for back up, like when they were gone.
• Grandma used everything. Nothing was wasted, especially when cooking. When making pies, she would use the left over crust to make little cookies. When cooking bacon, she would save the grease to use for fried potatoes or what not. She made pickles out of watermelon rinds.
  
• She would make up large batches of food at a time and save in smaller portions. Now, I know a lot of people that do this. The scary part of Grandma's practice, she would date the package. I remember having the same swiss steak for probably 3 years or more. Scary!
• Grandma's idea of Tupperware was left over plastic containers.
  
• She had a dishwasher but it was never used unless it was a big holiday family meal. It died from lack of use. Everything in it dried out.
• She composted before I had ever heard of it. All food scraps went out to the field. They didn't have garbage service so everything had to be composted or burned...or saved. Oh, boy, did they save stuff!
• If it was glass and somewhat shaped like a drinking glass, it's second life WAS a drinking glass.
• Always reused her aluminum foil and washed out her zip lock bags to reuse.
• Her clothes! If she lost weight, she would just pin in the waste band on her pants, or worse, use twine to keep them up. She never threw any away. She would patch and mend until...well..I think she always had the same everyday clothing my entire childhood.
  
• Of course, I played with all my mom's old toys. Even bath toys (mainly boats). She later gave them to my son, Westin, for a birthday one year. I thought it was the best gift ever. They didn't make it to my son, Wieland, as they were gross and falling apart by the time Westin was done with them.

I think you get the idea. If I think of any more, I will be sure to add them. :) So, if you are like my husband, you are asking yourself, "Why is she listing all of these things?"

I laid in bed last night and I got to thinking about some funny things my grandma did. Specifically, she was a freak for condiments. She loved her ketchup and mustard! She would pile it on food and it would be dripping off it, there was so much. It made me sick just seeing it. (You know, a little goes a long ways) We always joked about how Grandma grew up in the Great Depression and she didn't get to have condiments growing up, hence she really loved them now.

Here, my family is going through it's own Great Depression. We have seen numerous recessions during our years in business and they never really affected us. This recession, being so heavily auto industry related, has devastated our business. We don't know when the next dollar will come in or where it will come from. Still, I am sure it is nothing like the original my grandparents lived through. Yet, I still wonder, what parts of this time will change the rest of my life and my children's lives. Maybe I will pick up some great money saving habits that my children or grandchildren will laugh at when they get older? Maybe I will have this great fear of the stock market like my grandfather always had, that I never understood, but now can start to understand?

So far, this time has taught me that as long as I have my family, we will find a way to get by. We will get creative and we will do our best to not loose our entrepreneurial spirit. We will see it as a learning experience like no other, and hopefully protect ourselves from experiencing the same kind of uncertainty we are experiencing now. It will all be ok.

I have the best son

Westin is the best. He is 12, he has type 1 diabetes and celiac disease. He also has a form of epilepsy, a swallowing problem related to seasonal allergies, chronic acid indigestion, asthma. I list those last, as they don't affect him on such a major "effects my daily life" level. Type 1 diabetes is a disease that is dealt with 24 hours a day. He is thinking about it all day. I am thinking about it all day and night. Celiac disease affects every meal decision.

In my earlier post, I talked about this wonderful gluten free bread that landed on our door step last month. Well, the 8 initial loaves are gone. We have 2 slices left. I really had intended on ordering another 8 on Monday but when looking at the limited funds in my checkbook, I just couldn't swing it. I had to break the news to Westin this morning that I wasn't going to be able to order any more any time soon. He just said, "Ok." and went on with his day.

He loves this bread! Obviously, he has gone through 8 loaves since the 18th of December. I know he is going to be bummed when the reality of it being gone really hits. It upsets me more than cutting our budget way down for Christmas. I mean, shouldn't bread be a given right? Nope, if you are celiac and on a limited income, it is a privilege.

Udi's Gluten Free Bread - A Review

Late last month, I heard of a gluten free bread I had not heard of before. The claims were that it was as good as "normal" bread. What is this miracle bread? It is called Udi's and it is a bakery in Denver, CO.

I jumped on their website ready to put in an order to try it out. Sadly, they require 2 day Fed Ex which is quite expensive just to give it a try. (Thankfully, they do give a hefty discount on the shipping. or at least when I ordered. Check to make sure it is still available.) So I stalled for a minute.

I headed over to Facebook and did a little searching. Facebook is where I like to search for everything, it seems. It really is the new communication choice of business (or it should be). Sure enough, they had an active page. So I posted a message, asking if there were any local distributors. They replied quickly that one of our local health food stores carried it. YEAH!!! Thanks to my husband, I called ahead. They didn't carry it. After digging a little and talking to the store's "order guy" I found that they were still in talks with Udi. :(

Gluten free bread is generally not very good. The only bread we tolerated in my house was from Sami's Bakery and everything I have read is that it is quite contaminated. We stopped using it after I read that in numerous internet places. Even that bread had to be toasted. Otherwise it was quite dry and crumbly. When Westin was first diagnosed with celiac disease, we spent a lot of money trying different breads. I couldn't really afford to taste test so many, but what choice did I have? In reality, my warning for all new celiacs, "Bread is just bad! Don't waste your money!"

So I researched Udi's gluten free bread a little more. I found not one bad review. So I took the plunge. I ordered a case (8 loaves) since I was going to be paying a lot for shipping anyways and I had hope that this bread was going to be good enough to be worth it. Unfortunately, I ordered on the first Monday of December 7th but it was back ordered. I was pretty bummed but Westin was really bummed. An Udi rep thought it would go out the first of the next week. We finally received it on the 18th.

Westin was so excited to try it. He is 12 and was diagnosed with celiac almost 5 years ago. He had been dreaming of a real peanut butter sandwich (without toasted bread) for some time. When Fed Ex showed up that Friday morning, we were all excited. The bread came out of the box very cold but I made a sandwich for him right away.

We ordered the white bread. (They also have a whole grain if I remember correctly.) It was airy, soft, delicious. It wasn't Wonder Bread by any means, but it was like no other gluten free bread we have encountered over the last 4 1/2 years. I would compare it to sour dough. We didn't need to toast it. We didn't need to warm it in the microwave. We just took it out of the bag and made a sandwich, a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Westin ate an entire loaf that day. :)

The loafs are the smallest I remember seeing, a bit smaller than our Sami's Flax and Millet loaves. But the bread is delicious and worth every penny. I will be reordering, probably very soon at the rate he has been eating it! :)

As a mother of a child with celiac disease, it brought me so much joy to see my son excited over bread. Not many moms can say that...

Oh, we also ordered the pizza crust. Westin liked it. It was thin crust and Westin ate the entire pizza himself. I would say it compared to a small pizza. We both liked Sami's pizza crust better, as it was thick and filling, but again, contamination issues. If you generally like a thin crust, then you will probably really like Udi's pizza crust. Either way, we will buy it again, probably with our next order.

Udi's also offers a variety of muffins and granola.

Only 4 days until Christmas!

The kids are excited, especially Wieland. He is four and he is so fascinated with numbers. He notices things about numbers that amaze me and encourage me. That is the joy of an open mind. He hasn't been turned off to learning. The goal is just to keep him that way! :)

Earlier this month we made a paper chain with paper links, one for each day until Christmas. Wieland ran up to me and said, "Tomorrow it will be three days, right?" Not only does it help him practice counting (by counting the rings) but it also is setting the stage for addition and subtraction. Life is just so full of learning. So many opportunities. Homeschooling isn't rocket science. It is just seeing the opportunity right in front of you.

Personalize your pump, phone, laptop, make big stickers for your walls...

Skinit skins for your iPhone, laptop and hundreds of other hot new devices. Skins for new devices added weekly! I have a new hobby! You can personalize just about anything. If you have a Medtronic Minimed pump, you can customize your skin here. (That is how I came about the link, shopping over at the Minimed online store) If I am correct, it looks like you can even personalize your cochlear implant. What will be next?

Another fun thing, wall skins! You can pick from their stock images or use your own. Great options for kids rooms or even a cool wall in your bathroom? Or bedroom? I know I have so many ideas. (I have this one area on the back side of the sink area in the motor home that would be really cool to do something on.)

Oh, and all you New Moon fans, they have that too! Happy Shopping!

Ode to the Farm

I grew up on a farm in Barry County, Michigan, specifically in Prairieville. I lived in the home my grandfather was raised in until I moved out in 1993. My mother was given the house. After my mother passed away, my sister bought the house. Over the hill was my grandparent's house that they built. My grandfather cut all the lumber, which I always find amazing.

I just received an email confirming that my grandpa will be signing a sales agreement on the farm in the coming week. I never thought I would have a problem with the idea of him selling. I was always just concerned that he would receive a fair price. I was on the phone with my husband as I read the email. Suddenly I was in tears. Where were they coming from? It dawned on me that I never took my kids out to see the big rocks in the field, boulders really. Probably remnants from the glaciers. They were huge. You could lay on the top and nap on their warm flat surface. There were 3 of them, I think. Margie will probably remember playing back there, making crosses to lay of what we thought were ancient indian burial grounds ;) We had a junk pile close by that my mom would dump our old toys and such. So we would go pull our old toys out of the dump and put them in our boulder play house. See the boulders were buried in some trees. It was kind of secluded from the field. There was old barbed wire around where we set up our play kitchen. We even had a small group of trees that were our bathroom where we would pop a squat. (I peed outside a lot as a kid). Great memories!

Then there is my grandparent's home. Growing up next door, we were there a lot, mainly in the winter. In the summer they were busy on the farm. But my grandma, even in her late 60's, early 70's (I could probably do the math to say for sure but I won't) would take us out sledding on the hills in the field. Or we would rake a huge pile of leaves and jump in. There was always so much to do.

They had barn cats that my grandma would feed. She was so funny. She loved those cats. I remember watching over their house when they were gone on a trip and her wanting to make sure we knew how to feed the cats "correctly". She would take a bowl of cat food and piece by piece, she would smear room temperature bacon grease on each piece. Sure, the cats probably had high cholesterol, but she loved those cats.

My baby sister, Stephanie, held her wedding there in 2002. I can imagine she is going through a lot of the same emotions.

A lot of emotions are hitting me that I just didn't expect to be triggered by the sale of the farm. It is like the farm was an extra family member. My kids never saw the rocks. They never saw the farm alive and working. They didn't get to explore the woods and see if they could find the "quick sand" that I heard about but never saw. They never got to sit in the peace of the hidden field, shielded by 4 sides of forest. What is really sad is that we had the chance to do a lot of those things and we never did. I am tempted to jump in the car and drive out there and take the kids on a tour but with it being deer hunting season, I would be afraid to, as that too was a rule we always followed this time of the year. It just wasn't a time of the year to be out wandering the approximately 400 acre farm.

To the Hermenitt farm, we will miss you!

Things I can't Think About

I can’t stand to think about health care reform. While I am all for reform, our government, both democrats and republicans, can’t get it right. I am scared we will be in worse shape then we are now. Pharmaceutical companies are already raising prices in advance of the coming changes. As an uninsured, this hits me harder than the insured. The insurance companies negotiate their prices. I don’t and I can’t. Same thing with hospitals.

Have you had a procedure done without insurance? Years ago, my husband had a colonoscopy without insurance coverage. When the bills piled in, it was so confusing. We had service codes that were identical on multiple bills. I did a little research online and found a site that would give you the Medicaid pricing for each code. Mine were no where in line. Plus a doctor would charge you one code, the hospital would charge you the same code. What? That, to me, seemed like double billing. We all know it happens. But when I questioned it, all I got was a denial. No feasible explanation. No negotiating happened. I got no where for a lot of work.

Fast forward a few years. Another procedure needed. This time it was a CT or something. Jason had the foresight to call ahead and get a price. He had the billing code and it was an easy task. They gave him the price with no problems. We get the bill. Does it match what was quoted? Not even close. What was the problem? They used the wrong billing code. Do you think that happens often? I am sure it does! Would you know if you were billed the wrong code? If you didn’t call ahead, you would have had zero idea. Thankfully, Jason saved the code so he had a leg to stand on when he questioned the billing department. If I remember correctly, the price doubled from $400ish to $800ish. Unacceptable!

While I am anxious to have insurance, I am not so sure how affordable it will be. Will it be better than the insurance we purchased for our family a few years back? We paid a fairly high monthly amount (I believe it went up to $700+ a month before we canceled.) and it seemed like nothing came off our deductible. That left for even higher monthly out of pocket expense. Isn’t the key to health, preventative care, or at least early care? If my doctor’s appointments don’t at least come off my deductible, is there any incentive to use your family doctor and not just go to the hospital? Or wait until it is so bad that you are more expensive to care for? When I purchased the insurance, I understood it had a $1,000 deductible, $2500 family (if I remember correctly). What I didn’t understand was that none of the basics in care would go towards that deductible. Fortunately, with one child with type 1 diabetes, he qualified for Children’s Special Health Care so all of his supplies would be paid by Children’s (as a secondary) so our deductible would end up being met around October by just his supplies. Now if we could only stay healthy until October ;)

Another thing I can’t think about, the economy and what is being done to turn it around. We are self employed. We will always be self employed. We are just self employed kind of people. Our current business is in the automotive industry. At Bumper 911 we repair plastic parts on cars for dealerships and retail customers. Years ago, we only worked with dealerships. Thankfully we had the foresight to broaden our base and search out retail customers. With car dealerships not selling cars, we aren’t doing work. The “cash for clunkers” program hurt the used car industry, at least in this area. The financing industry, pulling floor plans, (floor plans are the financing programs that dealerships use to finance their inventory) has killed the rest of the remaining used car lots and some new car lots. We haven’t done a drop of dealership work since July….JULY! We have been living off retail work and selling a lot of the contents of our home.

My sister wrote about the economy and said it best when she said it all starts with manufacturing. If we can’t get manufacturing going again in this country, we have no hope. My dad has always said, “We don’t make anything in this country!” We don’t. Our economy is largely service and healthcare. We have all watched a lot of service positions head overseas, and if you haven’t noticed, a lot of healthcare is heading there too. We don’t even require our FDA approved drugs be manufactured here! We have all watched the happenings in China. Do you want your insulin manufactured in China? I don’t!

I almost can stand to think about the cure. It brings such mixed feelings. I know the cure is out there. Diabetes came into our lives January 31, 2000. At that time I was confident that there would be a cure in 10 years. As you can see, we are coming up on 10 years. I promised my son that there would be a cure before he starts driving. (Ok, maybe that was more of a promise to myself as I don’t even want to think how nervous I will be then.) But just think of the parents of 40 years ago, or 80 years ago. They probably told their children the same thing. I can’t bare to see my son living with this for the rest of his life. Technology has come so far and there are so many possible cures out there. How can I even worry that the cure won’t come for my son? I just do. I find myself fixing a meal for the family and thinking, oh my god, my son is going to have to eat gluten free for the rest of his life. Again, probably not, but it is possible. Sure he has been gluten free since June of 2005, but at times it hits me like it is a new diagnosis. The only activity I have found to relieve that feeling of helplessness is to participate in fundraising for a cure. Because of my own paranoia, I have chosen to help by raising money directly for my favorite researcher, leaving out all the middle men. Help Cure Childhood Diabetes was set up to do just that. Being part of a ground floor operation to fund a cure is exciting. It is a way to think positive about our children’s future. To feel some sense of control. Still, there are those mornings, like this morning, when I am reading over the forum at Children with Diabetes, that I just get down. That I feel those doubts. But, compared to the other things I can’t bare to think about, this is one I feel that I can spin to a positive energy.

What can I do about the other two heavy hitters? Well, I can do my best to purchase locally, to build my local economy. I can do my best to buy made in the USA products, but that is harder than the first one. How much is really made here anymore? Let your voice be heard through your purchasing power. Quit using credit and debit cards when possible. The use of these cards drives up prices (as the retailer has to cover the fees from the card companies) and puts money in the pockets of the snakes (credit card companies). Quit being a victim of the banking industry. Show your power by choosing cash. Can you imagine what would happen if everyone spent cash again?

Thanks for listening to my rant. I just get so overwhelmed thinking about this stuff. Writing about it at least gives me a small sense of power in what seems like a powerless world.

Makin' Money

So, I am always trying to find ways to make some extra money. While playing with my blog set-up the other day, I checked on my AdSense account and found that I actually had a balance of $14+ dollars. Wow! I had forgotten about it. Pleasant surprise.

So I got to thinking, could I get more revenue from my blog? Of course, it will require generating traffic, I will work on that next! :)

So I went to work. I have added some to this blog. While there are many more available, I will try to limit the product pages to ones I do use or would use. Earn revenue from your website's traffic.

So, when you visit my page, make sure you check out the advertisers... You can do this too, with your blog.

Other money making ideas...

I am weighing different ideas for making some extra money. Besides building my blog, I am considering learning how to crochet or knit. I have lots of time, why not.

I also like to make this wonderful ice cream topping called 'wet nuts'.

I would consider one of the work at home jobs, like customer service, but living in the country, I don't have DSL or cable internet, so I don't qualify.

I don't want in home daycare. First off, that brings a lot of illness and with a child with numerous health issues, that sounds like a nightmare. Second, we won't be here for long. Third, my heart wouldn't be in it. I know I wouldn't pay me to do daycare ;)

Either way, I would like to find some passive and active income that can be performed while living in an RV, on the road.

Customized Christmas Gifts

While searching around for a site to make promotional materials for HelpCureChildhoodDiabetes.org, I was reminded of this great site. You can even make personalized shoes! Check it out!

Cutting Cost

With our current economic state (and I mean our family, but could be said as a country) I find myself, racking my brain, everyday, wondering how I can cut household costs. Being a stay at home mom, I figure my contribution to the family is to save money. With my oldest son having celiac disease, I do have to be somewhat careful as to what I bring into the home. Mind you, we live a extraordinary life style so not every tip will apply to everyone, maybe it won't apply to anyone, but this is what we do. Here are some money saving tips that I will pass on to you:

1. Groceries - I did a year of The Grocery Game...maybe it was 2 years. It saves a lot of money but is a lot of work and a lot of shopping. Living a little farther out of town, I would have to do all my shopping in one trip and running store to store was just too much. Plus, I don't like to shop! Instead, this year, I have moved more towards buying in bulk. That doesn't mean Sam's Club per say. I do buy some items at Sam's. But I also do a lot of shopping at Gordon Food Service. I also try to just buy basic ingredients that can be used many different ways. For instance, if I buy rice, chicken, vegetables. I can turn those three into quite a few combinations. I can stir fry. I can do a casserole. I can do each as a separate side. I could make a soup. I could probably continue. I also like to buy dry beans. They are cheap and just take a little planning to use. I also try to make my own bread. It really isn't hard to do and again, just takes a little planning. We don't buy bottled water and rarely buy pop. I have been getting by on about $400 a month. We are here, eating in the home 3 meals a day, 7 days a week. We also try not to buy too many specialty gluten free products. We do buy a pancake/baking mix and noodles. Those are really the only two items we buy right now. We may have found a new gluten free bread to love, so that might raise so of the numbers. Oh, oh, another great buy...popcorn! Buy it is a large bag in bulk and pop it on the stove, the way we used to! Not only is it cheap, it taste so much better!!!
2. Vehicles-we only have one. Yes, one! My husband's schedule is really flexible right now so it isn't a problem. This cuts down on insurance, gas and needless driving. Unless my husband becomes a workaholic, I don't see any reason we will go back to having more than one again.
3. Clothing- As homeschoolers, we really catch a break here. We don't have back to school shopping. We only buy when it is actually needed. That means, for instance, in the winter, I don't bother buying anything but a pair of snow boots for everyone. No one is running around in shoes so why buy them? We buy pants when they need pants because they have grown out of them, etc.
4. Home heating- while we are home all day, we can't really do the "turn the heat down when we aren't home". So this year we are trying something new. During the day, I keep all the doors to rooms not in use closed. We are trying an Eden Pure heater in the main living area. So during the day I leave the furnace down to 60 degrees and just run the Eden Pure. We produce heat through our bodies, appliances, passive solar (if we are lucky to see the sun), cooking, etc. Then at night we pull the Eden Pure into our family bedroom and only heat that room at night. Again, the thermostat is still set at 60 or less overnight. Then about an hour before we get up, I will turn the thermostat back up to 70 as I can't stand to get out of bed to a cold house. The one down side to this, the toilet seat is really cold in the middle of the night. We also use thermal drapes on our windows. This helps hold the heat in at night. On a sunny day we will open the drapes on the large window in our living room as it is facing south and grab as much heat as we can. Again, we close them when the sun is gone.
5. Phones- we have a house phone. We were using it for faxes. We haven't sent a fax on it in months. We do have it at a bare minimum, only paying for basic service, no caller id, no call waiting. We don't even pay for an long distance. I spoke with someone at the phone company and she was able to put me on a little higher price per minute but there is no monthly fee. We really don't use the long distance, but we still have the option if we need to. BUT, we might be dropping the house phone...not sure yet. Our cell phones are a much bigger expense. Jason still has an old plan that allows for free incoming. I renegotiated a plan with Sprint that for $29.99 I get 200 minutes, free mobile to mobile, free nights and weekends. This allows me to communicate with my husband as much as I need to with no worries. In order to get decent internet access, we pay for a Sprint broadband card, but that is unlimited (not sure if they still offer them that way). There isn't really anyway to cut those down any farther other than to eliminate a cell or the house phone.
6. Television- while I would love to go to just digital local channels, through an antenna, Jason isn't game. His hobby is mixed martial arts (think Ultimate Fighting, aka cage fighting) and he watches a lot of programming on direct tv, so we keep it. He has cut back on the Pay Per Views. With a lot of options on the internet for tv viewing (like your favorite shows), it could be an option to drop it all together.
7. Life insurance- we are still paying our life insurance. Sure, we (the adults) don't have health insurance. But if one of us dies, (maybe from lack of health insurance, just kidding!) the rest of the family won't be destitute. We only carry term life. I have noticed a push from our agent to switch us to whole life...NO WAY!!! But, when times are tight, the life insurance still gets paid. I don't know how I slept at night without it!
8. Taxes- our last main monthly expense is this lovely little tax bill we have with the IRS. Year ago, when we had a decent income, we were left with a good sized tax bill. We have been paying monthly on it ever since. With our decrease in monthly income, that payment became a real burden. And I don't know about you, but I know what happens when you own the IRS money...they take whatever of yours they can find. So it was a simple call and they lowered my payment for the next 6 months. The good news is, by the time that 6 months is over, our bill may have been wiped out by our anticipated large federal refund this coming year. :)

So obviously, we still have some cutting that could be done. But for now, this is what is comfortable. No one wants a miserable husband so I won't pull the cable. ;)

When I get done using up all the laundry detergent I have stocked up from my grocery game days, I will give making my own a try. :)

Do you have great tips? Leave them in the comment section!

Help Cure Childhood Diabetes

Ten years ago this January 31st, my son, Westin, was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes, also known as juvenile diabetes. He was two years old and we have zero type 1 diabetes in our families. I remember, after being admitted into the hospital that Monday night, all the doctors and interns coming in to ask us the same questions over and over again. (Eventually, that is what they do in a teaching hospital.) Do you have any family history? Did you see any symptoms? What led up to this? And the part I will always remember, and laugh at, is the statement I heard so many times. "Wow! He is two years old? We never see type 1 in patients so young!" At the time, I didn't know any better. Great, we were "exceptional"! Just what I wanted to hear.

The truth is, type 1 diabetes in the 4 and under is the fastest growing group to be diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. We weren't alone! I have many friends whose children were diagnosed as infants. In addition, some 90% of all cases have zero family history. In another study I read about in The Autoimmune Epidemic, 1 in 648 children and young adult under the age of 19 have type 1 diabetes.

Autoimmune diseases are on the rise at an amazing rate. One researcher that is really making progress in understanding the autoimmune disease of diabetes is Dr Denise Faustman. Her research may hold a cure for not only type 1 diabetes but also other autoimmune diseases like MS and rheumatoid arthritis. To learn more about her research, check out this new website, Help Cure Childhood Diabetes. It has a great video that explains Dr Faustman's research.

It makes sense, her research. Unfortunately, what is good for the people isn't always good for business. Funding for this kind of research would usually come from pharmaceutical companies. But this potential cure would not be a profit center. Companies, whether pharmaceutical or not, have one duty, to make the largest profit possible. They aren't people with an interest in curing diseases with a method affordable to even third world countries. They are businesses and they have certain obligations to the share holders.

The Help Cure Childhood Diabetes website was built by parents of children with type 1 diabetes. We have a great interest in seeing this disease cured. This website will help get money directly to Dr Faustman's research while cutting out the middle man, aka fundraising non profit organizations. While organizations like the ADA and the JDRF have raised remarkable amounts of money, they have expenses like salaries and advertising budgets. I want to know where my money is going and I want it all (100%) to go to the research for a cure.

Please, take a few moments and watch the video on the site mentioned above. If nothing else, it is quite educational. (Ok, you can see the homeschooler in me looking for any opportunity to learn something new!) If you usually give to charities at the end of the year, please consider this cause. We have to do this in a grass roots effort to see that it gets funded. How else will we know if it will work? Also, speard the word. :)