Two books and a pig

Hey everybody!
How are you today? I hope it is a great day for you. :)

Mabel in summer of 2011

I spoke with the veterinarian again yesterday. She is concerned that Mabel is "recovering" so slowly. On Monday Mabel began walking with a bit of a stumble. That is definitely not good. However yesterday she improved from that and "just" walked like an old dog, very slowly and carefully. She does seem happier, at least she does not lay around every hour forlornly. I asked the veterinarian to speak very frankly with me, we want to know. We should continue her on her pain pills and steroid pills. She said if she continues to progress, but so slowly, maybe we can extend her steroid prescription. She could go the other way, and get worse. It can happen very suddenly and usually does she said. Paralysis. So, I asked about the dreaded surgery on her slipped discs. Their clinic does not perform this surgery. There are two clinics that do, one in our county and one in Ozaukee County. The cost would be almost $4,000 dollars with the MRI that is required and there is no guarantee. She may still be paralyzed. She may slip another disc. It doesn't matter, we do not have that money. VERY DEPRESSING STUFF. Sorry. Just wanted to update you, as I have received so many, many wonderful, thoughtful comments and emails. Thank you friends. Thank you. I truly believe the prayers said for Mabel have carried her thus far. If I may impose on you once more, would you please pray for our Mabel? We love her very much and do not want to euthanize her at 3 years old. :(

SO, I read this book called Eat To Live by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. Then I read another book by him called Super Immunity. The first one was recommended to me by my gynecologist. I have gone to my doctor for 18 years now, she is great and we always chat a bit with each visit. She is overweight and has been this whole time. She also has bad psoriasis. I commented about her weight loss. She got very excited about the book. She told me she lost the weight (not all of it, just a lot) and psoriasis because of it. I had told her I was bothered that I am always getting a pimple or two. I never had much of an acne issue as a teenager, why now? She really said she thought this way of eating would help clear my skin, it did hers.

Dr. Fuhrman's dietary approach is basically:
1. No refined or processed foods
2. No animal foods
3. No vegetable oils
4. Exercise
5. Eat plenty of vegetables, fruits, beans and legumes, nuts and seeds.

Well! He states it is okay to have a little meat and eggs and a tiny amount of sweets. Aim for 90% vegetables and fruits, 10% of the other stuff. Yeah, that's the problem for me. I will say, I went with it, not 100% like he says to in the book. "Don't try it, do it." Yeah. Well. The first 4 days I lost one pound a day. Then the fifth day. We had chicken and pasta for dinner and I baked brownies. oops! OVERNIGHT all four pounds came back on. And no, I didn't gorge myself. I had made rice krispie treats the day before, and well a chocolate cake yesterday. Hey! We have three hungry teens in this house. And Mama don't bake without having some herself!

Realistically, I am not going to live on 90% vegetables and fruits. Well, unless the other 10% is sweets which kinda wrecks it I guess, huh?! Did I lose weight? Yes. Did my skin clear up? It did for 2 days, then, well, it's the sweets thing again. At least I do know that the chocolate really does seem to cause my pimples. I did learn excellent eating knowledge from this book. I am convinced if you have great willpower you definitely will lose weight. Many, many people did and do. It really is very basic. Just eat well.

What about the pig? Yes I am stitching a little pig, to be finished into a magnet. I don't like pigs. Miss P. does. She is a great teacher that has taught all three of my kids. She has been with St. Paul's Lutheran School for 14 years and now will leave us for another school in another state. I would have finished the stitching yesterday and had a picture for you. However, yesterday while I pulled dandelions in the backyard, Mabel laid down in the small shady garden and began to bark at the pink sedum groundcover there. I came over to investigate, thinking she found a toad. Well, she found a bunny nest. So of course Maggie ran over to investigate. Well, I grabbed her up. No way. No no. Maggie is truly a ratter at heart. Bichons were breed for that originally in France. Well later, I put the girls out, both on their leashes that are staked in the ground. I looked out the window less than 2 minutes later and Maggie was not there! I ran to the door, ran out into the yard and yelled Maggie NOOOOOOO!! Because I already knew where she was. She must have yanked so hard the latch somehow let loose. She was taking her last chew and then she swallowed and then licked her lips!!! Oh. My. Gosh!!!! I took her in the house. We were all so horrified by her actions, she laid down under the piano sullenly. She felt bad about our reprimands, not eating the baby bunny. I still feel sick over it. All I can do is not let it happen again. There is one more bunny, maybe two. We took a peek but will not uncover or poke around. Mama bunny came last night. We watched through the bedroom window.

Maggie in a more innocent moment

I plan to finish stitching the pig today. Busy day today. Picture soon.

Stitching and praying,
Vickie