Things to make so I can eat them (and food news)

I'm sure this will come as a surprise, but I love good food.  I love to eat yumminess.  Because of this, I kind of like to cook.  And I really kind of like to bake.  I'm not great at cooking or baking but I fake it pretty well.  Here are some things I would like to make VERY soon:

• It's a Brooklyn cookie.  It has chocolate chips.  And molasses.  And chili powder.  Nuff said!
• I have always wanted to do this and hear it is super easy, maybe even easy enough to get M to do it for me: BBQ Beer Can Chicken (video).
• I love shake and bake chicken but don't like the ingredients in those packets.  Yummo to homemade, although I'll probably try it with panko instead for more crunch.
• I love Peppermint Patties even more--you know the ones I'm talking about.  As I read this the first time, I thought (1) this would be great to make with kids, and (2) I don't use shortening anymore. Hmm. Then I started reading the comments and found it: substitute extra virgin coconut oil--I have that!  I would also use dark chocolate instead of semi-sweet.  Yummo.
• I can't believe there are such things as Ice Cream Bread and Thin Mint Truffles.  All I can say is boo, friggin boo, too all who told me I did NOT need any Girl Scout cookies this year.  You know who you are and I do NOT forgive any of you.  You think you're helping me.  Go ahead and think that.  It's your own fault you aren't getting any truffles.  In case you missed it, boo.

That's 2 chicken recipes, one bread, and 3 desserts.  Add a salad and you have a perfect lunch for friends, if you ask me.  (At least one dessert should count as an appetizer, don't you think?!)  If you think that all of these recipes sound like something you "shouldn't" eat, here's your recommended reading: When Food Attacks!  I couldn't have said it any better--"As I always say, the only thing you should ever feel guilty about eating is babies."

If you are an emotional eater, here's the news to piss you off so you have a reason to make all the recipes above and eat them at one sitting.

• Artificial food coloring may be linked to behavorial changes and health issues in children.  Products with artificial dyes include Jell-O, Lucky Charms, Minute Maid Lemonade, Cheetos, Froot Loops, Pop-Tarts, and Hostess Twinkies.  Most artificial colors are now made from petroleum products (they used to be made from coal tar), so while Americans drive hybrid vehicles to reduce reliance on foreign oil, they can eat it, literally.  Note the financial aspect: no patents on dyes, so no incentive for research; pediatric research expensive and difficult, so it doesn't happen; and who benefits from this news--a sentence at the very end, extolling the virtuous Whole Foods and Trader Joe's, who "refuse to sell foods with artificial coloring."  That is an interesting choice of words by the "journalist"--"refuse" is probably the most emotional way to describe that.  Whether this is a marketing ploy or not, I am glad to hear that Frito-Lay is going more natural since there is a lot of artificial coloring in chips.  They are taking the MSG and other artificial ingredients out of about 60 snacks.  I can eat Doritos again!  I think my hips are already protesting...
• I already know that food inflation is being kept hidden in tinier bags, but just realized this is going to have an impact on lots of recipes.  I haven't made any of my "old" recipes recently, so I wonder how much of an issue I will run across.  Some people think, just don't used process food, but we're talking about things like canned vegetables and packaged pasta that have gone smaller for the same price.  I'm still annoyed that I can't get a 5 pound bag of sugar anywhere besides Fresh & Easy.
• I'm always interested in the case against veganism, although I'm not sure this one would stand up to criticism.
• I'm still interested in the raw milk movement and found an old post about milk for daredevils.  Hmm, not sure how I feel about that one.
• There are 21 ingredients in McDonald's oatmeal!  Great oatmeal doesn't need more than 5 at most: oats, milk and/or water, dried fruit and/or nuts, and possibly a sweetener like honey, brown sugar, or molasses. Okay, maybe cinnamon too--it's good and good for you. If you eat a lot of oatmeal, consider making your own oatmeal packets (with cost analysis).

And, for your viewing amusement, rapping about dairy farming.

MS Awareness Month Finale

For National MS Week, the National MS Society (US) had a campaign to ask "what does MS mean to you?" branded as MS=, which included a Facebook page and a page on their website.  My "short" answer (for now--I think our answers change over time with our experiences) was:


MS= making difficult choices and learning to lean on loved ones.  There is no cure; there is no treatment that doesn't have horrible side effects. There is the love and support of my friends and family who don't define me by my disease but let me vent and discuss things when I need to talk.

The Wheelchair Kamikaze says MS = WMD.

A supermodel says: You never know the beauty of movement until you lose it. 

And I really like this one (worth reading the whole story): It can be frightening simply knowing what others experience.  Knowing what you might experience.  Knowing what you have experienced and may again (or always).  This knowledge is a type of anticipation which no patient or medical professional wants to burden you with, however “knowledge is power.”

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Medical marijuana is legal in 15 states; four of them tax the sale of medical marijuana.  In Part 1 of this Dr. Oz Show featuring Montel Williams, Dr. Oz talks about the history of and debate around Medical Marijuana.  Even if you aren't a Dr. Oz fan, he has great visuals to explain how things work.  Montel's advocacy and legal troubles make my heart hurt for him.  In Part 2, he says he is not asking for anything special--he has a right to be pain free.  How can you argue with that?!  Frankly, I think the drug companies want us to take artificial chemicals that are KILLING US, and are helping the government keep a natural pain remedy away from the American people who need it.

Who do you believe in this debate about medical Marijuana?  I agree that it won't work for everyone, but no MS drug works for everyone (most have 33% efficacy, with efficacy rates increasing with the likelihood of a particular drug KILLING US.)  I agree with Dr. Oz that marijuana is addictive, (WHO CARES that it is addictive when you have chronic pain for the REST of your life?) but he forgets that all of the pain medications being forced down Montel's and other MS patients throats are also addictive, and often do NOT work.  See also: Why it's prescribed: Part 1 and Part 2.

In "Is it safe?" (or "Who should get it?"): Part 1, listen to the oncologist who has been prescribing it for 30 years as well as Montel's point at the very end about the lady who is against marijuana use, and in Part 2, her lame attempt at explaining away her conflict of interest.  There's a different standard in the US under the FDA than in Canada, the UK, and Portugal?  Part 2 also includes a list of "legal prescription drugs" used for pain, most of which are acknowledged as narcotics and highly addictive.

I am so tired of hearing that there has to be more research before proceeding.  We know there has been a 200 year history of marijuana use for pain, and less than a 30 year history of prohibition, so why don't we do what is done with other big-pharma drugs--let it go to the market and see what happens?  Keep in mind that many drugs are approved by the FDA for one purpose and then used for other purposes not approved by the FDA--they aren't even studied because there is no financial incentive at that point.  I am not saying that I would use it if it was available.  In fact, I don't think I COULD use it while I'm still working.  But I think there is something not right with this debate.

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There are some things "known" about MS, but many more that aren't.  Here's a new insight into how MS develops (video, but the text below is the transcript of the video) that could lead to research in a different direction.  I found this interesting because I somewhat agree with an opinion I ran across that stated, maybe there won't be a CURE for MS--it may be like a stroke, where prevention is more important than a cure.  If that is true, a better understanding of the very early processes will give us better ways to prevent MS.

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There were a LOT of links about MS and CCSVI.  Here's an interesting snippet:

"many critics of Dr Zamboni’s CCSVI theory and treatment are involved in research studies relating to such drug related therapies for MS. What is also strange is that most research studies for Multiple Sclerosis seem to be concentrated towards slowing down and controlling the MS, making the disease more bearable, more manageable and the symptoms milder instead of preventing or curing it altogether.  The very powerful pharmaceutical industry does business of over $8 billion per year, selling MS drugs that control the disease but not cure it."

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I saw this on Facebook:

*10 THINGS YOU (DO NOT) SAY TO SOMEONE WHO HAS MULTIPLE SCLEROSIS*

10. MUST BE NICE TO SLEEP ALL DAY

9. YOU'RE LUCKY YOU DON'T HAVE TO WORK

8. I CAN RELATE

7. JUST TAKE SOMETHING

6. JUST TRY HARDER

5. JUST BE POSITIVE

4. YOU JUST WANT ATTENTION

3. IT'S ALL IN YOUR HEAD

2. IT COULD BE WORSE

1. BUT YOU LOOK (GOOD)

I still work and don't get to sleep any more than usual most of the time, but I have heard #8 (really, you "know how I feel"?  Unless you have MS, you know that I now know you are an idiot or insensitive or completely oblivious), #5 (um thanks for telling an eternal optimist to grin and bear it.), #2 (see also: eternal optimist.  But, in all cases where I've been told this, I want to say (but don't by some miracle of the tact-god, it's worse than your shit, so shut the fuck up), and #1 (of course I do! haha).

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I just paid $284 for MY portion of the cost of my Provigil (no generic available) and then, after getting home, realized it wasn't even the 90 count I had before--it was 15 (insert many, many bad words here) pills.  I need to do some homework to find out if I can get a larger number and/or get a discount by ordering online.  I didn't have anything else to do....  Like reading this about the rising price of disease modifying drugs.  I guess the good news is that this unbelievable price gouging of the MS community pushes more of us into drug trials, even if we really don't want to be guinea pigs.

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In the Age of Endarkment, the author states:


It takes strength to be ill, the ancient Chinese used to say. The more love, compassion, wisdom and calm you store up, the more capable you’ll be of facing up to hatred, disappointment, envy, fear and disturbance.


I'll say it takes strength to be ill!  I believe that MS fatigue is at least partially caused by the underlying pain our bodies are in all the time.  When I have a really bad pain day, I'm just wiped out mentally as well as physically.

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Don't I have too much to do to do nothing?

...make it a point to "do nothing" for just one day in your life, once a month at least. Sit silent in a room, or outside, under a tree, and be very quiet.  Very languid. Feel free to be lazy. Without guilt touching you, even with a barge pole. Roll on the grass; or stretch out, let the morning sun kiss your eyelids as you slip into nothingness. Or just watch the squirrels run up the tree trunk, awe-struck like a child of four.  "Stand and stare" is not a cliché. It is awe aerobics for the soul.

Agility Class

We did 3 exercises, and I was paired with 2 other 20' dogs so I could do each exercise with Cassi, then one of the other dogs went, then Teka, then the other dog, then Cassi, and so on.

The first exercise was 8 jumps, set up in two rows.  Instead of going straight over the 4 in a row, we did front crosses in between jumps so that they did one on the right, then the next on the left, then the next on the right, and the next on the left.  Then we turned around and let them go over the four in a row to end where they started.  A fun exercise but so hard.  The instructors (and some others) have just gone to the Steve Moon seminar, so they were trying to retrain us to call the dog's name instead of saying "here" on our front crosses.  This was pretty difficult for me since I've been trained for years to NOT say the name without a command.

Next we worked on a sequence that was confusing in person, so this should be easy to follow.  :)  There was a curved tunnel, and to the right back side, but out to the right more, was a jump--that was the start and went into the end of the tunnel.  There was a jump to the left  of the tunnel and three jumps (like a serpentine) in front of the tunnel.  So coming out of the other end of the tunnel, we went over the jump, wrapping back to the serpentine.  On the last jump, the dogs were heading away from the handler, and they had to wrap to jump back over that jump, but not doing the serpentine again, rather going to the jump on the left of the tunnel, then wrapping back into the tunnel.  Coming out of the tunnel, they are supposed to go in between the middle jumps, over a broad jump.  That was super difficult for all of us.  Cassi had more trouble with it than Teka, but those jumps are pretty distracting!

Last, we had a sequence that had a jump, teeter, and two jumps lined up in the middle, with two curved  tunnels on the right side (before and after the teeter) and a curved tunnel on the left side.  The sequence was the jump, right tunnel, teeter, right far tunnel, farthest jump, wrap to jump, left tunnel, beginning jump.  (was there another jump between the first/last jump and the teeter?)  We did the sequence with these instructions: the first time through, stay on the right side of the teeter all the way through the course and the second time, stay on the left side throughout.  A very fun exercise but hardest with Teka getting her to go into the tunnel on the other side of where I'm standing.  Cassi did GREAT teeters.  I think Teka needs a little more practice on wrap.  I would like to invest in a bunch of jumps this summer so I can work on this at home.

Weave class

Teka had 3 exercises tonight.  First was a longer sequence.  We started at a U-shaped tunnel into a jump to a double jump to 2 sets of 6 weaves.  With a front cross, we went left to a jump, into another U shaped tunnel, back into weaves to the double jump, front cross to the tire jump (parallel to the weaves).  Teka did have some trouble on the weave entry from the second tunnel--it was hard to see the entry from her angle.  So R moved them a little to help out.

Next, we had a jump leading to 3 sets of 4 weaves, with me on the right side.  After the weaves, she was supposed to go into a tunnel (but taking the side to the right--the handler side), which I was able to get, but R corrected my handling.  I was leaning down too much so she reminded me to "trust" Teka to do it herself.  Oh, well, I'm working on it but Teka has needed "hand holding" for so long that it's hard to break the habit.  Coming back out of the tunnel, she went back through the weaves (perfectly).

Last we had the "round the world" weave entry exercise, starting with a jump to a broad jump and then into the 6 pole weaves.  The weaves were moved into 4 positions, from a pretty straight entry, all the way to a 90 degree entry, entering on the right end and weaving to the left.  Teka did great on the broad jump--we started with a quick refresher on it before going into the actual exercise.  The 90 degree entry was very difficult for her but she got it.

Contact 301

After D paired everyone, Cassi and I were left to work on our own, but not on the exercises everyone else was doing.  I felt a little remedial.  Okay, a lot remedial.  And a little annoyed that Cassi wouldn't get to work on the teeter.  That's the reason I started taking this class.

D walked me through the exercises to do with Cassi.  We worked on the clicker board first, and she had a little trouble getting started, but once she got it, she got it.  Then we used the large contact box, and worked up to a running contact.

Then we worked on the contact board.  *sigh*  We've been working on this for so long and still, Cassi just doesn't get it.  So after I struggled for a bit, D came over to help and had the same issues with Spazmatastic Cassi.  She doesn't seem to know that she has back feet, so she gets her front feet on and then swings her butt around instead of going all the way on.  So we put the contact board away and she brought out one of these:

And it worked!  She did awesome.  What fun.  We only have one more class before I take a break to get the house stuff done.  This is something I could work on at home when my other class is done.

Another new eye doctor

I went for my follow-up appointment and found out the doctor I saw last week was just filling in for the doctor at this location.  He didn't check my eyes but he was not pleased that the other doctor gave me a regular contact instead of a torric lens for my left eye.  I explained my previous experience (last year) and we discussed trying some different brands to find one that works.  He asked about my vision with the trial regular lens and I let him know that I had some blurriness and had just noticed some double vision at farther distances (the traffic light in particular).  He is going to change my right lens to the same brand as the torric lens and they will be monthly disposables instead of 2 week lenses.  They had to order them, so I will be going back a couple more times.

I am seriously considering a Lasik evaluation.

Not a lottery winner

I got a call from the endocrinologist's office, letting me know that they got the lab results from Hope Research.  The Hope labs were taken since the last endocrinologist labs, so they were concerned and requested that I get labs done again.  They are sending a lab order so I can go in; then I can go see the endocrinologist's office again.

In related news, one of my MS friends had the CCSVI treatment done recently.  I have contacted her to get more information on her progress and who to contact for testing at AZ Heart Hospital.  My husband and I have discussed it and feel that I should at least get tested before deciding if I will continue in the Alemtuzamab trial.  I am enrolled through May, but I can continue in the extension trial for another 2 years.  If I continue, I cannot have any alternate MS treatments such as CCSVI treatment.  I don't want to seem desperate or cynical, but I'm pretty angry that my neurologist acts like I won the fucking lottery--he has four patients on Alemtuzamab and 25% are expected to experience thyroid issues, and I'm the one.  Whoo, fucking, hoo, and yay for me, and stuff.  He also, in my opinion, completely disregards any complaints I have and acts like I haven't had any more MS symptoms since being in the trial, that they are "residual" to previous exacerbations.  It's not worth changing doctors--I've been around enough of them now to know that he's very similar to the rest.  They are trying but they have biases and can't be objective.  I understand but I'm still pissed and know that I have to be my own advocate and take my future into my own hands.

This is MS Awareness Month; last week was MS Awareness Week according to the National MS Society (US).  I have been reading and viewing a lot of MS news and views and some of it originates in other countries.  There is research being done; maybe there is progress being made.  But there is so much unknown and there are so many people with MS who feel they are not being HEARD.  The doctors have a list of symptoms they expect, and those are MS symptoms.  The other symptoms we complain about are not MS symptoms because no one else has them.  Except that some one else DOES have them--we're online and we find out the TRUTH--we're not alone in any of these odd, annoying, sometimes painful symptoms.

It would be so nice to have the luxury of not thinking about this or making these decisions.

Here are 10 links for MS Awareness:

This is war!

Numb 

Beautiful Day 

Faces of MS

Liberation Treatment (may have posted previously)

Making Medical History

Death caused by MS (Canadian MS blog)

What MS feels like (differs by MS patient)

The History of MS (Facebook photos of text)

I say I’m fine because I wish I was, because I want to be, I want to believe that someday I can be.