Wednesday, May 19, 2021

Placeholder, Menu, and a Mini Catch-Up

I have such a story to tell you guys- I spent an incredible week in NYC-- eating amazing food, restoring my soul in a city I love, working out every morning because I'm a whole new version of my former self, walking for miles to clear my head and then working until I dropped each night... James killed it at home, in his calm competent way just as he always does, and I got home late Friday night to happy kids, a clean house, laundered clothes, and so much love in my heart.
And then I was struck by what seemed to be allergies. I had allergy testing lined up on Monday and had to stop taking my antihistamines last Wednesday. My body was in full seasonal allergy overload by Saturday- runny nose, congestion, coughing, general yuckiness. I rallied to teach my barre class on Sunday- my first full ("full" is 6 people right now) class and it was so wonderful, and then I basiclly crashed. I made it to my allergy appointment, got a full environmental panel of back scratch testing and after waiting my 25 minutes so excited for answers, I had ZERO reaction to anything! The doctor was surprised and recommended the subdermal testing where the allergen is injected just under the skin. So I did 29 of those and waited another 30 minutes. And nothing. Nothing at all.
So I have non-allerghic allergies. Not actually triggered by allergens, they're triggered by my environment- dust, barometric pressure changes, temperature changes, etc. They mimic allergies, and your body releases histamines in reaction to them, so the antihistamines DO help (clearly because I was dying without them) but you can't isolate what to avoid and you can't do a course of allergy shots to treat them. I got a new drug regimine to help get my overreactive immune system back under control and come back in a week for a course of food allergy testing to potentially figure out some of my eczema triggers. I lived so long without any allergies or sensitivies, and now I'm constantly battling eczema patches, sinus pressure and pain, a very strong reaction to any adhesive or latex, and a tongue that swells if I have too much fruit, candy, or use any toothpaste with SLS in it (which is basically all of them, except this prescription kind my dentist sells). My late 30's have been interesting.
So I'm glad I've enlisted an allergy doctor to try get on top of it, but going off the meds for testing was ROUGH. And unfortunately, combined with my last few weeks of non-stop working and very little sleep in New York my body pretty much just quit on me. Despite being back on my antihistamines and other meds I was not feeling better Monday night, was decidedly worse Tuesday, and REALLY bad today. Pale, shaky, so full of pressure I could barely move my head. I went to urgent care and got a steroid shot and promptly passed out for nearly 5 hours. I never sleep during the day and it completely freaked out James who came to take my temperature at least twice while I was out according to my weird and vague dreams. I popped a fever, broke a fever, woke up all wet, moved to the couch and did it all again. Meanwhile my inbox is overflowing and I'm just completely leaving my team to do everything. It sucks. I'm hoping I can at least sit up and review emails tomorrow.
So my NY stories and pictures will be in the next post and for now you get our menu, because I need to be able to refer to it, and the few pictures I've taken while awake and functional over the last five days. Like this one from Saturday morning when Landon got his first Pfizer Covid shot!! Looking forward to the day I can bring the girls, but super excited to have 3/5 of the family protected! (Or almost protected, Landon has his second one in 2.5 more weeks.)
And when Milo stole Moose's favorite spot. Milo outweights him by 1.5x so Moose's not-so-subtle nudging had no effect whatsoever.
So Moose stole Maggie's bed. Nevermind that it has a lockable door he could be trapped in and smells like bulldog. Had to be done.
The girls are fundraising for their sweet elementary school- still can't believe this is Claire's last few weeks there!
And Landon brought home his football pictures and they were so adorable if I hadn't already been breaking a fever, I would have melted anyway.
My tiny law school baby!

Maggie has been by my side every step of the way, executing flawless narrow sit maneuvers and providing deskside legal support and bedside nursing.
Ad now, food. James has been doing much of the cooking, but I help where I can until he grows alarmed by my coloring and orders me back to the couch. They've all been great!

Menu for 5/16-5/30:
Sun: Minestrone Soup (crock pot version; sub 1 cup farro for the bulgur, add a little more water as needed. So good.)
Mon: Chicken Schwarma Bowls (chicken pieces broiled in oven) with Orzo, Tzatziki, Tomato, Cucumber, Kalamatas, and Pita. (Love this recipe! We need to do simple bowls like this more often.)
Tues: Turkey Taco Salad, Mexican rice, chips. (Kids loved it.)
Wed: Pineapple Pork with Coconut Rice, added Broccoli. (My new fave super fast meal; the pork tenderloin cooks so fast and tender and the pineapple is a great pop of freshness.)
Thurs: Chicken Enchiladas Verde (shredded chicken rolled into tortillas, topped with canned green enchilada sauce and shredded monterrey jack cheese, baked at 375 until bubbly and delicious), black beans.
Fri: Honey Mustard Chicken Chopped Salad
Sat: Chicken Meatballs with Peppers and Orzo, side salad.

Sun: Oven Jambalaya, Cheddar Drop Biscuits
Mon: Sunday Chili (cooked on Sunday, simmered in the crockpot on Monday), chips
Tues: Crunchy beef tacos, refried beans, rice, all the toppings.
Wed: Crispy fish (panko crusted cod from Costco), rice pilaf, frozen mixed vegetables.
Thurs: Roasted Sausage and Vegetables (I usually do small potatoes, broccoli, carrot, cauliflower, and green beans with smoked turkey sausage), brown rice.
Fri: Spaghetti with Veggie Meat Sauce, bread.
Sat: Creamy Vegetable Orzo with Rotisserie Chicken
Sun: Homemade Pizza to welcome my parents to Fort Worth on this last stop of their big National Park road trip! They've been to Grand Tetons and Glacier and are currently in their camper outside North Cascades where it is snowing like crazy! Leaning towards Chicago-style, but I'll let the pick.

20 comments:

  1. Stopping by to thank you for posting your menu w/links. Whenever I have to cook for more 4 or more, I come here to check out what's in your regular rotation. Last week I made pineapple pork w/coconut rice :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Oh yay! So good to hear from you P2P!

      Delete
  2. So sorry about your weird allergies! Hope you're feeling better soon. And I am definitley going to try pineapple pork!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I can so commiserate with the adult onset allergies. Between my husband and I, we’ve had to eliminate eggs, dairy, soy, tree nuts, and stone fruit. And also invest in air purifiers for every room of the house. Good news is that we both feel so much better now after years of trial and error to pin point our triggers. My cooking and baking skills also improved tremendously while I figured out all of the substitutions for our favorite meals.
    Get well soon and best of luck in figuring out the right treatment plan.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I am knee deep in air purifier research! And semi-anxiously awaiting my food testing. I'm glad you're feeling so much better!

      Delete
  4. I started using the toothpaste from the dentist this year and I have to say it's my favorite toothpaste ever. The dentist said Tom's toothpaste doesn't have SLS either but I haven't tried it or checked it out.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tom's doesn't have SLS (neither do a few of the Sensodyne Pronamel options) but it doesn't feel as effective on my teeth? Probably all in my head, but the dentist one is definitely the best combo of clean mouth + not making my mouth erupt in canker sores.

      Delete
  5. I am a lawyer and when i work a lot a lot on big things sometimes afterwards my body just says no. Its alwasy different but its always a clear message - REST. I have had the same tests as you with teh same responses and finally an allergist was married to a lawyer and was like soooooo...

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yes! My body had HAD IT. Seven straight days of early bedtime, naps, and sickness and I'm finally feeling human again.

      Did you find any solutions to your non-allergy allergies?

      Delete
  6. I used Jason's SLS free toothpaste (Tom's makes some as well but I prefer Jason's) - I don't have an allergic reaction to SLS but I was having issues and the SLS free toothpaste fixed it. I was diagnosed with Celiac and had to go gluten free right before I turned 40. So while I don't feel your exact pain we might be on the same bus. It stinks but hopefully you can get a handle on things and ultimately get the control back!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I haven't tried Jason's yet! I have food allergy testing in another week so who knows what I'll learn then!

      Delete
  7. I found out a lot of what I thought was allergies (in part because pollen was a trigger/ and I do have stuff show up on testing though not dramatic) was migraine without headache. Unlikely what you are dealing with but throwing it out just in case. So sorry you are having to deal with all of it! For me it took having a massive migraine (which I recognized because I knew I got them but didn’t realize they impacted appetite, ability to sleep, vertigo, tinnitus) because of nasal surgery/daylight savings/pollen/all the wrong food and my husband who’s a bit over it was freaking out because I got a malar rash, and also got just out of control light and noise sensitivity, so glad It didn’t happen when I had toddlers (though I realize I’ve had two bad episodes before where I was screened for MS and dx with inner ear infection). All the pieces make sense now

    ReplyDelete
  8. Also gluten is a migraine trigger, I had been avoiding it and knew I wasn’t celiac but otherwise didn’t know why I felt better off it

    ReplyDelete
  9. Officially adding the pineapple pork to the list of recipes for next week. Thanks for sharing your meal plans!

    ReplyDelete
  10. I was diagnosed with non-allergic rhinitis in my mid-20's. So annoying! Then in my mid-30's learned I was allergic to basically everything in all of my beauty and bath products. Bodies can be so annoying sometime! Thankfully daily Zyrtec takes care of the rhinitis and changing my beauty projects and make-up fixed the other. Good luck to you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Can I ask what you use for your bath products?? I got horrible hives when I switched shampoo and unfortunately, have not found anything that has completely gotten them to go away.

      Delete
    2. Yes! I'd love to know what is working for you Therese! My allergist gave me a sample of Vanicream gentle bar soap and it's doesn't make my skin feel dry at all, so it seems to be going well!

      Delete
  11. What are your new allergy meds? I also have non-allerghic allergies but my allergist wasn't very helpful. I'd like to run other ideas by them.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. My doctor prescribed me Montelukast Sodium (10 mg tablets) to take once daily, Azelastine-Fluticasone nasal spray (use 2x/day), and Pazeo eye drops (use as needed). I'm to take that with the Claritin I was already using. I'll let you know how it goes!

      Delete
  12. I had same issue when living in DC and when working on downtown Houston. I wonder if NYC kicked things up for you. I hope you start to feel better soon!!

    ReplyDelete