The Rest of the Alpha Gal Story

 No one should ever listen to me when I talk about medical things. Got that? NEVER!

I probably wrote that I thought I was over alpha gal because I can eat anything I want to eat without having the itching, hives and breathing issues. My doctor here would not order a test, which costs $149 if I self-pay so I'm not real sure why she refused to do it. I haven't been tested since probably 2013 - 2014. I was so sure I was over it. So, so sure! 

Vince always tells me I live my life through rose colored glasses and apparently, he's right. I was thinking to myself that the CDC would probably be calling me to see how I had cured myself of alpha-gal. That's not going to happen.

I asked our doctor that we use through a subscription to order the test and he did. I had the test last week, got the results back within a few days and my alpha gal numbers have actually gone up - not down. When I opened the email and read those numbers, I actually cried. I was so disappointed.

This morning I saw a new doctor who will be my PCP - hopefully for the rest of my days. She's younger - probably a few years less than 40. I know this because I mentioned someone and they had graduated high school together.

I handed the new doctor my test results. She looked at them and said "Your numbers are high! I've never had anyone with numbers this high." Of course, the tears came rolling down again. I'm just being a baby because I know my problems are few. This is not life threatening so long as I keep my new epi-pen handy. When I think of medical problems suffered by many, I know I'm one of the lucky ones .. this is a problem that can so easily be controlled - I'm just disappointed that I allowed myself to be convinced that I was over it - kinda unrealistic but . . those rose colored glasses cause me to do/think crazy things!  :)

My numbers may be the highest she has seen but they could be a lot higher BUT, the numbers that show my "allergy level" don't have anything to do with how likely I am to react. I read that someone whose numbers are .4 may be more likely to react than someone whose numbers are 90. It's just crazy. There's an allergist a bit south of here who is supposed to be knowledgeable but I'm not sure what they can do other than tell me to not to eat beef, pork or lamb.

OK  . . enough of me feeling sorry for myself.

The Knitting Bug

 I should not have listened to that little voice that kept saying "Knitting would be fun. Finish some projects you have started. Maybe start something new!" But . . I listened.

There's a pretty major problem though. I cannot find the tub that has my knitting needles in it. I haven't seen it since we moved 5-1/2 years ago! I thought . . I'll just buy more but that's ridiculous. They have to be here somewhere but will I spend years looking for them and then the desire to knit will be gone?

I had not yet started cross stitching when we moved here so I have a couple of projects that have needles in them. Until I find more needles, I'll have to finish one project, find another project that uses the same size needles . . and go from there.

The good news is that I finished the body of this sweater a couple of months ago. I'm guessing this is one I started before I started back to cross stitching. I had been my 'knit in the car' project. I kept it in the car and if Vince was driving, I would knit. If I was waiting somewhere, I would knit. All I have to finish are the sleeves and that will free up a set of needles BUT . . I also can't find the stitch markers. Maybe when I find the needles, the stitch markers will be with them. I did order more stitch markers from Amazon and they should be here tomorrow.

I hadn't started the sleeves because they need markers but I've decided to just cut some pieces off colored thread or yard and use those for markers to mark where I've decreased on the sleeves. I would knit the two sleeves at the same time but the cables I have aren't long enough. Such problems!  :)

At least I kept the yarn together and I have more than I'll need to finish two sleeves. 

Next project I will start is Boulevardier by Baby Cocktails.

The yarn is Berroco Ultra Alpaca and tonight I hope to get the back side cast on and get started on the ribbing.

Husband Needs Cooking Lessons!

 Please read til the end and then tell me if you think my husband needs cooking lessons. I'm not complaining. I know  . . it sounds like a complaint. Some days I overload myself. Some days, if you're going to do something, it makes sense to do a LOT of something and get it over with and have only one big mess to clean up.

This morning Vince wanted pancakes. He's been wanting pancakes. Could Vince make pancakes? Apparently NOT! So I made pancakes with bacon for me and ham for him.

Then I started canning. We go through a lot of cannellini beans with using them in smoothies and we love them. I thought I had measured out enough beans to make 14 quarts but apparently, while Vince is in cooking classes, Judy should be taking math classes!  :)

I filled the 14 quarts and still had more beans. I filled 7 pints using the cooking liquid from the second boil of the beans and added no salt. Those will be for smoothies. One pint broke in the canner, dang it. Maybe Judy needs canning lessons too!  :)

While the canner was cooling down, and releasing pressure, I cooked dinner.

It's quick. It's easy. It's delicious and there's always leftovers. I like this recipe because it doesn't have any added sugar. The one I used to use had brown sugar added.

That's a half gallon jar so it's a lot of leftovers. We don't even serve it over rice - just cabbage, ground beef, onions, carrots and the sauce.

Once the kitchen was cleaned from that, I ran downstairs and buried today's veggie scraps. I do this almost every day. You can see that my garden soil is looking halfway decent. I do have a compost bin but . . mice have become quit a problem and I'm not sure if part of the problem isn't the compost bin. It's way back from the house and the neighbor has one too but they really made a mess in mine. I suppose there's nothing to keep them from digging through my raised beds but it seems like, with the compost bin, it's a constant buffet for them. Here, I'll use one raised bed one day, another the next and then I'll also use the mineral tubs. I'd like to think the mice don't get in those but I'm sure they do.

Then I came in, got the jars out of the canner. That's when I realized one pint that had broken. Had to let the canner finish cooling down and clean up that mess. Thank goodness it wasn't a greasy mess. I think I might have cracked that jar the other day. I remember hitting one and thinking . . I hope I didn't break that. The jar that cracked was one I got out of the dishwasher (because I'm almost completely out of jars) so I'm betting that's what happened. It was one of my Azure jars so that makes me sad .. sad about the beans and sad about the jar.

Nice looking beans.

Tomorrow we're having roasted chicken for lunch because I need leftover chicken to make soup for Tuesday. Got the chicken seasoned and in the fridge. Got the countertops sanitized and all the chicken germs/bacteria cleaned up. Whew I was tired!

One last thing to do was take the dogs out for a walk. Oscar will not go out with Vince if I'm home. Maybe our dogs need to to take obedience classes! I take them one at a time so that took a little while. Came in. It was about 5:30. I thought I would sit down and read my email and look what's in my inbox!

SEVEN emails from Vince with recipes he wants me to make. I'm thinking . . I have spent the entire day in the kitchen and you're sending me recipes to try. I think I'm going to propose that I'll be the canner and he can be the cook - breakfast and dinner . . and clean up the messes and I'll keep the jars filled and the garden going. Sounds reasonable to me. Thoughts??  :)

Thursday

 Most of my days are so normal and predictable that most anything that is out of the ordinary seems weird. Today was out of the ordinary and a bit frustrating.

When we lived in Nevada, MO and in Texas, I loved my doctors. Here . . not so much. Every year when I see the doctor for my annual Medicare visit, I say I'm not going back. We do have a doctor that we pay a membership fee and can go as often as we like. I go there for things like ear infection, or allergy shots but I don't go to the doctor but once or twice a year. If it's anything I need Medicare to pay for, I have to go to a Medicare doctor and the membership doctor isn't a Medicare doctor.

We also have a naturopath that we talk to every few months and she does us more good than any MD around here. Obviously, I'm not happy with our medical care.

You know I have alpha gal -- maybe I'm over it. I've read that can happen. I have a colonoscopy coming up and the doctor and anesthesiologist always ask questions about that . . When was my last reaction? Do I ever eat beef? Do I eat any products that contain or were made from beef? Their questioning always makes me nervous, though I know there won't be any problems. Yesterday I was thinking . . what if I get an alpha gal test done and it shows I no longer have it . . then I won't have to go through the alpha gal questions. I sent my doctor's office a note asking if they would order an alpha gal test. I explained that I haven't had any incidents in years, I'm eating EVERYTHING now and would like to know if I can stop going through the alpha gal protocol for every procedure - even dental work. 

NO. They wrote me back and said something like "We have no diagnosis of alpha gal. We can talk about this at your next visit." Next visit is AFTER colonoscopy - two months after. 

I looked back through my records and from my first visit with this doctor in 2020, I told them I have alpha gal and it's on all my records, in the notes of every visit I've made. Not only that but they prescribed an epi-pen for me to keep because the ones I had were expired. What on earth would it hurt for me to get a blood test to see if I still have it??

So, I thought . . fine . . I'll get my medical records. Called the hospital in Kentucky where I went at least three times between 2002 and 2006. Nope, they only keep records for 10 years. Called the hospital in Nevada, MO and they were by far the most helpful. They only keep records for 10 years and we've been gone from there 15 years. They MAY have them in off sight storage so they're checking that. The lady I talked to . . her son-in-law has alpha gal so she was understanding. 

Called the hospital in Louisiana where I had to go once while visiting family. Nope - they only keep the records 10 years.

Called the hospital in Texas, who would have the records from when I did get tested in 2013. Nope . . only keep the records 10 years.

I can go to Quest and get a blood test on my own and pay for it for $149. I will do that next week. I should have done that and not even bothered with contacting the doctor. 

When I think about this whole thing . . I got bit by a tick and got a disease that no one even knew existed. I had numerous ER visits to four hospitals and no one had a clue what it was. The last ER visits was July 15, 2009. I had one more incident in about 2013 when a neighbor gave us ground beef from a cow they had raised and had butchered and they were complaining because there was so much fat. Vince grilled burgers and he was complaining about the fat flaming up. About midnight, I had an episode. The doctor in Nevada, MO had told me he had no idea what was causing it but he told me to take a cold shower and Benadryl and that might help. That night I did that - took a Benadryl and a cold shower and that stopped the reaction. I didn't want to go back to bed because I was afraid after taking the Benadryl, I would fall back asleep and then not wake up if my air passages closed up and I couldn't breathe so I stayed up and played on the computer. I knew all I had eaten that day was the hamburger so I googled "hamburger, hives, itching". Alpha gal popped up, along with Dr. Platts-Mills, who pretty much made the connection between the reaction and the tick and is really one of those on the forefront of so much that's been done to help those suffering with alpha-gal. I sent him an email at about 3 a.m. and said something like "I think I have alpha-gal" and told him my story. He wrote me back and we corresponded a couple of times. 

The naturopath told me that there are other issues alpha gal can cause besides the anaphylaxis issues and she thinks I should get tested before I say I decide on my own that I no longer have it.

So, I kinda feel like I've done all the work with getting myself through these reactions, discovering what was causing it, and here I am, thinking I'm over it and my doctor will not even order a blood test. 

It's frustrating!

Then . . I got up this morning planning to make sourdough sandwich bread, which I make every week. Then Vince asked me to make the sourdough rye too. OK . . I can do that. 

The rye dough needs to spend about 24 hours in the fridge so I will bake it tomorrow. 

But  . . the sandwich bread . . turned into the dough on steroids! I did everything as I always do - every week!! I always use my wall oven for all the baking. I put the bread in there. It needs to bake for 45 - 50 minutes. About 20 minutes into the baking, I was downstairs and I could smell something weird. I tried to ignore it but decided I'd better go upstairs and check it. The bread had risen so high, it was touching the top of the oven!

It was too big to leave in the wall oven so I had to take all the cast iron out of the stove/oven, turn the oven on, let it pre-heat and finish baking the bread.

When I bake bread or cornbread in cast iron, I don't clean the pan. I just stick it in the oven, then when I'm ready to use it again, I use a brush, scrub it (dry), then wipe it out with a damp towel, oil it, and heat on the stove. Then it's ready to go again. So . . most of my cast iron pans have crumbs in them!

I can't get over how much that bread rose in the oven. Here's what it looked like going into the oven.

Has anyone ever had that happen before? It's just sourdough . . no added yeast.

The bread tastes great. I told Vince it should last twice as long because one slice is as big as two regular slices. Vince did volunteer to try a slice of it and he says it tastes great. Just weird!

America - 250 Progress

 I will try to do my best to not overload the posts with this project but I'm really excited that I may be able to get this one AND A Worthy Patriot stitched before July 4.

Before I start with the good news, I should tell you what happened last night. It isn't the end of the world but I was frustrated. I don't have the called for floss so I found this one and it was already on a frame. That saved me a good bit of time . . almost! I think the piece of linen was something like 18" x 26". I had it loaded on the frame with the 18" side being the width. I had my floss and the chart out and I thought . . I'd better check this to make sure it's right. Nope.

The linen needed to be 19" wide by 12" deep. This piece has been on the frame for a while. I wasn't sure if I had pulled a thread along the sides to make sure it was straight. I only had about 1-1/2" extra on each side and if it wasn't straight, I could have been in trouble. I had no other empty frames and this frame was 19". That would have been too close so I took linen off a longer frame, trimmed about 3" off one vertical side of the linen and sewed it onto the leader and onto the frame.

I had been working in the sewing room on the linen getting it folded and in the boxes so the room was a mess - more of a mess than normal. The sewing machine chair was full of stuff. There was a big pile on top of the sewing machine and there is zero light in that end of the room. I brought in a big flashlight, took everything out of the chair, off the sewing machine and off the cutting table, sat it all on the floor, got this done. I probably make it sound way worse than it was but it was all happening about midnight and I was tired.

So . . I couldn't wait to start so I sat down and made about 64 stitches. Today I made 650 stitches. That could be a record. I'm 3.02% done with this project.

My goal is to finish this one in mid-April, then work on A Worthy Patriot the rest of April, May and June and have them both framed and on the wall for July 4. We'll see. There will be days when I probably won't get any stitching done - we each have medical procedures (routine stiff mostly) and a couple of trips to Kansas City. I don't stitch on 40 count linen when I'm with Debbie so no stitching on this on Wednesdays.

All I can do is give it my best shot and if I don't have it finished by Independence Day, I should have it done soon thereafter.

What I'm trying to do is work over to the left side. With the dogs' decisions to sit on my lap, I'm not able to use the lap stand. Using the Lowery, it's kinda hard to be able to reach the left side because of the tight spot where I'm stitching so if I can sit on the bed and stitch using the lap stand, that will work. Any time I put them in bed, they go under the covers and go to sleep. If I could get a couple of hours each day stitching like that, it would help me a lot! Isn't it crazy how the dogs rule my life?  :)

The Cannellini Bean Smoothie Report

 Last night I peeled two bananas, stuck them in a container and placed them in the freezer. This morning I took them out, put them in the blender, added about 1/2 cup of chocolate milk, 1-1/2 cups of whole milk, 1 T. cacao powder, 1-1/2 tsp. vanilla and the whole pint of cannellini beans. The beans were home canned with no salt, no oil - just beans and water. The beans wasn't a lot of space in the jar and maybe 1/2 cup of liquid, which was a bit thick - typical liquid from cooking beans. I ended up adding a bit more milk because it was too thick.

It was absolutely delicious. Both of us kept saying "Why didn't we think of this sooner?" It was quite filling.

For lunch, I made oven BBQ country style pork ribs and this Tomato Baked White Beans with Feta and Lemon Parsley Oil.Vince ate a salad but I knew I wasn't going to be able to eat that much. Those beans were so good! 

I added everything to Cronometer and this is what it tells me.

That may be the first time in the almost three years I've been tracking what I eat that I reached the protein goal and didn't go over on fats. I didn't use any butter or bacon fat today, which is kinda weird.

The carbs are low enough I think I'll have a Dr. Pepper!

Also, we both met our iron (exceeded!) our iron requirements, as well as several other minerals. I haven't been paying much attention to my iron intake but with Vince being deficient (I am not), I'm trying to increase what he gets. According to Cronometer, I got 171% of my iron requirements, which is 13.7 mg. What I'm reading says I need 8.7 mg per day and even if I go up to about 20 mg per day, it should be ok. I'll talk to the naturopath about that.

America - 250 Chart/Project

 Plum Street Samplers created this chart for a summer (2025) retreat project at The Attic in Mesa, AZ. Almost always, the retreat pieces are exclusive to attendees of the retreat for a year. Then, often they will be released for other stitchers to purchase.

With this project, mainly because of the sesquicentennial, every stitcher seemed to want that chart NOW. My understanding is that The Attic and Plum Street/Paulette Stewart decided it was a good idea to release it to the public since so many people wanted it in time to get it stitched by July 4, 2026. They graciously (VERY graciously!) agreed that The Attic would be able to sell it sometime after the first of this year. As soon as I heard that, I called and got on the list and my copy arrived a few weeks ago.

The called for linen is Smoky Quartz by Fiber on a Whim. I don't think I have that linen but I have a couple that are probably close.

The top piece isn't nearly as green as it looks. The cover photo for this piece looks like it's much lighter but when I look at Smoky Quartz online and found this and it looks more like my top piece of linen (plus that one is already on a frame and ready to start stitching!)

This one is 301 wide x 162 high and stitched area will be 15" x 8-1/2". It isn't huge but there's a lot of stitching on it.

It was going to take a lot of dedication to get this stitched and framed by July 4 BUT then look what Plum Street has coming out at market and should be going out to stitchers in mid March. A Worthy Patriot!

The first email I saw about A Worthy Patriot was a kit with linen, floss and the chart, or just the chart. I debated about getting the kit but, knowing how much linen I have, I decided finding something in my stash was a good choice. The called for linen is Coffee Stain by Cedar River Linen. Look what I found while searching for linen for America - 250.

It's sometimes takes a while to get linen from Cedar River so I was very happy to find that piece. Now I'm wondering if I should stitch both pieces on the same linen and make them more like a matching pair or, stitch them on different linens just for variety. Thoughts?

A Worthy Patriot is 191 wide x 280 high. On 40 count linen, the stitched area will be 9-1/2" x 14" so almost the exact same dimensions but one is longer and narrower and one is shorter and wider but just one inch in all directions. They will be a great matching pair.

My confidence is not very high that I will get both of these stitched, especially in time to have them framed, by July 4.