Friday, March 25, 2011

Smoothies

Elizabeth sent some nice recipes for nutritional shakes that include delicious non dairy options like coconut milk.  She also shared some research about cream and butter being good for people with HD (PHDs).  Carol and I have an appointment with the HD expert, Dr. Bird, soon, and will discuss cream with him.  Meanwhile, his social worker, Donna, told me he recommends Instant Breakfast, for people PHDs who are also eating, since Ensure is intended for folks who aren’t eating at all.  Also Instant Breakfast is cheaper.    The fact that it dairy doesn’t seem to bother him.  At first, I thought I would go to Instant Breakfast completely, since it costs less.  Carol suggested I make the smoothies most of the time, because they are healthier.  I agreed with that.  Days I’m going to the gym, I’ll do the Instant Breakfast, because it is easier to carry.  Liz and Louise gave me some hemp protein they weren’t using which works for me, if I don’t mind green shakes.  I don’t.

Donna invited me to  come along to a talk she was giving at Jewish Family Services about HD, so I could talk about my experience.  Her talk was good.  I ran into a man named Dick there whose wife has HD.  I had missed him and Barbara in our support group meeting.  He mentioned they had moved because Barbara was having trouble with stairs.  That led me to thinking that I would move into an Assisted Living Facility (ALF), if I couldn’t handle the stairs in our house.  Then it dawned on me we could ramp the front door steps.  And I could ask for help with laundry.  I have Long Term Care Insurance, which can be used  for an ALF, but also for household help.

Speaking of household help, another friend, Dick, told us he has a spare electric broom we can have.  So the problem of the vacuum cleaner being of the fritz is solved.

My new addiction is going through the episodes of the old TV program West Wing.  Carol turned me on to them.  I somehow missed them the first time they ran.  My friend Mary was a librarian in the late Reagan early Bush white house.  She says they are pretty authentic.  They sure are engaging.  I can’t wait to flip the disk over.

The present moment is blue skies.

2 comments:

  1. Smoothies, blue skies, and West Wing: sounds like a good week!

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  2. The words addiction and West Wing definitely belong in the same sentence. I've got the whole series on DVD and have been through them a couple of times, both times in order. Probably not for the last time, either. Now I'm loaning them to my mom.

    How great that you have long-term care insurance!

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