The Vent and Rant Thread

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

@ Hitch If it is a problem with blood thinners medication (wich wouldn't surprise me as this stuff isn't a fountain of health as far as I heard) Mr. Hitch might consider taking alternative i.e. natural blood thinners. If they work efficiently enough on him the need for the pharmaceutical poison no longer be given.

Specifically I had Proanthocyanidin in mind. Its extracted from grape seeds.

Thanks, Free! (I tried to K all youze guys, but for some reason, my Win8 laptop explodes the K pop-up. Hm...wonder whom here at the forum I need to ask about that?) I'll look into that. The problem that would plague my mind would be--how could we know that it was working "efficiently enough?" I mean, without taking it (the heart) to the breaking point again? I will research it, abalooley. Mucho appreciated.

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

Hitch - having dealt with taste bud changes in a patient after chemo ... try various flavors of the "Ensure" type supplements & breakfast replacement drinks - there's a wide variety - and what seems totally yucky to you can taste wonderful to 'sick' taste buds.

Also, try freeze-dried camping food -- sometimes food with that weird 'processed' aftertaste will appeal ... trail mix, etc.

And explore garnishes/sauces -- esp. if you don't ordinarily use them - teriyaki, other umami flavors, etc.

Well, we normally do use a lot of flavorings, from myriad cultures/cuisines; the issue now seems to be that we don't know what he likes. Hell, he doesn't know what he likes. I'm trying to figure out how to make it more of an adventure and less of a chore/trial.

We had three things go "right" today, so I have my fingers x-ed that perhaps, the buds are recovering. Oddly enough, I bought trail mix today. I had, before reading your note, nixed the idea of Ensure, because I didn't think he'd drink it, but I'll broach the topic. We're both losing weight, and I got a lecture from my own doc today about mine. I'd lost 8lbs when I (finally) was able to go back to exercising, which was fine; after my foot-shoulder-shoulder tribulations of the past 3 years were finally over (hooray), but now I've lost another 7, and believe me when I say that's too much. I've burned fat (again, hooray), but haven't added bupkus for muscle (boo, hiss) in the four months since I've been able to get back to it. Of course, 3 of those were just getting back into "normal" rather than atrophied shape, but still...bummer. (Who knew that it would get THIS BLOODY HARD to build muscle, just 'cuz the chassis has a few years on it?)

I'm also hoping that I can lure Mr. Hitch onto the Waterrower, given that it's SO damned easy for a newbie to use.

Originally Posted by Freeshadow

And add more Scoville

GOTCHA. :-) We keep a LOT of pepper sauces around, everything from your basic Tabasco on up. Now...I just have to find something he can manage, that I can put that on. Right now, it's cookies and pudding. Can't see peppers on pudding working out, as after all, he's post-cardiac-cath, not preggers. LOL. But he has always loved spicier foods, so maybe you're right and there's a route there. Thanks for that.

OTOH, today I asked him if he wanted Chili--one of our go-to fave dishes, although not routinely in the middle of an Arizona summer--and he said NO. That sort of....well, surprised me, that he didn't even want to try it. (Probably just being nice--knows that it's a lot of work, and didn't want me doing all that and then watching him not eat it, now that I think about it.)

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

Having dealt with heart attack mouth one year then chemo mouth 18 months later I learned to provide many condiments and gave up cooking because I couldn't do anything right. Now unless something is specifically asked for, I just feed myself. There are almost always leftovers, if they are wanted, then have at it

Yeah, I'm grumpy about the whole thing

Yes. I know exactly what you mean. It sounds ungracious doesn't it? To get vexed about it, which they can't help, not at all, but it is frustrating to watch good food get spit out. And before anyone says, yes, of course I understand it's not something he's doing voluntarily--his food tastes like crap and I also know he's just as frustrated as I am. (And hungrier, poor bastard). So, yes, KK, I totally get it. That much time? God, you must be cranky, to put it mildly.

Did you, KK, find any specific condiments that seemed more popular than others? (Wonder if I still have those chutneys around here?....)

Fortuitously, this is the V&R thread! So I can sound as cranky as I want. Thanks for letting me spew, and thanks for all the suggestions and sympathetic ears.

Hitch

[kindlekitten]

For the heart attack it was all things sushi related even though that was never touched before. I think the wasabi and pickled ginger had a lot to do with it. There was also the complete dietary re-education to deal with even though I had been fighting that for years.

Chemo mouth is a lot different because it's a combination of nausea and dead taste buds. Hot and sour were winners there.

I'm particularly frustrated because it's a bad relationship that on both occasions I had just managed to escape but came back due to a sense of duty. Now I feel stuck

[poohbear_nc]

I had, before reading your note, nixed the idea of Ensure, because I didn't think he'd drink it, but I'll broach the topic. We're both losing weight,

There are a lot of new Ensure flavors/textures/etc. - getting away from the thick milky traditional Ensure. Also Boost has new varieties - including a concentrated form (Boost Compact) that puts all the ingredients in 4 oz. - the chocolate tastes (to me) like pudding - you can chug these like downing shots. This could really help with weight loss and muscle building.

[badgoodDeb]

I wonder if a buffet restaurant would let him sample lots of different flavors (without you having to cook them all) to find out what he can currently eat ..... First an American buffet restaurant, then a Chinese buffet, then ... keep going till you find the right flavors? Although finding such restaurants might be impossible too!

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by kindlekitten

For the heart attack it was all things sushi related even though that was never touched before. I think the wasabi and pickled ginger had a lot to do with it. There was also the complete dietary re-education to deal with even though I had been fighting that for years.

Chemo mouth is a lot different because it's a combination of nausea and dead taste buds. Hot and sour were winners there.

I'm particularly frustrated because it's a bad relationship that on both occasions I had just managed to escape but came back due to a sense of duty. Now I feel stuck

Oh, well...THAT would indeed suck. Feeling trapped is...horrid. Absolutely horrid.

Originally Posted by poohbear_nc

There are a lot of new Ensure flavors/textures/etc. - getting away from the thick milky traditional Ensure. Also Boost has new varieties - including a concentrated form (Boost Compact) that puts all the ingredients in 4 oz. - the chocolate tastes (to me) like pudding - you can chug these like downing shots. This could really help with weight loss and muscle building.

Dang, and Boost was on sale yesterday at the drugstore, during my now "yes, I"m moving in here" daily CVS visitation. I have workout protein powders (Syntha-6) here, and I'll see if I can get some of those in him (and me), too; I find them actually quite good-tasting. I'm just not that much of a sweets eater, so all the protein shakes, etc. that are all candy-like, yadda, don't appeal to me much. Now, if they made a protein shake that tasted like oven-baked brie with almonds on top smeared on a hot-from-the-oven baguette...YUM. Thanks, Pooh.

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

I wonder if a buffet restaurant would let him sample lots of different flavors (without you having to cook them all) to find out what he can currently eat ..... First an American buffet restaurant, then a Chinese buffet, then ... keep going till you find the right flavors? Although finding such restaurants might be impossible too!

LOL. FINDING any type of restaurant out where we are is a major challenge. We have a dive-y greasy spoon (that's actually quite good, if you don't mind hearing your arteries harden while you eat!) about 10 miles from the house; a Chinese restaurant about 20 miles away; two "Mexican" restaurants, one fairly dreadful, one pretty good, within 15 miles...and actually, that's about it. Oh, wait, there's a strip-mall Tempura-and-Teriyaki joint too, in that 15-mile radius. (I know, weird, right? Just plopped down in a strip mall, miles away from the urban center.) But a buffet-style restaurant? Seriously, I think that the closest one might be about....50 miles away? So...don't see that working. But I might try some trips to both the Chinese Rest. and stop and pick up some ala carte at the Mexican joint on the way home therefrom. {sigh}. I've become the family pack animal.

Thanks, gang!

Hitch

[kindlekitten]

The radiation lab always had stacks of ensure coupons in the waiting room. You might poke around a bit

[poohbear_nc]

And don't forget Pedialyte - and Pedialyte popsicles!

[cromag]

WRT "powdered shakes" and flavors, back in 2002 I was on a medically supervised diet* and was pretty much not allowed to eat anything -- just powdered shakes. They came in two flavors -- vanilla and chocolate -- but I was allowed to add flavoring agents.

I got pretty good at using unsweetend Kool-Aid packets to make the vanilla shakes into other flavors. The orange packet made a pretty decent "cream-sickle" flavor, as I recall. My absolute favorite was a mango flavored drink mix that I found in a local Hispanic market.

Some of the shake manufacturers had (and, I assume, still have) instructions on their web sites to add flavors to their products.


* The diet worked. I'm still overweight, but I've never gone back to my pre-intervention weight. (My waist is currently 6 inches smaller than it was back then.)

[badgoodDeb]

Yay! I'll celebrate that with you! I'm struggling with that now; 40 lbs down right now and feeling good about that.

[Hitch]

Originally Posted by badgoodDeb

Yay! I'll celebrate that with you! I'm struggling with that now; 40 lbs down right now and feeling good about that.

Cromag, BadGood:

AWESOME for both of you. I'm slender which I try to maintain with exercise, but my poor baby sis is NOT. She's a mesomorph, and very, very heavy. She's just lost 80lbs (82.6, if we're being detailed) and I'm sooooooooooo proud of her. More importantly, she's swimming 4-5x a week. (I think that when our brother died--also very heavy--it really motivated her.)

GOOD ON BOTH OF YA!!!!

Hitch

[Fbone]

American Pharaoh is in town for the Haskell Invitational. Yesterday he flew by chartered plane from California to Atlantic City where he had a full multi-car police escort up the Parkway to the racetrack. All roads were closed along the route. He will have a public viewing Saturday. Security will be very tight. I don't know how close you'll actually get to him but 60,000 ppl are expected to attend. The race is Sunday with the winner receiving $1.1 million.

My rant is that for the next 2 days I won't be able to leave my house.

[eschwartz]

A public flogging will need to be held...

This is the second time someone around here (real-world here, obviously) has failed to pay the WiFi bill. And neglected to let it be automatically billed.

That's practically severing my umbilical cord!

[cromag]

Originally Posted by Fbone

American Pharaoh is in town for the Haskell Invitational. Yesterday he flew by chartered plane from California to Atlantic City where he had a full multi-car police escort up the Parkway to the racetrack. All roads were closed along the route. He will have a public viewing Saturday. Security will be very tight. I don't know how close you'll actually get to him but 60,000 ppl are expected to attend. The race is Sunday with the winner receiving $1.1 million.

My rant is that for the next 2 days I won't be able to leave my house.

Were you at least able to get his autograph?

[TimW]

Originally Posted by Fbone

American Pharaoh is in town for the Haskell Invitational. Yesterday he flew by chartered plane from California to Atlantic City where he had a full multi-car police escort up the Parkway to the racetrack. All roads were closed along the route. He will have a public viewing Saturday. Security will be very tight. I don't know how close you'll actually get to him but 60,000 ppl are expected to attend. The race is Sunday with the winner receiving $1.1 million.

My rant is that for the next 2 days I won't be able to leave my house.

The only ranty statement I can make about AP is his name. American Pharoah. Whether intentional or not, it's a bit grating to see a misspelling of "Pharaoh" in the name of the first Triple Crown winner in 37 years. Time for my medication...

[WT Sharpe]

Originally Posted by covingtoncat73

I. HATE. MRIs! Seriously, I wasn't aware that I had that much claustrophobia in me.

I've never had an MRI. Had a few CAT scans that didn't bother me, but I don't think you're as totally as enclosed in one of those as you are in an MRI. I don't think an MRI would bother me. I've only had one experience with what I'd call claustrophobia and that was while working on a ship several compartments deep inside an enclosure so cramped that there was no room to fully stretch in any direction. That's when the thought hit me that if I had a heart attack inside that space that rescue workers would have a heck of a time recovering my body. I had to crawl out through several similar enclosures, each filled with one worker each, to get a breather. It didn't help that I was wearing a full face respirator, ear plugs, and ear muffs at the time. Once having settled down, however, I returned to the work I was doing, which was needlegunning paint off the enclosure (hence both the ear plugs AND ear muffs). I've always been a big believer in the proposition that if a horse throws you, the best thing to do is get right back on. Did the same thing on a 30 foot ladder once. Looked down, got scared, got down, took a few deep breaths, went back up, looked down again, and dared that fear to repossess me.