Fluffy with the Food Network

One of Mom's favorite channels is the Food Network. She loves watching them give tips and fix recipes and could probably keep tuned in all day sometimes! Whenever I come to the house, she always has some treat she wants me to try. So far, I've done recipes by Paula Deen, Bobby Flay, Rachael Ray, and Barefoot Contessa's (Ultimate Ginger Cookies) just to name a few.

Undoubtedly, when I arrived this week to spend extended time with her, and even though we were all kind of dealing with a new reality of this stage of the disease, she had her trusty list already being constructed and wanted me to hit the grocery store to pick up some coveted items.

So I felt like the next Food Network Star this week as I tried a few dishes:

• Filet Mignon stir fry with red and yellow bell peppers, broccoli, baby bella mushrooms, water chestnuts, bean sprouts, onions, garlic and special sauce over rice. She loved this so much she ate it for breakfast the next day!
  
• Veal scallopini with lima beans and cheddar/pecorrino romano au gratin potatoes.
  
• Chicken salad
• Various omelets
  
• Skirt steak fajitas

I also introduced her to Palmetto Cheese, the best pimento cheese in the world. She loved it on anything, Triscuits, Fresh Market's Toasted French Rounds, and especially croissants. We also had some family friends provide a beautiful Honeybaked Ham and dinner from a local restaurant so we wouldn't have to cook every meal.

I'll admit that I took a little pride in the fact that she cleared her plate every meal. I was glad to be able to serve her in that way.

It was tough to try to stick to my healthy eating plan while cooking all of these new dishes. It's gotta be way more fun trying to gain weight than it is trying to get skinny. She says that she's rather be 'fluffy' than skinny any day.

Our Only Hope...

For the last month had been trying to convince the Cleveland Clinic not to take her off the transplant list. They were debating whether or not to take her off because she was weakening and they were afraid that if they ever did find the right lungs that she would not make it through surgery in her state. Her weight had dropped and she was struggling with tasks that took minimal movement.

She was holding out hope. She was trying to force food down her throat despite a nonexistent appetite. She was keeping a smile on her face (well, she ALWAYS does that) and trying to sound strong even though she had been in and out of the hospital twice this month for dehydration and other various ailments.

Finally, after she returned home from the most recent hospital stay, she talked to her doctor in Cleveland and conceded that she is, indeed, too weak to travel to Cleveland for her upcoming appointment and/or any future transplant.

Furthermore, she also allowed the Cleveland Clinic to write a script for hospice to come in and help. They began this week with many visits from nurse techs, nurses, social workers, etc...It has been a tiring week for all of us, to say the least.

Reading this, it would seem normal for one to think, "they've lost all hope now that there's no transplant that could take place." I'd like to say that for us, there's only been ONE hope all along, and that is God. God is our only hope through life or death. God is our only hope. He is the One who will get us through this and will make something beautiful out of it. The transplant was not our hope. We don't put our hope in medicine or doctors or people. We put our hope in the the One who made the people and the doctors and the medicine and who has taken on all of our diseases upon Himself.

Isaiah 40:31 says "but those who hope in the LORD will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint."

Lord, please continue to keep our eyes fixed on You, not on our situation or on anything else. I pray that You would help us to run and walk without growing weary while we continue to minister to Mom and make her as comfortable as possible. Renew our strength Lord, in our minds, in our bodies, and in our spirits. Our only hope is You, Lord. Our only hope is You.