HIVES! oh--joy!

The song goes "Happy Happy, Joy Joy" and sometimes it's not all roses and sunshine.

Last week I had some itching near the site where I had the steri-strips instead of sutures for the lymph node incision.  I was reminded I had some similar reaction to glue/tape/steri-strips after my breast reduction.  Given that it was ten years ago, I figure I can be forgiven for forgetting.  

 Friday had been given an RX of Cephalexin to help with the toe in case there was any infection in there, though the doctor didn't think so.  I woke up Sunday with a little itchy on my right wrist. I woke up Monday to itching on the right wrist again, followed, two hours later, by itching on the left wrist. A few hours later there was some itching on the leg.  In the afternoon, some on the calves.

Tuesday morning I woke up to more itching and a couple welts in one location.  I verified I could take a Benedryl and did so, which meant I was comatose for a few hours. (other people have this happen to them with the pink drug, right?).  I was fine Tuesday afternoon, but Tuesday night the itching started up again and I had to take a Benedryl about 8pm, which meant I was asleep by 9pm. I also had to use an ice pack to help deaden the pain/nerve endings of some of the itchiness/hives. I decided to definitely categorize them as hives last night.   At about 11pm, I awoke on the couch to go to bed.  ;-)

Chilling at the doc's office. . .  
keeping the toe elevated.

This morning, Wednesday, I awoke to more itching, and more spreading of the hives.  I couldn't think of anything else I'd introduced, aside from the antibiotic, that would cause this.  Lucky me, I was wide awake at 6am, so I took a Benedryl to get me through to when the medical office would be open (smart, huh?).  

I had my appointment at 10:30 with my PCP.  She wanted to know if the toe pain after surgery was as bad as the punch biopsy she did. Well, no, but I was also on Percocet last week, so I don't think the two can be compared. She did want to see the incision of course and was amazed at how the surgeon can just remove skin like that and pull it together.  I mentioned he was close to doing a skin graft on it, and thankfully didn't have to--at least, currently I'm thankful. We'll see once I start running again and wearing my toe socks.

I'm still not going to show the back suture line of the foot, but it does extend up the backside.
I realized this morning that the sutures are blue thread, not black. 

I explained that I did have some itching least week that I contributed to the steri-strips since it was in the local area of them. I showed her the nasty red photo of my inflamed skin in that area.  She said she'd note in the file that I'm not to have steri-strips again.   I then explained and showed her the hives/itching on the body and how it's progressed to where it is now, mostly below the belly button and legs.  We laughed when I said I had to use an ice pack on some of the sensitive region spots last night.   Then she said what I was starting to suspect, I have a low allergy to Cephalexin and she'll mark it in my chart as such. I said I couldn't remember the last time I'd had Cephalexin, that I usually get Amoxicillin or straight up Penicillin.  Basically, I get to wait for them to go away, probably in 72 hours or less, and take Benedryl in the meantime.  However, if I start welting on the body, then I need to get an RX for Prednisone (short term doses, I've come to terms with).

In terms of baking, I used up the two bananas we had on hand with the Glutino muffin mix.  I added just a tablespoon or so under the full cup of milk the recipe called for on account of the moistness of the bananas. Very tasty and just the right size.

We had a package delivered by Fed Ex in this large box, which I thought was probably bike parts, but The Mike set me right on that. It was an (way) early birthday present (jokingly) for me: parts for the microwave.  New vent pieces and new vent cover (which was long).

As a result, the cat had a box to explore. Yes, he did fall in the box. Thankfully, it was full of a couple yards worth of air pillows so he didn't fall in very far.  

Dinner was Beef Stew made in the crockpot. To our individual servings, we added some of the rice I had cooked up the day before.  

Beef stew pieces

3 red potatoes

3 carrots (we like carrots)

1 stalk of celery for taste

1 diced small onion

2 T of Worshy sauce, (we use Lea & Perrins, in USA it's GF) 

1 quart beef broth

A couple hours before serving, add in a good cup of frozen mixed veggies. 

Now, I thought we'd be eating at about 5:30pm and instead it was after 7pm, so everything stayed nice and hot, warm in the crockpot and the mixed veggies were a little more cooked than I thought they'd be.  

Happy Earth Day. 

Keep warm and remember to carry in-carry out your nutrition packets in any race instead of leaving them on the ground

Beef Stew

Yesterday was an twelve hour day for me, and so I put together a beef stew in the crockpot to cook away all day long.  It was inspired by the chilly morning and desire to have something quick when I got home in the evening. The Mike's been busy at work and I knew he'd not want to do much of a prep time either for dinner.

Thankfully, when I opened the freezer I found inspiration in the form of stew meat from the local grocery.  I think in the future I should have a smaller package of stew meat frozen up, but for this I had a one pound package and I found a can of corn in the cupboard, that's about all the incentive I needed to make a quick dish.

We have the medium size crock pot. I found with the large size there was too much waste with left overs that turned out to be too plentiful, and then the small one is for dips!

Delicious beef stew. Fabulous as leftovers for lunch, too.

Crockpot (obviously!)
Crockpot liner (yes, I use these, my sense of preserving the environment and not adding to pollution is ruled out in favor of easy clean up after a long day at work).

1 can of corn, drained
1 can no salt diced petite tomatoes
Diced/sliced carrots. I diced up about fifteen of the thicker snack size ones.
1/2  to 1 diced onion
Schar Anellini pasta, about 1/4 cup
3/4 to 1 quart of beef broth. I used Kitchen Basics by McCormick's.
2 bay leaves
ground fresh pepper
1 Tablespoon or more of  Worcestershire. I use Lea and Perrins  as the USA version is gluten free
Small diced red potatoes. I used about five of these which were 'golf ball' size
Diced/sliced celery for your taste. I added about 1/3 cup.

By this time I was worried it was all going to fit in the crockpot!  I put the meat in first, then diced the celery and onions and added that directly around the meat, and two bay leaves. Next I sliced the carrots and potatoes and added those around as well, then cracked some pepper, added the drained corn and the undrained tomatoes and stirred that together a little bit to mix it up some. I added the dried pasta into a "well" I made in the veggies, I wanted it underneath the broth for sure. I then added the cracked pepper and the broth. I added just enough broth that it came to about 1 1/2 inches from the top of the pan. I didn't want to add too much, since the veggies would breakdown and more liquid would come from that too.  Then I added the Lea & Perrin's to the top, put the lid on , made sure the crock pot was on to low and I headed to work.

I'm "lucky" enough to own one of the crockpots that tends to run a little hot, so even on low everything was going to come together quite nicely.  When The Mike got home, he turned it to "warm" and it was still plenty hot by 8:30. A little bit of cracked pepper on top and a bit of kosher salt added and it was fabulous.


I used the Anellini knowing that any GF pasta was going to basically dissolve/melt over twelve hours in the crock pot and that it wouldn't matter what was really used. Since this is a smaller 'soup' pasta to me, I used it.--Plus, my sisters and I scored about a dozen boxes half price this spring in D.C. at Safeway. I think I brought a lot of food back from that trip. I only have managed to use up my first box! We tend not to have too much grain/pasta at our house, so a little bit can go a long way.

Photo source

I have been trying to get canned things at the store that are "salt free" since we tend to add kosher salt at the end of cooking and it also helps us control how much we're adding to the diet too.

Happy winter cooking!