An amazing day !!1

Today was an amazing day. I was so happy. God has really blessed my spirit. I love myself so much. I feel so glad that I'm growing. really growing.

First, i had breakfast. I had a veggie and fruit smoothie, then later I had green juice. Then, I had a appointment with the eye doctor. I had my eyes checked. The doctorfound out that my glasses are too strong. Imagine that too strong. From changing my diet, God blessed my eyes to improve. i got thoses glasses when i was going through that pre-diabetes drama. but, now my eyes have improved, since I changed my diet. The glasses that I'm wearing now are from 201 0. So, It has taken about 4 years or less for my eyes to improve. I'm very happy, to say the least. New glasses  in a little while.  Oh yeah, my new frames are purpe... too kool. Yowers!!!

Then I had lunch. I had 2 smalll round pizzas and  2 cups of ice cream. No guiilt. It was what it was.

Went outside and meditated for awhile. read my book and did some visualizaton.
I enjoyed the nice weather and stayed outside a total of 2 hours.

Told my daughter that I was going to not return home but, instead go to live in an assisted living place. Usually she doesnt agree, when I bring this discussion up.. But, today she asked a few questions and said maybe, it's  time for me to do my thang. Well, I disussed it with the social worker and decided to apply at a place she recommended. I have to pay all of my social security check to them, except for $100.00 each month. But, i get all my meals and laundry service and a housekeeper. Sounds good to me. I've got to really get on the stick to make some money with my jewelry or foster grandparents. We'll see what happens.
 I refuse to give in. I can make this work. I'll be praying to God to bless me. I wish that I had more savings to assist me on this run. But, I am rich and amazing through God the Holy Spirit.

Came inside and freshened up.

went in to dinner and got some mung bean sprouts, bananas, canteloupe and skim milk to make my veggie and fruit smoothies.
Made some good smoothies. Drank one tonight and put one in the refrig for tomorrow. I also put a green juice in the refrig for tomorrow.

Getting ready for bed at 9:30pm.

Oh our bains...One thng that we have to realize is that our thoughts, which originate within our brains can create for us a beautiful life or a horrible, self-destructive one, depending on how we act on these thoughts.. For example, every day I want somethng sweet, irregardless of how full my tummy is. I mean, I can be bursting at the seams and I still desire M&M's and chips. What's that insanty about??? Well, I have hardwired my brain to produce desires for sweets, especially after each meal. I've been eatng eating sweets and chips after each meal and in the evenings for over 55 years. I grew up abused and so food,was the only true enjoyment that I had. Everything else in my life was so horrible, I loved mealtimes, unless i was being punished for some invented crazyiness. So through the years, even after I came out of the abusive home,  there was a daily demand placed on me through my thoughts to have sweets and chips as a reward for making it through the day, every day.
All these many years and pounds later, I finally am beginning to have a breakthrough in the area of controlling my thoughts. Why? Because my back is pushed to the wall. The only way for me to be discharged from this Care Centre is for me to have a total knee replacement on my left knee. Before the knee replacement can be scheduled, I have to lose 35 pounds. Well, I've done some weight loss and bingo, two weeks ago I gained 3 pounds! Why? Because of the same self-sabotaging thoughts  that have been my downfall for the last 55+ years. These same friendly (lol) thoughts have helped my beautiful figure to gain so much, that I'm 100 pounds overweiigt and my BMI is 49.0.

I have cried, prayed, anagonized and fretted over this quandry that I find myself in to no avail. I finally stopped worring and relaxed, since the only other health problem that I have is high blood pressure, which is under control with meds. So, I cannot worry about stuff.
I started reading, first I read, "The Battlefield of the Mind" by Joyce Meyer. I tried it but, no long-term success. Then, I read several other books and finally I read "The Rational Brain" online, "Brain Over Binge" and some other cognative behavior books and articles, some of which were bible based, which started the change process within me. "Thin Within" was one. I also read some works of  Dr. Joe Dispenza.
The last book I started reading was " Desires FulFilled" by Dr. Wayne Dyer. I like to listen to Dr. Dyer,but, I have to carefully divide a lot of the things that he says and writes about. Why? Because I don't agree theologically with them. I started reading this book and  I scratched out some words and replaced them with what I thought was correct and I started learnning a lot about myself and the God whom I serve. The scriptures that Dr. Dyer used in the book, caused the Holy Spirit within me to bring even more scriptures to life within me. Scriptures that I had heard for the last 32 years began to come alive and have new meanings for me. I started to feel the love that God has for me and how all He wanted from me for all these years, is for Him to be glorified through my life. What does it mean to glorify God? To glofiy God means to take God, who a lot of people think as nothing special, someone unimportant, something not real and for a person to represent Him in such a way through that persons life, his manner of loving, thereby causes God, not the person, to appear special and elevated. Therefore God is accepted, appreciated, loved and desired in a brand new way. That's as simple as I can put it.
I have been just meditating on the Word of God and  starting to see God's answers to my prayers and His promises found in His Word, coming true as I meditate.
 Today for example, I wanted some M&M's  and chips so bad. I was craving them so bad and then, I realized that it was just a thought, just a thought, which I could let pass by and just think about something else. The thought and craving left. I got so excited, because it was one of the first times, I've had success, not acting on a thought to eat sweets and chips. Man, this initial success is the first of many more to come for me.
So what new thing will I do daily? I will let not let wrong thoughts flow freely through my mind and then fucus and act on them. I will view them and allow them to pass though, with no following action on my part, to fulfill said thought, just realize that they are only thoughts...thoughts that come and go. I'll have 50,000 of them every day.
Selah..........................

Guess who used the potty today??

Today I used the potty for the first time in 5 months. Yipee!! What's funny is that just this morning I was praying to God and asking Him to bless me to be more independent now.  I spend over a hour seeing myself using the potty and walking easily with my walker and with a rollater (?). I mean it's time for another great step. I have got to  progress even more.
So this afternoon, I was waiting for my CNA to appear to assist me with going to get freshened up, which I do daily at 4pm. But, today, my CNA asked me if I wanted to try to use the potty. I said "yes" and I told her what transpired this morning. We went into the washroom and I was able to potty with her help, with very little pain. I could not hold onto the wall rails with both hands, since I can't move  from side to side yet.s So I improvised and put on hand on the wheelchair and the other on the bar and I fandangled my way onto the potty. It was even easier getting up from the potty. I was so happy. Who'd a thunk it?? Too funny. But, every bit of progress made by me will be celebrated by me. I'm still excited, even now hours later.

Now, to just get the rest of this weight off, so I can get on with the first total knee replacement done.

making smoothies in a care facility

This photo is of the end product of making my own delicious smoothies in my room at the Care Center, here I'm located....yummy!!!!

I wanted to post a video (couldn't get it to post correctly, so it's pictures instead, sorry) on how I make smoothies in a care center (nursing home). If you haven't read my prior posts, let me take a minute to explain how I got here and why I'll be here the next few months. Feb 8, 2014 horrific back pain brought me to the hospital for the third time in as many months. This time they admitted me and found out the I had Stenois of the back and a bad infection in the bone. After two months on antibiotics, the infection was gone. But, I had lost my ability to walk with my cane anymore and therefore, I had to have a total knee replacement done before, I could be released to go home again. Home which is a mere 8 blocks away, but requires that I walk up two flights of stairs (18 steps) and in need of 24 hour care, until I'm able to walk with  the cane again. But, alas, there will no more cane for me but, a total knee replacement, coming soon to this beautiful body.

I now walk with a walker a distance of 150 feet, but, still with the wheelchair following behind me and yes,I do rest while completing the 150 foot route.But, I'm making progress.when I got here, I was in so much pain you could not touch me without me screaming in pain. God really has blessed my body. I now get out of bed by myself and transfer into the wheelchair.

So here I am in a nice care facility, with great people looking after me as I go about losing the mandated 35 pounds that I need to lose. I've already lost15 pounds in the last 6 weeks.My daughter has been bringing me green juice and cut up fruit. But, I decided to take a break from the green juice and commit to fruits smoothies and eat only fresh fruit and green tea with coconut oil.

This has not been easy but, I realized that you can be in a care center and still restore your health. I'm a firm believer that God answers prayer. I prayed that God reveal to me how to lose this weight, while in a wheelchair and getting almost no form of exercise.I decided to exercise every morning on the side of my bed. I was doing it but my diaper kept slipping down and Lord knows that I needed that diaper on my body.

 So then i decided to exercise after I transferred from the bed with my walker to the wheelchair. That's working better. I move like I'm walking and then mix in an assortment of other exercises.

Then came the how to to make smoothies in my room. I got my granddaughter to bring some things of mine from home, the next time the family came to visit. She brought my $15.45 mini blender, I purchased from Wal-Mart, my flaxseeds, my Hemp protein powder, chia seed, coffee grinder( to grind the whole flaxseeds), my cacoa powder and coconut oil. She brought the items that I needed. I purchased almond milk, frozen fruit and plastic storage bags from the Aldi located right next door from the care facility. The facility allows me to go out to Aldi with an escort.

A fiend sent me birthday money,so I went online to Amazon and got some terrific deals. I got 96 ounces (6) pounds of whole flaxseed for $17.99, 2 pounds of cacoa for $19.99 and 2 pounds of chia seeds for $13.99. I was so happy, had been  purchasing 10 ounces of chia seeds for $10.99, 1 pound flaxseed for $9.99 and 8 ounces of cacao for $12.00 at various health food stores. Glad that I became an informed consumer.

In the pictures,you see the smaller bags of chia seeds and cacao, that I used to purchase, I keep refilling these bags, since they're easier to use. I keep the newly purchased larger containers, in my closet to maintain freshness. The ground flaxseed is the plastic cup you see in the pictures. I keep a larger package of flaxseeds in the refrigerator. As needed, I grind enough flaxseeds to to fill a bag and stick it in the refrigerator and only keep 1-2 days worth in a small plastic container in my room in a dark, cool place.

After a while I realized that I could save some money by getting items from the facility for free. So, I started requesting bananas, yogurt, fresh fruits with my meals. The fresh fruit and bananas I cut up and froze for use later. I got styrofoam cups with lids to store my smoothies in. I also noticed that they had liquid protein that they gave to patients with wounds. I requested some and the informed me that I needed a doctors request to get it. So they called my doctor and explained my purpose for wanting the liquid protein. My request was granted. They are getting me hemp protein powder, just what I wanted.

Below is a photo of my set up as I prepare the smoothies.

Smoothie ingredients:

1/2 cup to 1 cup of frozen fruit
1/2 banana
1 scoop Hemp protein powder
1-2  teaspoonful Chia seed
1 tablespoonful ground flaxseed
1 teaspoonful Cacoa powder
2 packets Stevia
8 ounces Almond milk
 I mix in blender and enjoy one container for now and the other container I pour into cups and place in the freezer for 4-6 hours to eat like a frozen treat later in the day.

I added another picture to show you how the chia seeds look in the little cups of water.  They are in the little black looking cups and they expand in the cups and they make you feel fuller longer.

you can also add something green like spinach, kale, romaine or anything green to make it a green smoothie.

So, you see there is no excuse that you or a loved one cannot add to their health in a care center. I wish you the best in your recovery!!!

Fight for what you need in a senior care center. July 2, 2014

I'm taking my coconut oil three times a day with tea so, I will be able to press in the correct year every year that I'm alive.

 God has blessed me through this whole adventure of being in  a resident of a care center at 62 years of age, because of  the need to have both knees replaced. I mean total knee replacements. Yowzers!!!!!!!! An adventure to say the least.

God is good. I did not get to go home on May 30th, when my medicare ended. I'm in need of a total knee replacement on both knees. The left knee is much worst than the right knee and now I am not able to walk on my own anymore. I'm learning how to walk with a walker now. So, it was assesed that I'm not able to go home until I get the left knee replaced and go through physical therapy successfully.

I'm in this facility under medicaid. I'm getting a little stronger daily. I started to change this blog to "How to survive in a care center". Man, there are a lot of things to learn being in a care center. My physical therapy ended when the medicare ended on May 30th and I was to start restorative therapy the next week.Where as I had 30-45 minutes daily physical therapy under medicare, now I have 15 minutes a day with restorative therapy at 4pm daily. I don't know about you but, at 4 pm, I don't want to do much of anything physical. Plus the RT lady was working by herself. I'm not a little dainty lady but a  thick chick (as the kids say)....lol.Well, they decided to have me work out on the omnicycle but, I wanted the focus changed to my walking daily instead. But, they are concentrating on me just standing. She had me standing daily. I was counting up to 300, so to me that means that I'm steady on my feet. duh... Well, to make a long story short, I had to fight with them for a whole month. I even bought my own mini bicycle to get more exercise.
Finally, I told the head of restorative that I was getting ready to send a email to the administrator and also to the social services director expressing my frustration with the process.  She was still trying to explain to me, why they were not walking me. I explained to her that on May 30th, I was walking 70 steps with my walker. and now almost a month later, I have walked no steps, except transferring from my bed to the wheelchair. No bueno, No good!!! To say the least I was very upset. So she sends in the one person, who helped me during the past 30 days, to talk to me. We talked and agreed that I would be walked the next morning. So the next morning comes and all 6 of the restorative assistants are in my room to see if I can indeed walk or even transfer from bed to wheelchair. They then tell me that I will be transferring from the bed to the wheelchair 5 time today and that's it.Boy, I started screaming that I was going to walk today with or without them and if I fall, well so what, but, I'm walking today!!!!!!!!!!!!!! So then they say that the Therapy Doctors assistant had not released me to walk yet. I told them that it was she, who was making me walk. So they go and find her and she tells them that I was already walking (sigh)!! So then they had me transfer from bed to wheelchair and then from wheelchair to bed and back again. Then they took me outside walking. I walked 30 steps or equal to 60 physical therapy steps. That was friday June 27th. They took away my Hoyer lift sling, so that I was forced to transfer by walking. Well, here comes Friday afternoon and there is no gait belt large enough to fit me, so they can't allow me to get up and transfer from wheelchair to the bed. I called restorative and told them of my problem, which was one of the reasons that I constantly had the sling put behind me in the wheelchair.Problems with the afternoon staff who were afraid me making the transfer from wheelchair to bed, all because they had never seen me do it.    I had been asking them for my own gait belt, to alleviate this problem but, no they never got one for me. well, this day, they found me a brand new gait belt. How about that!!!! So we made the transfer smoothly.

We made arrangements to walk me on Saturday June 28th. So on June 28th, I walked 60 steps. Then on Monday June 30th. they did not serve me my breakfast until 9:30 instead of 8:15, so when they came to walk me, I was not quite ready. They were mad. I got ready in 15 minutes, so I was 15 minutes late for my walk. Then it was discovered then one of the RT assistants had prepared my breakfast tray for me and the CNA told her that my tray had my name on it but, there was no food on it. Then they all understood that I was not lying. I walked 80 steps that morning. Yipee. Tuesday July 1st,they came and told me that they would be walking me at 10am only  on Monday, Wednesday and Friday. This is Wednesday and I waited this morning until 10:45 am and no one came to walk me. But, I was able to compete30 minutes of exercise, which was great. I had the CNA call RT and they came and said that they had a seminar this morning, which is why I was not walked.They will come and walk me tomorrow.
I said all of this to tell others that they have to fight for their life and services owed to them, which are being paid by Medicare or Medicaid. I didn't walk for 27 days but, I bet they billed the state for 27 days. Days which to me they are not entitled to be paid, because they really dd nothing for me. Yes, I did not participate some days to just standing or being put on the Omnicycle. But, I feel they should not be paid those days.Ijs...................

Here's another example of fighting for what you need in the Care Center.. The only kind of dressing the center serves for salads are ranch and french, which I later found out was fat-free. Man, all of the patients are trying to get well, so we need more vinegrette type dressings instead of those heavy rich dressings. So, I asked for a vinaigrette dressing for weeks and was made promises, which were not filled. There were two people asking for the vinaigrette to no avail. Last week we a resident concern meeting was held, which the administrator attended and we asked her for the vinaigrette and I specifically asked for a raspberry vinaigrette and lo and behold two days later, I had  the raspberry vinaigrette delivered to me. The dietitian also told me that he had more bottles for me, when I finished that one.Today a lady at the table asked me if she could put some on her salad. To tell the true, I didn't want to share but, I knew that was not right. I only hesitated for a second but, that was one second too long.You have to share to be blessed. So, you see we much we must fight for what we need.

In the meeting, which I mentioned earlier, I also asked for a lock on my closet, since we have resident across the hall who wanders into other peoples room and shops. and less than a week later, I had a lock put on my closet with a key!!



I still have to lose 34 pounds before I can receive my total knee replacement. I already lost 9.1 pounds. yipee!

 I know that I have favor from God with people but, if you don't think anyone likes you still fight. Relatives fight, fight, fight for your loved ones needs in their care center.  I find that when relatives come to visit patients, the staff responds more quickly to their needs, especially when a relative requests something. Ask for whatever you needs, all they can do is say no, but sometimes you might get a yes! yowzers!!!!

In my next post I will give instructions on how I make great low cost protein smoothies in my room at the care center.