Chicken Vegetable Soup

I call this my healing soup. It has the best flavors. And because I cook it in the pressure cooker it is fast and easy. I don’t really have a recipe but I always start with diced onion, celery and carrots. A cup of each or if less than a cup then equal amounts. I sauté these in olive oil then I put 1-2 cans of diced tomatoes, a cup of frozen peas, a handful of frozen spinach. Then I season with dried basil and dried parsley, salt and pepper. . I’ve made the soup like this and it makes a good veggie soup..just add water to cover the veggies and cook. But for chicken soup..I add chicken drumsticks to the pot and chicken broth/water. My pressure cooker has a soup setting..so I let it do it’s thing. When it’s done I wait 1/2 hour to make sure that the pressure is down (better safe than sorry) I take all the chicken legs out and with a fork I scrape the meat from the bones. I put the meat back into the pot. This soup is amazing and it’s exactly what I need to heal after surgery. I use any veggies I have in my fridge you could probably add some beans to make a minestrone like soup.

Thankful for Netflix and Prime

It’s been 5 days and I’ve done nothing but this. I’m in tremendous pain (more than I expected), I’m stuck in a bed or a chair, I have a heavy cast (makes it awkward to sleep/move, my tail bone hurts from sitting and laying in the same position for a week...But I have to say...I have THE best family! My husband and kids are taking the best care of me. I am truly blessed. And finally I’m having a Coffee. My stomach was so upset the first couple of days, but the headach(and caffeine withdrawals are hoping the stomach can tolerate it.

Surgery Day

I was injured at work 10 months ago and after wearing a boot for 2 months I wasn’t completely healing so I did physical therapy and still not healing had an MRI that showed damage to my tendon. So, finally, after months of walking around in pain and not being able to do much, I went in for surgery. my husband, William, drove me to the hospital a little over an hour away. I didn’t feel nervous until the day before. Surgery only took 45 minutes and William got the news that everything went well. I slept for most of the recovery room time and as soon as I was awake I was being dressed and put in the car to go home and slept most of the way home. At home I was well taken care of. My leg is in a cast and was partially numb for about 18 hours. I slept most of the first day and when awake I was just groggy from the anesthesia. I woke up in the night in tremendous pain..all the numbness was gone and I was now nauseous and feeling the injury completely. My biggest challenge so far has been getting to the bathroom. My house is 4 levels. It’s not easy to get around on crutches. I have a scooter on the the main level. But there is no bathroom on the main level. Mom came to visit Wednesday and had to come upstairs to visit me because I was so nauseous I had to stay in my room. She has trouble getting up the stairs so Thursday morning I felt slightly better and with the help of my son I made it down stairs. Photo 1 is before surgery. Photo 2 has been every moment since. I’m going back and forth between my bed and chair. My body is aching from being down. 6 weeks before, the day my surgery was scheduled, I stopped all sugar and refined grains so I would have the best chance to heal without much inflammation. I actually haven’t had much appetite, probably due to the nausea, so I’ve been eating mostly chicken broth and Lara bars. I’ve also had a cup of lentil soup with chicken and sweet potato. I was told I won’t be able to put weight on my foot or drive for atleast 6 weeks so I’m planning on working on some sewing projects. For now, I’ll just sit here and heal.