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3/15/10: Another update on Jerry: Jerry is going downhill very quickly. When I took him his 5am meds this morning he sat right up in bed and took the glass to drink it. At 11am, he didn't know how to sit up and our son had to prop him up and then we had a hard time getting him to take the glass in his hand. It's a good thing that we got the Depends last night because he's lost bladder control today. I found that out when I took him to the bathroom a little while ago. He's also having difficulty walking today so we're using the transport chair to wheel him around the house. He's sitting at the table right now eating but it's a struggle to get him to keep at it. I have to keep reminding him to take a bite. I baked some oatmeal raisin cookies this morning (not low carb) and he did eat two of those and a piece of bacon. He's working on some sauerkraut right now. Hopefully having some food in his belly will bring him around a bit. He was really scaring me a little while ago when it seemed like he didn't know anything that was going on.

3/15/10: Update on Jerry: I'm getting pretty discouraged. It looks like I won't be able to look for a job after all. Jerry's condition has deteriorated to the point where he can't be home alone for more than a couple hours at a time. He also can no longer manage to take his meds on his own and can't prepare food for himself. I even have to cut his meat for him now. On top of everything else, the medicine that the doctor prescribed to get the ammonia level down is making it difficult for Jerry to get to the bathroom in time to prevent a mess. Lactulose is a laxative but it apparently works well for the ammonia problem in liver disease patients. The laxative side effect makes it necessary for Jerry to use Depends. I haven't seen much of a change in Jerry's mental confusion yet but hopefully taking the Lactulose will be worth putting up with the side effects. Things are very stressful for me so I could use your prayers. Seeing how quickly Jerry is going downhill makes me wonder if he'll even live long enough to get on Disability at the end of May let alone live another year or more to get a liver transplant. Once the Disability payments start in May, we'll at least have some income once his donated sick pay stops but it won't be nearly enough to pay the bills every month.

Added on 3/6/10: Strawberry Panna Cotta
I added an update to the Better Than Boxed Low Carb Pancakes recipe on 3/4/10.

3/1/10: Update on Jerry: I have a little bit of good news. Last week Jerry had an appointment with a neurologist to have an EMG test done on his leg. He'd been having some weakness in that leg and was dragging his foot when he walked. By the day of the appointment, the leg was pretty much back to normal so they canceled the test. However, the results of the blood work that was done the week before that appointment showed that Jerry's ammonia level is very high. This causes him to have a lot of mental confusion. Lately he's been saying and doing a lot of strange things and that explains why. I have to watch him all the time and he has strict orders not to use the stove or toaster oven if I'm not home. Jerry's sister and her husband were here for a visit the weekend of Valentine's Day and they gave Jerry a transport chair. It's like a wheelchair but much lighter so that I can lift it into the car when we go somewhere. I haven't had a chance to try it out yet but the other day I took Jerry shopping at Walmart and he had fun riding one of their electric scooters. Jerry also went to see the liver specialist last week and he wants him to have an MRI of his liver soon to see if anything has changed. Jerry said that he's not losing any more weight but it's obvious that he's not gaining weight either. He has no fat or muscle left to lose. The doctor stressed to him how important it is for him to eat several times a day but I'm not sure how well that has sunk in yet. That same doctor just prescribed something to lower the ammonia in his blood and Jerry can't eat for two hours before or after taking it. That really limits how much eating he can do during the day. I'm not sure how Jerry can get in the eight meals per day that the doctor recommends when he has to take that medicine three times a day. I'd also like to mention that Jerry has continued to receive donated sick days from the generous employees of Performance Bicycles for the past three or four months. We don't know yet when that will stop. We will find out this Friday if he will get another donated paycheck. I'd also like to thank everyone again who has donated money to this site. It touches my heart to know that so many people care about me and Jerry.

Added on 2/14/10: Individual Pizza with Pork Rind Crust
Added on 2/23/10: Better Than Boxed Low Carb Pancakes
Added on 1/27/10: Peanut Butter 3 Minute Cake
I added a new Pizza category in the Pork & Lamb Recipes section on 1/24/10.

1/24/10 Update on Jerry:
We got some good news in the mail yesterday. Beginning this year, Jerry had to switch to a new insurance company now that he's no longer working for Performance Bicycles. The clinic that he usually goes to for routine visits is within the system of that new plan. However, the doctors and hospital where he'll go for his liver transplant are not in the system for that HMO. Jerry had to have his general practitioner send in referrals for all of the specialists, etc. that he'll need to see so that his insurance will cover everything. The letter that we got yesterday said that Blue Cross has agreed to cover his liver transplant.

1/23/10 Update on Jerry:
It looks like all of the Disability confusion is finally cleared up. There have been a lot of misunderstandings between us and the people at Social Security about when Jerry will actually start getting Disability payments. We were under the impression that they were expediting his case because of his terminal illness and that he wouldn't have to wait the usual five-month waiting period before getting payments. That's where we were misinformed. EVERYONE applying for Disability has to wait the five months before getting paid. It turns out that what they were expediting was the approval process so that Jerry wouldn't have to be out of work for five months before applying for Disability which would mean waiting even longer than the five months before getting any Disability checks. The other day we received the notice that he was officially approved for Disability benefits beginning in April with the first check coming near the end of May. His five-month waiting period started one month after the first time he went to the hospital or around the first week of November.
For now Jerry is still getting donated sick pay from his old job but we expect that will stop soon. So far the generous people at Performance Bicycles have donated 12 weeks of their sick pay to Jerry at a full 40 hours per week. He just got another paycheck on January 22nd. Once those paychecks stop coming in, we will have no income between then and the end of May unless I find a job before then.
This is what it says in the booklet we got in the mail the other day along with his approval letter:
"Under the law, your payments cannot begin until you have been disabled for at least five full months. Payments usually start with your sixth month of disability."
Last week we got a letter from Social Security about setting up an account online for direct deposit, etc. which added to our confusion about when his checks would start coming. When I first read it, it sounded to me like he would get his first Disability check before the end of February but after re-reading it and I realized that's not what they are saying. Here's what it says:
"If you are a new beneficiary, please make sure you have received your notice of benefit payment or your first payment before you try to register a password."
The letter that we got the other day that says his payments will start in May is the "Notice of benefit payment" that they're talking about. I guess that answers all of our questions and he really won't get any checks until May. What added to our confusion was that several different people at Social Security told us that because of Jerry's terminal condition he would get Disability payments as soon as he was approved and that he wouldn't have to wait the five months. How were we to know who was right and who to believe when the people working there don't even know what's going on or what the rules are???
As far as Jerry's condition goes, he saw a neurologist this week about his hands shaking and because he's not able to use one of his legs properly when walking. The doctor said that shaking hands are a symptom of his liver condition. Jerry will go for some tests to determine what the problem is with his leg. The doctor thinks he may have nerve damage in that leg but he doesn't know why. Jerry continues to lose weight no matter how much he eats. When he weighed himself a couple days ago he was down to 138 pounds. Not much else has changed with his condition lately.

Added on 1/22/10: Crispy Fried Fish
Added on 1/18/10: Not Cake
I added another new product to my Products & Ingredients section on 1/16/10: Dixie Diner Angel Food Puffs
I added a new product to my Products & Ingredients section on 1/9/10: Dixie Diner Chocolate Cookies
Added on 12/25/09: Breaded Chicken Cutlets

12/18/09: Jerry's condition has been stable for a while and he's feeling much better since the fluid in his legs has gone away. He's still very weak though and has some problems with concentration and remembering things but that's typical with his condition. So, we're pretty much just waiting now and not much has been going on. We finally got the official letter about his transplant listing the other day and it was a little disappointing to see that they've lowered his MELD score from 22 down to 17. They told us at the transplant evaluation that it was 22 so we have no idea why it would have changed. It might be a long time before Jerry gets high enough on the list to get a transplant. We're also still waiting to hear about Disability. The last we heard it would probably be another six weeks before we know anything about that.

Added on 12/18/09: Broiled Skillet Pizza
12/16/19: I made some changes to the tip on my Time-Saving Tips page about measuring crushed pork rinds. After weighing and measuring them again to use in a recipe next week, I came up with different figures than before for some reason. I don't know if different brands make a difference or perhaps it's the humidity, or lack of, at this time of the year.
Added on 12/8/09: Pork & Mushroom Stir-Fry
Added on 12/6/09: LC Honey Mustard

12/4/09: Jerry went to the hospital today for another EGD (varices banding procedure). The doctor didn't find any more varices to band and he said that Jerry shouldn't have to go back for this procedure again. Now we just sit and wait for Jerry's MELD score to get high enough for him to get his transplant. His MELD score is currently 22 and it needs to get closer to 30 before he'll get high enough on the list. The doctor who he saw last week said that it typically takes from six months to a year to get a transplant.
Here's some good news. Jerry got a full paycheck for the last pay period because of the donated sick days. He will also get a paycheck next week because people at the store where he worked have donated another eight days. There could be more from other stores around the country as well but we won't know until we see the check. Please pray that Jerry might get enough donated sick days to keep getting paid until the end of the year when his job will be terminated. As long as he continues to get a paycheck, we won't have to pay for our insurance out of our pocket. We also hope that his disability payments will start by the time the pay from his job ends but that process seems to be taking forever.
Jerry has been feeling a lot better lately now that most of the swelling from fluid is gone. He's lost another 10 pounds now and even his belly is finally starting to shrink. He only weighs 160 pounds now (he's 6'2" tall) so he's trying to eat as much as he can to try and put some fat and muscle back on his body. Even though he's very thin, and has lost almost all of his muscle, he's a lot more mobile now without having to carry around 40-50 extra pounds of fluid in his legs. The weather was sunny and warmish yesterday so he went for a little walk down our street. Today it's snowing here in Houston! We've lived in Texas for about 18 years now and have only seen snow here three times. This is the first time that it's snowed all day long but it's not sticking on the ground in our area. There are parts of the Houston area where they're getting a couple inches or more of snow on the ground today. It looks pretty with the snow lightly falling right now but they're predicting that it will turn to freezing rain later tonight. Thank goodness that we got back from the hospital today before the roads got messy.

I added an update to the Pumpkin Bake recipe on 11/23/09. I've added vanilla extract to the ingredient list.

11/23/09: Jerry weighed himself the other day and he's down to 170 pounds now from about 210. He's had severe diarrhea for the past week or so which has caused him to lose about 40 pounds of fluid from his legs in about a week's time. He has also been taking a higher dose of diuretics which may account for some of the fluid loss. He feels a lot better with that water weight gone and he's able to move around a lot more. Yesterday he even went for a short walk down the street.

11/21/09: I don't know why I didn't think of doing this before but, after a discussion about organ donations at the Stella Style forum, I thought it would be a good idea to post a link to a site where you can register to be an organ donor in your state and you can also print out donor cards from that site. Here is the link but I will also post it at the top of this page so that it won't end up getting buried as I add more updates.

11/20/09: We got an email this afternoon from someone on the transplant team. They did put Jerry on the transplant list but we haven't heard where they've placed him or how many other people are in line ahead of him. Next Wednesday Jerry goes to see the doctor who runs the transplant team so maybe he'll get more information then. They are also going to send a certified letter officially notifying us of the listing.
We got what might be good news from the company that Jerry works for today. Apparently heads must have rolled because today notice went out company-wide for people to donate sick days to Jerry. We'll have to wait and see what comes of that. This morning Jerry sent in what he thought was his final pay stub to Social Security so that they could start his disability payments. Goodness knows how we'll handle that dilemma if he suddenly has more income coming in from his job and they've already begun to process Jerry's disability.

11/19/09: Jerry said that tomorrow (Friday) is the day that the transplant committee will be meeting to decide where Jerry will be placed on the transplant list. They are supposed to call us in the afternoon to let us know what they've decided. Please pray that they decide to put him near the top of the list.

11/19/09: Last Saturday I had the pleasure of meeting Charles Washington from the Zeroing in on Health forum. He was in San Antonio for the weekend to participate in a half marathon there so he drove to Houston to spend a few hours here with me. I know Charles from back when we were both moderators at Jimmy Moore's forum so it was fun to finally meet each other in person. Here's a photo that Charles took of me sitting where I spend most of my time:

Here's a photo of Charles that was taken in San Antonio:

11/18/09: We got a bill from the first day of the transplant evaluation in the mail the other day and just that first day cost $10,000! Just the MRI that they did was $4,200. They also charged $2,400 for the acquisition of Jerry's new liver. I'm not sure why they'd charge that in advance. What if he never gets a liver? I'm guessing that the bills for the other two days of the evaluation will cost about the same as the first day or around that. We shouldn't have to pay any of those bills though because we've already reached our out-of-pocket limit for the year. On the other hand, we haven't actually started paying any of the hospital bills yet. We're waiting to receive all of the Explanations of Benefits from Blue Cross first.
It looks like Jerry is now on unpaid leave and there won't be any donated sick days. The woman in HR for his company, who was supposed to handle getting donated sick days for Jerry, never bothered to do it. Any days that were offered a while back were lost because the FMLA paperwork hadn't been turned in at that time. Now we have to hope that this woman will handle Jerry's insurance payments properly so that he won't lose his insurance. As irresponsible as she seems to be, I don't have high hopes that she'll handle things like she should. I'm feeling very discouraged right now.

I added the blank menu calendars for 2010 on 11/14/09. I also had the pleasure of meeting Charles Washington from Zeroing in on Health today.

11/13/09: During the two days of the transplant evaluation on Wednesday and Thursday, we met with various counselors and Jerry had all sorts of tests done. Here is somewhat of a summary of some of the highlights of the ordeal...
We found out that if Jerry loses his insurance, because we are unable to pay the monthly premium, there will be no transplant. St. Luke's hospital won't take any patients who have no insurance. I don't know how will find the money to keep up the $400 insurance payments every month. If we miss even one, he'll lose his insurance immediately. Between all of Jerry's prescriptions and co-pays for doctor visits, plus the $13 for parking every time we have to go downtown to the hospital for tests and consultations, we're looking at hundreds of dollars every month on top of our rent, utilities, food and other regular bills. And, that's just what it will cost us between now and the transplant. After the transplant we will have to pay hundreds of dollars per month for his prescriptions and there will be even more frequent visits to the doctors for the first few months.
Jerry's MELD score is 22. Most of the people, when they get their transplants, have scores in the range of about 24-26 so Jerry is getting very close to that. There is a checklist of 11 symptoms that qualify someone for a transplant and Jerry has had every symptom on that list.
After the transplant, Jerry will have to take up to 15 different drugs. Three of them he will have to take for the rest of his life. Those are the anti-rejection drugs, of which two of them would cost around $4,000 per month at full price for someone without insurance. He will be weaned off most of the rest of the drugs over the few months after the transplant.
It looks like we may end up having to pay around $1,000-2,000 per month out of pocket for two of his anti-rejection prescriptions after the transplant. That's because Blue Cross won't cover non-generic versions if a generic is available so we'll have to pay the difference between the generic and real versions. The counselor told us that they just recently came out with the generic versions and the transplant doctors won't allow the generics because there have been reported problems with them. They told us that he might be able to get free or cheap drugs through the Veteran's Administration or get some kind of coupons for a discount and Jerry will look into that.
Something very scary that they told us is that Jerry will become diabetic after the transplant and will have to inject insulin. At least they did say that this might only last a month or two with Jerry because he's not already diabetic.
During the transplant evaluation we had a consultation with a dietitian. Just as I was expecting, she was totally ignorant about metabolism or nutrition. Of course she thought she knew what she was talking about but she was totally off-base on some of the most basic things including how sugar and fat are metabolized. She didn't even know that starch is the same thing as sugar. Once I realized how little she understood about nutrition I lost all respect for her. I told her that I disagreed with her about several things but that I wasn't going to argue with her about it. There was no point because she thought she knew what she was talking about.
One really crazy thing that she believes is that eating pure sugar is fine and good for Jerry. She even recommended that he eat M&Ms, or other candy, and sugary soda to help him gain weight. She thinks that all the components of food (sugar, fat and protein) need to be converted to sugar before the body can use them for fuel. Of course she's totally wrong. In reality, sugar needs to be converted to fatty acids before the body can use it for fuel. Since Jerry's body can't store fat, eating more sugar won't help him one bit to gain weight. She actually said that there's no reason for him to drink diet soda and that he should drink the full sugar kind. She must be insane. How in the heck does she think that eating foods totally devoid of any nutritional value would in any way help Jerry and not make him even sicker? She thinks that as long as Jerry fills up on "calories" he'll be able to put on some weight. Since when are "calories" a source of nutrition? They're nothing but numbers, not a type of food.
Something that I noticed that was very strange the two days while we were at the hospital for the transplant evaluation was that I was pretty much the only thin person there, including patients and medical staff. I truly felt like a freak. And, all of the food that I saw for sale at the cafe in the lobby was junk food too (pastries, candy, soda, etc.). Is it any wonder that there are so many sick people??? It was very depressing to realize that I'm apparently one of a very small minority of healthy thin people left in the Houston area.
We still haven't heard yet if anyone has donated any sick pay to Jerry. The person who is supposed to let us know this hasn't gotten back to us yet. Jerry's own sick pay and vacation pay were used up as of the end of last week. So, he may be on unpaid leave at this point until the end of the year when his job will be terminated. Until his Disability payments start, we may have no income at all for what could be several months before those payments start coming in. At least they did tell us that the payments will be retroactive back to the date of Jerry's last paycheck from his job.

11/12/09: Sorry for not posting an update in a while. We just went through a two-day transplant evaluation ordeal and I need some time to sort it all out in my head before I can put into words what's been going on. Thank goodness we've got at least a week before any more doctor's appointments. We really need a break.

Added on 11/8/09: Green Chile Scrambled Eggs

11/7/09: Yesterday was Jerry's first day of the transplant evaluation. Our son drove him there and it was a day of tests such as X-rays and MRIs. Next Wednesday and Thursday he'll have two full days of various tests and meetings with doctors and counselors.

11/4/09: On Monday Jerry went to have more varices banded. This time the doctor only banded one so it looks like they're pretty much taken care of for now. He wants Jerry to see him once more at the beginning of December to check them and see if there are more that need banding. He still has no idea where the bleeding came from the last time so there's always the possibility of a bleed like that again even though the varices bleeding has been taken care of.
Today I took Jerry to see his GI doctor for a consultation. He hadn't seen him since his original diagnosis back in early September. He is upping the dosage on both of the diuretics that Jerry's taking which hopefully will help reduce the fluid somewhat. Jerry weighed in at 216 pounds today. Probably 10 of that were his clothes but he's still carrying almost 50 pounds of fluid now. He doesn't have even an ounce of fat left on his body and very little muscle so all but about 168 pounds is excess fluid.
The doctor also commented on how quickly Jerry's condition has deteriorated since he last saw him. At that time he estimated that Jerry might have 2-3 years to live but today he gave him no more than about 6 months. On the other hand, he went on to say that Jerry's bilirubin level is stable even though he does still have jaundice. He also said that his MELD score is still on the low side at about 18 out of 50. That's because Jerry's kidneys haven't begun to fail. So, although he's only got six months to live, it sounds like he may still be too "healthy" to get near the top of the transplant list unless they have some other criteria for determining the position on the list other than the MELD score. I guess we'll find that out next week at the transplant evaluation. One bit of good news is that our son did get that job that he wanted and they've offered him quite a bit more than he's making at his old job which ends in about a week or so.

Added on 11/4/09: Bacon-Wrapped Hot Dogs

10/31/09: I don't have anything new to report on Jerry's condition. He's been stable since he got out of the hospital. No better but at least no worse either. He did have his phone interview with Social Security to get on Disability but we haven't heard yet if he'll be approved or when he might start getting his benefits. According to the Social Security site, his condition qualifies him for immediate Disability benefits so he shouldn't have to wait the usual 5-6 months for them to start but the agent's letter that we got said that we'd hear back from her within 60 days. We can't afford to wait that long. Jerry's sick pay stops after next week but he may get a few donated sick days from other employees. We don't know yet how many he'll get. Once those are used up he will be on unpaid leave and will have to pay for his insurance out of pocket. At that point we will be living off of our savings until Jerry's disability checks start coming.
One thing that we did yesterday was have AT&T's DSL installed so that we can save some money on our internet connection. We've been using Charter for TV and internet but it was costing us about $82 per month. Just the internet was $49 per month and it would cost $59 per month if we dropped the cable TV connection. With AT&T we won't have to have cable TV and the 6 mbps DSL connection is only $35 per month. We've heard that DSL is very reliable, unlike Charter's cable internet which was constantly going out. We've used Charter for many years but we were fed up with the internet dying all the time.
Also, the liver transplant evaluation meetings have been set up for the week after next. We'll have to go there for two or three days in a row from 8am until 5pm each day. We have no idea yet what we'll be doing there all that time.
The other thing that's happened in the past few days is that our grown son moved back home. He just lost his job and can't afford his apartment any longer. So, he will be paying us room and board which will help us pay our bills. He did have a promising job interview yesterday and he's pretty sure that he'll get the job. Now that Jerry is no longer able to work or do chores around the house, our son will be here to help with things like mowing the lawn and driving Jerry to doctor's appointments.

10/26/09: I don't really have anything new to report on Jerry's condition now that he's home from the hospital. He spends much of the day sleeping because he has trouble sleeping at night due to terrible coughing spells. He thinks that the coughing is caused by the diuretics drying up his saliva which then makes his throat very dry. Too bad that they don't help his edema much anymore but maybe it would be that much worse if he wasn't taking them. Someone from Social Security did finally call today for a phone interview with Jerry. She had to cut it short though and will call him back later today to finish it. They sure do ask a lot of questions.

10/23/09: Just a quick note to say that Jerry is finally home from the hospital as of this evening. Hopefully this will be the last time until he gets a new liver. Unfortunately, the Social Security agent never did call today so that saga continues.

10/23/09: They still don't know where Jerry's bleeding was coming from but at least it did stop eventually. They don't think that it came from his stomach and they know it wasn't from his colon. They can only speculate that it came from somewhere in his intestines. Yesterday he was moved out of ICU into a regular room. Hopefully that's a good sign that he'll be able to come home soon. I never did hear from the local Social Security agent so I will have to call them again today. In case anyone is interested, the technical name for Jerry's liver condition is Primary Sclerosing Cholangitis.

10/21/09: They were just about to do a colonoscopy on Jerry when I left the hospital this afternoon. I had to get back here because I'm expecting a phone call from a rep from the Social Security office sometime between 2:00 and 4:00 today about getting Jerry on disability soon. I called the main SS number this morning and set everything in motion to get Jerry on disability as soon as his paid leave runs out. I called just to ask some questions but the woman I spoke to thought it would be a good idea to get the process started so it would be all set when the time comes. The person who will call this afternoon will set up a phone interview with Jerry in the next few days. The phone interview will save us the trouble of going to the local SS office for the interview where the wait to see someone could be hours. They know that Jerry is in the hospital and can do the interview on the phone with him there if necessary.
Jerry's doctor said that although he tied off three more varices last night, they were not the cause of the bleeding. The bleeding is coming from somewhere else which is why they're doing a colonoscopy to see if it's coming from his colon. They did give him two units of blood last night so there was definitely enough bleeding to cause his blood count to drop. It looks like Jerry will probably be there for at least a couple more days.

10/20/09: Jerry is back in the hospital. This afternoon he said that he didn't feel right and said his stools were black this morning. He suspected that the varices were bleeding again so he called the doctor who said to take him to the emergency room. I drove him there and they did a few tests and determined that his blood count was very low and the doctor said that he is definitely bleeding again. At least this time we caught it before he began to vomit blood. Jerry was coherent this time but he fell asleep every few minutes in the ER because of his blood count being so low. They were planning to give him two or three units of blood tonight and the doctor was waiting for his team to arrive to do another EGD (banding of the varices) sometime after I left or maybe in the morning. Jerry was still in the ER when I left around 7:00 pm because they had no available rooms in ICU but I assume that he'll be in ICU by tomorrow morning.

10/19/09: As of today, it looks like Jerry is out of work at least through the end of the year and probably until he gets his transplant since he's not likely to get better between now and then. Jerry went to his store this afternoon to drop off the sick leave paperwork and he passed out on the floor. It took us a while to get him into the car to drive home. His boss contacted the company's HR department and they're going to put out a bulletin to all of their stores for people to donate their sick days to Jerry. He's only got a couple of sick days left for this year and his boss would rather he use sick days than his vacation days to save them as a last resort. The transplant surgeon that he saw this morning said that they will expedite getting him on the transplant list because his condition is very bad. Someone from the transplant committee is supposed to call us within the next two weeks to set up a meeting. I'm not even sure if Jerry can wait that long for a liver but what can we do??? At least it looks like there's hope that Jerry will be placed near the top of the transplant list.

10/17/09: Jerry went to the doctor yesterday to get a release for him to go back to work next Tuesday but the doctor said that he doesn't want him to go back to work until after the next varices banding procedure on the 26th. While he was talking with the doctor, he asked him if there was anything that he could do to help make himself better faster so that he could get back to work other than walking as much as he can. The only advice that the doctor gave him was to eat a good diet so Jerry is going to give low carb a try.
Right now, one of Jerry's biggest problems is all the fluid that's building up in his legs, feet and belly. The diuretics that he's on don't seem to be doing any good and he's getting bigger and bigger. He's carrying around at least 20 pounds of excess fluid and probably at least half of that is in his belly. His feet swell up so bad that he can hardly get them into his shoes. His belly is even bigger now than it was before they drained off all that fluid the other day.

Added on 10/16/09: Crock Pot Pork Chile Verde

10/15/09: I brought Jerry home from the hospital late last night. He would have gone home earlier in the day but his blood pressure was much too low so they had to try to get it higher before they'd release him. He's got five days to recuperate before going back to work next Tuesday and next Monday is the day that he goes for his transplant evaluation. Thank you again for all of your prayers and generous donations during this ordeal.

10/13/09 (later): Jerry didn't come home today after all but the doctor said he should be able to go home tomorrow, probably sometime in the morning. When I arrived at the hospital this morning, Jerry was in the bathroom washing up by himself which was a good sign. He said that he'd also walked three laps around the hallway (with a walker) before I got there and yesterday he was pooped after just one lap. Yesterday they removed 6 liters of fluid from his belly. Jerry said that he feels a LOT better now that all that fluid isn't pressing on his stomach.

10/13/09: They finally took Jerry for a walk yesterday morning before I got there. He said that it felt great to get out of bed but it really tired him out. When I arrived he was sitting in the recliner which was a good sign that he's doing better. Later after I left they were going to do a procedure to drain the fluid from his belly. The doctor said that he'll probably be able to come home today. I will post back later to let you know if he does.

10/12/09: The doctors want to keep my husband in the hospital for a couple more days for observation so I'm still not sure when he will come home. Yesterday when I mentioned to him that thousands of people on the internet were praying for him and many were sending in donations, he cried like a baby. He did have one concern which I'd like to clarify to ease his mind. Although he does have cirrhosis of the liver, his was NOT caused by drinking. He's had ulcerative colitis for many years and this liver condition is a rare complication of that disease. His colitis has pretty much been in remission for a couple of years and he was doing well until this hit him like a ton of bricks a few months ago. Until then he was very active and enjoyed taking 40 mile bicycle rides and even rode in the MS-150 bike ride from Houston to Austin a few times in the past few years to raise money for Multiple Sclerosis.
I spoke to my husband's boss and we've arranged for Jerry to have this week off to recuperate at home and he won't go back to work until after his transplant evaluation meeting on the 19th. We are hoping that Jerry will be able to continue working enough hours to be able to keep his insurance while he's waiting for his transplant. He will need lots of prayers for the strength to be able do his job which requires spending many hours on his feet. Again, I want to thank all of you for all of your prayers and donations.

10/11/09: My husband was doing a bit better on Saturday and they had an occupational therapist in to check him out. She determined that he won't need occupational therapy but they would have a physical therapist would come in to help get him up and walking again. Still no word on when they'll let him go home. Maybe I'll find out today. Thanks again everyone for all of your prayers and generous donations. In about a week my husband will go for his liver transplant evaluation to see where he will be placed on the transplant list. The doctors said that this bleeding episode will definitely place him much higher on the list.

10/9/09: Update on my husband: Later today they're moving him from ICU to a room on the telemetry floor where he won't be hooked up to quite so many wires and tubes. He's still very weak but he was scheduled to have physical therapy sometime today or tomorrow. We still don't know when he'll go home yet.

10/9/09: Update on my husband: The doctors have controlled the bleeding and his condition is now stable. He should be able to come home in the next couple of days or so. Thanks again everyone for your prayers and support.

10/8/09: Update on my husband: Last night I had to call for an ambulance to take my him to the hospital because he was vomiting blood due to his liver condition. He's currently in intensive care.

10/6/09: To Cheryl, and anyone else who has donated to my site in the past few days and has not received a thank-you email from me, I tried to send you an email but it bounced back. If you did not receive a thank-you from me, thanks very much for your generous donation.

9/30/09: Thank you everyone for your prayers and well-wishes. Just since yesterday I've gotten so many thoughtful emails from people who visit this site. It means so much to me to have so many caring friends from around the world who would take the time to pray for people they've never even met. God bless every one of you.

I made a correction to the Lower Fat 3 Minute Cake recipe on 9/30/09. I forgot to say to cover the measuring cup before microwaving the cake.

Added on 9/29/09: Italian Meatball Burgers and Ribboned Vegetables. I apologize for not posting many new recipes lately. My husband recently found out that he's going to need a liver transplant so we're facing huge medical bills in the next year or two. I've had to drastically cut back on my grocery budget which doesn't leave much money for cooking experiments. I do have some recipes that I'd like to try in the next few months but I won't be able to try nearly as many as I'd like. You can be sure though that any recipes that I do post will be very economical to make and hopefully delicious. I would appreciate your prayers during this very scary situation we're dealing with.

Added on 9/28/09: Lower Fat 3 Minute Cake
Added on 9/4/09: Flax Pancake
I added an update to the UnPotato Salad recipe on 9/4/09.
Added on 8/27/09: Artichoke Chicken
Added on 8/17/09: Low Carb Toaster Waffles
I added a microwave option to the Handmade Marshmallows recipe on 8/3/09.
I posted an improved version of the Handmade Marshmallows recipe on 8/2/09. It's at the bottom of the page.
I added a couple of new gadgets to my Kitchen Gadgets page (see the bottom of page 2) on 7/22/09.
Added on 7/17/09: Thai Peanut Turkey Curry Skillet
I added an update to my White Castle Hamburger Pie on 6/27/09.
Added on 6/27/09: Cheesy Spinach with Caramelized Onions
I added another update to the Florentine Chicken Alfredo on 6/26/09.
I added an update to the Florentine Chicken Alfredo on 6/26/09.
Added on 6/25/09: Florentine Chicken Alfredo
I added an update to the Faux Atkins Peanut Butter Bars recipe on 6/5/09.
Added on 6/4/09: Hamburger Cabbage Stir-Fry
Added on 6/3/09: Chicken Pizza
Added on 6/2/09: Faux Atkins Peanut Butter Bars
Added on 5/28/09: Italian Stuffed Chicken. This one's a winner!
Added on 5/25/09: Pan-Fried Tilapia
Added on 5/22/09: Big Mac in a Bowl
5/16/09: Someone named Zoe from the UK sent me a donation the other day. I tried to send her an email to thank her but it keeps bouncing back. If you read this, Zoe, I want to thank you very much for your donation.
Added on 5/6/09: Broiled Zucchini
Added on 4/24/09: Ranch Baked Tilapia
4/21/09: I added a link in my low carb products section to the Splenda Liquid (EZ-Sweetz) that's now available at Netrition.
Added on 3/21/09: Radish "Red Skin Potatoes
I added a photo to the Quick Sweet & Spicy Stir-Fry Sauce recipe on 2/8/09
Check out this guy's amazing low carb story. I just added his site to my Links page on 2/8/09.
Added on 2/7/09: Quick Sweet & Spicy Stir-Fry Sauce
I corrected an error in the nutritional counts for the Bacon Cheeseburger Quiche on 2/4/09.
Added on 1/30/09: Tuna "Casserole" Quiche
Added on 1/24/09: Soup-in-an-Instant
I added an update to the Browned Butter recipe on 1/23/09.
Added on 1/17/09: BBQ Bacon Turkey Burgers
Added on 1/10/09: Cappuccino Egg Cream
I added MasterCook recipe software to my Gadgets page on 1/4/09.
Added on 12/22/08: Stuffing Pie
Added on 12/13/08: Parmesan Deviled Chicken
Added on 12/12/08: Cheese Filled Bacon Roll
Added on 11/16/08: Individual Pizza Crusts
Added on 11/12/08: Red Enchilada Skillet Dinner
Added on 11/11/08: Fluffy Biscuits
Added on 11/9/08: Orange Sour Cream Cakes
Added on 10/25/08: Baked Pecan Chicken and It's-a-Snap Cheesecake. I also added an update to my Creamy Squash Casserole recipe.
Added on 10/22/08: Barbecued Green Beans
I added yet another update to the NuWave Oven Creamy Eggs recipe on 10/15/08.
Added on 10/12/08: Chicken with Peanut Curry Sauce
I corrected a typo in the NuWave Oven Creamy Eggs recipe on 10/12/08. I've been using 1 ounce of cheese and not the 1/2 ounce that was originally given. I also updated the counts to show the extra cheese.
10/6/08: I uploaded a PDF file containing the calendar for 2009 for you to print out for planning your menus. Rather than post each month separately, I uploaded one file containing the entire year.
Added on 10/5/08: Mushroom Jack Fajitas
I added another update to the NuWave Oven Creamy Eggs recipe on 10/1/08.
I added an update to the NuWave Oven Creamy Eggs recipe on 9/28/08.
Added on 9/26/08: NuWave Oven Creamy Eggs. I also added two new appliances to my Gadgets page - a toaster oven and a NuWave oven.
9/16/08: Well, I survived Ike! We were some of the very lucky ones. We had no damage to our house or property. We had water and were only without electricity for about two days. We did have to throw out a lot of food in the fridge but everything in my big freezer in the garage was fine. That's where I keep all my meat. The internet was out until late this afternoon. It's great to be back online!
Added on 9/11/08: Mexican Spinach Lasagna
I tweaked the instructions and added an update to my Creamy Alfredo Sauce with Roasted Peppers recipe on 9/10/08.
I added an update to the Chicken Parm a la Amy recipe on 9/7/08.
8/28/08: I forgot to mention that Jimmy Moore has moved his blog again to Livin' La Vida Low Carb Blog
I added another update to the Broiled Tilapia Parmesan recipe on 8/23/08.
Added on 8/16/08: Minute Orange Cake and Quick Peanut Butter Muffin
8/16/08: Check out Janet's inspirational weight loss success story here.
Added on 8/7/08: Loosemeat
8/4/08: I've updated the link to Jimmy Moore's blog. He moved it over the weekend to Livin' La Vida Low Carb Blog
I added an update to the 3 Minute Vanilla Cake recipe on 8/2/08.
Added on 8/1/08: Sausage Pumpkin Chili
I added an update to the Mock Corn Bread recipe on 8/1/08.
Added on 7/31/08: 3 Minute Vanilla Cake
Added on 7/26/08: Roasted Red Pepper & Tomato Soup
Added on 7/20/08: Chili Dog Mustard and Prairie Dust
Added on 7/18/08: Thai-Style Beef Curry Skillet Dinner
Added on 6/28/08: Jimmy Moore's Perfect Key-Lime Cheesecake
I added a tip about fresh limes to my Time Saving Tips page on 6/28/08.
Added on 6/27/08: Skillet Chicken Florentine
I added a variation to the Cocoa Coated Walnuts recipe on 6/26/08.
Added on 6/24/08: Asian Pork & Cabbage Skillet Dinner
6/11/08: A lot of my recipes call for "slivering" an onion. I was asked today what I meant by that so I tracked down a video that shows what I mean. As you'll see, the woman in the video says that there are two ways to slice an onion and what I call "slivering" is the method that she demonstrates. Click here to watch the video.
Added on 6/8/08: Spiced Minced Beef (Keema) and Fried Zucchini Strings
6/5/08: I added an update to my Browned Butter recipe. If you have any suggestions as to why I had a problem, please send me an email. (P.S. - I added another little update later today)
Added on 6/2/08: Green Enchilada Turkey Skillet Dinner
6/2/08: If you tried to visit my site on Saturday or Sunday, and couldn't access it, that's because my host company had a fire in their building and they had to shut down all of their servers for about a day and a half. Everything seems to be working fine now.
Added on 6/1/08: Coconut Cookies
Added on 5/30/08: Peppermint Drops
Added on 5/26/08: Coconut Crunch

5/18/08: You're probably wondering what my newest advertiser, Netflix, has to do with low carb. Nothing really. It's just that I starting using Netflix about a month or so ago and love it. I have the $8.99 per month plan which entitles me to one DVD movie in the mail at a time and I can watch as many online movies as I like while I'm waiting for my next DVD to arrive in the mail. Having my DVD movies delivered every Wednesday and Saturday works out great for me. I send the Wednesday movie back on Thursday and the next one arrives on Saturday. I can keep that one for the whole weekend then send it back on Monday. Of course I could keep the movie as long as I like but I've worked it out so that I can get the most movies per month possible by sending them back right away the next day. So far I haven't had a DVD arrive late.
The selection of online movies to watch is somewhat limited but I've already watched quite a few that I thoroughly enjoyed and I've got a list of over 100 more that I'd like to watch when I have the time. Of course you'll need a fast internet connection and a large monitor to view movies online. I do, so for me it's no different than watching a movie on my TV. Plus, I get to hear the movies in stereo using my good computer speakers. Our old TV doesn't look or sound nearly as good as my computer. Anyway, I highly recommened Netflix. It will save you the gas you'd use running back and forth to the video store and the cost per movie is a lot cheaper anyway. Once you sign up, you can read descriptions of every movie that's available and some even have online previews. It sure beats standing at the video store staring at row after row of DVDs trying to decide what to rent. Plus, you can rent movies (also old TV shows, documentaries, concerts, etc.) that are no longer available at the rental places. If you'd like to give Netflix a try, they have a free two-week trial period and you can cancel at any time.

I added an update to the Broccoli Salad with Ham recipe on 5/17/08.
Added on 5/16/08: Roasted Red Pepper Egg Salad
Added on 5/8/08: Cocoa Coated Walnuts
5/8/08: I forgot to mention that Jimmy Moore's new Low Carb Discussion Forum is up and running as of the end of April. I also added a photo to the Fried String Cheese recipe.
Added on 5/7/08: Baked String Beans
I added a review of Emerald Cocoa Roast Almonds to my Low Carb Products page on 5/6/08.
Added on 4/28/08: California Chicken Casserole
Added on 4/23/08: Pastrami-Dill Bites
Added on 4/17/08: Southwestern Chili con Carne
I added an update to the Cheddar Biscuits recipe on 4/17/08. I added even more cheese this time.
I added an update to the 3-Minute Flourless Chocolate Cake recipe on 4/15/08. I ran into a problem that someone else had mentioned and figured out a way to solve it. Scroll down to cake recipe #2 to find the update.
Added on 4/15/08: Thin and Crispy Pizza Crust
4/10/08: I added a Google search feature to my recipe page. It seems to work quite well but it's not perfect. If you use it to search for a particular recipe or ingredient, don't assume that all recipes of that type will come up.
Added on 4/9/08: Cheesy Hash Brown Patties
4/9/08: IMPORTANT NOTICE: If you're wondering what has happened to Jimmy Moore's Low Carb Discussion forums, they were damaged by a hacker the other day. Jimmy is working hard to fix the problem as quickly as possible. If you received an email that looks like it's from Jimmy, and has this as the Subject line "LowCarbDiscussion.com Is Back", don't click the link in the email. It was sent by the hacker. In fact, I just read on Jimmy's blog that if you click the link in that email, you'll get a virus. Jimmy will let us know via his blog when his new forum is up and running.
4/4/08: I added some Tupperware products to my Gadgets pages. Scroll down to the bottom of this page to see my review.
4/4/08: I've started a new updates page because the old one was getting rather long. To read the previous updates page, click the link below for archive #5.
4/4/08: I get a lot of requests for a search feature on my site so that you can search for recipes containing a particular ingredient and that sort of thing. Well, I've learned that you can use Google to do the job. Here is what you do:
1. Enter this into Google: site:genaw.com/lowcarb "search for these words"
2. Replace "search for these words" with your phrase (type the name of an ingredient, etc.), no quotes needed, that you want to search for on my site.

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