Tag: stroke

Posted in Health, Home School

Beth

Posted on by Katharine

Tuesday, around noon, Beth and her husband were chatting on the sofa. She started having trouble forming her words and controlling her right hand. Her husband would not normally have been home but was sick so had stayed home from work (thankful for a sinus infection.) He called 911.

They got her to the hospital nearby and then she was transferred to the big one in the big city.

The current diagnosis is a hemorrhagic stroke. The neurosurgeon said it is basically in the worst place it could be. The CT scan showed it roughly 1.5 inches by 3 inches and “deep.” There is almost certainly some significant damage to the brain already. If the bleeding doesn’t stop, Beth will not make it. Surgery is an option but the surgeon said it rarely goes well.

Beth
Beth. Her husband says not a good picture of her, but it shows her joy.

Beth and I are old friends from back when we both homeschooled. We’ve shared so much. Although we don’t get to see each other as much as we’d like, we never get really out of touch. You know how that goes.

Only now, we are really out of touch. All anyone can do is pray.

Lots of things could have been worse. She could have many small children; her only child is grown, employed, and happily married. She could have been alone; her husband was right there in the same room. She could have been afraid, but even in her current state, she is able to receive calming influence from her husband. She can see. She can indicate understanding by moving her eyes. She is in a very good hospital.

Hard to be thankful when all I really want is to go back in time.

 
Posted in Blessings of Habit, Food, Health, Homemaking

Pompoms and Bonbons

Posted on by Katharine

DIGITAL CAMERAThey Kind of Go Together

Have you ever studied how sugars give us quick energy? I did, in 7th grade, which happened several decades ago, for me.

Several decades.

I had to memorize the benefits of various components of normal foods and other things we might eat that are not normal foods, to pass a homemaking test.

Back then, almost all girls studied homemaking. We each wanted to make a home — to turn a house that housed two strangers into a safe and welcoming nest for two who acted as one entity — and to welcome the regular appearance of new, tiny, perfect strangers joining the melee.

Things changed. Boys who desired to be professional chefs felt they should take homemaking. Girls who wanted to know how to fix their own stopped sinks felt they should take shop. Besides, the gender mix was fun. But I digress.

While learning to make a home, we learned good nutrition. All the diets recommending eliminating carbs to lose weight find their basis in pure science, quoted in our homemaking textbooks from the late sixties, and it was old news even then.

You cannot have bonbons unless you get a-movin’. Or else, you will grow fat.

They taught us. We learned it and passed tests. Sugars are for quick energy. Consume sugars and you must burn them or else you will grow fat.

We also learned:

  • Too much sugar consumption could lead to diabetes. Fact.
  • Honey, although it can have a similar effect, is not as bad. Fact.
  • Protein is for long-lasting energy. Fact.
  • Salad before a meal improves digestion. Fact.

Educated people knew these nutrition facts back then. So before a basketball game, players received instructions to eat protein and sugar. Coaches often kept Snickers and other rich candies on hand to rejuvenate a team member, if needed. Players often had a double cheeseburger for lunch and a double chocolate malted for a pre-game treat. Cheerleaders ate like that, too. Such athletic types could actually feel the added boost, they told us.

We envied them.

Today I do not. Today I work from several more facts, not known to science back then:

All these facts, in famous research, such as the Nurses’ Study, form the basis for much of the health protocol at the Mayo Clinic and for Dr. Atkins’ work, not to mention the “come latelies” such as “South Beach” and “Lose the Wheat Lose the Weight”.

But one more fact that spurs this post, a fact no one could have possibly known before: I woke up with a sore throat today. A bit achy and too tired for cheerleading, I’ve decided to post about good health until I again possess it.

Be well!