I hope all of you had a wonderful (and safe!) New Year’s Eve!
I’m sure you’ve noticed that I haven’t been here much. I’ve been working on a new website! While this blog will always have a special place in my heart, I realized that I have outgrown it. I decided to start fresh, with a new focus that I’m super excited about! I’m not deleting this blog right now, but I won’t be posting here anymore.
I hope you’ll all join me at my brand-new site, AshleeFit.com. I have so many things planned!
For now, it’s still under construction…But my first post is up, and I’d love it if you would take a look!
Thank you to my wonderful readers…This blog has been so much fun, and was the perfect learning experience. I hope to see you all soon at AshleeFit.com!
Today marks the one – year anniversary of my three pound tumor removal. If you’re new around here, or if you just want to take a stroll down memory lane, click here, and here, and here, and of course here to read about Fred’s Twitter fame.
Anyway, I won’t include actual pics of ‘ol Fred here, but they’re in the posts I’ve linked to above. Yes, including the infamous “tumor in a bucket” pic.
Getting that nasty thing removed was the best thing I’ve ever done for my health. I’ve felt better over this last year than I can ever remember feeling.
Going through a pregnancy with a giant tumor was pretty anxiety inducing. In the very beginning, my family doctor told me I would be very high risk and would likely miscarry. Way to be positive, doc (for the record, I no longer go to that office). I spent a lot of sleepless nights worrying over my sweet little peanut. I couldn’t bring myself to share anything baby related on social media for fear that I’d lose him.
I found a wonderful (and infinitely more positive) doctor. She made us aware of risks, but in a way that was far less terrifying. I got to have an awful lot of ultrasounds, mostly because my little stinker would hid behind the tumor and the doc would have trouble finding his heartbeat. I always felt better after those appointments.
People tell me all the time that I “got the easy way out” because I had a C-section. Nothing about it was easy. A nurse at the hospital was kind enough to inform me that they were reserving a few bags of blood for me because, “you’re probably gonna need it.” Having a giant, blood sucking tumor just hanging out in your uterus makes your chances of hemorrhage go way up. I was almost convinced I would bleed to death before ever getting to see my baby.
The day my sweet boy was born, I cried a little from relief. He was here, he was safe and healthy. He was beautiful, with a head full of hair and eyes that seemed to see more than a brand new baby should. It was over.
And six months later, it was really over. Fred was removed, sent to be examined and then disposed of (so far as I know). I’m still a little bitter that I didn’t get to keep him. Women are having teddy bears made out of their placentas and I don’t get to keep my three pound tumor?! Bullshit.
I had my annual poke n’ prod a couple of weeks ago, and my doctor has declared me to be tumor free, which was awesome news since the little mnfers tend to grow back. The longer I can keep from sprouting siblings for Fred, the longer I can put off a more drastic treatment…Namely, a hysterectomy. I don’t know that I want more kids, but I know I don’t want to so firmly shut that door just yet.
So happy birthday Fred, wherever you are. I can’t say that I miss you but I do think of you often.
Yesterday was my last post-op appointment (catch up here, here, here, and here if you missed all of the surgery excitement)… After checking my incision my doctor announced that I was released and that I could (slowly) return to normal activities.
HOORAY!
Little does she know, I already started doing that. Actually, she probably does at least suspect… See, the morning after my surgery, she was checking on her patient across the hall from me…My door was open and she stuck her head into my room, probably expecting me to be sleeping (it was 6:30 am, after all). Instead, she discovered me shuffling around the room wearing pants. The look of bewilderment on her face was priceless, and when she asked what I was doing I could only be honest with her…
“Cleaning? Just straightening up, really… There were some things on my tray table I wanted to throw away…”
She just shook her head.
<End tangent>
So I asked if I could start working out. She gave me the ok as long as I didn’t overdo it…And this morning I knocked out my very first post-surgery workout.
Guys, I might have…maybe…possibly…Um, there’s a chance that I over did it a bit. Really just a teeny bit, though, because now I feel pretty awesome and, more importantly, I did not die.
I did not, sir!
So yesterday was a super great day because I got released AND I got to drive for the first time since my surgery. Today was also an awesome day, since I got to work out and I lifted O in his carseat for the first time. I thought it would rough since I went a month without doing it… I mean, it’s not like he got lighter… But no big deal!
Thank you to everyone that sent me well wishes, happy thoughts, prayers…and to everyone that has emailed or texted me to see how I was doing. It meant a lot to me that so many people cared about little ol’ me!
I really wanted to title this post Magically Healing and Awesomely Wonderful Chicken and Wild Rice Soup… but that seemed a little long-winded. It’s true, though… this soup is practically guaranteed to cure what ails you.
Well, it’ll make you feel an awful lot better. Just for fun, I’ve included links to the health benefits of the ingredients so you know I’m not full of it. Well, at least not in this case.
Want to make it? Of course you do! You need:
3 boneless skinless chicken breasts
2 32 oz boxes plus one 10 oz can chicken stock (I use low sodium)
2 boxes long grain and wild rice mix (I used Uncle Ben’s)
2 or 3 regular carrots or a big handful of baby carrots, chopped
1 bouquet garni (fresh rosemary, sage, thyme bundled in a coffee filter and tied with string)
Creole seasoning (I like Tony Chachere’s) or crushed red pepper
Celery salt
Chicken bouillon
Salt
Salt and pepper your chicken, then bake at 350 for 20ish minutes or until its internal temperature measures 170 degrees. Let cool.
Throw everything else in a stockpot over medium heat. Use as many carrots and celery stalks as you like. Go wild with the Creole seasoning and ginger or use small amounts if you’re not a fan of heat. If you really want lemon flavor use the juice of a whole lemon… I had half of a lemon leftover from making lemon cookies so I used that. In small amounts, you don’t really taste GINGER! or LEMON!, you just get a hint of each.
Once the chicken is cool enough to handle, shred it up and toss it in the soup.
Put a lid on it and do some kitchen cleanup.
I like to remove the bouquet garni when things really get to bubbling. If you want a stronger herb flavor feel free to leave it in as long as you like. Give the soup a stir, put the lid back on, and leave it alone for 20 minutes or so.
You’ll know the soup is done when the carrots and celery have softened, and when the rice has poofed up. You can add more liquid at this point if you like…the rice will soak up a lot of the liquid and thicken the remaining broth. If you like a soupier soup go ahead and dump another can of chicken stock in.
If you find yourself with no chicken stock, use one bouillon cube dissolved in a cup of boiling water.
Great googly moogly, this is good soup. Magic soup.
Serve it with lemon wedges, crackers, or crusty French bread and butter (my favorite).