Jack Sprat and his wife - Remember them? FOOD post

It's actually a daily occurrence in my brain that this poem goes through my head - 

(I had to look up to make sure I got the words right)

Jack Sprat could eat no fat
His wife could eat no lean
And so betwixt the two of them
They licked the platter clean.  

It continues from there, but I thought I'd start my post this way to explain an interesting little phenom that surrounds this home right now.  Between Keith, who needs as many calories as is humanly possible in order to try to put some poundage on him, and me and two daughters who try to watch what we eat in order to keep our girlish figures, its a struggle.

A big part of what I am doing for Keith is encouraging him to eat the highest calorie meals, in small doses, frequently.  It's my dream, but I cannot live it - I have to watch.  Hence the paradox that relates to the above poem.

I thought I'd post about food, so I can tell what foods I am feeding him, and to ask for suggestions about what I can be doing differently.  A few points to note: Keith eats dairy free, as dairy exacerbates his mucous production and makes breathing that much more difficult.  Almond milk is beverage of choice, we use a product called Mimiccreme in our coffee (which is heavenly when you are dairy free and love cream in your coffee).  I cook from scratch about 80% of what we eat and try to purchase non GMO and organic to keep things as close to natural state as I can.  Olive oil features heavily in his meals (I add it to smoothies to increase calories - have one recipe that is a 1100 calorie smoothie - I give him at least one a day).

He gets cankers if he eats too many sweets, otherwise feeding him dairy free chocolate bars all day would be the answer.  I make a lot of soups, adding olive oil to his at the table.  He gets exhausted eating things that require lots of cutting, so I'm at the point of soups, stews and casseroles are best.  I want every calorie to count, and am looking for suggestions.  As long as they are dairy free, and soft to eat and easy to have on hand, I'd love the help.  He's tucking into my homemade hummus with soft flatbread and extra olive oil right now.

Please send me any and all suggestions you have for high calorie foods, snacks, drinks (not soft drinks - not ready for the gas leaks thank you very much) etc.  Thanks everyone, and once again, thank you for all your help!

Mine :(

Gratitude and Momentum

Wow...Just wow.  

In less than 24 hours, my inbox has been buzzing, my Facebook page is overwhelmed with letters, shares, and I am literally floored by what has transpired.  Gratitude is my word of the day, the week, likely the rest of my year and beyond.  I wanted to post an update, to address some questions that I have been asked, and bring everyone up to date on what has happened since my post yesterday.  

My hands shook as I published yesterdays post, and it took about 5 minutes (thanks Twitter) for things to start happening.  

As a history of Keith's illness (which has been officially diagnosed as Diffuse PanBronchiolitis - see here) he saw a doctor in the late 90's for a chronic cough.  Multiple misdiagnoses later (asthma, COPD, CF and more) the only one that seemed to fit was DPB.  He was written up in a medical journal here, because he was the only caucasian man in Canada diagnosed with the disease, that traditionally attacks people who are asian.  DNA testing proved that he had no asian history.  He was officially an anomaly, which we are beginning to understand is not uncommon in the world of lung diseases.  To be clear, he has never smoked a day in his life, was super active, and a healthy weight.  

Algonquin 2006

Enough medical mumbo jumbo though.  Since yesterday, I have been contacted by many people, offering practical suggestions as to how to navigate the medical system.  I was directed to call patient services (which I did and got some information, and followed up on Keith's case - was assured follow up mid week next week), had someone who knew a key part of the transplant team and was going to work that angle... right up to one person who knew someone who was good friends with a doctor on the team at TGH.  I am expecting a call on Monday morning from that doctor, after he reviews Keith's case.  

Many mentioned Hélène Campbell (@lungstory on Twitter) and her amazing story.  I was very familiar with that story, and had tagged her in tweets but no response.  Then another friend messaged me that they could try to get in touch with her directly.  Waiting on that, and frankly, a little starstruck :)

The coolest thing about all of this is that, in less than 48 hours I have spoken with three separate people who have had, or are spouses of someone who has had, double lung transplants.  These are the heroes, whether they had their 5 minutes of fame in the news, or were quiet and the system just took care of them, they have lived this personally, and the intensity of how I was drawn to them and their stories, is shocking.  I cannot get enough information, and the personal stories of each of these people are so inspiring.  People have been in touch to share their stories, and if they want, I will share them here.  

Thank you all, for your wishes, your prayers, your suggestions, and for sharing this story with as many people as you can, to spread the word about the importance of organ donation.  The conversation is awkward, but so important.  To learn more, go to beadonor.ca, and follow them on Twitter at @trilliumgift.