forgot to share recipes.."So Freakin Good"

Squash soup:
Cut up butternut squash into two inch chunks skin on-de-seeded, with one large onion quartered and a cup of mushrooms with one clove or two of garlic. Roast in oven with olive oil, salt and cracked pepper for 30 minutes at 400. Then heat up a quart of chicken or veggie stock on the stove and add the veggies to simmer with 1-2 Tbs. chopped parsley or cilantro and let meld. Put all into a blender or use your self blender handle to make soft. Serve with great bread and butter. I also made a salad of mixed bitter greens(mustard, parsley, Chinese cabbage etc.) Added to the top was a can of black eyed peas, Tbs. Dijon, Tbs. red wine vinegar, 2 Tbs. olive oil and salt-pepper to taste. I also added a little maple syrup to cut the acidity and small chopped red onion and a clove of chopped garlic. This combined tossed with the greens was a fabulous way to mix it up with the squash soup. A total fall meal. Martha Stewart's food magazine was to blame. So Freakin Good !!!!!!! I forgot to mention the butter was from Vermont Creamery I think? I was gifted the butter bu a friend who bought it at "The Produce Station" in Ann Arbor. The freakin best butter ever, and I am not a dairy person !!!!!! But this is fabulous. Thank you Steven and Kitty.

Old Jack Frost??????

Yes we are having a frost tonight with temps around 30 degrees F. Can you believe this? The cold summer has brought a cold fall. I felt a chill yesterday in my neck and head and woke up thinking allergies but I fear a cold is trying to settle in my bones. I am taking precautions. The 90% full moon does not help. I never sleep the two days prior to full moon???? Have you experienced this? Most emergency rooms do and police departments as well. Good thing we know to plan. Halloween will be interesting this year as it will have full moon.

So I covered the gardens tender crops and let the rest do their thing. Tomorrow will be sunny and mild with 55-65 temps. Hopefully I saved the lettuce and greens plus peppers still trying to produce. I do not worry about winter squash as they are tough and winter greens. We will at least have green tomatoes for frying?

Tomorrow is a class night for lupus education. Many people have responded this week so it will be interesting. I will be on my good game hopefully. Lots of preparation and rest.

Douglas finished a video comprised of many peoples photographs and video images of the UM Lupus Butterfly Walk. Go to www.lupusadvocacy.org to see. I cry every time I watch it. Hormones perhaps yet touching non the less.

Started two books. I have one medical, of course, and one fun. The medical is called " The High Blood Pressure Hoax". Very interesting and informative. The other is "The Time travelers Wife". I had to pay the library 2 bucks for two weeks because so many people want to read it. So that is my reading aside from other publications, local and abroad, I read for special interest. I am always looking for a good read so pass along any books which are riveting.

Happy fall Yall...........................

"LSD"......Lupus takes a Beatle icon................

Lucy Vodden, who provided the backdrop for the Beatles iconic song "Lucy in the Sky with Diamonds," has died after a long battle with lupus at the ripe young age of 46.

Her death was announced Monday September 28, 2009 by St. Thomas' Hospital in London, where she had been treated for the chronic disease for more than five years, and by her husband, Ross Vodden. Time of death unknown.

Lucy's connection to the Beatles dates back to when she was 4 years old went to school with Julian Lennon, John Lennon's eldest son. Julian came home with an image of "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" Hence the song. Child's play turned fame song.

John Lennon, along with other Beatles members, were collecting material for the album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band." John took the image and created "Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds" (IE.. "LSD") referencing Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds. Amazing how people want to assume the worst. As ironic as it is, I now refer to the song as "Lupus In the Sky with Diamonds." In honor of Lucy.

Lucy and Julian lost touch, but they reconnected when he tried to help her cope with the disease through gardening and other means of joy, by emailing uplifting emails, sending her flowers and gardening vouchers as she was an avid gardener which brought her great joy they both shared as a hobby.

I would like to honor her and all those who have lost their lives to this sometimes debilitating and life threatening disease which is treatable and not curable. The odds are in our favor as patients but it takes this kinds of awareness, unfortunately, to bring people to the point of caring. Some speculate if Michael Jackson had Lupus???? Even other stars I will not mention. If one does have Lupus and has the ability to reach the masses it is your calling and opportunity to help find a cure and raise awareness.

Our blessings and prayers go out to Lucy's family and all who suffered this great loss. Up above they are watching and know we will fight and find a cure !!!!!

Angela

playing catchup............

Hi all. I have been spending fall with my hubby getting things done around the casa and yard-garden. Had a bumper crop of tomatoes late in season and new fall garden is coming in strong. I have been canning and putting up food for winter and holidays. I can not tell you how rewarding it is. I am watching our new front garden walk way of grasses, lavender and flowers growing like crazy. So much so we may have to move some. Hostas need a new home too in the shade. They are huge but getting too much sun and we have decided to move them to the side of the house by our driveway where nothing grows under the large maple. Douglas and our neighbor cut and split wood while his son Nathan kept a nice bon fire going in the metal pit. Then the whole family(neighbors two doors down) came over for a pot luck and fire. It was a great way to end the weekend. It is wonderful having such great neighbors. They heat with wood too so they got two loads.

The lupus education-support program is going well. we had our second session last week. Next week we are having one on avoiding flares and sending people home with homework. The last session I teach will be on what to do when you are in a flare. Part of preparing for this is helping patients get their affairs in order. Emergency plans so to speak. Who to call on, what can folks do to help, advance directives etc. All the stuff we like to put off. So I am hoping this will be a good home work assignment with max benefits.

Which leads me to the next thing. I am having surgery on right hip (2nd replacement) October 19th. I will be in longer this time. Feel free to visit as the blog will direct you when is good time and where I am etc. Doug will keep you abreast, as you know, with his humor. You have his cell and can reach him if needed. The hospital also will tell you where I am. We are going for a private room but I may not get one??? It depends on the day. Mondays are usually pretty good days to get private rooms. Many patients leave on Sundays or over the weekend. So I am hanging pretty well. People have asked if they can help or visit? Douglas will be here. He can always use help in the food department grocery shopping, soups and comfort food while I am in and after I get home. Easy things to heat up and fruit, nuts etc. Beer. Just kidding, well, not really, It takes the edge off I am sure. I will be well cared for with home nursing and Douglas. If I need anything I will let you know. There may be garden work and food to harvest for those of you who like that type of work and healthy food to take home. I am always up for a good book to read-borrow too and relaxing music especially cello. Movies are always good too.

I would like to share a quote my friend Chris sent me by Sir William Osler (1849-1919) when asked the secret to a long and full life? "Contract a chronic, terminal disease and take care of it". Odd quote but you get the point. In class last week a nurse made an observation and commented on how some patients seem to see lupus as a gift and I totally agreed. It forces one to take stock in their lives a bit more than healthy folk. One has to live healthier more vibrant lives to survive. It is a strange gift with many miracles and to "Take care of it" means to heal the deeper parts of ourselves. In this way we leave the earth with a little more wisdom had we not been forced to take care of it. Good Karma !!!!

Time has come

The UM Lupus Education-Support Program was a success. I feel we had just the right amount of patients and "educators". It was a night which may end up being the first of many or it will be it's "Fall Series" as it it is and that is all? In any direction I am feeling very fulfilled by the looks on the people's faces as they heard words of hope ans support. I saw people feel a kin-ship to one another and an exchange of numbers. This is all good. I also spoke with two women who are focused on the areas of health disparities or the under served in health care. The fact is that people of color, especially African Americans, have a higher prevalence of lupus than white Euros, YET, they often do not get diagnosed due to lack of medical care within inner cities and rural areas. When I say "Those" it makes me cringe like you can not imagine. It makes me sick to say that if you are black in a large city with little income or poor in a rural area you may not have insurance or the ability to find a Dr. to help you find a diagnoses, which is very, very , very expensive !!! That word is in and of itself a fear mechanism to tell people who do not have insurance an opportunity to NOT get that health check up or labs to see why they may feel sick. It is well known that education and health care is at a low spot when it comes to people of lower income, single mothers, single fathers, rural farmers, youth who are in school with young children, elderly who do not have helpers, Blacks, Native Americans, The poor and Homeless, Latinos and all those "Others" who have no insurance or the ability to get health care for whatever the reason. Many middle income whites in the "Burbs" are feeling the same issues. it is a problem we all face. I saw this more so than ever and I want to do something yet feel helpless. Some folks will fall through the cracks and that Su__s. I feel hope because we touched a few and they will touch a few and so it goes. It seems to me the way to health-well being and peace is through offering it to others while staying true to our own highest health and well being. We all do our part!

On that note my honey is home (happily) and I am cooking and plucking from the garden and getting ready to embark on a canning experience from the harvests. Lord let me not poison. I have been very fearful of canning and so I have done pickling and other forms of preserving.........But now I venture into what I knew as a child. Canning. The freezer has been our friend and now I must put up cans of food in the cellar. I feel a need to know and accomplish this as an adult. As a child I only did the "work" not the actual cleaning, preparing,sanitizing etc.
I promise not to give Christmas-Solstice presents if they are not totally safe. You probably will get something with alcohol or vinegar. SAFE!!

Be Well !!!!

The sun also rises

Today is the first in a six series lupus education-support program at UM Hospital coordinated by me and retired Dr. Dale Dedrick who also has lupus. I cried last night because I was so moved by the phone calls and emails from patients and parents of youth who have been diagnosed who are not only coming, but 6 from Flint! This warms my heart. All it takes is helping one person and paying that forward. Three of the Dr;s-researchers will speak about advances, research, our clinic and more. The next three will be taught by Dale and I. The last two by a PT, Beth Wiggert and Nurse Claudia Ogden. Attached is a flyer for those of you desiring to come. I am so happy years of hard work paid off and people kept saying I would never get into the UM hospital system with out a medical degree. Showed them.

Still in small flare and laying low. I am a bit weak, fatigued and shaky. Doug busy too but well.

University of Michigan Lupus Education and Support Program

The Fall Series of the University of Michigan Lupus Education and Support Program begins September 3, 2009, from 6:00 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. at the University of Michigan Health System on the 3rd floor of Taubman across from Reception D in the offices of Internal Medicine, Kelly Conference Room. Follow signs.

This series will be on the first and third Thursdays from September 3^rd to November 19^th intended to provide educational information and support to patients and families with Lupus.

Some of the topics included during this program include:

• Sept. 3rd: "Lupus 101-The Basics" Dr. Dale Dedrick and Angela Madaras, Lupus Program Coordinators: Speakers include: Dr." Joseph McCune, Patricia Cagnoli and Wendy Marder from The U-M Lupus Program-Clinic.
• Sept. 17th "Best Daily Life" Dr. Dale Dedrick and Angela Madaras, Lupus Program Coordinators. Positive tools for living a full-balanced life.
• Oct. 1st "Avoiding Flares" Angela Madaras and Dr. Dedrick.
• Oct. 15th "Living With a Flare" Dr. Dedrick and Angela Madaras.
• Nov. 5th "Exercise for All Levels of Activity" Physical therapist from the U-M Spine Clinic, Beth Wiggert.
• Nov. 19th "Stress Management" U-M Holistic Nurse, Claudia Ogden with UM Lupus Clinic. Dress comfortably.

Registration Fee:

There is no registration or fee for participating in this program. Snacks and drinks will be provided at the first and last meeting; however, participants can bring food or drink with them to the program. A peer-support meeting is encouraged for participants who want to continue the meeting at the U-M Cafeteria after the sessions or on their own.

Parking:

Parking is available in Taubman Center Lot A at the U-M Health System where participants can enter through the elevators to third floor or through the main entrance with signs directing to the room. Valet parking is available at main entrance for $5.00. Wheel chairs are also available at main entrance.

For more information please contact Angela Madaras at (734) 761-9267, by email at angelamadaras@gmail.com, or on the web at www.med.umich.edu/lupus.

Please sign the attendance list before you leave and include contact information and your address-email if you wish to be on our mailing list. In the event the classes get too large and need to move to another room we need a way to reach you by phone or email.