Inside HBC

Any Fruit Pie

I love getting fruit boxes for the holidays, but sometimes I just can’t eat it all fast enough. Here’s a great little pie that you can make using apples, pears, plums, figs… In fact, if you have a variety of fruits, make a variety pie!

Make an Almond Flour Crust, and while its cooling, prepare your filling:

• About 4 cups of sliced of fruit (sweet)
• 1 lemon (sour)
• 2 TBS butter, melted (sweet)
• 1 tsp cinnamon (bitter, pungent)
• 2 tsp stevia powder or 20 drops of stevia liquid (sweet)
• 1 tsp arrowroot powder
• 1/4 tsp salt (salty)

1. In a small bowl, mix cinnamon, stevia, arrowroot powder, salt.
2. Cut up your fruit into 1/4 inch slices until you have about 4 cups. Place fruit into a medium sized bowl and squeeze lemon over it. Gently toss.
3. Drizzle melted butter over the fruit, then the spice mixture. Toss gently again, then pour into the pie crust and bake in a 375 degree oven for 40 – 45 minutes.

Let pie cool. Serve with freshly whipped cream (add 1/4 tsp of vanilla or almond extract for a nice flavor surprise).

Cinnamon and Cardamom Scones

These scones are nice on a chilly morning with a cup of tea. The yogurt chips are a sweet surprise, but they would be equally delicious without them if you are trying to cut down on sugars. Enjoy!

• 1 cup GWF Baking Mix (sweet, salty)
• 1 cup rolled oats (generous) (sweet)
• 6 TBS chilled salted butter, cut into squares (sweet)
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon (pungent, bitter)
• 1/2 tsp cardamom (pungent, bitter, sour)
• 1 TBS grated orange rind (bitter, sour)
• 1/2 cup white yogurt chips (sweet)
• 1 beaten egg (sweet)
• 1/3 cup cream, buttermilk or soy milk (sweet)
• About 1/8 cup oat flour for kneading (sweet)

1. Heat the oven to 375 degrees F.
2. Mix the GWF baking mix and oats in a large bowl.  Cut in 6 TBS butter (an electric mixer makes it easy, but a fork works fine as well).  The lumps should be about pea-sized. Add dried spices.
3. Combine the milk and the beaten egg, and then add to the flour mixture along with the yogurt chips.  Mix until combined.
4. Turn out onto a floured board and knead gently until the dough is a bit stiff, but not crumbly.  Cut dough into 4 sections and form into 4 balls.  Cut those into 4 pieces, and retain shape (a little wedge).  Place onto an ungreased cookie sheet and bake for approximately 20 minutes.
5. Transfer to a cooling rack, but do enjoy them warm with a dab of butter or Greek yogurt.  Yummy!

GWF Baking Mix is available at the Heavenly Bodies Clinic and through our online store.

Salt Sauna sessions

Today I started Valentino on salt sauna sessions. He has had a runny nose for two days and is sneezing up bright green phlem after his vest sessions. He was wheezing a tiny bit this morning so I figured it is time to start a sauna program in addition to his airway clearance vest and nebulizer treatments.

We began with a short 20 minute session in a sauna temperature of 120 degrees. Valentino was sweating a little bit by the end of our session.

At La Casa spa in NY, they run a salt sauna similar to the programs we run at HBC and have a great description of the many benefits of salt sauna sessions.

http://www.lacasaspa.com/spa-services/salt-sauna-3/

Today, Val and I brought a bag full of toys, a mini trampoline and plenty of water to keep us entertained and hydrated.

While I know that this therapy might be met with skepticism from the Western medical world, as long as Val stays hydrated I feel that salt sauna will greatly benefit his lungs over time. Regular sauna use has been proven to benefit the body and is commonly used, in particular, in Finland and Sweden. Because one of the complications with CF is that CFers lose lots of salt in their sweat, I need to make sure that Valentino stays very hydrated during his sessions in the sauna.

Exposure to salt has been proven to be extremely helpful to CFers so I am hopeful that the salt sauna sessions successfully help clean his lungs and keep him bacteria and infection free for as long as possible.

Many families have a rec room in their basement, a tv, video games, or lots of storage. We have chosen to build a sauna in ours and fill it with salt rocks.

The following is a quote about saunas taken from the book “In the North: Autobiographical Fragments of Norway, Sweden, Finland: 1936-1946.

“The sauna… Is an apotheosis of all experience: Purgatory and paradise; earth and fire; fire and water; sin and forgiveness. It is lyrical ecstasy. It is resurrection from the dead. It is eternal new birth… You are healed, you are made new.”

New Treatment with Airway Clearance Vest

Last week we were introduced to Valentino’s new part of his daily treatment regimine–the airway clearance vest. I met with a rep, Suzana, from Hill-Rom to learn how to use this crazy vibrating vest. Suzana was very thorough and helpful in answering all of my questions. I was so impressed that, for one of the first times, an experience with the medical system went smoothly and was very convenient to our life. Suzana came to our home and we had a relaxed and comfortable setting to learn about the latest, and potentially overwhelming, part of Valentino’s treatment regimine. As it turns out, the vibrating vest is pretty simple to use and Valentino is willing to comply with the treatment regimine as long as he gets to watch Elmo movies.

Valentino checks out his new contraption

Valentino is starting with 10 minutes at 10MHz and then 10 minutes at 12MHz (this is basically the speed or strength that the vest vibrates at). Suzana recommended the second 10 minute session at 14MHz. But, the vibration was so strong that Valentino immediately went into panic mode and started screaming and crying while desperately trying to unhook the vest. So, after that…..we decided to stick with going to a maximum of 12MHz.

Now, the question of where to put this huge machine with its long tubes attached to the vest?

I cleaned out my bedroom closet and it is now Valentino’s medical station. I have a cart on wheels in the closet. When it’s time for Valentino’s vest and nebulizing, I just roll the cart out, plug everything in, pop in a movie and away we go. We are using the nebulizer at the same time as the vest so that will really clear his lungs and get the albuterol into his lungs. So far it is early December and Valentino has not had a single cold or cough. His throat swabs have all come back clean from his specialist. I am so determined to get through this winter without any lung infections. (Of course, ALL parents of CFers share the same determination and sometimes the child still get a lung infection……).

Part of the determination to keep him healthy through the winter means that we can’t miss days of his therapy. Unfortunately, I already missed two days. When the specialists told me from the very beginning that it is so vital to make sure he gets his treatments every day…I was certain I would not miss a single day. And, I thought to myself, “WHAT kind of a parent would SKIP therapy?!?!” Oops. Yes. A busy parent. Here I am having blasted through two long days of work, school for Romeo, dinner for the kids, violin practice for Romeo, bathtime and bed without even giving Valentino’s therapy a thought. I bolted up out of bed completely frantic yesterday morning realizing two whole days had gone by without even remembering Valentino’s therapy.

Now I have a big piece of paper on the fridge with bold ink that says, “DO NOT FORGET VALENTINO’S VEST AND NEBULIZER TODAY”

I think that will do the trick.

surrounding Val with love during his 1st Vest session. November 2010