Day2

I woke up at 6:30am this morning on my own (after two visits to the bathroom in the night as usual) to get ready for a back pain doctor appointment at 7:30. The epidural nerve block I got three weeks ago didn't do much other than stop the muscle spasms and keep the pain from spreading down my legs, but the high-heel-to-the-right-lower-back pain is still there...or was. This time I got an SI joint injection and another shot further up. My pain diminished immediately! The doctor said the disappearance of pain was a good sign that we are dealing with a sacroiliac joint dysfunction, a mechanical problem. This may be aggravating the herniated disc, but the disc is not the source of the pain; the SI joint is. Yes, finally a diagnosis for my back pain!

Meds and water as usual before I left for my appointment, then breakfast at 9:30. I made a little frittata thing with ground beef, onion, garlic, mushrooms, broccoli, and eggs. I had another 12oz. of water to take the rest of my supps with breakfast. The kids wanted banana muffins, so I made some that are grain-free, dairy-free, and sugar-free (except for the natural sugar occurring in the bananas themselves), just in case I want a snack later. I'm too full to eat one now.

Vegan, Gluten-free, Sugar-free, Paleo Banana Muffins
- 3-4 ripe bananas
- 3/4 cup coconut flour
- 1/4 cup flaxseed meal
- 1 heaping tbsp. coconut oil
- 1 tbsp. vanilla extract
- cinnamon and nutmeg
- 1 tsp. baking soda
- 1 tbsp. apple cider vinegar

Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Mix all the ingredients together in a bowl, EXCEPT for the baking soda and vinegar; do these two ingredients last so that they react together to fluff up the batter a little.
Note: These muffins do not rise, so put as much batter in the muffin cup as you want.
This amount makes six large muffins.

Now, what to do today? It's raining on and off. Paint the birdhouses! That lasted about 45 minutes, so pretty good activity. I had one of those muffins at 11:30 - yummy as is...no need for extra sugar.

Lunch at 1:15 - three ham rollups with mustard and three turkey rollups with half an avocado and lettuce; Brussels sprouts on the side. I took a tramadol with 10oz. water for back pain (can't tell if it's just pain from the injection sites or if it's the SI joint again since the anesthetic has/is worn/wearing off).

Snack was Granny Smith apple with cinnamon, nutmeg, and coconut oil and an orange slice with a glass of water.

I'm attempting to make a whole chicken for dinner for the first time. I seasoned it with fresh parsley, salt, juice and peel from an orange, rosemary, and a generic chicken rub blend.

7:15pm - The chicken was a success! Well, almost. I seasoned and cooked it upside down. Ooops, minor detail. Still tasted awesome, and now I'm going to look up a bone broth recipe. I also sauteed some asparagus with garlic, olive oil, and ghee. Mike and the kids had mixed veggies and rice as well, but I skipped those. The veggies were high oxalate, and the rice, is, um, rice (grain). To drink, I had an 8oz. cup of coconut milk.

Missed my mint tea today, so I drank a cup at 8:00pm. This will probably keep me up to pee all night, but I needed something more to fill me up and soothe my tummy. Made some bone broth, which will be ready by tomorrow evening. Hope it's good!