Update and Week 4 of Taking the "100 Days of Real Food" Mini Pledge (14 weeks)

Week 4: No fast food or deep-fried foods – No fast food or any foods that have been deep-fried in oil.

Normally this challenge would not be an issue, but this week it will be. The day this challenge starts (Mondays for me) we will be leaving for a 10 day stay at the hospital. 5 of those days we can stay on site at a hospitality house the hospital has. The rest will be spent either in limbo between home taking care of the minions, at the hospital (an hour from home), or sleeping at my parents' house (20 minutes past the hospital).

Ready to go to the cardiologist.

Wednesday was Shirley's cardiologist appt. They did a heart echo and noticed some changes as well as an obstruction in her heart. So we went from surgery being in another 4 months to being in 4-8 weeks. Shirley's cardiologist told us that he was going to review her case with the rest of the team and get back to us.

Later that night we received a call asking if we could come back into town to attend a surgical consult the next day.

Thursday afternoon for the surgical consult.

Thursday afternoon the surgeon came in and told us that things had progressed much quicker than anticipated. Shirley already took the medicine that helps with her valve. Her purple spells have become longer and harder to come out of and there were a few more things. The team felt that she was putting on weight well and they wanted to do the surgery soon. They felt it was in her best interests to not delay it. By soon they meant in 5 short days. The expected stay time is about 10 days.

Needless to say this was a bit unexpected. We went from shock to panic. The hospital Shirley will have her surgery at is an hour away by highway. What were we going to do with the other kids? This is pretty short notice. Luckily Julie was able to save the day again! She is able to cover 8 days of that time. We are extremely grateful. We don't have many options when it comes to people to care for the 5 other minions.


Back to the challenge:

With careful planning, we could meet this weeks challenge. Local meat (week 3) part would not come into play except for a meal, maybe 2. Although that was what we were doing anyway. I can still stay away form soda (week 2). I know The Elder won't. He likes his soda.

Another issue is storing things.  The hospitality house has a shared kitchen. I just don't want to be spending my normal amount of time in the kitchen when my daughter is in ICU (first few days) or then in her room. We can stay 5 days in the hospitality house. Then we can use my parents fridge to store meals for other days, but we will bring that days meals with us to the hospital.


Had I known sooner, I would have purchased some more Easy Lunchboxes. We have used them on car trips before and I know they stay closed and are sturdy. Although I think I will order some anyway and have them shipped to my parent house. I could use them for part 2 of our stay. In the mean time, we will use the few we have and pack larger containers with some food.



Now I need to figure out a meal plan that won't break the budget. I already hit budget with getting foods easier for my friend to prepare. My brain is drawing a blank. I figure I will use the salad bar in the cafeteria several times because it is an easy way to get fresh fruit and vegetables. I just don't want to often. We spent $50 a day eating while Shirley was in NICU when she was born. Not to bad, but it adds up. So does housing costs ($45 at the hospitality house, but we would rather pay it and be closer), and gas to and from my parents as well as home on days we need to go back to keep the kids covered near the end.

Tomorrow I hope to have a menu.