It’s been fun…

You may have been wondering what I’ve been up to for the past month.  No, I didn’t overdose on barley bowls.  I was actually directing a blog re-design and migration project.  I hired the very talented Shane Boyce to create my new home on the web at www.lindsay-meyer.com.  Here you will find all 330+ blog posts (and 1100+ comments) categorized by food/recipes (“delicious”), life, travel, and creative.  You will also find gorgeous galleries of some of my best photography and a page of links to my favorite blogs.  The home page also has a ribbon of social media links so that you’ll never miss a beat (or a tweet!).

I have several new posts waiting to be read and commented on!
::: FIVE DOLLAR FALL DECORATING
::: STEVE’S APPLE STORE
::: HAUNTED SNACKS
::: FOODBUZZ FESTIVAL, TAKE 3
::: INSTAFOODBUZZ WELCOME
::: HAPPY TASTE BUDS

This is my final post from lindsaymeyer.wordpress.com and on December 1st, 2011, I will permanently dim out the lights from Life With Lindsay.  Please take a moment to update your RSS feeds to point to http://feeds.feedburner.com/LindsayMeyer.

When I started blogging in 2009, I never imagined what this might become.  Over 68,000 page views later, it’s on to the next phase.  Here’s to the next 100,000 hits!

Gnarly Barley Breakfast Bowls

There were 4.9 million metric tons of barley grown in the US in 2009.  In case anyone’s keeping score, that makes the US the seventh greatest barley producer on planet earth.  Barley has eight essential amino acids and can regulate blood sugar for up to 10 hours after consumption.

Good stuff, right?!

It turns out that barley makes an excellent “glue” for on-the-go breakfast bowls.  Scramble some egg with rosemary, toss in some dry roasted cherry tomatoes, and chop a bunch of bright green chives.

Add carmelized shallot…

smoked salmon for protein…

and a nice crumble of fresh farmer’s market cheese.  I like this creamy “Foggy Morning” cheese made by the friendly folks from Nicasio Valley Cheese Company.  They usually set up shop two stands away from my egg guy.  Aren’t these pretty eggs?  I like to buy brown eggs, mostly because those are the kind that Giada always uses on her Food Network show.  Priorities, people!

I’ve found that Sunday mornings are a great day to prep food for the week.  My recipe will partially fill five Ziplock Twist ‘N Loc 16 oz. plastic containers.  (Side bar: I LOVE these containers.  They don’t spill a drop!  And they resist tomato stains.  Come over and open my freezer and you will see that the SC Johnson company has profited handsomely from my patronizing of their plastic containers.)  Breakfast has become a brainless activity in the morning.  I grab a bowl from the fridge, warm it up on the way out the door, and dash out with a fork in hand.  Call me a distracted driver, but if I have to sit and suffer in traffic in the morning, at least I will have my barley bowl.  And at least that barley will get me a good 10 hours of glucose control.

Now that I’ve inspired you to embrace the benefits of barley bowls, here’s the recipe.  You’ll thank me later.  I know you will!

Gnarly Barley Breakfast Bowls

1.  1 c. dry barley
2.  3 c. water
3.  3 eggs, scrambled with salt + paper (optional: add dried rosemary)
4.  a few ounces of smoked salmon, sliced (I like the Whole Catch Alaskan smoked salmon available at Whole Foods)
5.  2 shallots, thinly sliced and carmelized in butter with a pinch of brown sugar
6.  1 pint of cherry tomatoes, sliced and dry roasted for 2-3 minutes with salt in a hot skillet
7.  1/2 a wheel of foggy morning cheese (or comparable)
8.  chives to your liking, chopped

To cook barley, bring 3 c. water to a boil.  Add barley (rinse it until the water runs clear) and simmer covered, on low, for 25 minutes.  Remove cover and allow remaining water to boil off (additional 5-10 minutes depending on humidity in your area, watch carefully to prevent barley from burning/sticking/drying out).  Add three wooden spoonfuls to each container or bowl until barley is evenly distributed.  Top with scrambled egg, smoked salmon, carmelized shallot, dry roasted cherry tomatoes, soft cow’s milk (foggy morning) cheese, and chives.  Serve warm.  Makes 5 bowls.  (I keep two bowls in the fridge to get through Tuesday and freeze the remaining three.  On Tuesday morning I transfer two more bowls from freezer to fridge, and on Thursday I move the last bowl into the fridge for Friday consumption.)

 

Baby Steps

Last Tuesday night, the evening that I came home acutely aware of my sudden deafness, I used a free Starkey iPhone hearing test to measure the extent of my hearing loss.

As you can see, the right ear was normal… and the left ear was a different story altogether.  But today, after noticing a pitch change in the tinnitus (ringing) and crackling sounds in my left ear (much like the old fashioned VCR static… if you can rewind your brain to the early 1990′s) upon being exposed to common sounds (like wind blowing through a car window) I bravely decided to try the test again.

You have no idea how excited these bar graphs make me.  I still can not distinguish any speech from my left ear (a Siemen’s iPhone hearing test confirmed that), but to see improvement makes me want to shout from the rooftop.  If you look closely at the gridlines, you will see that I went from 5.1 to 5.8 on low pitches, from 3.3 to 5.2 on mid pitches, and from 3.4 to 5.1 on high pitches.

Similarly, here is a plot of frequencies.  Last Tuesday my right ear was normal.  My left ear was a different case.  All frequencies (low to high) were poor, even at the loudest levels.

Now here’s tonight…

Again, you can observe the improvements across the board.  At 500 Hz, I went from a scaled score of 1.1 to 1.7.  At 1kHz, I went from a 0.4 to a 1.0.  At 2 kHz I went from 0.8 to 2.7 and at 4 kHz I went from 0.8 to 1.8.  By looking at the red band at the bottom, you can see that on three counts, I am still experiencing severe hearing loss, but that at 2 kHz I have made great progress.  (For reference, this is a 2 kHz sound…)

The improvements make me excited because if I don’t make a full recovery (and while I may sound pessimistic to admit this, I don’t reasonably expect to go from “profoundly” deaf to 100% recovered in this lifetime) I may be able to use a hearing aid.  It’s amusing to admit that the potential of getting a hearing aid at my age is exciting, but let me tell you, it sure would beat the alternative in the event that I don’t recover all of my ability to hear.  Profound deafness can not be aided by a device, which is part of why I felt so much despair and hopelessness after the initial diagnosis.  For analogies sake, I felt like my leg had fallen off without explanation and that the option of getting a prosthetic wasn’t even a possibility.

I really have no idea what’s helping in my situation.  It could be the steroids, it could be the variety of vitamins, the diet change, the rest/relaxation, the prayers, or simply the course of time.  Whatever it is that’s making this better, I selfishly hope and pray for more.  I have two more doses of steroids and a follow up ENT appointment on Wednesday afternoon, when the next seven days (and beyond) are likely to be plotted.

As for what might be to blame, I’ve been thinking about the doxycycline that I was on for a couple of weeks this summer when I was struck by a nasty gram-negative skin structure infection.  It wasn’t obvious to me that a drug I took three months ago could become ototoxic three months later (since presumably it has been completely eliminated due to an 18-22 hour half life) but some informal searching yielded an interesting post about the tetracycline family.

On the diagnostic front, I donated a nice nine vials of blood to the hospital lab this weekend and will be anxious to get the results.  My firm has again been outstanding through this ordeal, offering to foot the bill for my MRI (if insurance prior authorization was going to slow down the process).  I received insurance approval today, but somehow an “urgent” imaging procedure still has to wait for a week.  The women scheduling almost had me in tears.  I know it’s not always all about me, but it’s hard to wait an extra week when one is desperate for answers.

Alas, this experience has been one of intrepid growth.  Learning to navigate “the [medical] system” and seek solutions has been mentally exhausting and highly time consuming (I spent an hour today trying to process paperwork and receipts from the various visits I’ve been to in the last week).  It sure gives me a unique reference frame for seeking new efficiencies as a healthcare investment analyst.  But perhaps most importantly, I’ve also allowed myself to let down the front, talk about “feelings” and be scared in front of friends.  The support and messages of hope are really what is keeping me going through a tremendously tough time.  To everyone that has stopped by, baked banana bread, listened to me talk, replied to me on twitter and sent notes (and trust me, they are coming from near and far… including some from distant connections or total strangers), please know that I have saved every one of them.  I read them multiple times a day.

I suppose I shall end this update with an ironic anecdote.  Last Tuesday I received a call from the CEO of a biotech company in Oregon.  I met the company at a conference earlier this year.  The company is developing novel therapeutic peptides for treatment of… you guessed it, hearing loss.  Their science is new, exciting, and emerging.  And the timing of their call to poll for interest in joining an investment syndicate?  Man, they couldn’t have picked a more appropriate day.  I guess that proves that God has a sense of humor.

Jamming Out

The last post was kind of heavy, wasn’t it?  I will probably post another update in a few days, but in an attempt to lighten the mood a little, I think it’s time for a recipe…

After getting hipster in Minnesota a few weeks ago, I had. to. make. jam.  I wanted to do jalapeno jam (think spicy-sweet-savory-subliminal and most certainly inspired by a certain vendor at the Mill City Farmers Market) but I forgot to buy apple cider vinegar.  Raspberry-jalapeno jam it would be.  Armed with a $10 flat of perfectly ripe late-summer raspberries, I sliced and de-seeded five jalapenos.  Playing with pectin proved a bit of a new challenge and I have to admit that the first time I boiled my jars, half of the lids didn’t seal.

Alas, I made amazing jam.  I had a few warm spoonfuls after I had poured the contents of my batch into Mason jars.  It was sweet and bright, like ripe summer fruit.  The jalapeno added a soft warmth with beautiful contrast.  The texture was just right – soft to spoon and spread, but not the least bit runny.  I’ve been selectively passing it off to people who come over to visit.

It’s perfect on an almond-based cracker with a smear of lite cream cheese…

Raspberry Jalapeno Jam

1.  1 three-carton flat of farmers market raspberries, very ripe (about 2 c. of raspberries)
2.  5 jalapenos, de-seeded and finely diced
3.  1/2 tsp. unsalted butter
4.  2 cups of sugar
5.  2 tsp orange juice
6. 2 tsp of pectin powder (with associated amount of calcium water)

Wash and mash the raspberries.  Place in a Le Creuset (or other heavy boiler) with diced jalapeno, butter (butter helps to prevent foaming) and sugar.  Stir constantly on low heat until mixture boils.  In a small separate pot, combine orange juice, calcium water, and pectin powder.  Whisk vigorously on gentle heat.  The goal is to avoid the pectin forming gelatin-like clumps.  Once the fruit mixture boils, stir in the pectin mixture and boil for one minute.  Remove from heat and continue stirring.  The pectin should cause the mixture to thicken immediately.

Wash four half-pint Mason jars.  Heat a skillet with a few inches of boiling water and place jars mouth-end down in the hot water.  Remove, wipe away moisture and fill with warm jam.  Reserve 1/4″ on top.  Place a lid and a ring on the jar and seal tightly.  Repeat until all jars are filled.  Now boil a large pot with water and place jars in boiling water for about 15 minutes.  Remove and allow jars to cool on a towel.  Lids should pop inward as contents cool and a seal is formed.  If jars don’t pop, re-boil the mixture and try again with new lids (rings can be re-used, lids can not).  I found that my lids didn’t seal for over an hour, which was disconcerting.

Recipe will make 4 half-pint jars of jam, plus a few spoonfuls of leftovers for instant gratification

Now let your inner creative get and go to work on fun labels.  I had a raspberry stamp (yes, it’s true… I own fruit-themed rubber stamps) that I colored with watercolor pencils and labeled.  I sealed it on the jar with mailing tape (which makes for great laminate – I use it all the time) Plain brown parchment cut with wavy scissors and tied with twine was the finishing touch.  For cuteness, I had these little spoons from World Market that I tied into the twine.

Your friends will be happy to jam out with you… or to just enjoy the finished product!

Unplanned, Unexplained, Unfortunate

This is the post that I never planned to write.  Writing is one mechanism that I’ve used to cope with unplanned life events in the past, so I’m turning to it again as I struggle with what I characterized to a co-worker in an e-mail as “yet another unplanned, unexplained, and unfortunate events of my 25th year.”  Posting this publicly also allows family and friends to tune in for the full report, so here goes.

On Sunday morning I met some Notre Dame alums at Mt. Tam for a hike from the Mountain Home Inn to the West Point Inn.  On select Sunday’s throughout the year the West Point Inn hosts pancake breakfast.  On 9/11, a half dozen of us assembled around 8:30 am.  The drive up Mt. Tam was very foggy.  When I pulled into the parking lot (early) my left ear popped.  I tried to equalize it by swallowing, yawning, and plugging my nose while blowing.  I assumed that the issue would resolve when we finished hiking and I went back to the city.

Not one that deals well with things like a “plugged” ear, I laid down and took a nap, hoping that I’d be okay when I got up again.  No such luck.  When I awoke, I had tinnitus (ringing) in my ear.  I went to church and I couldn’t hear myself singing.  Very annoying.  I apologized profusely to Eileen (the Bay Area Admissions Counselor at Notre Dame) when I met her for dinner on Sunday night at Wayfare Tavern.  When I got home, I took a Claritin-D, hoping that the pseudoephedrine would help.

On Monday morning, I was concerned enough to call my doctor in SF to ask for a nurse consult.  They called back and asked me to make an appointment.  A nurse practitioner said I had tinnitus (duh!), gave me a prescription for a steroid nasal spray (Veramyst), and instructed me to continue the Claritin-D.  On Monday night I went to a SF Giant’s game with several partners in my office to entertain a limited partner.  At this point I still had tinnitus, but I had partial hearing in my left ear.  My right ear was totally normal.

On Tuesday I decided to consult an ENT.  Menlo Park Clinic, a few miles from my office, was able to accommodate me the next morning.  Meanwhile, the Veraymst and the Claritin were not helping, so I sensed something more serious.  When on a conference call, I realized I was completely deaf in my left ear.  I heard no sound – no dial tone – no conversation.  Later, a free Siemens hearing test I downloaded to my iPhone showed the same.  I had normal hearing in my right ear… and no hearing whatsoever in my left ear.  On Tuesday night I represented Notre Dame at a College Info Night in Oakland.  In the crowded gymnasium with considerable background noise, I strained to hear from my normal ear.  I couldn’t hear anyone standing to the left of my body.  I went home upset and went to sleep.

When Wednesday morning came around, I went right to the ENT.  He simply said that I should start prednisone 60 mg the next morning.  He scheduled a 3:00 pm hearing test at Pacific Hearing Service.  The test was about an hour long.  As suspected, the results came back as follows:

• Profound sensorineural hearing loss from .25-8kHz with no speech understanding.
• Normal middle ear function; mobile tympanogram with normal static admittance, peak pressure, and gradient.  Reflex testing was attempted but patient was extremely sensitive to vibrating sensation despite lack of auditory perception.
• Distortion-product otoacoustic emissions tested and absent from 1-6kHz, suggesting poor outer hair cell function at those frequencies.
• Patient was extremely sensitive to the physical sensation of loud sounds despite lack of auditory perception.

After the hearing test, I picked up my prednisone and headed to the city for a board meeting.  On the way, the ENT called to deliver the results.  He was neither optimistic or pessimistic, but rather noted that some patients re-gain hearing spontaneously (or with drugs) and some don’t.  Since I am in the “profound” category of hearing loss, the likelihood of recovery is diminished, particularly relative to someone with mild hearing loss.  I inquired about bloodwork and MRI, but he indicated that even the results would not change the course of action right now, which is prednisone.  Concerned about weight gain, acne, blood pressure, and blood sugar changes, I asked how long I would need to stay on oral steroids.  The doctor recommended a week to start, then another hearing test, followed by additional weeks if indicated.  Another option is direct intratympanic steroid injection.  This is over 500 times more costly than the oral meds, not to mention painful and not demonstrated to be any more efficacious.

Pulled over on the side of the road, I started crying.  People were staring at me, probably wondering what awful news I had just received.  I called my Dad to give him the updates.  He consoled me, admitting that the news gave him a “knot in the stomach.”

I managed to pull myself together during the board meeting and drove home a friend, admitting to her what was going on.  ”I feel like I am falling apart,” I admitted.  She expressed concern, offered to have dinner, and gave me a hug.  It was really kind and in that moment, it was a relief to have someone so caring.

At home, I e-mailed the partners I work for to explain what was going on and request Thursday and Friday as “work from home” days.  Worried about starting 60mg of prednisone and how that might make me feel, I wanted to be at home in my sweatpants.  I’m now on day #2 of the drugs and seem to be doing as well as could be expected.

My “fix-it”/”do something” personality type has made me thirst for information about idiopathic (unexplained) sudden sensorineural hearing loss.  I sought statistics about outcomes, literature comparing oral to intratympanic steroids, and other complementary therapies.  I called integrative medicine practices associated with CPMC and UCSF… both were booked until October.  Dismayed I sought out other alternative practices.  At 2:30 yesterday I drove across town to San Francisco Preventive Medical Group (SFPMG).   I paid out of pocket for a consult and came home with a litany of information on a low glycemic diet to stabilize my blood sugar as well as a hair mineral test.

The supplement schedule I was given is as follows:

• Cox2Tame (to decrease inflammation) – 3 at breakfast, 3 at dinner
• Wobenzyme (another anti-inflammatory) – 4 upon rising, 4 mid-morning, 4 before bed
• Vitamin E 400 (to work in tangent with the prednisone) – 1 at breakfast
• Vitamin B12 (for nerve regeneration) – 1 at breakfast, 1 at dinner
• Food-based Multivitamin – 2 at breakfast
• Vitamin D3 (a supplement I normally take) – 1 at dinner
• Calcium-Magnesium (another supplement I usually take) – 1 at dinner

My kitchen table is covered in bottles.  I feel like an apothecary!  I have no idea if these supplements are going to help, but I am willing to try.  The osteopath at SFPMG that I saw also recommended several blood tests:

• C-reactive protein
• Homocysteine
• CBC w/ diff
• Vitamin D
• FT3, FT4, TSH

Today I am going to visit my PCP, who will hopefully decide to order some bloodwork and possibly an MRI (to rule out acoustic neuroma).  On Saturday I will visit an acupuncturist.  I’ve put the wheels in motion for hyperbaric oxygen therapy, another alternative that has been used with some success.  The San Francisco Institute for Hyperbaric Medicine has treated some patients with sensorineural hearing loss and is familiar with the science.  I am waiting for a telemed consult via Skype and may be able to start oxygen therapy on Monday.  Studies suggest that if initiated within the first week, the treatment has the best likelihood of helping.

What I am struggling with more than anything is the unknown.  Will I ever again be able to hear from my left ear?  If not, how will that impact my life?  I realized on Tuesday that being in situations with background noise (essentially any group setting, or even at home when there are noises outside) renders me unable to differentiate almost any sound.  Part of my reason for sequestering myself a home right now is because being in public is challenging and scary.  It reminds me of what I’m facing… and I worry about how that spirals into other areas of my life.  How will I handle work events (including the upcoming Health 2.0 salon dinner that I mastermined), or social situations?  What will people think of me?  Will I be able to go to grad school, if I choose?  Will I ever be able to explore dating relationships if I can’t hear when I go out and find myself in social situations?  How will this affect my learning ability?  Am I going to be perceived as dumb, slow, or stupid?

I grieve the ability to hear, I detest the ringing that hasn’t let up for days, and I am just plain scared.  I am young.  25 year olds aren’t supposed to go deaf without explanation.  Why would God let this happen to me?  Why when everything else could be so right, could this be happening?  Why can’t we figure it out, treat it, make it better, make things okay?

I need to find something to hold onto that helps me stay optimistic.  The mind-body connection is something I believe in and right now my mind is overreacting to what my body is experiencing, leading to a crazy imbalance that is difficult to manage.  I’m mildly comforted by the stories and experiences of others, who admit that the psychological burden is tremendous.  I refuse to take anxiety meds, so I will try to do some yoga, go for walks, rest quietly and listen to relaxing music with my “good” ear.  Fortunately I am sleeping well.

If you find yourself asking what you can do to help, please know that I don’t “expect” anything from anyone.  The last few days have been, as the subject of this post suggests, “unplanned, unexplained, and unfortunate.”  Thanks for reading.