On Monday, I met with a lovely woman, Porter Young, who has had a child on the Ketogenic diet for 4 years. The Keto is different from the LGIT but, they are similar enough to get some great advice. Porter was a ray of sunshine and was such an encouragement to me. She gave me some great ideas on how to manage my time and plan out meals. I left her house (2 hours later) feeling energized and thankful I made a new friend. The best part was meeting someone who understood what this diet business is like, what it really means to make it happen day in and day out.
So after my meeting I revamped my plan. I knew there had to be a better way. I would guess I was spending an average of 2-3 hours a day on the diet. That is not sustainable. No matter what your system is, this takes time, but 14-21 hours a week is insane! Somehow I didn't have an extra 14-21 hours a week hanging around :)
I started my new system by using some of Porter's recipes. Once a week I'll crank out a 4-5 recipes that can be used all week. I called in a helper (Shaunna Kennedy), God bless that woman. We were like little worker bees in this kitchen. We got so much done and it was super duper helpful to have an extra set of hands. ((Side note: Shaunna's hubby, Sam, built our file cabinet for us the other day. The Kennedys are AWESOME and are really showing us the tangible love of God. Who knew a file cabinet and peanut butter balls could be such a blessing but, they are real gifts to us!))
Next, I bought loads of little tiny containers. Porter boxes up all of her daughter's meals for the day in one container or with rubber bands. So 50 new containers later, I was able to box up everything (except for drinks) that Oliver will consume for the next 4 days. Next, I calculated it all to make sure we had the correct amount of fat/protein/carbs and each day is "in balance"! I am really hoping that for the next few days I can relax? So all in all, if this works, it definitely saves time.
So yesterday I spent 4.5 hours on the diet. Whew! And that is with Shaunna's help! This thing is a beast however if I only have to do that twice a week that would be 9 hours instead of 14+
The hardest part of it all is that Oliver had 5 seizures yesterday. I can' t help but wonder if I did something wrong with the diet. (( Don't worry- You don't have to reassure me that I didn't make a mistake, it is ok, I probably did.)) I just have to give myself grace and spend more time on the phone with the dietitian. It stinks to feel like I might have "messed up" the medicine for Oliver. I know it is just part of the learning process and it will get easier.
As for those 5 seizures, we increased the Sabril this morning. The folks in Boston said it is too early to tell if the diet is working for Oliver and in the meantime we need the seizures to stop. Due to the seizures in the day- last night Oliver had a stomp party, on the hour, every hour. It sounded like a small elephant was doing a River Dance directly above our heads. Wish I had been in the mood for some Irish clogging. Surprisingly, I was not. When I went in his room at 4 AM, I opened the door and he yelled "Hi!" like it was 7:30 AM. Gotta love those toddlers :)
We're off to the eye doctor. Hoping for good news and a seizure free day :)
Let's end with some encouragement for the marathon:
May the God of hope fill you with ALL JOY and PEACE as you trust in Him, so that you may overflow with HOPE by the power of the Holy Spirit.
Romans 15:13
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