EXTRAORDINARY PIES

Long before sunrise one Thanksgiving morning many years ago, I pulled myself out of bed to bake pies, an apple and a pumpkin, for our dinner in the early afternoon. Sleepily, I mixed together filling ingredients, pumpkin, eggs, evaporated milk, sugar, spices and a little salt. As I poured the mixture into the shell, I noticed that it appeared a bit grainy. The leftover mixture went into a custard cup. After putting pie and custard cup into the oven, I went on to make the apple pie, cutting up apples, adding sugar, cinnamon and flour. The second pie went into the oven when the pumpkin pie was done. By 8 am, I had two lovely golden brown pies and my custard cup on the counter. The stuffed turkey was in the oven.

By that time my husband and four sons were prowling around the kitchen looking for food and threatening to eat my precious pies. Eggs, bacon and toast diverted them and filled up their stomachs for the moment. Somehow no one noticed the little custard cup that I had pushed way back to an inconspicuous corner of the counter. Since I had cleaned and straightened the day before, I was not too anxious to let our four sons play around the house all morning. My husband kindly volunteered to take them for a hike. They would all build up an appetite for the feast, and the house would stay neat.

I continued working on dinner preparations, glad for the calm of the empty house. When everything seemed under control, I decided to relax and have my snack before the guys came home. I took the still-warm pumpkin custard into the living room to eat while I read the paper. With a sigh, I sank down into a comfortable chair, opened the paper, and began to read. After a minute or two, I took a big bite of the custard. Immediately, I gagged, leaped up from the chair and dashed to the kitchen sink to spit the stuff out. It was so salty that it totally dried up my mouth and made me physically sick. After rinsing my mouth with copious amounts of water, I opened the sugar canister, and tasted a tiny bit of the contents. It was salt. I had put a cup of salt into the pumpkin pie and another cup into the apple pie. At 5 in the morning, salt looks just like sugar, but does not act like it. No wonder the raw pumpkin mixture looked gritty.

I was furious! All the results of my early rising and hard work were now being tossed into the garbage. And we had no dessert for our Thanksgiving dinner. Who in the world would fill the sugar canister with salt? It must have been one of our sons, thinking that this was a clever trick to play on Mom. When they returned from their walk, I immediately started grilling them all. The boys all looked so bewildered and innocent, that I began to realize they were not the culprits.

At that point, my husband walked in. “What? Salt in that canister? Yeah, I put it there. The opened bag of salt in the cupboard was beginning to leak and scatter salt all over. I thought you’d be impressed by my ingenuity.”

CARDIAC REHAB PERSON OF THE MONTH

As the person of the month, I was asked to write up my story. Here it is:

I have never had a heart attack.

“So, why are you in cardiac rehab?” you might well ask.

In 2003 after breast cancer surgery, chemotherapy and radiation on the left side, I started on Tamoxifen. Less than a year later, I learned that I had endometrial cancer, fortunately not a metastasis of the breast cancer. A complete hysterectomy followed, and I was very relieved that this cancer had probably not spread. My breast cancer preventing medicine was changed to Arimidex.

Over time, I learned that chemotherapy, radiation and Arimidex could all damage my heart, and perhaps bring on a heart attack. Arimidex also tends to deplete bone calcium and sometimes causes arthritis. In fact, scans to measure my bone density have shown a significant decrease in the last few years. Exercising is a great way to build up one’s body, encourage bone growth, tone muscles, and strengthen the heart. Exercising by myself worked to some degree, but I often found myself “too busy” to follow a daily exercise routine. Basically, I needed help.

After finding a doctor who would prescribe it, I started attending Cardiac Rehab at Rapid City Regional Hospital in February 2006. The warm supportive atmosphere immediately encouraged me. The staff is great, always cheerful and helpful. It is comforting to know that professionals supervise our activities and that medical help can be immediately available.

Exercising with a super group of friendly people is a real plus. Some are an inspiration through their determination and hard work. Others help keep the mood light with jokes and stories. We are all on a mission to live healthy lives. On the days when I do not feel like going, knowing that I will be among friends motivates me. At the end of each session, I always leave invigorated, cheerful and limber.

Another great benefit we have in the Cardiac Rehab program is our weekly cardiac yoga session with Karla. Yoga serves to calm and center my thoughts through relaxation techniques and to increase range of motion through gentle stretching and a variety of poses.

Hopefully this exercise, weight lifting and yoga routine will help lengthen my life. Certainly, it adds to my quality of life every day. No one can ask for more than that!