Saturday, July 18, 2009

Sunday Dinner, July 19, 2009 & Update On Lamar's Eye

Another week has flown by and it's time once again for my Sunday Dinner post. And once again, I feel like a fraud because I'm not cooking again this week.

My church is having breakfast before Sunday School in the morning and I have to cook something for that. I'm thinking I'll take the stuff to make cream gravy and make it after I get there. I can't stand cold, gloppy gravy and the only way to keep it hot would be to put it into the crockpot. And I'm not so sure that it wouldn't be icky from setting in the crockpot and sticking to the sides, so I'm just not going to go there.

Anyway, since most of my crew will be eating breakfast at church, I'm not sure how many of us will be all that hungry for lunch anyway, so I'm not cooking. If we're hungry after church we can go out to eat somewhere and everyone can choose their own menu according to how hungry they are by then.

So, what are your plans for Sunday Dinner? Just leave a comment sharing your plans or menu if you'd like.I chose that corn graphic for my Sunday Dinner button this week because we've been blessed with lots of fresh garden produce lately, including fresh sweet corn. So far we've been given sweet corn, tomatoes, green beans, onions, okra, green bell peppers, yellow summer squash, cucumbers, and I'm sure I'm forgetting something else.

One of my very favorite things to do with fresh sweet corn is to make this delicious CORN SALAD. A friend shared her recipe with me several years ago and I've adapted it to my own tastes. It's quick, easy, delicious and refreshing, especially on a hot Summer's day.

I made a huge bowl of corn relish on Tuesday night using fresh sweet corn, tomatoes and green bell peppers, all given to us by friends and family. If I do say so myself, it was yummy! And that huge bowl of corn relish is now history, because I finished off the last of it about 11:30 pm Friday night as a snack. Yum!I can't type this post without making mention of the wonderful, unseasonably cool weather we've been enjoying for the last several days. After some thunderstorms and desperately needed rain during the middle of the week, a cold front has descended upon us and cooled us down considerably.

After several weeks of 100F+ temps and near 100% humidity with no rainfall, we're now enjoying low humidity and highs in the low 80'sF, and near record nightly lows. Our low here today was 61F, and the record is 58F, so tonight we may break that record. Today's high was 80F and it almost felt like a Fall day. Can't ask for much better than that for July in Arkansas.

Thank you, Lord, for your blessings!Now, for the update on Lamar's eye.

We saw the retina specialist from Memphis yesterday at the Jonesboro office. He told us that Lamar's eye is looking much better from the overall health standpoint. The swelling is gone and the optic nerve is completely back to normal, and the inflammation is all gone.

Dr. Meyer talked to the infectious disease specialist himself and got all the particulars from the bloodwork that was done to test for various infections. They found no sign of any kind of infection in Lamar's blood so that's good, and now we know for sure that the infection that attacked his eye to begin with has run its course and is no longer a threat to him.

However, we'll probably never know what caused the infection.

Lamar is still taking prednisone by mouth but is being gradually weaned off it, and is now only using prednisone drops in his eye to help with residual blood in his eye from the original hemhorrage. At this time it looks like the blood in his eye is what's clouding his vision, and if it eventually resorbs into the tissue of his eye he should get most if not all his vision back in that eye.

It's just too early to tell and time is what's needed now to see if the blood will resorb on its own. We go back to Dr. Meyer in 3 weeks so he can assess Lamar's eye again. According to how much the blood is resorbing or not, Dr. Meyer may do a procedure with a needle to try to draw some of the old blood from the eye to try to restore Lamar's vision.

So now we watch and wait some more, but we're very thankful that the worst seems to be over and that Lamar may eventually have some if not all the sight restored in that eye.

Many, many thanks to all who've prayed for Lamar during this time. You'll never know how much we appreciate your prayers, love and friendship, and I pray you're blessed a thousand times over for your kindness toward us.Potty training is progressing with Miss Emmy, some days with more success than others. I have her with me Wednesday, Thursday and Friday from around 10 am to 6:30 pm. Some days she never has an accident at all, and some days it's a little harder for her to make it to the potty in time. We've only been seriously trying to potty train her for a couple of weeks, so I know she'll improve with practice. Wish us luck and success!There's a possibility MY SISTER DONNA and I may go camping soon, but it's not a done deal yet. We didn't get to go to GUNNER POOL at all last year and we're both champing at the bit to get away for a while. Since I only have Emmy Wed.-Friday that leaves us Sat.-Tues. to get there, set up, camp and get back home. Too bad we couldn't have gone this weekend while it's so unseasonably cool, but maybe we can go soon. Stay tuned for further developments on that front.And now I'm gonna get this posted and see about our Saturday supper. I think we're having fried egg sandwiches, and I also have some garden ripe tomatoes, so I think one of my sandwiches will be sliced tomato with mayo on toast. My egg sandwich will be on toast too, but Lamar won't eat a sandwich with toast, the cretin. ;o)Y'all have a great weekend. May God richly bless you by meeting all your needs, and may you have enough to share.

16 comments:

Pyjama Diva said...

Let's get to the most shocking thing from your post first - Lamar won't eat a toasted sandwich? Honey, there just aren't any words. Seriously. Cretin doesn't begin to describe such deviant behaviour. ;)

Great news about his eye, though. Well, comparatively great, but you know what I mean. Hopefully the blood will reabsorb quickly now and then this whole incident can be relegated to the history book once and for all.

Have a great Sunday and enjoy your breakfast with the rest of your church community. Long may your cooler temps continue, too!

xxxooo

Dana~Are We There Yet? said...

YAY Lamar's eye, Emmy's potty training and cooler temps! Oh, and CORN! My all-time favorite food, and now I have a snazzy new corn salad to try. Once again, Diane, you've made my day!

XOXO!

Mary said...

Diane,

I'm glad you are going to get a break from cooking Sunday dinner. You certainly deserve it.

The corn salad sounds delicious. Our sweet corn should be coming on pretty soon. I can hardly wait. I love it.

I hope you and your sister get to go camping. That would be great. We all need to get away sometimes.

I'm so glad that Lamar's eye is healing. I will pray that he won't have to have that needle. *ouch*

Have a wonderful Sunday, my friend.
Blessings,
Mary

Lucy Stern said...

Oh Diane, I am so glad that Lamar is doing so well.... Great news... Let's hope the blood in his eye absorbs quickly so that he doesn't have to get the "needle"....

Looks like a great corn salad, I'll have to try it. Sounds like you are getting some wonderful produce to eat. Eat fresh while you can..

Sounds like Miss Emily's potty training is coming along... I know it's a "somedays chicken and somedays feathers" deal... Good luck.

I hope you and Donna get a chance to go camping soon. The water in that picture looks so clear, I bet it is beautiful in person... Have fun... I'll be having some camping time with my brother and two sisters in about three weeks...I'm looking forward to it.

Enjoy you breakfast with your church group tomorrow and just take it easy... I don't blame you for not wanting to cook... Who wants to heat up the kitchen when it's so hot anyway....And what's the deal with all that cool weather. We are still in the very high 90's down here... I would LOVE some of that cooler weather. We did actually get about 10 minutes of rain this afternoon...

Have a great week and tell Lamar I am excited about his eye...Wonderful things happen when people are praying. Have a great week.

Rachel said...

We are blessed with those cooler temps too!! Ain't it wonderful!! I've lovin these cooler days and nights.

I'm glad Lamar has good news about his eye. That needle to draw the blood out doesn't sound very pleasant, especially talking about eyes! OUCH!

I have no clue as to my dinner tomorrow. I am a spur of the moment decider usually!

Hugs and love,

Rachel

Barb said...

I'm so glad to read this news about his eye, Diane. It sounds to me like he's going to get all his vision back. It may take a while for the residual blood in his eye to be absorbed, but what a blessing that he probably isn't going to have permanent loss of vision.

Your weather sounds like heaven. I swear, it's so hot here in western Colorado we can hardly breathe. I burned the bottom of my feet today when I stepped on the rubber grass doormat outside my back door. That's too dang hot and I'm very ready for some relief.

Happy new week to you, sweet friend.

Dawn said...

Wow, that's pretty amazing news about Lamar's eye. Thank the Lord.

I am looking forward to good corn and tomatoes - so far nothing local, so not that great.

I am going to our annual church district convention tomorrow, so won't be fixing lunch. I don't know what we'll do, but it won't be from my kitchen.

Feisty is still struggling with potty issues because of so many UTIs. We are at our wits' ends.

Aunt Jenny said...

Such good news about Lamar's eye!! And no toast for sandwiches!!!??? hmmmm I just don't have words for that. I LOVE sandwiches on toast!
We are having pot roast and veggies in the crock pot tomorrow. I will either make bisquits or cornbread to go with it.
I think we have your 100+ weather now. It has been HOT here..today 105!UGH. It does cool off some at night though. I still like fall weather alot better...haha
That corn salad looks yummmy!
take care and have a great week!!

Mother Mayhem said...

The Old Gray Mare and I make a yummy Mexicali Corn Salad whose recipe came from our mom. MMM

SO happy that you received good news about Lamar's eye! Still praying! :o)

Gigi said...

Hope you enjoyed your church breakfast this morning, Diane! And thank you for sharing the wonderful news about Lamar's eye - that is cause for praise!!

I hope you have a blessed week...I know you're enjoying Miss Emmy so much!

MightyMom said...

I got a corn dip recipie that is just lovely...with chili cheese fritos no less.....

Carole Burant said...

We experienced 80 degree temps for about a week and that's it! lol For the last two weeks it's been raining and in the low 60's...not the normal July temps at all. Today the sun is shining and it's supposed to go up in the low 70's so I'm happy:-) Just finished hanging out 2 loads of laundry on the clothesline, first time I can do so in a couple of weeks!

Soooo glad to hear the news about Lamar's eye. It's scary how many viruses and infections we can get without knowing from what or who! Such a relief, though, that his blood tests showed no more infection. Prayers continue that he eventually gets his full sight again.

I had toasted bacon and tomatoe sandwiches for dinner last night. Had a big brunch with June in the morning so I still wasn't really hungry! lol

Take good care of YOU my friend. xoxo

Unknown said...

Diane: This is the best news onLamar I have heard in a long time. That prednisone is nothing to mess with and I was glad to see it will be weaned off very gradually. Prayers and Love and Friendship flowing to you this morning for a total restoration of sight in Lamar's eye! :D)

violetlady said...

Glad your weather has cooled off and also, most of all, that Lamar's eye is getting better. What a load off your mind, I am sure.

Jess said...

Great news about dad...and lunch was good. Guess I will talk to you tomorrow sometime and update you on where we are in life....LOL

It was weird not seeing you today.

Love you,
Jessica

Boo-Bah AKA Iris said...

Well that is good news about Lamars eye. It sounds as though the chanced of regaining his vision is good. I will keep him in my prayers.

Sounds as though Emmy is keeping you busy. Good luck with that potty training.

When I was little I used to always have tomato sandwiches on toast with mayo. and lots of pepper.

Iris