Ninja and I drove to Kelowna this week to meet my neurologist. Along the way we saw a big truck that had 2 Canada flags flying and 2 signs. 1 said F*** Trudeau and the other said Fight For Freedom. The whole thing completely confounded me. The Canadian flag is literally a symbol of freedom all over the world. The fact that someone could have a sign on his truck that swears against our country’s Prime Minister… Is in itself, freedom. It is mind blowing to me.
Thankfully the Winter Olympics began this week as well! Seeing my country’s flag fly proudly among all of those other nations brought back my overwhelming feeling of patriotism. Ninja and I watched the opening ceremonies with the Girls and we talked about each of the countries. Especially those that aren’t free. Those that don’t allow women to go to school. Those that don’t allow people to practice their religion freely. Those that don’t allow people the freedom to speak up against their leaders. The countries that don’t actually elect their leaders! We talked about what freedom means and what freedom truly is.
We are so lucky to live in the country we live in.
In a country where I can get 2 MRIs and a meeting with a neurologist within 4 weeks! And none of those things were paid for out of my own pocket! None of those things made me choose between my children’s academic future, my mortgage and my health.
I liked my neurologist! He was straight to the point, found me funny 😜, and was positive and hopeful. It was weird to see pictures of my brain although Ninja used the word scary instead of weird 😆. The Dr. felt strongly that I have relapsing remitting multiple sclerosis which made Ninja and I breathe a big sigh relief. That gave the Doc a chuckle because MS is progressive. It never goes away. It is something I will have to manage for the rest of my life… Unless they find a cure! To be honest, I wouldn’t be surprised! The treatments have come so far since my Mom was diagnosed! In fact, the medicine my Mom used, which was experimental at the time, is almost never used anymore! The treatment he suggested for me would be an aggressive treatment that would use a monoclonal antibody infusion every 6 months. The hope would be that after this flareup, I would learn to deal with whatever permanent damage was done during this time but hopefully with the treatment, new flareups would be few and far between and hopefully would be nonexistent moving forward.
The only drawback of this type of treatment is that it is an immune blocker. Therefore, if Covid mutates and a new variant is introduced that needs a new vaccine… My body wouldn’t necessarily benefit from a vaccine. Or in other words, vaccines won’t work for me in the future. This isn’t a big deal as long as there are no new variants and no new pandemics in the next 40-50 years 😳😂.
Check out How Was Your Week, Honey? Episode #262: Ommm HERE! This week, we realize that a calmer existence is necessary for our future. Topics: a big scare, couple’s podcasts, Neurologist, booster shots, 🇨🇦 convoy, Spotify, Kane, Hockey update, & MS.
Ninja has been cooking us up a ton of healthy and delicious dinners while I have been resting. I make a menu for the month and every week we discuss each meal and make a grocery list. He is getting SO good. I may just be obsolete after this flare up is said and done 😂. This was perfect! Our family loves stir fry but bottled sauces have so much sodium and they seem to be too spicy for the Girls. This is a great option especially of you use low sodium soy sauce! You could use fresh yaki-soba noodles or your favourite ramen noodles (without the sauce packet). You can also use whatever veggies you have in the fridge! Steak… ok! Chicken? yup! Even pork or shrimp! This is very versatile and perfect for a weekday meal!
Garlic Sesame Steak Stir Fry
Adapted from Damn Delicious
4 packages ramen noodles, seasoning packets discarded
1 tablespoon oil
1 pound flank steak, thinly sliced across the grain
1 bell pepper, sliced
1 carrot, thinly sliced
1/2 head broccoli, cut into florets
1 green onion, thinly sliced
1/4 cup soy sauce
4 cloves, garlic, minced
2 tablespoon brown sugar, packed
1 teaspoon sambal oelek (add more if you like heat!)
1 tablespoon oyster sauce
1 tablespoon ginger, grated
1 teaspoon sesame oil
In a small bowl, whisk together soy sauce, garlic, brown sugar, sambal oelek, oyster sauce, ginger and sesame oil; set aside.
In a large pot of boiling water, add noodles until loosened, about 1-2 minutes; drain well.
Heat olive oil in a large skillet over medium high heat. Add steak and cook, flipping once, until browned, about 3-4 minutes; set aside.
Stir in bell pepper and carrot to the skillet. Cook, stirring frequently, until tender, about 3-4 minutes.
Stir in noodles, broccoli and soy sauce mixture until broccoli is tender and the sauce is slightly thickened, about 3-4 minutes.
Serve garnished with green onion.
