Calling all cooks, prep-cooks, chefs!

Holly here...
I know it's been awhile since I've posted anything! Like my Mom said, it's been kind of hectic around here with all of us still working and trying to help out where we can.

I know a lot of you have expressed interest in possibly making dinner/dishes to bring over for us, but need to know the "rules" on what my Dad is allowed to have. I thought I would post these guidelines and a recipe website my Mom found to be helpful in planning meals.
I know that it would be such a relief for my Mom if she didn't have to cook for my Dad every night - even getting 1 night off a week would be great. If you're not a cook, can you slice vegetables?? :) Believe it or not, this is the most time-consuming thing right now. Dad has to have a lot of raw vegetables in his diet, so we go through a ton every week.

Here's a great recipe website www.hacres.com. Although, I still usually have to verify that the recipe doesn't have anything on the "No" list.

The List:
He can have all fruits and veggies except cranberries - should be organic. He can now have fish 3-4 times per week. No halibut, king mackeral, marlin, pike, sea bass, shark, swordfish, tilefish, tuna & white croaker. He can have crab, lobster, scallops & shrimp. Whole grain products. Eggs are okay but should be organic free range. No white flour, white sugar, white rice, white bread, coffee. Nothing with synthetic chemicals, additives, preservatives or sugar. No dairy except organic whole milk yogurt and butter - no margarine. He can have rice, nut and coconut milk. Only oils he can have are olive oil, sesame seed oil, coconut oil and flaxseed oil. He can have a little bit of goat cheese. All nuts except peanuts. Nothing with vinegar or soy except soy lecithin. For "sweeteners" can have honey, real maple syrup, molasses or Stevia (truvia). No poultry, red meat or pork. No regular salt - must be natural mineral or sea salt. Other herbs & spices are okay. Pretty much organic whenever possible.

Please let me know if you're interested in bringing something over, or you want to come over and cook (we have a lot of the ingredients so you don't have to buy them)... or just want to help prep some stuff. We can coordinate what day works best for you and my parents.

As always... THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU for all your care and love. We still need it so much, and it still helps us get through the good days and, more importantly, the bad days.
Love-
Holly

Update Finally!

Sorry it has been so long since I last updated the blog. The past few weeks have flown by. It's been tough at times. Ric was struggling with some depression and fatigue along with everything else going on. He had some blood work done last week which showed his Vitamin D levels were really low and he was still anemic so now getting a boost of both Vitamin D and Iron. After a few days he could already tell the difference. He said his mind seemed so much more focused. He still gets tired but not as quickly. We spent a wonderful 4th of July weekend with a coworker & his girlfriend at their place near the Gorge. Went to the Rush concert - got to sit in the 5th row center stage which was awesome. Had a bonfire Saturday & Sunday nights- got to roast marshmellows and eat smores (not Ric so I ate his). We went for a very long walk thru Sunland, watched the Sunland fireworks show on Sunday night and went for a boat ride. We also ate alot - more than we had since before Ric was diagnosed with cancer. Holly, her boyfriend John and some friends of theirs were also there. Fortunately the weekend landed during the "off supplements" timeframe so we could really enjoy ourselves with no specific schedule. Got to sleep in which was fabulous. Oh those little things that we take for granted. We are both down to nearly "high school" weight with all of this craziness and change in diet. That relates to him losing nearly 30 lbs and me 12 lbs. I have way more energy than I have had in a long time. Ric has energy too but his comes in spurts and he naps alot but then with his body fighting the cancer in his liver you would expect that. We were both really struggling the last couple weeks as he wasn't feeling too great. I was of course worried about him and getting stressed out. But finding out what was going on really relieved so much pressure on both of us. The relaxing & super fun weekend that made life seem "normal" really helped us both physically & mentally. We are both more focused, optimistic and energized. I know we'll have bumps in the road but we know that we will get through it. You'd think after being married for nearly 33 yrs you would really know each other but we are still learning about each other. This whole thing just puts you into a much different stage of your relationship and you really learn to appreciate each other so much more. So something else that we can pass on to you is to not take each other for granted. In one quick moment your whole life can change and the things you thought were "big deals" are nothing when one of you is fighting for your life. Our 33rd Anniversary is coming up on July 15th. We haven't decided what we are going to do as we just have to take each day at a time. I do know that if Ric is feeling up to it we will be going out to dinner so I won't have to cook :) Oh the Doctor said Ric is to have more fish - he can now have it 3-4 times a week. That made him happy cuz he loves fish! Oh one other happy moment to share - since Ric can't have white flour and only olive oil, sesame oil, coconut oil or flaxseed oil, he has been unable to have flour tortillas. So I finally found a recipe that uses coconut oil and whole wheat flour! And they actually tasted pretty good. Of course there is nothing like a homemade hot flour tortilla but this is the next best thing. We cannot thank you all enough for your prayers, love, support, visits, and all the things you do for us. We are so very blessed to have you all in our lives and we absolutely love you all more than you will ever know!