Richard's Adventure - The Sequel

I didn't expect to be posting a sequel to Richard's Adventure, but here it is.... Thursday afternoon, Richard complained of not feeling well and had a slight fever late Thursday night. Friday morning when we got up, he was still feeling bad and had a fever of 101.4. We got a little concerned that there might be some type of complication from his appendectomy earlier this month. Richard called his surgeon and explained what was going on and he recommended that he be brought to the hospital for a CT scan to see if there was an abscess or leak in his intestines. We made the drive to Troy and had the CT scan done and everything was clear, nothing on the CT scan. His doctor ordered some blood work, a flu test and a strep test to rule those out. After a couple of hours, we found out that Richard's white blood cell count was extremely elevated and that he was going to be admitted back to the hospital. At this point, they had ruled out the flu and strep, but didn't know if it was his gallbladder or an infection called C.diff. After being admitted to the hospital and having an ultrasound done, they were able to rule out his gallbladder and decided that it was a gut infection caused by the bacteria Clostridium difficile. They started him on IV antibiotics and fluids to get him re-hydrated and to bring his fever down. Luckily, the antibiotics started working and we were able to get Richard discharged from the hospital and are now home recovering. He will be on a course of antibiotics for the next ten days and we are crossing our fingers that everything will be back to normal by then! We really and truly appreciate all the thoughts are prayers for Richard through this rough patch!!

Balsamic Pork Chops

Richard and I both love trying new recipes and this is one of our recent favorites. It is quick and easy and tastes great!!

Balsamic Pork Chops

Ingredients:

• 1 (6.2 0z) box quick cooking long-grain and wild rice mix
• 3 TBSP all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp chopped fresh rosemary
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp pepper
• 6 boneless pork loin chops (3/4 inch thick)
• 2 TBSP butter or margarine
• 2 TBSP olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves, pressed
• 1 (14 oz ) can chicken broth
• 1/3 cup balsamic vinegar

Directions:

• Cook rice according to package directions and keep warm.
• Combine flour, rosemary, salt and pepper. Dredge pork chops in mixture.
• Melt butter and olive oil in large skillet over medium-high heat; add garlic and saute for 1 minute. Add pork chops and cook 4 minutes on each side or until golden. Remove pork chops from skillet.
• Add broth and vinegar, stirring to loosen particles from bottom of skillet. Cook for 6 minutes or until liquid is reduced by half. Add pork chops and cook 5 minutes or until done. Serve over rice.

We used dried rosemary instead of fresh rosemary and we used garlic powder instead of garlic cloves. We also had balsamic vinaigrette dressing in the fridge, so we used that instead of balsamic vinegar.

We had lima beans and a Sister Schubert roll to go along with the pork chops. It made a wonderful dinner!!

Recipe complements of Southern Living Quick and Easy Weeknight Meals.

Richard's Adventure

Last Friday was an unusual day, that we were not expecting, to say the least! Richard and I got up that morning and were getting ready for work, as usual, when Richard complained that his stomach was hurting. We just assumed that it was something that he had eaten and finished getting ready and went to work. That afternoon, I got a phone call from Richard saying that he was in so much pain that he was leaving work. And to make a long story short, he ended up having emergency surgery to have his appendix taken out at the hospital in Troy!! After a couple of days in the hospital, lots of IV antibiotics and pain medications, he was discharged to come home on Sunday. He has a total of 13 staples in his stomach, which will be removed on Monday. He is getting better and better each day! We were very fortunate to have had a wonderful doctor and great nurses that took good care of him while at the hospital. We are so thankful for all the thoughts and prayers that went up for Richard!