Hospital Visit Again

Our weekend didn't end as well as it started.  Coming from an incredible spiritual high, Jessi spiked a fever as I was preparing dinner for our family and friends.  It definitely made a damper on an otherwise wonderful weekend.  After chatting for a minute with our physician friend, he suggested I call Jessi's GI Doctor since she was still experiencing severe GI problems.  I called, mentioned to him what was going on and he felt we should take her to the Intermountain Medical Center Emergency Room.  We quickly finished our dinner, which was actually breakfast food  (More on that later), Jeff and Luke gave her a blessing and I took her to the hospital.
Sunday night at the largest ER in the state is quite an interesting place to be.  There was lots of down time as we waited our turn for help, but after extensive laboratory work they found every thing to be normal, including the C Diff.  We were so afraid that it had reared its nasty head again, but thank heavens it is still gone.  They pushed a lot of IV fluids to relieve the dehydration which helped her feel immensely better.  Final prognosis is it is probably Post Infectious Irritable Bowel Syndrome or PI-IBS,  which occasionally develops after a severe bacterial GI infection.  She is still running a fever, though not as high.  We are still waiting for instructions on what happens now.  Unfortunately this can be persistent for a very long time.  Once again we are asking for your prayers in Jessi's behalf.

       She did have an elevated heart rate when we arrived at the hospital, but it slowly came down some as she was rehydrated.

 On Sunday I had decided since it was close to Halloween to have a different Autumn Menu than the typical Sabbath Dinner.  We had Gingerbread Pancakes with Buttermilk Syrup and Breakfast Casserole.  We have a neighborhood lunch once a month, and my next door neighbor did a brunch instead of lunch and this is what she served.  Here are the recipes for the pancakes and syrup and I used a basic breakfast casserole recipe that most people already have.

GINGERBREAD PANCAKES

1 1/2 C flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp. ginger
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 salt
1 egg
1 1/4 C milk
1/4 C molasses
3 TBL cooking oil

Stir all dry ingredients together.  Mix egg and milk until combined.  Beat in molasses ad oil.  Stir dry ingredients into liquid just until blended but slightly lumpy.  Cook on griddle.  Must serve with buttermilk syrup!!

BUTTERMILK SYRUP

1 tsp baking soda
1 C butter
2 C buttermilk
2 C sugar
1/2 C corn syrup
1 tsp vanilla

Combine all ingredients (except vanilla) in a big POT ( biggest you've got).  Bring to a boil stirring more than occasionally, but less than constantly.  Continue to stir and boil at least 7 min until a golden tan color.  Remove from heat and add vanilla.  Extra syrup is also very delicious over vanilla ice cream.