Good News and Kale Chips

Happy Monday! Hope everyone had good weekends!

Last week I got some exciting news, and I just can’t help but to share with all of you:

I can eat kale! And spinach! And drink green tea! And wine! Oh, the endless possibilities!

(You may be thinking: huh?)

I’ve been officially taken off blood thinners (coumadin) by my very careful and trusted doctors. (Why am I on blood thinners? Find out here, when I got a little personal and shared my story on the blog).

Coumadin is a drug that basically thins your blood by interacting with the vitamin K in your system, which is a key player in blood clotting. Kale, spinach, broccoli and other delicious leafy green produce have very high amounts of vitamin K and counteract what coumadin does if eaten in larger doses, so I’ve tried to steer somewhat clear of them. Lots of other things, like herbs and alcohol, can also interact with coumadin and make it more (increase bleeding risk) or less (increase clotting risk) effective.

So, while it’s definitely a life-saving drug, it’s really quite an annoying one to be on and requires multiple blood tests each month to make sure you are in the “safe” range.

Being on coumadin was, in a way, like my security blanket. I knew my risk of clotting was low, and it helped to quell my fear of experiencing any additional serious clots. So initially, I was scared to go off it – I never want to have an experience like I did in September 2009 again. But I trust my doctors, and instead of coumadin I’ll have to take a baby aspirin every day for the rest of life and shots of blood thinners during longer flights.

The second my hematologist shook my hand on Tuesday and said, “Congratualtions, I’m taking you off coumadin,” I felt really free. That was something I didn’t quite expect.

I’ve gotten used to being the one that doesn’t drink at bars or parties, the one that has to be careful not to fall or get hit with something (increased bleeding risk), and the one that has to awkwardly decline eating certain foods while out with friends. I never realized how much energy this took, how abnormal it made me feel until Tuesday.

When I felt normal!

Granted, I’m always at an increased risk of clotting again and need to take steps to keep my risk as low as possible, but I’m free! This feels like the final last step on the long road to recovery and yes, normalcy.

And it’s a lovely feeling

While I will definitely celebrate with some well-deserved glasses of pinot noir (ok, proabably one glass. Homegirl has NO tolerance), I celebrated Kelly-style on Saturday and cooked with kale.

Kale chips, to be exact. They are extremely easy to make – basically just wash the kale and break pieces off of the center, coat lightly with olive oil and spread out on a baking sheet with a little salt and pepper.

Before

After

I made with with some sweet potato fries and baked cod.

Green leafy produce has never tasted so good

Question: Do have any sort of restrictions, whether dietary or otherwise, that me you feel “abnormal”? How do you deal?