As I mentioned in my previous post, Elise had a great visit to her Endo on Friday. So we decided to celebrate by having dinner at one of our favourite restaurants, Maggiano's. Fred and I debated over the North Park or Willow Bend location (North Park being our favourite), but decided to head to Willow Bend because it seems less people are getting shot at that mall.
One thing that is difficult about the type of insulin that Elise is on is the timing of her meals. She needs to eat pretty much at the exact same time (within 30 minutes on either side) every day. She usually eats around 5:15-5:30, which means she doesn't eat at the same time as us during the week, since Fred doesn't get home until 6:00.
Diabetes also makes taking Elise to restaurants very difficult. It's hard to find nutritional info on a lot of places, and when you can, the carb amounts in the food they serve are so high that they don't fit into Elise's food plan (between 15 and 25g of carbs per meal). What we usually end up doing is feeding Elise before we go, or bringing food for her.
But on Friday, I was determined to make this a family affair. So we called up Maggiano's and asked about how we could get nutritional info on their food. The head chef ended up being the one who called us back, and when we told him of our predicament, he said he had a great low-carb pasta with marinara that he would personally make for Elise. Even better? He would figure out the card count for me, giving my brain some much needed rest. And because it was such a small amount, he wasn't going to charge us for it.
When the food was brought out, Johnny (the chef), came out to chat with us. Never in my life have I received such amazing, personal service. I actually started to cry as I thanked him (and I'm not really like that normally). It just meant so much to me that we could enjoy a nice dinner as a family, and be able to just celebrate our good news from earlier.
So thank you, Johnny Poché, and Maggiano's for helping us to go out and feel "normal" for once.
3 months ago
Joanne, Your blog is superbly written with the perfect balance of humor and seriousness. You nailed on the head everything I felt when my son was Elise's age!
ReplyDeleteDear Joanne,
ReplyDeleteThere is something very special about your writing. Because of you I have been forced to create a blogger account for the first time in my life!
I have followed your writing from the beginning (both blogs) and have so wanted to respond but have never before created an account to do so...
I have cried, laughed, thought and appreciated.
Here is my plea: please apply for a columnist position at a magazine, any magazine, and I will buy it! I know many others will too as your voice has much to share with the world.
Congratulations on your gift - you are amazing!
Lots of love from your far-away-in Canada-sister-in-law Joana
xxx