Figuring it out

My knee is still swollen.  I haven't been able to walk too much and the pain is the worst when I try to go to sleep.  I went to see the doctor on Saturday, but only got in to see the nurse practitioner and she could only tell me that it wasn't injured.  Nothing was torn.  She told me to ice it, get a knee brace, take Ibuprofen and take some Epsom salt baths and come back to see the specialist in two weeks if the swelling isn't gone.  Basically "I don't know what it is, lets see if it goes away on its own".  Just peachy.  If the pain continues to get worse, I will make an appointment with the specialist earlier than two weeks.  I'm hoping it's just a small sprain that will resolve with rest and time.  Of course, I've scoured the internet looking for what causes a swollen knee and the most common things are: injury, which the doc told me it was not; bacterial infection, my knee is not red or hot so that is unlikely; arthritis (at age 28?  and in only one knee and no where else in my body?  not likely) Bursitis-again a type of infection; and then a tumor.  Great, so now I'm convinced I have a tumor in my knee because nothing else seems to fit the bill, and horrid thoughts of chemo, and rotationplasty run through my mind.

Source

Rotation plasty is seen in patients who have knee cancer where the leg is cut off and the ankle joint is rotated and becomes the knee joint

  I suppose the good thing is, that most knee tumors are benign and can be easily dealt with through surgery.  So, I've got my fingers crossed for a mild sprain or my knee got irritated somehow and hopefully it will fix itself in a few weeks.

Anyway, the last several days have been pretty good.  I've been eating well and I've been feeling better digestively.  There was a lot of dairy that had been slipping into my diet because I just wasn't paying attention and it was causing a lot of digestive upset.  Pesto for instance, and pretty much all protein bars are made with Whey.  I've been really tired the past few days, possibly from such a dramatic change in my diet, but I know it is for the best.  I haven't been 100% and I'm not looking to be perfect.  I'm trying to control the things I can control and not worry about what I can't.  It's going to take a while before I can claim I am a true Paleo eater, but I am on the path.  There is going to be a learning curve, trial and error, and plenty of scouring the internet. 

I am in charge of the vegetables and dip for the festivities tomorrow, and I made two paleo dips.  One was a bacon, spinach artichoke dip and the other was a dill dip with paleo mayo and sourcream made from coconut cream.  I was thinking to myself "drat, the dip I wanted to make calls for sour cream, I wonder if I can make that with coconut cream" and I was right!  There is probably a paleo substitute for every ingredient out there, and if it is dairy, the substitute is probably coconut related.  It seems to be the go to for almost everything (coconut yogurt, coconut ice cream, coconut milk, coconut butter, etc) who thought one food could be so versatile! 

Source

Above is the photo for the artichoke dip.  I will let you know how it tastes after we eat it.  Click HERE to find the recipe
Also, HERE is the website for the paleo sour cream.  It was super simple, you just take coconut cream, and add lemon juice and sea salt and viola!  I just mixed in my may and my seasonings and I was done.  Hopefully it all tastes as good as it sounds/looks.  I guess we will find out tomorrow.