We have started a Gluten Free - Just Like Me Photo Album on my Facebook page. Send me a photo and a brief story of your gluten free life and I will add it to the album. You can message me on my Facebook page or email me at jamie@glutenfreemom.com.
Reading these stories and seeing these faces has been very heart-warming for me. A few have even brought tears to my eyes.
Here is our story:
Summer,
2005
No
one ever forgets the day you find out your child has a genetic, life-long, life
changing autoimmune disorder.
Alex,
now a healthy, beautiful, vibrant 17 year old, was once a non-thriving,
somewhat depressed, shy and often sick child. We really are not sure when
it all started. She entered the world on Leap Day as a bubbly almost ten
pound baby with hair you could almost braid. Looking back now, there seem
to be several instances that were somewhat unusual; she was a colicky baby; the
projectile vomiting in the ER in Iowa one Thanksgiving; the pot belly stomach;
the not too infrequent "blahness" when other children were
running, laughing, exploring and having fun. Whenever the subtle
signs started, by the time Alex reached third grade her illness
became more serious.
She
was so addicted to Pepto Bismal that she would drink it like it was chocolate
milk. The doctors attributed it to
school-related stress. Sometimes the stomachaches were so bad she could
not play in the games with her basketball team – these pains were attributed to
nerves. She was frequently constipated –
the doctor said she needed to pull her underwear all the way to her ankles when
she went to the bathroom.
And
then the flu-like symptoms began. At the beginning of third grade, every
two months she would get what seemed like the flu and vomit for four to five
days. We took her to the doctor who would run your standard blood
tests. They would all come back normal, not even anemic. The
doctors answered our questions with "it is just the flu; it has been
a bad season." The almost ten pound baby was now so thin and
dehydrated you could count her ribs and she had to have IV's to be rehydrated.
Finally,
when she had the "flu" for five days in June, it was time to go
to the doctor and not leave until we had some kind of an answer.
They did stomach x-rays and ran additional blood tests. As an
afterthought, as he was walking out the door, the doctor threw in a test for "celiac"
- a word we would soon get to know very well.
We
left to go on a beginning of summer trip but all I could do was pray for an
easy answer. Not wanting anything
serious. The first round of test from
the blood work came back normal again, but I still had a nagging feeling that
not all was well.
Then
the call that answered the nagging feeling - one of the tests, something called
celiac was positive. Silly what? How do you spell it?
Autoimmune? Gluten what?
Thanks
largely to the Internet; all of our questions were soon answered. Even
while we waited through more tests that summer, more blood draws to test for
absorption, the endoscopy at Children's Hospital . . . I did not want to
believe it but deep down I knew that Alex had celiac
disease. And finally we received the news (on the day
that Alex also fell and broke her arm). The endoscopy was conclusive
for celiac disease.
As
a parent, my prayer every night was for my children to be healthy and
happy. So how could it be that my daughter had a genetic, life long, life-changing
disorder? Why did she have to live a life that would now be
"different" and more difficult?
Yes,
what parent would not be relieved to know why their child had been sick?
Even better yet, the illness was completely treatable by something as natural
as a change in diet. But oh, what a change.
It sounded simple
enough; just eliminate gluten from your diet. While no longer eating
wheat flour was challenging enough for an elementary-aged child, determining
what we could eat in this gluten-laden world was a monstrous task. Our
transition to the gluten free life was before you could find gluten free pizza
crust and even gluten free bread. Eating out at restaurants was soon to become a
rarity for our family. It initially took hours of research to determine
just what we could put on our plates for dinner. So much more than a diet
change, going gluten free is a lifestyle change!
Even though I
ached inside for a pizza delivery van on Friday night, I made the commitment to
be as positive as possible on the outside so that Alex could accept her new
diet and life style. A new diet and lifestyle she would have to life
with forever.
Summer,
2007
Two years
later and our lives are redesigned by our new gluten free lifestyle.
Even though hours are still spent searching for safe food and even more hours
are spent in the aisles of my local grocery stores (I say stores because anyone
who cooks gluten free has at least three grocery/health food stores they shop
at), I can breathe again.
Since
so much effort is put into what we eat, we have decided to all travel down the
gluten free path that leads to a healthier diet made up of more fresh
everything. Our family is definitely closer together - family dinners are
the norm, not a novelty at our house.
The
best reward of all - that running, laughing, exploring, fun-loving child that
was hidden beneath the illness in my wonderful daughter's inner soul has fully
and physically emerged!
One
of the first changes noticed was the color of Alex's skin. She had always
been so pale. Two months into the diet in the middle of the rainy
season in Seattle, my daughter had a tan! I could not figure out
where it came from. We were shocked at realizing it was because she was
healing. Then came the spontaneous dancing, the little skip across the
family room for no apparent reason. Finally bigger changes with five
inches of growth in a year and becoming the point guard on her basketball
team!
And
so in the end, the realization came that God had answered my prayers. God
took me on a different path than expected but I did finally have the happy and
healthy child that I prayed for every night.
January,
2008
The Silver
Lining … in Celiac Disease
My
daughter and I share a mutual love of cooking that has been one of the greatest
blessings… yes blessings… of celiac disease.
On
a quiet afternoon or evening when we have a few hours between soccer games and
guitar lessons, you can often find us in the kitchen, the TV turned on to
the Food Network, hammering out the ingredients for our latest and
greatest gluten free, dairy free food concoction. No matter what our mood
when we start, at the end of it we both fall blissfully (yet somewhat exhausted
from all the finger licking) onto the stools at the kitchen counter to sample
our latest endeavor. 
Of course the end result is
almost always a reward in and of itself. Like the “Better than the Original Gluten Free, Casein Free Samoa's”
We have had a few flops as well, such
as the tomato soup that tasted more like thick and hearty pasta sauce. In
fact, we ended up using it as pasta sauce.
Even
more than the food, it’s the time we spend together doing something we both
love that is the greatest reward. This is when my daughter shares her
feelings about her friends, her dream of visiting Venice, her struggles with
how hard it is to eat gluten free when her friends are eating birthday cake, or
even worse, Krispy Kreme donuts. But this is also when she learns how
long to sauté onions or whip up a gluten free treat that will please any picky
eaters. These are skills that will last a lifetime. And this is the
silver lining in celiac disease; The bond that my daughter and I have sealed in
the kitchen.
My
daughter says she wants to grow up and study cooking in Paris and be a
chef. She is only eleven so there are many years for her life dreams to
change. But one thing is certain – I know she will never forget the hours
we spend in the kitchen, flour flying, creating our latest and greatest gluten
free meals.
January, 2013
We
have been gluten free for almost eight years now and the GF diet has become
easier and easier as more and more products are available. I feel like we lead an almost better than
“normal” life. Of course my one wish
would be for all of this to go away, but I can also be thankful for the
blessings that have come from the gluten free diet. I have no doubt that my entire family is
closer together and healthier because of our diet.
The
hardest challenge at this point is my very social teenagers social life – kids
like to eat out! She actually had a
relapse the first part of 2012 from eating out and not speaking up enough. The blood levels are back to normal now and she has
learned to always tell the waiter that she has celiac disease and is strictly
gluten free.
She
is also facing some health challenges.
She is missing eight adult teeth so she has had to undergo a series of
oral surgeries with more to come. She
also still faces some health struggles.
Alex has suffered from chronic back pain for over a year now. It was initially believed to be a volleyball
injury so she started down the path of physical and sports therapy. After hours
of physical therapy, several x-rays and a few MRIs, the doctors decided there
were no structural “bone” issues and referred her to a counselor and
biofeedback. (Have you ever noticed how
doctors automatically attribute teenage girl pain to stress?) Finding no relief in that direction, they did
a pelvic scan to check the organs (we have strong renal cell carcinoma in my
family) and now she is in Rheumatology.
They are drawing more blood and trying Celebrex, and she goes back to
her Celiac Doctor next week.
I
have had a lot of the same feelings this year that I had in 2005. The good news is she looks healthy and is
growing and, despite the pain, is pretty happy.
The bad news is she has had at least one doctor’s visit a week and she
once again has some underlining illness that we are yet to detect and it is
causing Alex a lot pain. I am once again
praying for an answer that is manageable.
Or Perky's Rice Cereal
