Previously
The other night I was driving home thinking about recent events that
have impacted my life. My mom broke her shoulder ice skating with my
girls on Tuesday night. Wednesday morning I talked to her for at least
four minutes before I realized she was confused about which of her
daughters she was speaking with. Her physician thinks that her scapula fragment may reuinite with the rest of the bone if
my mom keeps her arm immobilized. Hopefully that wish will be fulfilled
with a minimum of pain.
Dealing with my family recently has tried my patience numerous times.
We were at my aunt's place when a younger sister of mine challenged my
statement about having a gluten intolerance. She works with the woman
I've been seeing and for a split second I thought maybe I had heard
something wrong during my last appointment. One of the problems with the
celiac blood test is you must be ingesting gluten to get a positive
result. An official diagnosis in the absence of a postive celiac panel
is made only after a biopsy read a gastroenterologist confirms that you
have intestinal damage.
When I discussed getting biopsied with my nurse practitioner she said
didn't think it was necessary because I have
responded to treatment. Before a biopsy can be performed the patient
must have enough gluten in their system to be damaging it. The procedure
is invasive, it would be expensive but none of that matters because
there is no way I would survive eating gluten for that long. Initially I
was skeptical about this whole gluten intolerance diagnosis. I could
accept the fact that I had food allergies but I didn't really believe
that I had a disease. Now that I know what happens when I accidentally
eat something that has been contaminated with gluten I have no idea how I lived with this for so long without realizing
that I have digestive issues.
When you live with a chronic condition it doesn't necessarily stop
being painful but your body gets used to that level of stress. Now that
the pain is mostly gone I spend a lot of time praying that it never
comes back. Because my stomach didn't hurt in the sense that I wasn't
nauseated I didn't know that my body was not processing things the way
it should have been. One time the pain was so bad I went to urgent care,
at the time I thought I might have had appendicitis however no one
could find anything wrong so I was referred to another physician which
led to me meeting the practitioner I see now.
Essentially I am sick and tired of dealing with my family and their
lack of acceptance and support. People in my family are strong willed,
they are opinionated and they like things to be done their way. I am
also like this which makes things even more difficult because in the
past I have told people how they should be running their own personal
lives. Like the rest of my family members I mean well, deep down I think
we all know that everyone loves everyone else but it is difficult
enough to be sick, feel horrible and have to deal with regular life
without the additional frustration of my family writing me off as a
hypochondriac.
It doesn't bother me that my family thinks I'm a food freak, what
concerns me most is the health and wellness of my children. They both
have appointments to see the woman I go to on January 25, 2011. One
part of me is fairly sure that my oldest daughter has a gluten
intolerance. My husband thinks that I am searching for things to be
wrong with her however in her I see my previous food behaviours. Silly things like she wants bean
burritos without the tortilla and serious things like she can eat an
impressive amount of spaghetti and be hungry two hours later.
Reading about nutrition has been a hobby of mine for a while. Being
denied certain foods has forced me to be more creative in the kitchen,
it has opened my eyes to exactly how little real food some people are
eating and how complacent the majority of people I know are about things
like food colorings, additives and preservatives. If my dream was to
model good eating habits for my children I have now succeeded. I don't
want people to have to go through some of the things I have been through
which is why I can't understand why no one in my family is supporting
having my children tested for a gluten intolerance.
I want my extended family to be tested as well since the link is
genetic but whenever I mention it to them they tell me that they would
get tested if they were having symptoms which they aren't. Now that my
eyes have changed I see people differently than I used to. I am sure
that I could positively impact most of the people I know, I have a
message I want people to hear and I get frustrated by some of the
challenges but I am also kind of excited that I have information I
didn't before. Understanding systems is something I am very good at. The
human body is a complicated organism which is why it is so cool when a
new puzzle piece comes to me and a picture starts emerging.
Naturally I don't have all the answers, what I've learned is the
beginning of a new awareness that I'm using to change my own life.
Improving your health starts with the desire to transform what you've been given into what you may not have dreamed was possible. Being labeled
a maverick at work is fine with me and hearing that I am not like a lot
of other women is cool because I've given up trying to figure out what
men want and started focusing on what I want for myself. 2010 was the
year I discovered that I am not going to let a disease run my life, I
don't know what 2011 has in store for me however I am looking forward to
a new
life this New Year.