Reasons Why. . .

I have such a hard time blogging!
I don't seem to come back to this blog very often, but it's not because I don't think about it. I seem to mostly just think about it, though. And hardly ever write. Tonight I was thinking about some of the reasons for that and decided to put them in the blog, should anyone ever stumble across and wonder.

1. I don't like the way this looks and don't know how to make it look any better. I get frustrated every time I try, so I just don't come back to it.
2. I am a super-perfectionist. A simple/short entry can take me a couple of hours of editing (hello, my name is Sherry. I am a grateful believer in Jesus, and I am a perfectionist--not recovered, and an English major--no recovery possible.) No typos. And no improper construction. And I like to revise. And it should be well-written, even if it is about gluten.
3. Does anyone even read this? Am I writing for an audience? I don't think so. Do I care? I don't know.
4. Why do people blog anyway? I enjoy reading other people's blogs, but only if they are well-written. I can't tolerate typos in other people's stuff either.
5. On the other hand, it can get a little boring around here--being a bit house-bound so much of the time. Writing a blog seems like a good idea, but I also feel like I'm wasting my time. Who cares, really, what my family eats or what medicine I take for my arthritis or how cute my kids are? (They really are cute, and smart, but my husband goes a little overboard in sharing them with the world.)

Anyone out there? What do you think? Any ideas? Should I keep blogging?
And next up, when I do return. . .our gluten free vacation!
Sherry

Time Goes By. . .So Quickly!

It's summer again! Hurray! Sleeping in, the pool, family trips and camp. I'm packing up Alec's food for camp for the second year, and it's not nearly so stressful this time. A bit of this, a bit of that, and he's set for the week!

But there's something different about this summer. My oldest daughter just graduated from high school. Let me type that again. My oldest daughter just graduated from high school. I know they're supposed to grow up, but somehow this still caught me by surprise.

Where did the time go? That's her in the green shirt in the picture above. Seven years ago. Yesterday. Seriously, I thought I'd be the mom with young kids forever. How did I end up with 3 teenagers? How did I end up with a high school graduate? I want more of that summer--or like the ones above. We were wading in the Paluxy River down in Texas near Granbury, looking at the dinasaur footprints.

These days are sweet, too. I wouldn't trade a moment of any day. I just didn't think it would all pass so quickly. I know there is a spiritual application here, but I'm too tired today to try to verbalize it. I'll let you look for it yourself.

Don't waste the days. They are short. And don't forget your camera.

Blessings-

The Lady in Pred

Better than a Hallelujah

This says it better than I ever could. Hope any of you who read, enjoy.

Sherry

RA -- It ain't so easy. . .

I might be able to tell you about Celiac disease in terms of cryptonite (and if you could see Alec's usual personality, and then his reaction to gluten, it really might seem that way to you!), but RA defies any easy explanation.

If only I could tell you about RA that easily! Four years ago, newly diagnosed and barely understanding myself, I had no difficulty telling friends and family what was going on with me, that I wasn't feeling well. I expected to feel better, after all. I had an appointment with a great doctor. There were great new drugs. I asked for prayers. I was afraid, but positive.

But time passed. I did not feel better quickly. Many of my explanations were met with roadblocks. Blank stares. Frustration. The very word "arthritis" is vague, weighed down with centuries of varied use. "Attitude is everything," I glibly proclaimed and closed ranks. But attitude would not dampen the pain in my joints or give me the energy to work or care for my family. Explanation was not a priority. Getting through each day became the goal.

Four years have passed. Up and down. I still have rheumatoid arthritis. Barring one of God's sweet miracles, I will always have it. It is not one of those diseases that goes away. It is not cured. It can go into remission (please, please, Lord?), but in general it is degenerative. It is in a class of diseases called autoimmune. There are others in this class--lupus, type I diabetes, multiple sclerosis, and all kinds of other autoimmune arthritis diseases, but NOT osteoarthritis. Not that one--the one most people have.

In autoimmune disease, the body attacks its own tissue. In RA, the joints and other connective tissues are attacked. But not only the joints. Also eyes, heart, lungs, and moisture producing glands. And that is really only the beginning. Those are the main ones. So if you think RA only makes your joints hurt, then you really have the wrong disease; that's OA. One of the chief symptoms of many autoimmune diseases is fatigue and feeling really unwell. Not just being tired--being ill. Sometimes so tired you can't lift a coffee cup. Most people get really tired sometimes, but ever have trouble lifting your spoonful of cereal in the morning because the spoon is too heavy and you can't close your hand around it? That's an entirely different kind of weariness!

And yet, with RA, you have all of this while looking relatively normal. I say relatively because I can look at myself in the mirror and see now I've aged ten years in four--prednisone will do that for you. But with a smile and hair and makeup, I look well enough to pass for, well, well!

I don't know quite why I'm writing this little post. I read a lot of RA blogs, and it's all been said before--much better many times. But I just needed to restate it for myself. Our family is so blessed. But we live with this subcontext, nearly everyday. What can Mom do? Will she go with us or stay home? How much extra time will we need for that?

The folks over at the the Arthritis Foundation forums call RA a monster. I try to keep it shrunk to size in my mind and life. But first I have to figure out for myself just what it really is.

Blessings--
The Lady in Pred (again)

Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than a locomotive, being celiac just means gluten is his cryptonite. And that's really the easiest summary we've come up with.

Fly man, fly.

More to come, soon. I promise.

Day Two, Getting Glutened

He is no better. More Maalox. Tried some Benedryl, just to see if it calmed the nausea and helped him sleep, and he said it helped a little.

He is missing his second day of school--which means a ton of make-up work. I made him gf banana nut muffins as a treat, but he hasn't eaten any yet.

Pray for my little man.

The sun is shining outside. . .we are just waiting for some inside.

Getting Glutened

It's a cold and dreary outside. . .the first official day of fall. No sunshine. A cold rain fell earlier.

The mood inside our house pretty much matches. Someone--no one is confessing--put a box of regular cereal in the gf pantry. (NO gluten-containing items are EVER kept in the gluten-free pantry.) In a fit of hunger, Alec grabbed the box, poured, and began to eat. We buy cheap cereal. The labels on all the cereals look a little weird, so he didn't immediately see the difference, and he was shoveling so fast he didn't realize what he'd done until after three or four bites.

Three or four bites. That's like three or four bites of poison to a celiac. Three or four bites is the most gluten he's had since last November when he snuck a Ding-Dong after the first week of the gf diet. He's never purposely eaten another bite of gluten again. He was so sick that evening he couldn't sit up in a chair.

Like he is today. He spent the morning alternating between the bathroom floor and his bed, but now he's graduated to the couch. As soon as we realized what he'd done, we had him start drinking lots of water and gave him Maalox, hoping to get the gluten through asap.

There's not much info available on what to do for accidental gluten ingestion--doctors want celiacs to simply stick to their diets. But it happens, so I spent the morning searching the web for other ideas about what I might do next time. I found only a few suggestions, and since they don't seem likely to be harmful, I'll pass them on here. One mother said her son uses activated charcoal if he accidentally eats gluten--apparantly you can buy it in capsule form. Alec once had to take this in the er (another story for another time), and I can understand the theory. Another celiac suggested antihistamine for the stomach upset and to help with sleep disruption that sometimes comes with the gluten reaction. Other suggestions were just for treating symptoms: antacids for indigestion, immodium for diarrhea, meds for pain, etc.

The most difficult part of being a parent has to be seeing your child suffer for any reason. Before Alec was diagnosed, we had plently of days like this--days where he lay on the couch and didn't speak, didn't move, didn't eat. But it's been nearly a year of good health for him--I am oh so grateful, you cannot even imagine how glad I am to be able to type that!--but I hate seeing him this way today.

I'm calling my doctor about the activated charcoal--I'll post here about what he says. I'm not sure how much celiac experience he has, so I guess we'll start testing his knowledge now.

And I'll let you know how long this lasts. Tomorrow is a new day. Even as I was typing, the Oklahoma sun came out again, and the white moths started dancing round the zinnias outside my window. Hopefully Alec will soon be doing the same--well, not the dancing part, and not around the zinnias. Ugh! You know what I mean!