Friday, July 20, 2007

The first Known Glutening

I picked up a monster from preschool today. He looked and sounded like Eric, but this kid got hysterical over a juice box. I half removed the straw from the glue and it was the End. of. The. World.

Then he pulled himself together and we decided to go to the park and he melted down completely half way there. I dumped him into the stroller and brought him home screaming all the way. NO! I DON'T WANT TO GO HOME! Over and over again.

So, I dumped him into bed kicking and screaming. And two minutes later there was silence and he was asleep.

He had gotten up a little earlier than usual but not early enough to merit a three hour nap. Something wasn't quite right.

Rewind to 5:30 last night. We were getting ready to go to a potluck at Eric's preschool and I sent him into the bathroom to pee. I walked in about 30 seconds behind him after helping Kaylee walk down the stairs by herself. And I walked in on Eric trying to chug a bottle of children's ibuprofen.

AAAAHHHHH! I thought he'd gotten at least an ounce, maybe two so I called 911. The Fire Department paramedics came followed by the regular paramedics who called poison control. He had not overdosed. He was well withing the safe range.

But then I picked up the little blond monster from school today and thought, perhaps there was a connection.

So, I checked the bottle and it had no information about the ingredients and said to call the pharmacist with questions. So, I called the closest CVS and the pharmacist had not clue. So, I called another and she gave me an 800 number to call and they knew right away.

The ibuprofen he took was chock full of gluten-y badness.

Wow. At least this gives me some more ammo to deal withe the gastroenterologist about postponing his biopsy. But this was pretty tough on a lot of levels.

Just glad Rich is home and he's in his dad's hands at the moment. Not sure what this will do to his tummy, but I'm hoping it won't be too bad. But at least I figured it out.

This thing is kind of complicated.

Wednesday, July 18, 2007

So, we went to go see the GI today. It was a frustrating visit. He said given the blood test results, and the positive response to the diet (we started when we got the blood test results) he was 90% certain that it was celiac, but he would not "treat" him for celiac w/o the biopsy.

So, we'd have to put him back on gluten for a month and he'd undergo general anesthesia and they'll do the biopsy. He was very kind and understanding, but he really disagreed with our reluctance to undergo the biopsy.

I just can't justify poisoning a child this age for a month to satisfy the celiac "gold standard." If there hadn't been a five week delay between the blood test results and the GI visit, I probably would have kept the gluten in. But it seemed so irresponsible of me to do NOTHING. My kid was in pain, how could I do nothing?

Our plan is to keep him GF, and wait a couple of years and do it before he starts kindergarten in 2009. I think at that point he may start to notice or care that he's not eating what other kids eat. Right know he could not care less. He likes his five foods and he is totally happy to just eat that. The nutritionist looked at his growth charts and said he's clearly getting enough nutrition. (He inherited a nice SLOW metabolism from me and dad) His diet is limited, but not unhealthy.

But in the meantime, he does not want to 'treat' us for celiac until we do the biopsy. We talked him into doing the standard blood tests, and stool tests that they would do with the diagnosis. But I don't think this is going to work with this doctor. I want somebody who is willing to wait until my kid is a willing participant ie, he's 100% independent in the bathroom, and he understands why he's eating stuff that makes him very sick.

Does that sound crazy? Why don't the doctors "get it?" Taking the gluten out of my house really hasn't been that big of a deal. I'm an accomplished cook, and make most of my own sauces from scratch. So, I use wheat-free Tamari instead of soy sauce in my marinade. But subjecting a healthy child to general anesthesia at this point seems, well negligent.

The upside of the visit, was that he does not have the symptoms of cascien intolerance. He may have a problem with lactose, but most dairy he likes doesn't have a lot of lactose. We got a thing of lactaid milk, and we use good quality cheese so I think we're in good shape on that one.

So, it wasn't a complete waste of time.

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Monday, July 16, 2007

Woman turns a found cellphone into a $10 gift certificate

I found a cellphone while walking down Prospect Street in Cambridge today. It was FULL of numbers, but none with convenient monikers like "Home" or "Work." I label my numbers as obviously as possible in case I'm unconscious somebody could just pick up my phone and call the entry marked "Home" or "Husband" or "Mom." But this phone list was infinitely more cryptic. I figured I'd try a few recently dialed numbers once I got the phone back to my house. But then when I was in Whole Foods it rang and I said "Hello? I found this phone on the street, and I don't know who it belongs to." Turns out the owner of the phone was on her way to pick up the caller in Boston. So they turned around and met me at my house an hour later.

They brought me a $10 gift certificate to 1369 to thank me. I'm not sure why, it wasn't a major inconvenience on my part. I suppose I could have made a whole bunch of long distance calls and kept the phone. But I just wanted to return it to its owner. So, now me and Kaylee will go to 1369 some morning and enjoy a little forbidden gluten. Whoo HOO!