I promise that I didn’t just drop off the earth after my last post. Actually, it was that we had another round of illness/hospitalization in our family (yes, AGAIN). This time it was Travis’ turn, and he didn’t come close to the family record when he spent five days in the local hospital (which I can say from experience has the best tasting/valued cafeteria food of any hospital in the area). He is still going through some outpatient tests, but the doctors are fairly certain he has celiac disease and possibly also Crohn’s. So we are facing a lot of dietary changes for him and possibly some new medications. Ugh. The good news is that it forces us to do what we’ve been saying we would for a while – cut back on eating out and cook more from scratch. The bad news is that any short-cuts we might have used are effectively removed because a lot of processed foods have ingredients that he can’t eat.
His hospitalization coincided with our 10th anniversary, so it’s a good thing I wasn’t exactly counting on it being a big deal. But in many ways, it was fitting for us because that has been our year, our marriage. He’s still not feeling really great, but the damage these diseases inflict on the intestines can take a long time to heal, even after adjusting the diet. Then to top it off, I got a stomach bug Friday evening and was sick for 24 hours. I haven’t been sick like that in years, not since I was a kid. Yuck. Now we’re both on the mend and trying to play catch-up on a lot of areas that got set aside. The Christmas decorations need to be done, and I need to start doing some major meal planning and actually plan ahead for grocery shopping, things I haven’t been really good at doing for most of our married life. I hate that it took an illness to do it, but I guess I’ve started to notice that often times it takes a 2×4 to the head to get our attention.
Tomorrow we say goodbye to my mom’s parents, who have been with our family this week to celebrate Thanksgiving. And we will be saying a big goodbye to Travis’ grandmother fairly soon, who has been doing poorly for a while but is now with hospice care (love the work they do!) and has only days to live. It’s a hard loss to face but not nearly as hard as our children. And I like knowing that she will be with them soon.
Thank you all for your continued prayers. I will write more soon now that I’m getting back into a routine!
Blooming Joy! 
Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln, how was the play?
Seriously, I understand some of these things happening and don’t others. Same thing for whatever happens to us. I know that Romans purpose thing, and I accept it unconditionally, but I do not understand a lot of it, as I know you do and do not.
The last paragraph probably made little sense.
One of our friends at church and one of Madison’s roommates have celiac, so I can probably dig up some recipes if you are not already flooded with them. The surest recipe is “if it tastes good, spit it out.” Works for allergies and weight loss, both.
Crohn’s is another story. That is a difficult diagnosis to make and to take. Prayers flying on that one.
Jim
Sorry that you are having to go through these illnesses. It does change one’s life quite a bit. We all had the same nasty stomach bug that you did. It was nasty this year. Sorry about the possible Chrone’s disease. My dh had a related disease called Ulcerative Colitis and had to have his colon removed about 35 years ago. He is doing very well now. Hope they get your dh straightened out soon. Working with Celiac is not fun either but will probably do you both good. I am praying for you. Thanks for the update. Praying for your mil.
Sorry for misspelling Crohn’s Disease. Many prayers coming your way.
I just read this post – for some reason it didn’t show up as new at the time in google reader. I’m a 4 year celiac (today was my diagnosis, actually, 4 years ago). IF you have any questions about good GF substitutes in recipes or have a craving for something and you just can’t figure it out… or just want ideas… please don’t hesitate to talk to me. I still haven’t starved =) There are lots of options (and even safe restaurants) out there.