This girl. She is strong.
I meant to share this a week ago but, life happens.. however I still wanted it to have a place here.
When this sweet girl had just celebrated her 2nd birthday she got very sick. We had no idea what was wrong. She was throwing up at least once a day and sometimes during the night. Chunks of undigested food (it was as awful as it sounds and then some). Her belly was distended. We could see and feel her bones even more than normal (she’s always been thin). We watched as, over a two week time period, our super energetic girl became lethargic. We were scared.
After doctor’s visits showed she was falling off the growth charts and food allergies of some sort were suspected we got an expedited visit to see a pediatric gastroenterologist. Praise the Lord. They did blood work which showed off the chart numbers… She didn’t even need to have a biopsy done. It was clear she had celiac. The inflammation and destruction to her gut was insane. We were shocked but so thankful to have an answer to what was going on. The next few months would be hard as we literally gut out our house of any gluten and all plastic, wooden, silicone items in our kitchen. Anything that could harbor gluten and expose her on a day-to-day basis.
Praise the Lord she has the personality she does and she owned her celiac! She has always been very careful to ask before eating and she knows what to look for on packages. God has been gracious to her and it doesn’t seem to bother her very often that she can’t eat everything everyone else can. She’s only been glutened a handful of times in the 6 years she’s had celiac…and prior to about a week ago I don’t actually even remember when she last accidentally got gluten…
Enter a week ago. A package was misread, she got a straight-up gluten item. Not just cross-contaminated but straight up gluten. About 3 hours after she ate it she spent the next 2 hours between the toilet and the bathroom floor. She threw up 7 times. 7. Do you want to know what she said in the midst of all that? She said the fun day she had had was worth it, she wasn’t mad at the person who had accidentally given her gluten, she knew they always are so careful to take care of her belly. She was so sweet, so forgiving, so understanding.
Anyway, I write all this because…it’s real. Being glutened is real, awful, and so sad. We hear it sometimes… “oh just eat it on your way home that way you won’t feel bad until you get there”, or “she can have a little bit right, it won’t hurt?”, “She’s probably grown out of it, right?”. I wish I had a more positive response to all these comments, but I don’t. Celiac never goes away. We can’t ever let down our guard or become complacent/comfortable with any brands or products. We are so fortunate and so blessed to have such a strong tribe around us. Our family and friends are so careful with our tummies and so understanding when we bring lunch boxes to gatherings. It’s our life and it’s here to stay.
Having said that, above… We couldn’t be more grateful that Celiac can be handled with lifestyle/food changes alone. No medications or surgeries needed. What a blessing it was to hear that 6 years ago. We are also very grateful we live when we do and that it’s so easy to get our hands on gluten-free things. We don’t often buy processed foods.. but when we do (ha… Picture at the top of this post… DONUTS!) we’re so thankful they’re available to us!
Lastly, God is so gracious. Neither Andrea nor myself “crave” gluten. We both know it’s not an option. I couldn’t be more proud of her and how careful and responsible she is. She truly is strong. God has given her grace for this and she knows it. We were actually just talking as a family the other day about how we could be thankful for celiac. We are thankful that the road we went down because of celiac is the same road that led us to simplify other areas of our life. The same road that led us to holistic health. The same road that led us to being more in tune with our bodies. The same road that led us to a simpler lifestyle in general. God is good and He will never give us more than we can handle.
My God is bigger than celiac. ❤️
