Farewell 2013

I talk about our journey with celiac disease to a lot of people.  I mean a whole lot of people.  I do this not to call attention to myself and my high maintenance diet, but to spark awareness.

There is a whole slew of people who "try" to eat GF,  (not an inappropriate use of quotation marks.)  These well meaning people are merely attempting to eliminate gluten from their diet (maybe that's the flag they should wave), but they actually make it much more unsafe for us to eat out.  They don't really care whether or not their scrambled eggs were prepared on a shared surface... they just order eggs, sans toast.  They are perfectly willing to let a dash of soy sauce slide in their vegan spring roll, or excuse a dash of malt in the CORN flakes. (Ahem, Rachel Ray... you are irresponsible and downright dangerous. Jimmy Kimmel, I hope that your children never have to avoid "imaginary" gluten that -- what was that?  Doesn't even exist?)

Me, however?  If I were to lax my standards for one second and allow one of the above-listed grievances to be ingested, the inside of my mouth would seem as though I ate large shards of glass for lunch whilst shedding HANDS FULL of hair.  But never mind me, who cares about me... my son would be violently ill, and who can tolerate even one moment of their child in pain?

For the past two years, we have navigated the murky waters of a gluten free lifestyle, as it is much more than just a diet.  This truly involves the support of family, friends and even a community in order to resemble the smashing success that we have experienced.

As of November, 2013, our bloodwork results are as follows:  Tissue Transglutaminase level 4.  At diagnosis we were 100+, and a normal, non-celiac individual would be anything under 4.  NCS and I are both exactly a 4.0.  I think that this means that our unrelenting GF standards work.

We only eat in a few restaurants, and we have educated the bejeezus out of many a restaurant manager/owner/waitstaff.  We have illuminated the dangers of cross contamination for countless friends, family, and unsuspecting acquaintances.  We have probably been subject to many an eye roll or criticism, but we are healthy.  If I can protect my child from the looming possibility of gastrointestinal lymphoma, intestinal cancer, peripheral neuropathy, and who knows what else, then I consider our journey thus far a success.