One Eye Open

After the shocking (but somewhat completely expected, after the initial accusations in March) news broke on (ex) Fr. Corapi, I didn't think the day could sink any lower... WRONG! Food, glorious food, strikes an unhappy note in the house.

If you've read this blog for any length of time you will know that Bobcat has Celiac Disease. The long of the short of it is that he can't have gluten (a protein found in wheat primarily). Back before he was diagnosed, we had no idea. He didn't have the most common signs, at least to our untrained eye, and his long time suffering was something that he thought was just normal. Even after the initial diagnosis before the biopsy I was quite skeptical that he had it... to me it just didn't make since.

Here's the thing about CD, it just doesn't seem real on paper. Every symptom could easily be associated with something else, and no two CD suffers are the same (regarding symptom presentation). Even though we now live in this world of gluten-free eating, I can totally understand outsiders not understanding the struggles or even the need for it. And in some ways the fad to be GF just because (while it helps with labeling food) takes away the seriousness of it for those who actually suffer.

So what's the biggest problem for CDer's needing to be GF? Contamination (or cross-contamination)! Here at the house, obviously, we are able to control the environment and be very selective about what we buy and how I cook. I would say that 99% of the time when I serve a meal it is ALL GF. There are occasions when this isn't the case, and last night was that sort of situation. We were having sloppy joes. I bought regular buns for everyone else, and had GF bread for Bobcat. When I went to fix Bobcat's portion, Daddio thought I went a little heavy on the sauce, and so I scooped some out and put into another boy dish. Well, when I did that some of the GF bread ended up in the other dish... along with the wheat bun... so at a glance you saw GF bread, not the bun (we do ours "open face" style and eat with forks...).

You see where this is going, right?! While I was busy working on getting cups filled and other plates made, I wasn't the one passing out the food dishes, and never saw that Bobcat's dish didn't end up in front of him... I also don't sit across from him, so I didn't notice his dish while he ate.

So what happens to a boy with Celiac Disease who eats a regular bun????? When it hits his digestive track his body freaks out! Poor kid was SICK! And we're not talking the "my tummy doesn't feel well because I ate too many sweets", oh no, it is more like the "MUST GET RID OF ALL TOXIC MATERIAL UNTIL THERE IS NOTHING LEFT THAT COULD POSSIBLY HARM ME, AND THEN SOME MORE JUST IN CASE!"

The lesson here for us is that he still has CD, and he does have a violent reaction (it's been two years since the last time he contaminated himself... vanilla wafers can be a really strong temptation when no one is looking)... To anyone stumbling on to this post, when someone says they have CD and need to be GF, BELIEVE THEM!

As for me... today is going to be low key. When a mom has a sick kiddo, we sleep with one eye open listen for the horrid sound... which means I've had little sleep! Bobcat is a little on the dehydrated side, and his stomach hurts (all those muscles are currently on strike, and I know how he feels having had that sort of a reaction a few times in the last few years due to medications it turns out I'm allergic to). So he will most likely be spending time on the couch snoozing, reading, and hydrating. The other two knuckleheads are going to try their best to stay calm for the day... TRY being the operative word!

Fun times...