(That's totally me, with gluten as the supervillain.)
Yesterday, a friend on Facebook recommended my blog to someone, and it was like she'd complimented my home decorating when I knew there was a bra on the couch, 67 toys on the floor, and a cobweb with a big, dead spider in the middle sitting up near the ceiling.
Not that my living room has ever looked like that, of course.
Except it was worse, because no one can see my sensible undergarments unless I let them in the house, but all y'all can see that I haven't updated here in three damn months.
Basically, Baby Razor got sick. And it was that kind of sick where she was probably okay? But we had to watch her. So I watched her fail to gain weight for three months, then start throwing up every other day for two terrifying weeks before our doctor's appointment, during which Baby Razor's doctor was like, "Okay, the mood is very Eeyore in here." And God bless her for having a sense of humor about it, because Mr. Razor and I have an unspoken agreement that one of us needs to be the strong one when the other one is freaking out, but that went right out the window the night I was like, "I'm really worried" and he was like, "Oh shit, I can see her hipbones."
The short version is that Baby Razor has celiac disease. The longer version is that Baby R's doctor is awesome (and I don't just say that because I've known her for 15 years), Children's Hospital Boston is efficient and caring but still scary as hell, and wheat is in FUCKING EVERYTHING. The really long version involves a lot of hyperventilating and stress-eating, so I'll skip that one.
Maybe surprisingly, I'm not sad or freaked out by the diagnosis; I'm grateful. Look: I'm pretty sure there is no human body on earth that runs perfectly. Mine likes to panic and randomly throw blood clots. My father-in-law's tries to kill him whenever he's within three feet of shrimp. So Baby Razor's thinks wheat and barley can suck it; that's totally okay. I'm just glad we know! For awhile there I was terrified that I was going to end up on Mystery Diagnosis, wearing a sensible cardigan and saying, "At that point, we thought she was going to weigh 20 pounds for the rest of her natural life."
We're still figuring out her diet (seriously, gluten sneaks into every. damn. thing.), but she's gaining weight, and she has enough energy to power my neighborhood. Which means I can let go of some of the mental energy I've been devoting to her digestive tract and go back to telling stories about things like trying to make mom-friends when I'm naturally anti-social, my latest crafting disaster, and random shit I find at the thrift shop. Watch this space!
Yay! I didn't realize how much I missed your writing until now. Also, SOOO happy Baby Razor is happy and healthy again. :)
ReplyDeleteI love that the EXACT QUOTE from that morning's office visit made it to this post. But c'mon, y'all were very Eeyore. I'm glad none of us needs to be now!
ReplyDeleteMy BFF was diagnosed with celiac a few years ago. TRUST ME when I say that once you get into it, it's really not all that hard to go gluten-free. (Granted, her strain of celiac isn't as bad as some people's, but it still took a lot of adjustment at first.) She used to blog regularly about it, and though she hasn't updated in eons her website still has a few of her own gluten-free recipes and LOTS of links to other websites with recipes/info. You can find it here:
ReplyDeletehttp://digestivediva.blogspot.com/
I'm glad to hear your daughter is doing okay, and that things are better for your whole family. Give it a little time and you'll all be in the swing of things with the gluten-free life. And trust me when I say that Trader Joe's Peanut Butter Panda Puffs are the greatest gluten-free cereal of all time. YUM.
That sounds really scary. But I'm glad Baby Razor is ok. She will probably end up with a healthier diet because of it.
ReplyDeleteAs an aside, I don't even know what gluten is. But when I eat stuff that is gluten free - I really miss it.