Check-In July 2009

[aklap]

Man, it's July and it hardly feels like it! It's been mostly cool and rainy here in WI. We had few hot and humid days [fewer the better!], but not many.

I'm staining the deck. I need to let the done half dry so I can transfer my grills to do the un-done half.

Going to our friends house tomorrow afternoon for the 4th. Our city's fireworks are tonight.

Not much else going on in the Al n Peg house. We're trying to decide if we're doing Cookie Daze this year. Peg found a recipe, but she needs to do an NGF version of it first to know how it's supposed to be. Then she can convert it.

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For those that may be new or lurking...Check-In is a place to introduce yourself, tell us how things have been going, whatever comes to mind. If you post your progress in the GF diet, you can use it as a gauge to see how you've progressed. You can check back over the months a get a snap shot of how things were...

The Check-In Time Tunnel

Here's what we were doing last year.
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Al

“We cannot all do great things, but we can do small things with great love.” Mother Teresa

[Deb]

Hmmmm, not a nice summer so far here either. Well, we haven't had to water the flowers though! 30 days in June, and it rained 26 of them here on the island. We had one 90 degree day, way back in April. Low 70's has been the general rule here, very unsual weather, that's for sure.

Our next door neighbors always put on a fireworks show, so I don't even need to leave the yard! Tomorrow night, there will be fireworks at The Ducks statium, but really, there are too many people here, I have no desire to fight that crowd. I did see fireworks when I was in Michigan on vacation, they are all alike!

Finally, my daughter told me today, she is going to give gluten free a try. She's been very sick, as of late, not able to keep food down. I was afraid it would come to this, she has been fighting the idea of gluten free for a few years now. I hope it all goes ok for her.
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You can't discover new oceans unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore!

[beckyhiker]

We finally had a weekend of beautiful weather! Went for a 9 mile hike on Saturday and watched neighbor's fireworks that night. DS has been GF for 2+ mos. now (gee, I already can't remember when he started off the top of my head!). He's starting camp today, so I hope that goes well food-wise. He still has a gastro appointment at the end of this month and I'm curious as to what the dr will say. We just had my NGF brother and his family visiting for a week which was lots of fun, but I think that I got glutened somewhere along the way - oops. Just going back to work today after having 2 weeks off; I really enjoyed not having to get up at 4:30 am for that time!

[HadassahSukkot]

I probably can give you all a better update once I am back in Germany. I am still very sick with this pregnancy, and the last 2 days or so have been the absolute pits of despair.

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[nancw]

Less than 24 hours til vacation and boy, do I need it! I'm falling apart in a big way, but excited that I've made an appointment with a naturopath who specializes in food issues. I am feeling a lot of despair and frustration with my diet and physical issues, though am hopeful that with some R&R and a new partnership with an integrated medicine doc I can make some progress to healing my gut.
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Nance

gluten, dairy, soy, rice, yeast and 99% grain-free

[STZ]

Here in Corpus Christi it has been extremly hot and humid with heat index in the 110 + range and a severe drought.
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STZ
DX = Celiac
High ttg 3/2009
Biopsy positive 10/2009
GF since 3/2009
DX = Osteopenia
Bone Density Test 9/2009

[cruelshoes]

Our garden is in full swing, and I am really jacked up about how much food we can grow in our yard. The pic above is one day's harvest from a few weeks ago.

We had another layoff at work, and I made it through it OK. There are fewer and fewere of us all the time, so I hope they don't have to make too many more rounds.

I have not been doing much GF baking. Have been too busy and running in 12 different directions. There have been many days that we have not had any bread because I simply do not have time to make it. I thought summer was supposed to be less busy!
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-Colleen

Where are we going, and what am I doing in this handcart?

[rpf1007]

Looks amazing Colleen!
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Rachel

[caseygirl]

I'm soooo jealous Colleen!!! That looks amazing and delicious!!

Here in Balto, it's been really nice weather. I feel terrible for my parents and friends in the Boston area who have gotten nothing but rain and cool weather for over a month. I just moved to a new house, my first place all to myself. I'm soooo excited to start cooking!! I don't have much in the cookware department, so I'm slowly buying things but I'm guessing by August, I'll be ready to do some serious cooking. I'm excited to have a GF kitchen!

I'm currently looking for a job, which sucks...but it was my own fault and I quit a job I had even in this hard economy. Call me crazy but I really did not agree with what was going on with patients and employees. Since I left, 5 other people have given their notice. Maybe the supervisors will get the hint that they are horrible supervisors and nobody respects them! I'm working on grad school essays in the meantime since I'm planning on going to get my doctorate in 2010. I hope I get in - it's a competitive world out there in the academia/psychology field!!

Healthwise, I'm doing pretty good. I had a rough couple of weeks. I went to a bachelorette party in Ocean City a couple weekends ago and I think I got glutened. It would have been very hard not to, since the atmosphere is not conduscive to gluten free-ness. Then my friend who is a traveling nurse came to stay with me for a few days and we went out...and I think I got glutened, or maybe it was that time of the month, but it seemed extreme?? But now I'm doing better and feel totally fine. I hope some of the good summer weather we're having in the mid Atlantic reaches other parts of the country!

[HadassahSukkot]

Hi all,

I made it back to Germany on Wednesday morning.

I have been extremely ill while I was at home visiting with family, through no real fault of anyone. I believe the quality of the food is mostly to be blamed, with a stomach flu going around, and my immune system already having been weakened by being glutened twice.

I had my updated OB appointment yesterday and I am hoping things check out and we have a much better result in 3 weeks.

I had lost 12 pounds while I was in the US, between being sick, slightly more active, and the stomach bug I picked up the week before I left.

My blood pressure was very high, but I think that is mostly due to having just gotten off from 24 hours or so of travelling, a lot of stress, dehydration and having been sick. We found out that we are having another little boy, so in about 4 months, we will have two little boys to contend with in the house.

Since I have been home, I have been able to eat and have felt LOADS better... so here's hoping that things look up from here.
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[celiacmaine-iac]

We've been anxiously awaiting the arrival of our little grandson. He finally arrived, and is the sweetest little punkin you ever saw!

DH was so amazed at how much of the wee one was covered by his hand!

All is well on the GF front. The garden is finally growing a little. We had so much rain that we lost a lot of plants, and the ones that survived were pretty stunted. Hopefully there is enough growing season left for things to catch up.
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Steph

[cruelshoes]

Congrats on the wee one, Steph. He's a cutie!
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-Colleen

Where are we going, and what am I doing in this handcart?

[kscolorado]

Hi Everyone haven't posted in awhile. Tourist season for the restaurants...thank goodness! Here's an update on my crazy life, Back in April I started getting very discouraged that I was only 80% (in my mind better) on the gluten free diet and trying to be casein free as well. My side of the family never bought the celiac diagnosis (my tests were not accurate, I already started the diet) but did great with the diet so there ya go. So anyway, my mom and sister really started getting to me because they were right, I was still having symptoms. I made a plan to go back on Gluten in May and see doctor Lewey in August for a check up and hopefully schedule a endoscopy. I did okay (took a lot of immodium in the beginning) but by July 1st, I was a miserable mess. I was bloated, had joint aches, rashes on my face etc. So I decided to go the enterolab route so that I could quit the poison and get results at least for gluten sensitivity, casein, and the gene test. I am still waiting on the results, they received my lab work on july 7th. I also plan on keeping my appointment with Dr. Lewey on August 6th just to make sure that nothing else is going on. I had a diagnoses of colitis when I was in my early twenties but don't recall them telling me what type. According to Dr. Fine's website, microscopic colitis can be the cause of celiac's not getting better. Dr. Lewey respects Dr. Fine so I know he will accept the testing I have done thru them....when ever I get them back. Right now my body is happy that I am gluten and casein free again but still have urgency in the mornings. The joint pain and bloating is gone again. I know you guys probably think I am crazy for what I did (gluten challenge) just to diagnose what my body already tells me, but I don't want to down the road again, let my family or myself question it again, then make myself miserable...
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Kathy

[cardine45]

I can't believe it's July already (and it's almost over). Everything on the GF front is going great. I went to Willy O's Pizza and Grille in South Haven, MI 3 weekends in a row for their gf pizza and their spinach and artichoke dip. It's so nice to be able to go to the lake and know I have a place I can go for food.

The weather has been crazy. I swear it goes from the 80's to the 60's every couple of days. We've had hardly any rain, which makes me glad I didn't attempt a garden this year. I haven't cut my grass in 4 weeks in the back and 6 weeks in the front. The front yard is close to needing it again, but I feel like I'll just blow a bunch of dust around. The meteorologists keep saying it's the perfect night to leave the windows open, but then the reporters next story is the huge jump in burglaries in Kalamazoo, and you should keep your windows and doors shut and locked for safety. I feel ridiculous turning the air on when it's 60 degrees out, but I'd rather not have someone walk into my house to take my stuff.

Unfortunately, I seem to be dealing with some other issues now, and I have no idea what's wrong. I woke up Wednesday night with excruciating pain in my gut and almost called 911 because it hurt so bad. Thankfully (I think), I passed out and was a little better in the morning. It seemed to be more in the lower left of my abdomen when I woke up. I had the day off, so I spent the day resting. It was a lot worse the next day when I went to work, and they finally gave me vacation time after 2 hours, and let me leave so I could go to the doctor. The doctor thought it was either hemorrhagic cysts or a tubal pregnancy (no chance that was a possibility), and gave me 2 heavy duty pain shots, told me to find a ride home, and scheduled a pelvic ultrasound. The ultrasound tech didn't see anything, and said it was probably gastrointestinal. I managed to get through work on Saturday, and then rested most of the day yesterday. I managed another day of work today, but it seems to be moving around from the lower left at times now. I'm going to call the doctor tomorrow to see if the radiologist saw anything on the ultrasound pictures. I thought something looked odd with my bowels during the ultrasound, and my friend who went with me agreed. It looked like raging rapids in my intestines. As soon as she noticed it, she asked me if I had diarrhea or gas, and was amazed when I said no. The ultrasound tech didn't look the least bit concerned though.

Wow, I think I needed to vent that story out to people who might care about gastro issues . Hopefully I get this figured out soon, and the weather shapes up a bit.

I hope everyone else is doing well. It sounds like there is a mix of good and bad going around the group right now.

Oh, one last thing, Chex are on sale at Meijer this week 10 for $20, and they must have just gotten a truck load in of the gf ones at each store, because they have tons. I'm hoping to find some coupons for them on top of the $5 store coupon they're giving for buying 10. Time to stock up again

[kscolorado]

Caroline, I wonder if you did have a cyst that burst? I had a friend that this happened to, she was in pain just like you and after a couple of days she started feeling better again. It wouldn't show up on an ultra sound since it burst....what ever it is I hope you feel better soon!
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Kathy